Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers’ Favorite
Love’s Rebirth: A Tejana Story by Adria Cruz Tabor is set
in the Tejas region of Mexico, in Santo Tomás, a village that thrived as a trading hub for ranchers and a fusion of several cultures. When the Comanche warriors’ invasion of their family’s property occurred in 1831, only two-year-old Ana Dolores Peregrino and her great-grandmother Braulia were spared. They sought safety with Dr. Anthony Moore, Catherine, and their daughter Elizabeth. Over a decade later at the age of fifteen, Ana Dee was employed as a nurse in Dr. Moore’s clinic. The arrival of Texas Ranger Robert Hughes and two injured patients invigorates a supernatural link associated with wise ancient guardians and entwines Ana Dee’s destiny in life, love, and perspective as she develops her skills.
Ana Dee is one of the most beautifully empathetic characters I have come across in my most recent reading history and is the perfect protagonist to lead Adria Cruz Tabor’s Love’s Rebirth. Ana Dee has a tragic past that Tabor depicts with raw honesty and an upbringing that provides the hope a reader needs to see in a young woman we want to root for as she comes of age. I got a genuine sense of what 19th-century Texas was like from the refreshing point of view of someone who is not a cowboy. The world looks different through the eyes of a woman of color and Tabor paints it subtly alongside Ana Dee’s growing awareness of social disparity, such as slavery. At its heart, the story is a romance, but in its soul, it is a multi-faceted reflection of the experiences that resonate through generations, and it captured my own heart in the process. Very highly recommended.