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Blessed Be
Martha, a modest girl from an English village, is falsely accused of witchcraft during the reign of King James I of England, an era of religious intolerance, change, and superstition. When she flees her village, she hides in a Puritan community under a false name to evade the witch-hunter. However, as a free-spirited woman with conflicting spiritual beliefs, Martha finds the rigid rules intolerable and does her best to maintain a pretence. Her darkness is illuminated when she meets Jacob, but deceiving him pricks her conscience, and as they fall in love, things become more complex.
While Martha tries to overcome her challenges, she does her best to keep the witch-hunter out of her mind—but she has no idea how determined he is to find her.
While Martha tries to overcome her challenges, she does her best to keep the witch-hunter out of her mind—but she has no idea how determined he is to find her.
263 pages, Paperback
Published June 8, 2024
1 person is currently reading
4 people want to read
About the author
Jane C.R. Reid
11 books49 followersJane is a British novelist who is passionate about writing. Her aim is not just to entertain but also to inspire and provoke thought about life’s dilemmas and challenges through fiction. Spanning multiple genres, including contemporary, historical, fantasy, romance, paranormal, and alternate dimensions, her works are renowned for their layered characters, immersive worlds, drama, intrigue, and lyrical prose.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 3, 2025
Blessed Be by Jane C R Reid chronicles the journey of Martha, a village healer in the era of witch hunts. It is an emotional read and contains some awful graphic details, but that is the norm with historical fiction. I have read this author’s work before. In this engaging book, she again displays her extraordinary talent as a storyteller. I suspect this novel has not received the recognition it deserves. Get hold of this hidden gem and read it.
September 3, 2024
absolutely enjoyed this historical fic
fantastic historical fiction. The story starts with Martha, who works as a healer in her village, and her experience with Pickling, the husband of the woman she helps and also a prominent man in neighborhood. And the main villain of the story. So the witch hunt begins. I loved that this book was so easy to read and brief. Once I got into it, I had to finish. What I really really loved was that the author gave us such a good setup to root for Martha and the other women. I feel like the characters were well developed, I like how they were actually quite dynamic throughout the story. I would have liked a little more description of characters with first introduction of them, but it's a minor thing. I liked the romance so so much, and it wasn't too much. Perfect for historical fiction fans, and feminist by simply staying true to its time. Very enjoyable
fantastic historical fiction. The story starts with Martha, who works as a healer in her village, and her experience with Pickling, the husband of the woman she helps and also a prominent man in neighborhood. And the main villain of the story. So the witch hunt begins. I loved that this book was so easy to read and brief. Once I got into it, I had to finish. What I really really loved was that the author gave us such a good setup to root for Martha and the other women. I feel like the characters were well developed, I like how they were actually quite dynamic throughout the story. I would have liked a little more description of characters with first introduction of them, but it's a minor thing. I liked the romance so so much, and it wasn't too much. Perfect for historical fiction fans, and feminist by simply staying true to its time. Very enjoyable
July 15, 2025
This is a well written book. It has some hard things in it, since it is historical fiction and therefore unfortunately reflects the reality of the times. I liked the characters and I loved the ending.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
October 30, 2024
Blessed Be” is a deeply moving story set during the era of religious intolerance and witch hunts. Through Martha’s character, we witness the dark side of the period, as well as the resilience and strength of a courageous woman. The author has done an excellent job capturing the historical atmosphere, and the story balances romance with historical authenticity. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys emotionally rich, well-developed characters and historical drama.
September 14, 2024
Blessed Be
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4.5 rounded up to a 5
At a Glance:
“Blessed Be” by Jane C. R. Reid is a period piece set in the era of King James I of England. It follows Martha, a woman accused of witchcraft and her immediate family, particularly her mother and sister.
This book really surprised me—I wasn’t entirely sure what I expected, but this was quite the page turner. I really enjoyed it, and although I had a few issues with the book, it is overall outstanding.
The entire time I was reading it all I could think of was this was the Scarlet letter meets The Crucible.
What I liked:
I really liked the plot—at first when I read the blurb I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, but the plot is well-thought-out, and it hits everything you’d expect with a piece in this time frame.
I really liked a lot of the character development, particularly Esther and Martha, as they felt like real people. We’re given insight to nearly every character, and, while at times it jarred me because we swapped characters frequently, it let me connect with everyone. This is also written in 3rd person omniscient. It took me some adjusting, but once I got into it, I accepted it. I say this because it can seem like head hopping, but it was actually very intentional, and it worked for the novel.
Also, the attention to detail in the dialogue and the diction was truly mesmerizing. I didn’t realize just how many words were spelled differently in the past, and the usage of some old words like “poppycock” and “sniggering” (which I haven’t heard at least).
