In 19th century Louisiana, five Acadians and a German search for love: Armand Sonnier fears he's not handsome enough for Aida Gaudet, the prettiest girl on the Vermilion River. And she is pledged to his best friend, Laron Boudreau. But Laron is in love with Helga Shotz, almost 10 years his senior and still married to a missing husband. Also Jean Baptiste Sonnier and his wife Felicite, young and saddled with three children and a fourth on the way, seemed to have forgotten all about love. In one beautiful bayou spring, with the help of a hoodoo charm all will find a happily ever after.
Genre: FICTION / Romance / HistoricalThe Love Charm has a 4.4 out of 5 on Amazon. Goodreads has average 3.58 on 179 reviews. It was a finalist for the Romance Writer's of America RITA Award and has been a solid consistent seller.
The whine of bowed fiddles and the pounding of dancing feet against cypress planking filled the air, mixing with the smells of boiled shrimp, gumbo fevi, and fresh baked miches. It was Saturday night and for Acadians that meant dancing and laughing and fun.
Fais-dodo was what the people had jokingly begun to call these community outings. The term, meaning "go to sleep," was coined from the practice of putting all the babies together in a bed at the back of the house. Children, typically much beloved and coddled, found suddenly that the parents who normally were content to converse with them for hours on end now only had one phrase to say: "Go to sleep!"
It was a phrase that Armand Sonnier himself uttered as he helped his sister-in-law get her three children tucked into the Marchand family's low-slung four-poster. A half-dozen children already reclined there, boys and girls alike wearing the traditional shapeless knee-length gown.
"You rabbits get down in your den," Armand told the three curly-headed children. "And I don't want to hear a one of you calling out for Maman."
"I'm too big to go to sleep," four-year-old Gaston complained with a yawn.
"Me, too," his three-year-old sister chimed in. Little Marie's words were hard to make out as her thumb was already tucked firmly in her tiny little mouth.
"You two must lie here with Pierre," their uncle explained to them with great seriousness. "The baby needs his rest and you must watch over him."
Ten-month-old Pierre, wide-eyed, gurgling happily, and as fat as a sausage, seemed the only one of the three who wasn't really sleepy.
"All right," Gaston agreed with a sigh as he snuggled down into the bed. "I'll lie here and take care of Pierre."
"Me, too," Marie echoed.
