Pump Your Book Virtual Tours Presents: Reconstructing Jackson by Holly Bush

1867 . . . Southern lawyer and Civil War veteran, Reed Jackson, returns to his family’s plantation in a wheelchair. His father deems him unfit, and deeds the Jackson holdings, including his intended bride, to a younger brother. Angry and bitter, Reed moves west to Fenton, Missouri, home to a cousin with a successful business, intending to start over.

Belle Richards, a dirt poor farm girl aching to learn how to read, cleans, cooks and holds together her family’s meager property. A violent brother and a drunken father plot to marry her off, and gain a new horse in the bargain. But Belle’s got other plans, and risks her life to reach them.

Reed is captivated by Belle from their first meeting, but wheelchair bound, is unable to protect her from violence. Bleak times will challenge Reed and Belle’s courage and dreams as they forge a new beginning from the ashes of war and ignorance.


About The Author

Holly Bush was born in western Pennsylvania to two avid readers. There was not a room in her home that did not hold a full bookcase. She worked in the hospitality industry, owning a restaurant for twenty years and recently worked as the sales and marketing director in the hospitality/tourism industry and is credited with building traffic to capacity for a local farm tour, bringing guests from twenty-two states, booked two years out. Holly has been a marketing consultant to start-up businesses and has done public speaking on the subject.
Holly has been writing all of her life and is a voracious reader of a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction, particularly political and historical works. She has written four romance novels, all set in the U.S. West in the mid 1800’s. She frequently attends writing conferences, and has always been a member of a writer’s group.

Holly is a gardener, a news junkie, and was the vice-president of her local library board for years. She loves to spend time near the ocean and is the proud mother of two daughters and the wife of a man more than a few years her junior.

Her latest book is the historical fiction, Reconstructing Jackson.


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My Review:

What a great book, I read it in one day, and could not put it down. The story is set in Fenton MO, just after the Civil War.
The country is trying to move on, at least some are, where others are convinced that slavery will return!
Reed Jackson survived the War, but lost part of one leg and injured the other. His father seeing him in a chair decides the woman he was to marry will marry his brother, and his brother shall have their Plantation. Reed decides to move on and start a law practice in MO. He comes and stays with his cousin Henry and his wife Mary Ellen at their Hotel.
Reed is surprised that a black woman is their manager at the Hotel. He was raised with slaves and this is quite a challenge for him. Also in this town is a lovely nineteen year old who is really being abused by her family. Belle's brother has picked out someone he wants her to marry, and he will get a mule...ugh!
When her family finds out she is attending a black church, and more, she is beaten within an inch of her life. Beulah, the hotel manager, is a friend of Belle's, and helps her. With her at the Hotel now there is quite a bit of time that Reed ends up spending with her. All Belle really wants is a husband, a home, children, and a garden. This story will warm your heart, we may not understand why some of the things happen, but once you pick this book up, your in for a really great read.

I received this book from Pump Your Book Virtual Tours, and was not required to give a positive review.