Write your own review
Rated 
of 5
by Gaye
Hope A beautiful written story about the enslaved in America in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The book writes about the courage, perseverance and love of people who were treated in inhumane and despicable ways and because of their human capacity to think and to love, they had a will to survive in the hope for something better for themselves and future generations.
Rated of 5
by Alison W. (Saint Marys, GA)
This Here is Love As a High School English teacher, I try to get my hands on all genres of books to share with my students, colleagues, and friends. This is one of those books I cannot stop thinking about. The characters are rich and developed with such depth that you feel you have stepped back in time to share their pain. Without giving anything away, I found myself rooting for the unlikeliest of characters. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.
Rated of 5
by Joyce M. (Arlington, VA)
Honest Depiction of American Slavery This Here is Love is an incredible novel. If you are a cryer get out a box of tissues. If you anger easily hold on to a stress ball. Ms Perry relates the story of the lives of an enslaved mother and daughter, an enslaved family whose father is free, and an indentured European family. The style of writing is easy reading; comes across as straight forward and matter-of-fact. Since there is no sugar coating some events may shock you.
The sad truth is that in this fictional tale everything that takes place is factual in the history of slavery and indentured servitude. The meaning behind the title is revealed about two thirds into the novel. What the characters in the book did for love was incredible. There was one character in the book that ended up with "skin in the game" that caused him to see what was most important in his life. There were a few times when I was able to smile and one opportunity to laugh out loud, but all in all the book was sobering and should be read by anyone interested in understanding what slavery was really like in America.
Rated of 5
by Krissy
5 stars I've struggled with how to summarize this book in few words. It's a book filled with heartbreak and suffering. Yet, at its core this is a story of love and of hope, which shines above all the rest. I found myself awed at the author's beautiful writing - the people, the emotion, the landscape and world building. While the people and stores are fiction, we know the heartbreak and injustices told in this book are seeded from a reality not so distant from today. It's a powerful story, one I would encourage everyone to read. Without a doubt a 5 star read.
Rated of 5
by Mary L. (Portland, OR)
New Perspective This Here Is Love brought me to a picture of the enslaved that I had not viewed before. Writing about both slavery and indenture was a very interesting juxtaposition. An outstanding book that I will be thinking about for a long time to come.
Rated of 5
by Patricia W. (Desoto, TX)
A Powerful Story that Lingers with You This Here Is Love is a story that will linger with you. Many stories tell about slavery, but this book is largely told from the viewpoint of the enslaved. You can feel their pain and watch how different people cope with the experience of loss, abuse, dehumanization, and powerlessness. It is set early in the settlement of the United States and also includes people coming to America as indentured servants. It is inconceivable that people can be persuaded to treat others as less than and with no hesitation to subject them to cruelty. As always, the wealthy and powerful rule the land. History should not be hidden or erased. I will recommend this book to all of my friends.
Rated of 5
by Catherine O. (Altavista, VA)
Outstanding This Here Is Love is not an easy book to read. The author helps us by giving short chapters and being terse about the violence.
After finishing the novel I had to reflect before writing my review. The book is set in the late 1600's, mainly in Virginia, where I now live. The novel follows an indentured Irish servant, Jack, as well as several slave families and one notable free slave as they survive in the harsh conditions of the day.
The characters and the author's understanding of the human characteristics are what make this novel remarkable. You will not forget David, Bless, Cassie or any of the strong, long suffering characters in this novel.
I would recommend this novel to anyone who is a fan of realistic historical fiction. It is an important reminder of the pain and suffering that built our country. There are many themes for book clubs to discuss.
Rated of 5
by Wendy F. (Kalamazoo, MI)
A tribute to a hurting people This book will affect me for a very long time. The story of enslaved and indentured people and how their stories are similar yet so very different. Ms. Perry writes a poignant and deep perspective of people who are placed in horrible circumstances. We see how they cope with the atrocities of the time that people of color still are traumatized by. The character's lives intertwine in difficult and loving ways. How do you love someone that you know you could lose at any moment? How do you live when your child is certain to be taken from you? This Here Is Love will burrow into your soul and show you the pain of our historical past. It is at times heartwrenching and at other so very touching as each person deals with their plight. Everyone should read this book, surprisingly Ms. Perry's first.
