OR

Kindle Price:	$2.99
Sold by:	Amazon.com Services LLC

Promotions apply when you purchase

Add an

audiobook with Audible narration for $7.49

Audiobook Price: $7.65

Save: $0.16 (2%)

Read with our free app

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Follow the author

Rachael Huszar

Follow

Then Came the Thunder (Three Willows Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Rachael Huszar (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

19

Book 1 of 3: Three Willows

See all formats and editions

To its residents, the little town of Three Willows might seem as close to Heaven as it’s possible to get here on Earth. The community is abundant and peaceful, despite being surrounded by the unforgiving deserts of New Mexico and with the frontlines of the War Between the States raging just a few hundred miles further north.

But the impact of the war hasn’t escaped everyone. Jessalyn Joy, the town’s school teacher, watched her husband leave for the war, but return in a box - and ever since, she’s been struggling to find her place and purpose in a town that reminds her constantly of what she lost.

That changes when a stranger stumbles into town. Samuel Brooks, a deserter from the Union Army, is making a pilgrimage to Three Willows to fulfill a promise to a fallen comrade. Reluctantly taking him in, Jessalyn finds herself infuriatingly drawn to the sharp-witted stranger.

Their bond grows when a mysterious creature begins brutally slaughtering the town’s livestock. Determined to investigate, Jessalyn leads Sam and her friends in following a trail of clues that soon threatens to uncover the dark, unremembered history of Three Willows - and a terrible secret that some will kill to protect.

Then Came the Thunder is the gripping first installment of the Three Willows series - a tender historical romance interwoven with a thrilling supernatural mystery that fans of Diana Biller and Dana Schwartz will find impossible to put down.

Book 1 of 3

Three Willows
Print length

187 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publication date

July 2, 2021
File size

2257 KB
Page Flip

Enabled
Word Wise

Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

Enabled
See all details

Report an issue with this product or seller

All 3 for you in this series See full series

See included books

Total Price: $10.97

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Then Came The Thunder by Rachael Huszar is a fantasy novel set in the nineteenth century. Jessalyn Joy is a teacher, mourning her husband who died in a war. She lives in the small, quaint town, Three Willows, situated in the middle of a desert. Samuel Brooks, a stranger with a secret, comes to Three Willows to make a fresh start. But something is killing the livestock there, and soon, it becomes clear that the town has a secret of its own.

I loved how the author so brilliantly took a small town, added lovable characters, and mixed them all together with a nice mystery. The pace of the plot was perfect. Not too slow that it would make me lose interest, and not too fast that it would overshadow the characters. Although the fantasy part kicks in in the second half, the first half made me fall in love with the characters.

It seems the author fleshed out the characters from real life people. They were so grounded, and their struggle with emotions seemed so real, it made me root for all of them. It would be hard for me to choose a favorite character because I feel each of them had a role to play that gave a sense of closure to the story in the end.

The entire setting of Three Willows and the bond everyone shared with each other made me feel all warm and snug. It is a place I would love to live in. Every scene is so brilliantly executed by the author and life of the people described in such a manner that I would have loved to read about how they go about their day.

If there was anything I feel could have been improved, it was the fantasy part. I wish some more pages were spent on it. I don't want to say anything more about it as I don't want to spoil it for other readers. But there will be more books in this series so maybe we'll get to know about it then.

Overall, it was an amazing read. If you're looking for a feel-good story, go for it. Highly recommended!"

- Rohit Rawat, Reedsy Discovery

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B095297WM3
Publisher ‏ : ‎ (July 2, 2021)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 2, 2021
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2257 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 187 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #1,943,552 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #162 in History of Women in the American Civil War
- #1,808 in Historical Fantasy Fiction
- #4,326 in American Historical Romance (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
19

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Rachael Huszar

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Rachael Huszar kept her life steeped in stories from a young age, and she began her own journey in story-making when she reached adulthood. In the time since, she has taken up swimming, roller skating, and consuming tabletop RPG streams. She spends the bulk of her time with her dog, Silo, and works full time as a designer in Dallas, Texas.

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5

19 global ratings

1 star

0%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Reviews with images

See all photos

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Sam Kozimor

Engaging, Fast-Paced Historical Fantasy Debut Novel

Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2021

Verified Purchase

Then Came the Thunder is a highly entertaining Western Fantasy set in a picturesque ole’ west town of Three Willows in the New Mexican Territory in 1862. We follow our fierce and whip-smart female protagonist Jessalyn Joy as she navigates the recent loss of her husband and begins to investigate the strange livestock attacks that are threatening her small town. Not to mention that the mayor has forced Samuel, an annoying (but also kinda maybe charismatic and ruggedly handsome?) boarder, into her home. What is a tough, stubborn schoolteacher to do except rope him, the new reverend, and one of her students into her sleuthing shenanigans?

