A Bride Most Begrudging

‘Eh. I had heard so much about this book and know several people to have read it and loved it and was expecting something extravagant, but it was just kinda okay. I read it in two days, so obviously it kept my interest. There were two or three chapters toward the end that were a fabulous read, but overall I felt that there could have been just so much more, but I guess I realize that this was the author's first book and could account for some, but I dunno. I did like it, don't get me wrong. It just wasn't the best of all the religious Christian Fiction that I have read.

I'm just going for the middle here. I really enjoyed the story and the plot itself. The writing is good and the characters feel multi-faceted. And I really loved the friendship with Mary and the child Sally.
And I love the cover!
And the tongue-in-cheek humor of including the skunk!

Why it didn't get five stars:
First, the focus on the physical. That is of course a part of the natural state of things, but these two seem to have started lusting for each other and enjoying fantasizing about deep kisses, etc, from moment one. Fantasizing about such things is dangerous if out of control. And, may I repeat, physical attraction is NOT the number one reason for getting married. It's one of many reasons. I felt that all else took side issue to their sexual tension, and that bothered me.

Second, historical. Gist did her homework and read about the time period...but there are obvious gaps. There should have been much more study done. First, the privy: no man in America at that time would think twice about any such thing as “wasting good wood”. England was facing a severe shortage of wood, and the forests of massive trees in America stunned them with the sheer vastness of the plenty. She would have been less likely to have had the privy in England! And not to provide one for the grandmother's needs would make him unfeeling indeed.

Second, the Indian attack. Not only did the Indian boy speak in a fashion of mingled short words and good King's English that didn't match in the least, within the same paragraph, but he spouts politically correct words about the claiming of the land and the logistics of the attack. The truth: The Powhatans had been friendly to the English and had been paid for the lands. John Smith and his men insisted on fair dealings. After Pocahontas's death, however, relations grew strained, both parties becoming discontent with each other. Opechancanough hated the English and had married into the Powhatan tribe from his own to the south. But the warriors didn't come up with overtures of peace. They attacked that morning, with their usual methods. They came out of the forests in scores, with their allies from other tribes (her version makes it sound like only the Powhatans attacked), in full war paint and feather. Mary's death would have been an instant scalping, not a blow to the head; Sally, as a child, might have been treated so, but there would have been no question as to whether or not Mary lived. They attacked in groups of two or three and more, even taking on the stockades. But it was a regular attack. The unexpectedness of it was that the English thought the Indians were friendly...not that they had to sneak up on the white man and pretend friendliness to get a shot at the back of his head. They were better warriors than that.

Others have commented about Connie's obsession with math. That really didn't bother me as much; it seems more realistic for a character to be ambitious beyond her generation than for history to change its course in other parts. I liked the idea of her being a mathematician. It was hardly far-fetched, compared to the education of the male scholars of the day.