Rated of 5
by Kate S. (Arvada, CO)
History is not Always Pleasant Very few authors have the ability to write about such a difficult subject matter; yet capture the reader from page one and provide an extraordinary lesson in history. Princess Joy L. Perry was able to relay the horrific and unbelievable ways that humans can treat one another but also share the undeniable spirit of hope and love. The characters were well defined, the story line flowed seamlessly, and the style of writing was beautiful. This book would be a perfect choice for bookclubs wanting a discussion that delves into choices people make, moral issues, and the dark stain of slavery on American history. I am grateful I was able to receive this book and had a reminder of our past. Highly, Highly reccomend this book!
Rated of 5
by Jill
Unforgettable Characters and Powerful Storytelling THIS HERE IS LOVE
By Princess Joy L. Perry
This Here Is Love is a powerful and moving debut novel that pulls you deep into the lives of three unforgettable characters living at the close of 17th century Virginia. Princess Joy L. Perry writes with heart and honesty, showing how love, family, and freedom are tested in the harshest of times. Conveying the grit and sorrow of slavery and indentured servitude.
Bless is taken from her mother to serve the slaveowner's daughter and must decide where she truly belongs. David, sold away from his family, keeps his feelings hidden while quietly longing for connection. Jack, an indentured servant, tries to change his future, but risks losing his sense of right and wrong in the process.
Their lives come together where they challenge each other and confront painful truths. As they struggle with their pasts and their choices, they each must decide what love and freedom really mean.
I really enjoyed this beautifully written, haunting, and captivating novel, filled with unforgettable characters. The emotional depth and historical detail pulled me in from the start, and I found myself thinking about the characters long after I finished. It's hard to believe this riveting saga of love, betrayal, and resilience is the author's debut—I'm excited to see what she brings us next.
Thank you to BookBrowse for the ARC of this riveting read.
Rated of 5
by Kathy W. (Clarion, PA)
An important read for everyone I received this ARC book, "This Here is Love", from BookBrowse. This is a vital book that every Caucasian should read. The author, Princess Joy L. Perry brings to life a world of slavery not written about in books. While this book is called a novel, it felt real to me, so much so that I had to regularly put the book down & walk away from it because of all the feelings it evoked in me. Is it disturbing? Yes. Might it trigger some people because it talks about rape and abuse? Also yes. But it is so beautifully written that I am so very glad I read it. This is NOT a book that leaves you after reading it.
We all have our own definition of love. It's personal. Sometimes we interpret love as just a selfish kindness shown. But if that is all we have...
Rated of 5
by Diane S.
Beautiful Writing, Riveting Plot, Unforgettable Characters The mark of a great book for me is to be so riveted by the writing, the plot, and the characters that I can’t stop thinking about it. This Here Is Love is one of those books.
The author depicts the abject cruelty, brutality, and heartbreak experienced by enslaved people in Virginia in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. It is a story of sorrow, loss, anguish, survival, and ultimately love told through the lives of two enslaved people, Bless and David, and their master, Jack, an indentured servant. The writing is beautiful—engrossing and lyrical, with vivid descriptions. The plot is so compelling that it’s hard to put the book down, and the characters (especially Bless and David) are unforgettable.
This Here is Love would be a perfect choice for book clubs interested in historical fiction. I’ve read many novels about enslaved people, but all have taken place in the 19th century. In This Here Is Love, many enslaved individuals remembered where they came from and who they left behind when they were taken. This time period is a new perspective for me and added to my knowledge base.
Rated of 5
by Charla Wilson
Hauntingly Beautiful but Sad This is a story about the awful things that human beings are capable of doing to other humans. But, it also the story of determination, resilience, and the power of love. It follows the lives of Bless, Cassie, and David who are all slaves. It is also the story of Jack, Jeffrey, and Ethan who were the white men that held all the power over Bless, Cassie, and David’s lives. One of these white men still has a little good left inside him, but the question is what will it take to open his eyes to the truth and if he does take responsibility for his actions, will he do anything about it?
Rated of 5
by Deborah G. (Black Mountain, NC)
Love and Life in Slavery Times Princess Joy L. Perry's first novel, This Here Is Love, is the work of an accomplished writer weaving the stories of colonizers, indentured servants, and slaves in colonial Virginia. As these individuals form families that grow and change over the span of less than two decades, Perry focuses on promises kept and broken, the risks of extending trust, and the meaning of love. Never a fan of historical fiction, I at first questioned if the relationships portrayed were authentic to the period. In the end, her depiction of the interplay of stark choices and emotions parents encountered in bearing and raising children and children faced in becoming young adults forming friendships and partnerships—both business and personal—won my unequivocal admiration. Masters/Mistresses, slave traders, servants, slaves, and freedmen all come to life as complex people, not stereotypes, showing us how life and love may have been and, indeed, continue.
Rated of 5
by Helen P. (Lynn, MA)
Heartbreaking, haunting, history THIS HERE IS LOVE will captivate you from the first page as you follow slaves and indentured servants seeking a path to freedom. The characters are authentic and SO earnest in their plan to seek their freedom as their selfish plantation owners think only of revenue while breeding and treating their captives as property for profit. Every character draws you into their story with dignity, hope, and acceptance to their plight.
At times this book is difficult to read and know what they endured by their masters. Realizing how their capture cemented them to this life in
1692 and beyond. was upsetting. As I read this novel, I was struck was by the masters'' perceptions that they were not bright, how the workers had to subjugate their needs and fawn over their owners who thought so little of them. This book is written with respect for each character and offers insight into the courage of these slaves as they coped with the owners lack of humanity.
I am amazed that this was Joy Perry's debut novel. This book seemed very important to her to share this shameful history with the reader. I look forward to her next project.
I am astounded that this is Joy Perry's first novel. Beautifully written with this history. I look forward to her next project.
Rated of 5
by Patricia L. (Seward, AK)
This Here is Love This Here is Love is a beautifully written and, at times, difficult to digest story of the slave trade during the late 1600's to early 1700 Virginia. Princess Joy L. Perry has created memorable characters whose experiences, as slaves and slave traders, more clearly defines the time and place.
Bless and David are owned by Jack Crewe. Their separate journeys to Crewe's Way Station are brutal. As long as they do Jack's bidding on the 'innovative' slave trader's way station and work the farm, Bless and David's existence could be a reprieve from their previous lives. Yet their real value to Jack is an invisible noose around their necks.
Jack Crewe arrived in Virginia from Ireland in the hold of The Venture. His father and pregnant mother were seeking a way out of poverty. Jack witnessed cruelty and heartbreak that would shape his future similar to Bless and David. But his skin color provided a different path.
"Men understood things that boys did not: Being the "richest nigger traders," or even a middling slave jailer, had to cost somebody something. Greatness had to cost somebody something. …Jack, would have to learn that prosperity came at the expense of those Negro boys and not his own."
Perry's telling of this time period is both gritty and elegant. This Here is Love is highly recommended for those who seek to understand the past with a wide view and use that understanding to make the present better for everyone.
Rated of 5
by Barbara B. (Harlingen, TX)
This Here Is Love In her novel Princess Joy L Perry makes readers believe her characters are real people. Real people she knows and loves as family and friends.
In 1619 Jack sails to America with his family and other indentured people. He has hope. Odofoley sails to America on a slave ship. She has no hope .Both grow up struggling to find love and security.
Their stories are told in alternating chapters .As the years pass and the number of people entering their lives increase so do the number of chapters. .Chapters were titled with the names of the people in the episode. I admit I often had to pause "now who are these people".
Princess Joy's beautiful writing set me in a place and with feelings I did not expect. Each reader will have to decide if there are any happy endings.
Rated of 5
by Stephanie K. (Glendale, AZ)
Sorrow Upon Sorrow While the conditions that the characters lived under were worse abuse than the animals suffered, the people of "This Here Is Love" by Princess Joy L. Perry somehow kept their dreams and built their lives, nonetheless.
Seventeenth-century slavery in America is graphically and poignantly shown in this novel that literally pulls no punches. I admired the way in which the author took us through the big sorrows and tiny joys of the many individual slaves. I was in tears time and again over the ruthless way nearly all Africans were treated in the 1670s, whether having their money, lands and possessions stolen or their trust, belief and innocence.
The enslaved people who occupy the pages of the book win over our minds and hearts effortlessly. Their resilience and courage will inspire anyone who reads this account, and the characters themselves will stay with you a long time.
Rated of 5
by Patricia S.
A Powerful Novel Set against the turbulent backdrop of late 17th- and early 18th-century Virginia, This Here is Love by Princess Joy L. Perry is a searing historical novel that explores the entangled destinies of four families. With a particular focus on two enslaved individuals, Bless and David, and the enslaver Jack Dane/Crewe, Perry crafts a narrative where childhood traumas cast long shadows over the lives and choices of her characters.
The emotional landscape of this novel is both vast and intimate. Perry excels at rendering her characters with remarkable depth. Each is portrayed in a nuanced and authentic manner. Perry's characters are flawed, sometimes unlikeable, and always profoundly human. The reader is drawn into their joys, sorrows, moments of tenderness, and eruptions of fury in world engulfed in the horrors of slavery.