I was worried that this book might be kind of corny, as sometimes Westerns are, but it was anything but! Although, it was not without its comical moments (thanks Reverend Roger). I appreciated the characters’ more formal Western tone of speech and the story’s incredibly fast paced plot with an abundance of snappy dialogue; give me all the Jessalyn and Samuel banter any day of the week.

I wish some of the big reveals had been a bit more drawn out, just so I had a little more time to sit in them and soak in all the emotion. What can I say except that I wanted this engaging story to last a little bit longer?

Highly recommend y’all pick up Then Came the Thunder this summer! I’m definitely looking forward to more adventures and to see how the supernatural/mythical aspects further play out and wreak havoc in the next two installments of the Three Willows trilogy!

Happy Trails, readers!
*I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Impressive new author

Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2021

Verified Purchase

This is a crisply written, compelling story. There familiar elements here, but so many sharp angles and intriguing threads that I wasn't sure what to think. I was uncomfortable through the whole book. This young author will not allow you to become complacent! I had a blast reading this book, in no small part because of the economy of words and the generous supply of plot twists. Very impressive style for a new author.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Kelsey Berryhill

Great, fast paced, enjoyable read. Highly recommend!

Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2021

Verified Purchase

Honestly, this ticks off a lot of my boxes for things I like: well-researched historical fiction, snappy and smart dialogue, Things That Aren't As They Seem, and a dash of a fantastical element (and I'm always down for a scene in a records room). I read this in one sitting (during a thunderstorm even - how appropriate). And while I do wish that some of the reveals and the ending were a bit more drawn out, this was still great, fast-paced, and enjoyable. I do hope that the next book comes sooner rather than later!

Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2022

Amongst the Native Americans there is the legend of the Thunderbird but if you are like me from the other side of the globe that kind of cultural references go completely unnoticed. (In my case it was filed in a back drawer of ,my brain after having read a novel dealing with that legend 20 years ago and after a freshening by our friend Google). Maybe the author can start with a prologue where an old shaman is telling that story centuries before the start of the novel.

The novel itself starts off quite good but then gets a bit rushed leaving one with all kind of questions and in my case "rings a bell somehow". It would have worked better if it had been a bit longer and complicated.

Helpful

Hall Ways

An enticing series starter

Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2022

4.5 STARS. Audio Book Review: I was thoroughly enticed by the premise of Then Came the Thunder, book one in the Three Willows series by Rachael Huszar, and since the only way I’m able to read books these days is with my ears, I was happy for the chance to review the audio book. The author does a great job of setting the stage, introducing characters, and building a believable – but slightly disturbed – world in Three Willows, a town set somewhere in the southwestern desert of the United States. A town that doesn’t want you to know where it is.

Huszar’s style of introducing elements is subtle; if one were to dive in without reading the cover blurb, it wouldn’t immediately be obvious of the exact time frame of the story, and it wouldn’t be obvious that when town leaders boast they protect the town, they mean it quite literally. And what from? Even that element to the story is presented through a veil that reveals, but then relies on readers to use their imaginations to flesh-out the details. While this was an unusual tactic, it still is impactful and leaves readers ready for more – which is likely available in the second book in the series, Then Came the Fire, which published in February, 2022.

Readers of Then Came the Thunder must be patient for the story to unfold. Many characters are introduced, and by the conclusion of the book, it’s not clear how each will play a part in the bigger story. But Huszar is an intentional writer, and my expectation is that these minor characters will come to the forefront. (I made a list of every one of them, and my suspicions of each.)

One of those characters (though not a minor one) is Roger, a preacher. Wrapping up the book with a sermon was an interesting approach, but it works to re-set the tone, and then the book’s ending leaves lots of opportunities for how the story could go. My only quibbles with the book are the slow pacing and a few anachronisms that caught my ear because they didn’t fit for the Civil War era (for example, a reference to the Welcome Wagon). I wanted more of several plot elements, and I’m curious about what the sources of conflict and tension could be, so I will definitely be reading the next book.

ABOUT THE NARRATION: Jenn Lee’s narration complements Huszar’s text very well, and she does a terrific job in voicing the characters, male and female, young and older. I enjoyed her sassiness when voicing Mamie, a somewhat sultry member of one of the town’s founding families. Other than one word that clanked in my ear (familiar), her pronunciations were perfect and perfectly enunciated, and her pacing was spot-on. This was the first book I’d listened to on the Kobo app, and I have no complaints about the platform. I wouldn’t hesitate to again listen to the author or use this app for audio.

Thanks to Audiobook Promotions for providing me a download in exchange for my honest opinion -- the only kind I give.

OR

Buy for others

Buying and sending eBooks to others

Image Unavailable

Follow the author

Then Came the Thunder (Three Willows Book 1) Kindle Edition

Editorial Reviews

Review

Product details

Videos

About the author

Rachael Huszar

Customer reviews

Reviews with images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.