Pelican Bride by Beth White

Reviewed by Martha Artyomenko

Book Description:
It is 1704 when Genevieve Gaillain and her sister board a French ship headed for the Louisiana colony as mail-order brides. Both have promised to marry one of the rough-and-tumble Canadian men in this New World in order to escape religious persecution in the Old World. Genevieve knows life won’t be easy, but at least here she can establish a home and family without fear of beheading. But when she falls in love with Tristan Lanier, an expatriate cartographer whose courageous stand for fair treatment of native peoples has made him decidedly unpopular in the young colony, Genevieve realizes that even in this land of liberty one is not guaranteed peace. And a secret she harbors could mean the undoing of the colony itself.
Gulf Coast native Beth White brings vividly to life the hot, sultry south in this luscious, layered story of the lengths we must go to in order to be true to ourselves, our faith, and our deepest loves.
My Review:
This historical fiction book goes into a time periods that not many speak of. It is filled with much of the brutality of the time, between the natives of the land, the Frenchmen and those that carried grudges from another land. The romance moves swiftly, to the point of being unrealistic of our time period, but quite be liable in the setting it is placed. Men and women didn’t have time for romance, courting and other niceties, especially with plotting and intrigue afoot.
This tale is skillfully woven and intertwined with several characters which you want to follow. It is not the easiest read, and for sure not one that a sensitive reader would want to read. There is talk of wife beating, scalping, beheading, and whippings throughout. But the reader that is interested in a historical time not often spoken of, and they want a truly fascinating tale, this is it. It kept me spellbound while I read it!
I had not read books by this author previously, but I will seek her out again. She did a fantastic job, even when she claims to have stretched history a bit.
This book was provided for review by NetGalley and Revell publishers. The thoughts are my own and I was not paid for them!