Reviews

Night Song by Beverly Jenkins

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justinkhchen's review against another edition

3.0

3 stars

**Historical Hellions Book Club | January 2021 Selection**

While Night Song has me hooked with its rich historical context, it ultimately lost me with its sluggish romance filled with irrational character behavior.

It started off promising enough, with both Cara and Chase extremely likable and thoughtfully developed. The hero and heroine immediately noticed their mutual attraction, but were both bound by societal expectation and personal principle to proceed further (a clause in her teacher's contract, his soldier's rootless way of life and the unwillingness to wed).

I think I was ultimately undone by the lack of distinction between lust and love in Night Song; the supposed 'lust' section contained so much tender and mutual emotional exchange, it became hard to believe the two intelligent individuals were ignorant enough to not notice. So by the 3, 4th time the first base has been reached, and the characters were still turning a blind eye on their burgeoning romance, it started to get a little silly and unrealistic.

**Minor spoiler ahead**

The surprise pregnancy was the moment when the novel jumped the shark for me; the story failed to convince how the protagonists, who had absolutely no intent for marriage (and constantly concerned about ruining each other's reputation), didn't have the foresight to prevent it from happening in the first place. It read more like an author trying to sensationalize the plot, rather than a realistic progression. The subsequent forced marriage and pseudo-domesticity scenario didn't get any better, as the fluctuation between hot and cold (a self-implemented loveless marriage when they clearly cared for each other... why this mental torture?) extended pretty much all the way till the end, and by that point I really couldn't be bothered.

**Minor spoiler ends**

Night Song has trademarks of an ambitious first novel: muddled character intent, superficial villain and an uneven narrative; but at the same time it feels thoroughly researched, revealing a slice of Black American history that doesn't often get the spotlight. It's clearly evident Beverly Jenkins has since grown to become a very successful author, and I'm intrigued to continuing looking into her work.

dominiquexalana's review against another edition

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4.5

One thing about Beverly Jenkins, sue gonna take you on a journey. Every time. Striving to read all her historical novels.

dee21's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

max_pink's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

4.5 Stars

How does one debut with a banger like this? Beverly Jenkins, you absolute legend.

This is my second Jenkins, and what I love about her take on the genre is how grounded in history everything is. You can tell how much research she does and puts into her stories, and the result is really emotional stories about people that feel like they could have actually been in history.

Cara and Chase were great together. I loved how smart and driven and honest Cara was, and Chase was the perfect level of charming player to ruffle her feathers. Their relationship hits some wild bumps in the road, but I appreciate them actually deciding to talk things out and act like actual adults.

The overall plot of this gets unhinged. I feel like 90s historical romances aren’t complete without a mustache-twirling villain kidnapping someone. But I love those shenanigans, so this really worked for me. What a delight.

Shoutout to Kim Staunton for excellent audio narration.

Content Warnings