Lastly, another huge standout part to me is the imagery. I don’t think we get a ton of down-pat imagery, but when we do get it, it hits hard.
What I disliked:
My problems with this novel were minimal, and some are personal taste. First, the ending felt rushed. What was supposed to be a climatic moment took only three minutes of reading, and I would have loved if we could have stayed there in that tension.
While the dialogue was really well done, it did suffer from two things. First, because it was well done, when a moment felt out of a different age, it did feel extremely jarring. The best example of this is when a character exclaims, “What? No way!” This alone isn’t the issue, but the concern was the dialogue proceeding and following was accompanied by old English. So this broke immersion for me.
Similarly, there are times when an exclamation point is used, but it doesn’t make sense for the rest of the tone of the scene. The last thing that broke immersion for me is a repeated line throughout that is an internal thought that came from many characters.“In these trying times” or “In these troubling times”. Seeing it repeated through me off, but I want to emphasize this is probably personal preference.
Lastly, every scene ending and chapter ending felt like an awkward time to end. There's a good example towards the end where there is a great point to end the chapter, but then it continued with three lines of dialogue that didn’t seem necessary. The next time I picked it up required a rereading of the last page to get orientated.
Overall:
This was one of those novels I was not expecting to like as much as I did. I found myself thoroughly enjoyed and engaged throughout the entire book. I don’t know if the writing improved towards the second half or if I just grew to like the characters, but the longer it went on, the more I enjoyed it. . I was really impressed, and the author has clearly done a lot of work and research.
I would recommend this to:
If you’re looking for a novel that is old times, I think you would like this because it really does it. Everything I want. I would also recommend this if you’re looking for something that is a bit lighter on religion, but still set in the old days. The religion isn’t quite a bit. It’s just that it didn’t feel so overbearing.
(Note: edited the review for some grammar errors, don't use voice-to-text like me).
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4.5 rounded up to a 5
At a Glance:
“Blessed Be” by Jane C. R. Reid is a period piece set in the era of King James I of England. It follows Martha, a woman accused of witchcraft and her immediate family, particularly her mother and sister.
This book really surprised me—I wasn’t entirely sure what I expected, but this was quite the page turner. I really enjoyed it, and although I had a few issues with the book, it is overall outstanding.
The entire time I was reading it all I could think of was this was the Scarlet letter meets The Crucible.
What I liked:
I really liked the plot—at first when I read the blurb I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, but the plot is well-thought-out, and it hits everything you’d expect with a piece in this time frame.
I really liked a lot of the character development, particularly Esther and Martha, as they felt like real people. We’re given insight to nearly every character, and, while at times it jarred me because we swapped characters frequently, it let me connect with everyone. This is also written in 3rd person omniscient. It took me some adjusting, but once I got into it, I accepted it. I say this because it can seem like head hopping, but it was actually very intentional, and it worked for the novel.
Also, the attention to detail in the dialogue and the diction was truly mesmerizing. I didn’t realize just how many words were spelled differently in the past, and the usage of some old words like “poppycock” and “sniggering” (which I haven’t heard at least).
Lastly, another huge standout part to me is the imagery. I don’t think we get a ton of down-pat imagery, but when we do get it, it hits hard.
What I disliked:
My problems with this novel were minimal, and some are personal taste. First, the ending felt rushed. What was supposed to be a climatic moment took only three minutes of reading, and I would have loved if we could have stayed there in that tension.
While the dialogue was really well done, it did suffer from two things. First, because it was well done, when a moment felt out of a different age, it did feel extremely jarring. The best example of this is when a character exclaims, “What? No way!” This alone isn’t the issue, but the concern was the dialogue proceeding and following was accompanied by old English. So this broke immersion for me.
Similarly, there are times when an exclamation point is used, but it doesn’t make sense for the rest of the tone of the scene. The last thing that broke immersion for me is a repeated line throughout that is an internal thought that came from many characters.“In these trying times” or “In these troubling times”. Seeing it repeated through me off, but I want to emphasize this is probably personal preference.
Lastly, every scene ending and chapter ending felt like an awkward time to end. There's a good example towards the end where there is a great point to end the chapter, but then it continued with three lines of dialogue that didn’t seem necessary. The next time I picked it up required a rereading of the last page to get orientated.
Overall:
This was one of those novels I was not expecting to like as much as I did. I found myself thoroughly enjoyed and engaged throughout the entire book. I don’t know if the writing improved towards the second half or if I just grew to like the characters, but the longer it went on, the more I enjoyed it. . I was really impressed, and the author has clearly done a lot of work and research.
I would recommend this to:
If you’re looking for a novel that is old times, I think you would like this because it really does it. Everything I want. I would also recommend this if you’re looking for something that is a bit lighter on religion, but still set in the old days. The religion isn’t quite a bit. It’s just that it didn’t feel so overbearing.