As the lives of Bless, David, and Jack progress and become intertwined, Perry's storytelling shines. The convergence of their fates is handled with a deftness that keeps the reader engaged and invested. The prose is evocative and immersive, drawing the reader into the physical and psychological realities of the era.
"This Here is Love" is an unflinching examination of slavery's brutality, depicting violence and its lasting physical and emotional scars. The novel explores identity, love, and the enduring resilience of the human spirit. It is not for those seeking a light, escapist read—rather, it is a powerful, thought-provoking work that demands reflection.
"This Here is Love" is a testament to the complexities of history and the indomitable nature of hope. My thanks to W.W. Norton & Company and the author for providing an Advanced Reader Copy.
Rated 
of 5
by Stephen B. (Richburg, NY)
A Complex Work of Historical Fiction Princess Joy L. Perry's This Here Is Love is a complex work of historical fiction set in 17th-century Virginia, a time when the lines between freedom and bondage were brutally drawn. The novel follows three characters—Bless, a young, enslaved woman searching for a sense of agency; David, the son of a freedman desperate to keep his family safe; and Jack, a Scots-Irish indentured servant whose choices blur the line between survival and betrayal.
The book's greatest strength lies in its language. Perry writes with lyrical intensity, often capturing the harsh beauty of Tidewater Virginia in prose that feels both poetic and precise. Her characters are fully human, filled with longing, fear, and flashes of hope, which gives the story a deep emotional pull. Readers will find themselves invested in Bless and David's struggles, in particular, and the ways they fight for dignity in an unforgiving world.
Yet the novel can be difficult to read. The pacing is deliberately slow, and Perry does not shy away from the violence and cruelty of the era. While this honesty gives the book power, it may overwhelm some readers. Ultimately, This Here Is Love is moving and ambitious, though not always easy to embrace.
Rated of 5
by Emily B. (Ellicott City, MD)
Beautiful, devastating and real Wow. Just wow. I am still thinking about this one days after finishing.
Three intertwined stories of slaves, indentured servants, and masters in Virginia in the late 1600s-early 1700s. We travel through the years with the main characters of Bless (slave), David (slave of a freed father), and Jack (white indentured servant turned slave master) who face impossible situations and irreparable decisions.
The characters were honest and true, and the events so very real. And oh boy, the author did not hold back in her depiction of slavery in the U.S. - rightfully so and to all our benefit. Now more than ever, we need to be reminded of the brutality and devastation that laid waste to individuals and families of Black slaves.
This was not a light read;
instead was full of brutal and gut-wrenching storytelling with harsh but so beautiful writing. Each betrayal was met with another character showing deep love and care, even in the face of unfathomable circumstances.
Needless to say, the book was deep and thought-provoking. Through her writing, the author seemed to be asking the reader, what would you do? How would you survive? What lengths would you go to for the people you love?
I struggled with Part I of the book, as the characters had not yet come together and their stories seemed disjointed. Then Part II, the author hit her groove, everything came together and I was completely invested in the rest of the book.
TY BookBrowse for the ARC!
Rated of 5
by Carolyn L. (New York, NY)
Good Read The beginning of the book invites you to continue reading because the author begins by introducting one of the characters in active mode. As you continue to read you are now stuck. You don't want to put the book down. Your curiosity is at it's peak and you will not stop reading the book to pick up again until your appetite is satisfied.
Rated of 5
by Catharine L. (Petoskey, MI)
This Here is Love 4.5. I have read many historical novels about slavery, but the majority took place in the 1800's when slavery was well established. The setting for this novel was Tidewater, VA in 1690. Many of the slaves remembered their villages, culture, and freedom. They also worked alongside indentured servants.
The novel follows Bless, born into slavery; David, an enslaved child of a freed father, and Jack, a Scot-Irish indentured boy. This was a difficult read, as the author was so descriptive of the harsh . realities of that time. .Even the characters happy moments were fleeting. Jack, as a young boy, had a good soul, but to succeed in that world, softness was not allowed, and the reader watches Jack turn into a "master" until he has to makes a choice. I will think about these characters for a long time. There is no happy ending for anyone. It was a tough book to read but worth it.
Rated 
of 5
by Marijana B. (New York, NY)
Worth the read This is a very powerful story of slavery as told from the point of view of a few slaves, from children to adults, as well as a few slave owners. Although the story was very good, I gave it a 3 star review only because the reading was very slow - a lot of the ideas kept repeating and it took chapters and chapters to get the point across. Otherwise, I would recommend this book highly to anyone interested in learning more about the slavery and the atrocities and hardships of those times.
more...
