Belle Haven

“This is one of the best Romance books I’ve read.” - NetGalley reviewer

“One of those “can’t put it down” books of nostalgic proportions. The author really knows how to spin a story and keep a secret; that is, keep the reader guessing, splashing and sprinkling surprizes and twists along the way when least expected.” - NetGalley reviewer

”Jaye Burke has a great writing style.” - NetGalley reviewer

A beautiful story about the tender love between Venice and Etienne, the Great War that separates them, and how her lifelong attachment to the family’s summer home, “Belle Haven,” will mean her survival.

1916
Venice Arial is a product of the elite social class of New Orleans. At twenty, Venice must obey the rules of social duty her cruel mother sets, including going through with an arranged marriage to a man she barely knows. The golden days of her youth are being stripped away, and her only escape is the family’s summer home on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain—her beloved Belle Haven.
When Venice spends the last weeks of summer at Belle Haven, her structured life is thrown off course when she meets a poor local boy, Etienne Armand. He shows her a carefree life, how to have fun, and what it’s like to fall deeply in love. But to her mother, North Shore locals are low class, and a boy like Etienne is forbidden. Should Venice return to her palatial prison in New Orleans and marry her mother’s choice?

1991
Seventy-five years ago, Venice Arial made a decision that altered her life and future. Her fading memories are all she has left, and at ninety-five, her turbulent story must be told. She had known great love and lived through the Great War, but she also experienced selfish greed and cruel deception from the people she held most dear—after all, it was the harsh reality of her life.