(Note: edited the review for some grammar errors, don't use voice-to-text like me).
September 14, 2025
The beginning of this novel had my rapt attention – the life of Martha and her family in this little village, the growing hostilities of religious differences, the oppressive subjugation of woman through these farce witch trials, I was hooked from the very beginning.
Martha’s experience in the field that night, the consequence to an injustice done upon her, was such a powerful and heartbreaking section that really endeared me to her struggles. A kind woman who helped those around her, despite her struggles and their lack of appreciation, she was an amazing character throughout this whole book. Both her mother and sister were as well. All of the women in this book were such great characters.
While I adored the beginning of this book, I will not lie that the level of investment did not hold through the whole story. Her haste to depart post accusation and her reluctance at hiding among the Puritan community was a rather enticing change of events – the entire Puritan community had me very curious and eager to see her trying to hide among those who considered themselves ‘the purest of God’s children’. However, the set up didn’t quite pay off as much as I would have wished. It felt like we dipped our toes into this new world, Martha’s struggles and disgust with their ways, only for us to never really delve into the waters. We saw sparks of the underlining horrors in this new village, only for them to matter not in the end.
Her experience there felt rather surface level and her relationships – particularly the leading romance – felt rather bland. Jacob was a perfect foil to place Martha against – someone who had her same desire for freedom but was tied even harder to this strict religious lifestyle – but how I wanted there to be more to their relationship, more dynamic, more conflict, more just something. For a romance, there just wasn’t enough chemistry created between them, so when the ending came rushing in as quickly as it did, it all just rang rather hallow and slapped together.
My biggest critique, would be that this book lacked some needed depth when it came to the main romance, and felt rather clunky with its hurried ending. There were a few instances of a wrong name being inserted and missing quotations that made me stumble while reading, but overall was very well written. The historical setting, ten out of ten, was so well interlaced with the personal story of this family. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Martha’s experience in the field that night, the consequence to an injustice done upon her, was such a powerful and heartbreaking section that really endeared me to her struggles. A kind woman who helped those around her, despite her struggles and their lack of appreciation, she was an amazing character throughout this whole book. Both her mother and sister were as well. All of the women in this book were such great characters.
While I adored the beginning of this book, I will not lie that the level of investment did not hold through the whole story. Her haste to depart post accusation and her reluctance at hiding among the Puritan community was a rather enticing change of events – the entire Puritan community had me very curious and eager to see her trying to hide among those who considered themselves ‘the purest of God’s children’. However, the set up didn’t quite pay off as much as I would have wished. It felt like we dipped our toes into this new world, Martha’s struggles and disgust with their ways, only for us to never really delve into the waters. We saw sparks of the underlining horrors in this new village, only for them to matter not in the end.
Her experience there felt rather surface level and her relationships – particularly the leading romance – felt rather bland. Jacob was a perfect foil to place Martha against – someone who had her same desire for freedom but was tied even harder to this strict religious lifestyle – but how I wanted there to be more to their relationship, more dynamic, more conflict, more just something. For a romance, there just wasn’t enough chemistry created between them, so when the ending came rushing in as quickly as it did, it all just rang rather hallow and slapped together.
My biggest critique, would be that this book lacked some needed depth when it came to the main romance, and felt rather clunky with its hurried ending. There were a few instances of a wrong name being inserted and missing quotations that made me stumble while reading, but overall was very well written. The historical setting, ten out of ten, was so well interlaced with the personal story of this family. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
October 23, 2024
A great historical fiction novel. We follow Martha (a healer), her sister Esther and her mother Faith on their journey to escape a witch hunt. There are a series of unlikeable men in this story, but also some we might fall in love with.
The subject matter is mostly somber but there were a few moments that made me smile, like when Martha had to talk about her favorite.parts of the Bible.
I did struggle with the third person point of view changing between characters constantly, sometimes in the same paragraph. This made it a difficult at times to connect with the characters.
The subject matter is mostly somber but there were a few moments that made me smile, like when Martha had to talk about her favorite.parts of the Bible.
I did struggle with the third person point of view changing between characters constantly, sometimes in the same paragraph. This made it a difficult at times to connect with the characters.
October 20, 2025
Every time I read about witch hunts I am reminded how easy it can be for people to deflect their own guilt upon another. The accuser goes free and the innocent is burned at the stake. Beware of gossip in all forms.
I received this book free from the author, publisher, or other source. My only obligation is to provide a fair and honest review.
I received this book free from the author, publisher, or other source. My only obligation is to provide a fair and honest review.
July 15, 2025
Great book. This story is raw, emotional and told really vividly. It was exciting (dodging witch-hunters) and gives you food for thought (wrestling with faith). Its got historical grit and personal drama too. I loved the strong female leads. Must-read
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews