Visions and Voodoo -- Highly recommended

BLUE MOON introduced Mary Corbett and her one time love interest, Jack Windom. BLUE MOON combined a Louisiana plantation home, difficult circumstances, an interesting family including a difficult matriarch, strong deja vu, and the protection of an elderly Voodoo in a compelling mix. BREAKING THE CHAIN brings the same marvelous characters together again at the Blue Moon Inn, the restored plantation house that now is now a bed and breakfast.

Now married, Mary and Jack support their bed and breakfast with additional work as real estate surveyors working for different companies. Jack begins having nightmares of a shooting. Shortly thereafter, they discover another tunnel beneath the inn. Once a part of the underground railroad to transport slaves north, the tunnel must be filled in rather than risk collapse.

IIn the mean time, Mary's cantankerous Aunt Elizavon, who owns half shares in the bed and breakfast, comes to visit. As manipulative and irritating as ever, Aunt Elizavon delights in provoking and berating those around her. The former housekeepers of the plantation also come to visit, and Sadie, who is also a Voodoo priestess, warns of impending danger from "the brown man." Further, Mary's gift for finding missing objects surfaces, throwing her into quite a quandary.

Readers who have not read BLUE MOON will find that BREAKING THE CHAIN reads well as a standalone. Intriguing characterizations and a fast paced plot sweep the reader into a spirited read. Author CD Ledbetter masterfully builds the tension with layers of intrigue that lead to a surprising conclusion. This richly textured paranormal suspense comes highly recommended.

Cindy Penn Senior Editor, http://wordweaving.com
Amazon top 50 reviewer
eBook Specialist, Midwest Book Review

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When Mary Corbett marries Jack Windom and they renovate the old La Fleur plantation and open the Blue Moon Bed & Breakfast Inn, she's sure she has found both the man and the security of her dreams. The strange events that brought her to this new-found happiness are behind them, and the future beckons brightly. She and Jack can continue working as estate appraisers to ease them over the rocky shoals of a new business. Partner Aunt Elizavon's demanding ways seem a small price to pay.

But bright flames cast shadows. Jack begins having nightmares that leave him shaken and worried about Mary's safety. Their search for Justine and Sadie, former servants at the old plantation, to bring them "home" seems doomed to failure.

On an appraisal assignment of an old hotel in another state, Mary has an alarming experience in which she feels a presence in her room, her first such encounter since she laid to rest the ghosts of the plantation. When she locates a long-hidden, valuable necklace secreted by the former owner of the hotel, she doesn't want to believe her strange psychic power to see the past is returning.

Meanwhile, in the small town where the two former plantation servants have retired to live out their remaining years, Voodoo Priestess Sadie's "spells" produce visions of death and danger so strong she insists on returning to the plantation to warn Mary. Unable to dissuade her, Justine accompanies her on the long journey back to St. Francisville.

In Boston, Elizavon hires a detective to investigate the past of the man her niece has married. She also hires the firm Mary works for to do an appraisal inventory on her house in Colorado, with the stipulation that Mary must do the job. Mary doesn't encounter any ghostly visions there but discovers that some of the most valuable paintings in her aunt's house are forgeries.

When she returns to the Blue Moon, her aunt has had a heart attack. Amid the turmoil that follows, Sadie's visions grow stronger and more frightening. Mary tries to ignore the threat of danger from the "Brown Man" of Sadie's visions but is far more shaken by Sadie's predictions of her own death.

In this sequel to her highly successful, Blue Moon, Ledbetter weaves the threads of her story into a tapestry of suspense that comes to a dramatic finale, which changes her heroine's life forever. Innovative and compelling. Romantic suspense at its best!

M.R. Henderson, pendulumpress.com

Like Nick and Nora Charles of The Thin Man, Jack and Mary Windom capture our interest and do not release it even when the book is done. They are natural, loving partners who can play hard and work hard and rely instinctively on one another. As in Blue Moon the connection is clear, although sometimes clearer to others than to themselves.

In Breaking the Chain, Jack and Mary think they have settled down into a routine of early married life when as the fates would have it, they are faced with challenges and people they could never have foretold. This second novel is as much a page turner as the first. And yes, I did stay up way too late once again just to finish and get a peaceful sleep.

The events unfold with such surprises it reminds me of the Wild Mouse ride down on the boardwalk that I rode as a child - traveling happily along in one direction when suddenly there comes an abrupt and sharp turn - all the more fun for being unexpected.

This novel resolves some of the unanswered questions from Blue Moon but leaves as many new ones for us to ponder - only adding to the expectation of what may come.

Hopefully we will get the chance to know Jack and Mary and what I am sure will be a remarkable life with more tales of their adventures.

The characters are true and honest and a pleasure to spend time with. Thanks, CD, it was a wild and happy ride!!

