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BOOK REVIEW: A Bride Most Begrudging
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by Vickie McDonough Dancing Word Reviewer
Title: A Bride Most Begrudging Author: Deeanne Gist Publisher: Bethany House ISBN: 0-7642-0072-0 Genre: Inspirational/Historical/Romance
Lady Constance Morrow’s world is turned inside out when she is kidnapped in England and taken on a prison ship to the American colonies. She endures hunger and degradation like she’s never known and faces the humiliation of being sold as a tobacco bride. No matter how hard she tries to explain to the uncivilized men of the colonies that she’s that daughter of an earl, her cries fall on deaf ears amidst gales of laughter. Her only hope is that God will vindicate her. But why hasn’t he done so before now?
Drew O’Conner wants nothing to do with the tobacco brides. He lost the woman he loved and has no desire to endure that pain again. His brother returns with a young woman in tow to cook and help care for their young sister. When Drew wins Constance in a card game, he is stuck with two brides, neither of which he plans to marry. The townsfolk have other ideas about that.
Thrown together by outside forces, Drew and Constance are continually at odds. Drew has never met a more demanding, temperamental servant. And he hates that awful red hair of hers. He fears the woman is daft in the head with her constant demands that he contact her father—a father he seriously doubts exists. Drew distances himself and hopes to keep his heart safe from the intriguing Constance. When local Indians go on the warpath, will Drew lose all those he loves, even a feisty English lass?
When I received A Bride Most Begrudging in the mail, I should have put it at the bottom of my books-to-be-reviewed pile, but it just looked too interesting. I was not disappointed. I was amazed that this is Deeanne Gist’s first book. Her feisty heroine yanked me into the story from the start. Who couldn’t help but empathize with someone in Constance’s predicament, even if it was partly her own fault?
Though a woman of wealth and finery, Constance endures horrible degradation on the boat ride to America and lives to tell about it. Her faith is sorely tested.
I could easily relate to Drew’s unwillingness to open his heart to further loss. He lived in a time where some people didn’t name their children until they were three years old because they had lost so many youngsters and were afraid to become attached. The colonials fought many hardships, sometimes less-than-friendly neighbors, and Indians bent on retaking land that once was theirs.
A Bride Most Begrudging will take you on a fascinating journey to a time not often written about—17th century America. And Deeanne Gist does it with flair. You’ll learn and read about things you’ve never heard of before.
The author gives detailed descriptions of the clothing and lifestyle of the period, but it never bogs down the story. Backstory and the faith element are also defly woven in. Kick back and enjoy A Bride Most Begrudging, a mesmerizing step back to colonial America. ($12.99, 352 pages)
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