Storm Clouds Rolling In (#1 in the Bregdan Chronicles Historical Fiction Series)

I really enjoyed this historical book with very good authenticity. She really didn't sugar coat any of it and though at times it is really difficult to read and try to comprehend the culture and mentality back then, Ginny did a good job of touching on it but not overly so as to make the book unreadable for me. As always there are some characters that you just wish would just die or go away. I was very disappointed after Moses had Ike Adams right where he belonged and shortly there after it didn't happen how i felt it should. Ike should have gotten what was coming to him. That shouldn't have been sugar coated. Thank you for Carrie though. She stood up to her heart and beliefs in regards to Robert, who was just a southern pompous a$$. I'm looking forward to seeing how she finally is truthful with her father and how she has turned his plantation upside down....you go girl! I'm also looking forward to the war and anticipating Carrie having to save Robert's life when fighting what they think will be a short easy war. Thank you. I will soon continue reading book #2.

I’m not sure what alerted me to The Bregdan Chronicles- perhaps Prime First Reads. Whatever it was I’m so grateful. This is book one in an ongoing saga. I’ve already learned more about the war between the states than I ever did in high school. Ginny has created a special world that I’m loving being a part of. To be in a time and place where slavery first began and to be able to see both sides of the issue has allowed me to see how and why it was what it was. I hope many people will read this series and really think about the humanity of it. The issue is relevant even today. I’m anxious to get into book two now. Thank you Ginny for writing this series.

We are taken through the joy and sadness sounding the Cromwell Plantation and the characters entwined with it. Evil, truth, hope, and love for the enslaved as well as the Cromwell family exist and portrayed with realism. The encounters and confrontations involving Carrie, with her family, slaves, beau, neighbors and friends, and her slave, Rose, who wishes for the finer things in life, force these two to come to terms with the hatred of the entire country prior to the onset of he Civil war. It is a spiritually journey wrestling these two souls.

This is a wonderful series. I am on book 11 and read like crazy. After I read them my husband reads them and then I pass them on to my step-daughter. When she's done she takes them to the senior center near her home in Virginia. So we share these novels with many people. Can't wait for you to write more. Thanks for the wonderful story and entertainment.

I was born in the 40s so I was raised in the 50s and I’ve seen my share of racism and what hatred does in man’s heart one evening coming home from a basketball game in a bus full of black and white player. Coach stops at a café in a small town goes inside comes back out says will eat when we get home at first we thought they couldn’t handle that much business but later we come to an understanding that it was just a hatred in men’s hearts

The quality of the characters is what makes-or-breaks a novel, and -- in this case -- the main character just doesn't have a lot going on. She's an 1860s girl trying to think like a 2020s girl, and it just doesn't work. Her revisionist history thought processes are highly unlikely for a plantation-raised girl. With the exception of Carrie's father and Robert, the characters are all much too simplistic; that is, they're either all good or all bad. For example, the villain of the story does nothing but drink and whip slaves -- so why did they hire him? Why do they keep him employed? No one in real life is completely good or completely bad, so characters that lack this depth seem unrealistic and unreal. The author includes some characters that really have no point; for example, Adam's family -- they serve only to characterize him as an abusive drunk. They had no reason to be in the story. Likewise, Carrie's girlfriends come and go -- she doesn't even correspond with them.The historical accuracy is spot-on when it comes to "the big things"; that is, the author really nails the harrowing details that led up to South Carolina's succession from The Union and the various viewpoints held by individuals on both sides. Kudos on placing the story in Virginia, which was very much a swing state in the Civil War.However, she really falls short on the more personal details. Realistically, Carrie's dad would never have allowed his daughter this much freedom, she never would have been given so much responsibility, and she never would have set foot in the Slave Quarters -- yes, she liked helping sick individuals, but they would have been brought to the Big House. This just isn't the way the world worked in those days. And it's loads of little things, like girls wearing hoop skirts didn't give each other big hugs -- not unless they wanted to show off their butts.The author's writing /grammar is good -- don't underestimate this fact; it's not a given any longer. However, she over-uses adjectives where stronger verb choices would be better; this is a trap into which young authors often fall, and it sounds a bit middle-schoolish.Overall, the storyline is okay, if unrealistic, but I'm not even tempted to purchase Book 2.

Well written. I was never interested in this topic while in school (centuries ago) and now I'm hooked on this book/series. Perfect balance. It was wrong but passion took over reason as it almost always does. If I'm not expressing myself correctly just read the book and find out by yourself.

I read book 1 in three days! I simply could not put it down! Now on to book 2! I’m sure it will be as riveting as #1!

Well written and no bad language

This Book had me enthralled from start to finish I can not wait to get started on the next book

Ginny Dye has set herself a huge task, not least because her saga of several novels about the American Civil War must inevitably be compared with the famous saga about the period, "Gone With The Wind". Carrie Cromwell is not Scarlett O'Hara, and in many ways this is a virtue. Carrie, unlike Scarlett, is a politically motivated woman who in volume 1 considers a future as a doctor, but forgoes that to become the mainstay of the plantation when her father can no longer take that role. Her ruminations about slavery are intensified through the comparisons made with her parents' and friends' attitudes, those of the man she loves, and in contrast, the forward thinking Philadelphian 'Aunt' Abbey. All of this makes the novel the type I enjoy - issues being raised and debated, a strong female central character, and the conflicts apparent between the central characters which highlight debates about social justice. Scarlett has none of these virtues, but she leaps out of the pages dragging even those who abhor her values with her. Likewise, the other main characters in GWTW really live. Unfortunately, I found the characters in "Storm Clouds Rolling In" rather flat and the descriptions of their activities pedestrian. For example, in comparing the drive between the home plantation and the one in which a social occasion is being held in both novels, Mitchell's description really lives, the characters are lively and the story line foreshadows drama; Dye's treatment merely describes the event. All that being said, and the reason for my reservations about giving the novel any more stars, I was impressed with the historical treatment Dye presents in an accessible manner. The political conventions, the reasons and arguments for and against secession, the internal and public debates about slavery are well drawn and explained. Dye makes a useful contribution to fictionalised accounts of the American Civil War.

Not sure what this book mean to be. Background attempting climate of ' Gone with the wind' with a bit of 'Roots'. I found the characters descriptions lengthy and repetitive . Same goes for very long and boring political discussions. The story only started after first 120 or so pages. Sorry, but a fan

An interesting book to read for a UK reader, set at the beginning of the Civil War 1860 – 1861.It covers various topics, the rich plantation owner with a daughter who has been brought up as more independent than many of her peers. The politics of the time, the slave trade, owners and abolitionists, the struggle of the slaves to be allowed their freedom or even freedom to learn to read and write.The friendship of Carrie Cromwell with the slaves on her father’s plantation, her thoughts on the treatment of slaves, her thoughts on the independence of women and the faith of Carrie and others in God.Unfortunately the book was spoiled a little bit by silly errors and typos but overall an interesting insight into the ways of the life of plantation owners, their slaves and politics leading to the Civil War.