5 stars

Reviewed by Susan Courter

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Breaking the Chain is emerging novelist Carla D. Ledbetter's second book and the sequel to Blue Moon, the best-selling e-story of developing psychic Mary Windom. The author says she writes mostly after midnight, and she finds a few past lives emerging into her characters when the rest of us working stiffs are asleep. The late night writing creeps into the setting as well, with lots of dark stormy nights, full moons and things that go squish in the night to up the level of suspense.

In this continuation of Mary Windom's story, we undertake the next phase in the coming of age of a voodoo priestess. Mary is the typical girl next door who just happens to be an unwitting and unwilling novice in the fine art of messing with ghosts and powers and such. She's a "retriever," one who can see into the past and find things lost long ago, and in this sequel, the all-American girl is forced to face the fact that she has a special gift.

As the story gets underway, Mary is a happy newlywed, and she and her husband Jack have launched a successful bed and breakfast on a formerly haunted plantation in St. Francisville, located somewhere in the New Orleans area. Mary has everything a girl could wantóthe plantation is beautiful and Jack is sexy even when sweaty.

But the cauldron thickens when Sadie, an old voodoo priestess who once lived at the plantation, comes home to die, secretly hoping to pass on her considerable powers to Mary. Things take a lurch for the worse when Sadie visits a graveyard and learns from the spirits that an evil sonofabitch named "the brown man" is coming to kill them all. The reason is unknown. (Must somebody named "the brown man" have a reason to do what he does?) When "the brown man" finally arrives, the frightened group gamely musters up to the skirmish. But Sadie takes a bullet to the chest, and Mary is forced to use her skills. Will she have the spiritual grit to give "the brown man" a lethal hit? You'll have to read all the way to the last page to find out.

Ledbetter blends the tensions in the story masterfully, so that the suspense comes at you from many angles, as much from the growth we see in Mary as she develops her "sight" as from the approach of the decidedly lethal "brown man." Since Mary doesn't quite attain full voodoo priestess status in this sequel, it's a good bet we'll see another episode. I hope so. Keep 'em coming, Carla.

If you've never read an e-book before, you might be interested to know that the Adobe PDF version of Breaking the Chain is easy to read straight from the computer screen. If you're nearsighted, you can enlarge the type. The book is also available in paperback, in case you want to read while eating barbecue or simply want to avoid electrocuting yourself by sitting in the tub with your monitor perched on the ledge.

David G. LaGraff for BookPage

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Breaking the Chain is a well-told mystery story, the sequel to Blue Moon. The main characters from the first book are back, Mary and Jack Windom, now married, and still estate surveyors working for different companies. But in addition they also run the bed and breakfast, The Blue Moon Inn, in the old plantation house. As with the first book, dreams are involved, but this time it is Jack who has the nightmares.

Many of the minor characters from the first book are back, quirky as ever, helping Jack and Mary to solve this new mystery. Who is the "brown man" and what involvement does he have with the plantation and the old escaped slave tunnel leading out of the storage shed. And what does Aunt Elizavon know about Mary's gift of finding missing objects.

Having enjoyed Blue Moon, I was delighted to find Breaking the Chain to be the sequel book. Again the pace was fast, the twists in the tale a delight to read. Now that the main characters are married to each other, it was less of a romance, but it's nice to see a couple living together, working out their differences, and loving each other. I recommend Breaking the Chain as much as I did Blue Moon.

Review by Janet Miller for Amazing Author Showcase

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The intriguing tapestry of romantic suspense in BLUE MOON continues with Jack and Mary's story in BREAKING THE CHAIN. Once again, Ms. Ledbetter proves her exceptional writing talent with a story that is full of love, danger, ghosts, voodoo, and mystery.

Mary Corbett is now married to Jack Windom and happily running the Bed and Breakfast Inn that once was the Martine plantation. What she doesn't realize is that "some paths are destined to cross again" --- and the danger she thought long gone is even more prominent and about to strike a blow against her happy world.

When she brings the plantation's former housekeeper Justine and the old voodoo priestess Sadie back to visit, things start happening fast. Sadie's visions warn of danger and death, and now Mary starts having ESP flashes of her own.

Who is the mysterious "brown man" Sadie knows will soon arrive, and why is she so afraid of him? Why is Mary seeing ghosts again? Will everyone at the Inn survive the danger that soon shadows their lives?

Ms. Ledbetter's second story is just as great a read as the first. The action is non stop, the vivid descriptions take you right into the supernatural atmosphere of the story. The voodoo world is mysterious and frightening and keeps you on the edge of your seat intrigued all the more with its danger. And Mary and Jack's love is just as strong as before, helping them battle against the evil that threatens to destroy them.

A definite recommend and a ‘keeper'! I eagerly look forward to more of Ms. Ledbetter's books.

Rating: Five Roses

Reviewed by Kari Thomas for A Romance Review