MaryLu Tyndall may not be the most well-known author of the day, but in my book she’s certainly one of the best. It depends on what kind of genre you prefer to read, of course.
Tyndall is a romantic, historical Christian-fiction author and has written at least 10 novels in her career. Among those are her many novels is the Charles Towne Belles trilogy.
The series revolves around the lives of the three Westcott sisters — one book dedicated to each of the sisters — as they try to make their own way in life after the death of their father
The first book of the series, “The Red Siren,” focuses on the eldest sister, Faith Westcott, who lacks the faith in God she needs to turn from pirating to providing for her two sisters.
Throughout the book, Faith is constantly pursued by the British naval captain Dajon Waite, who, after several encounters, falls madly in love with her. Waite has no idea that she is the infamous pirate that he’s been hunting.
The first action that puts the story into motion is when the Westcotts’ father falls ill, leaving the family shipping business to fall into Faith’s hands.
When customers begin to get angry with the poor quality service they’re receiving, they show up to the house and demand to see Mr. Westcott. Keeping her father’s illness a secret, Faith continues to run the business to the best of her abilities, leaving her sisters to find their own way into trouble.
When Mr. Westcott inevitably dies, Faith has to come up with another way to keep her family from destitution. She decides that it’s time to take more risks, looting highly monitored ships and even going after ships meant to be booby-traps set up by Capt. Waite.
From here, the story spirals out of control, but I’m not going to give it away. So, read it for yourself.
The story continues with “The Blue Enchantress” as it follows Hope Westcott as she searches for love and acceptance in all of the wrong places. Instead of listening to the advice of her sisters, Hope lands herself in the clutches of a horrible affair, leading her down a path of destruction and eventually slavery.
Capt. Nathaniel Mason is running from God’s call to preach and also from his feelings for Hope.
When he finds Hope standing on an auction block to the highest bidder, Mason has to make the decision to save Hope and keep the one he loves, or lose his own shipping business.
His decision will either leave you happy with the ending or wishing he’d been a little smarter.
The third book in the installment, “The Raven Saint,” tells the adventure of Grace Westcott when she is kidnapped by the pirate Capt. Rafe Dubois who holds her for ransom.
Grace serves God to the best of her abilities by trying to lead her sisters in the right direction and helping the poor every free second she has. When she’s kidnapped by the French mercenary, she has to hold tightly to her faith in God to see her through the darkest situations.
When Capt. Dubois begins falling in love with Hope and her faith, he begins to change his mind about selling her to a Spanish Don in Columbia.
This time, it’s the Don’s reaction that decides the fate of these two lovers.
