Monday, April 28, 2014

The Pelican Bride (Gulf Coast Chronicles, #1) by Beth White



She's come to the New World to escape a perilous past. But has it followed her to these far shores?
It is 1704 when Frenchwoman Geneviève Gaillain and her sister board the frigate Pélican bound for the distant Louisiana colony. Both have promised to marry one of the rough men toiling in this strange new world in order to escape suffering in the old. Geneviève knows life won't be easy, but at least here she can establish a home and family without fear of persecution for her outlawed religious beliefs.

When she falls in love with Tristan Lanier, an expatriate cartographer-turned-farmer whose checkered past is shrouded in mystery, Geneviève realizes that even in this land of liberty one is not guaranteed peace. Trouble is brewing outside the fort between the French colonists and the native people surrounding them. And an even more sinister enemy may lurk within. Could the secret Geneviève harbors mean the undoing of the colony itself?

Gulf Coast native Beth White brings vividly to life the hot, sultry South in this luscious, layered tale.







About The Author

Beth White's day job is teaching music at an inner-city high school in historic Mobile, Alabama. A native Mississippian, she is a pastor's wife, mother of two, and grandmother of one--so far. Her hobbies include playing flute and pennywhistle and painting, but her real passion is writing historical romance with a Southern drawl. Her novels have won the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award, the RT Book Club Reviewers Choice Award, and the Inspirational Reader's Choice Award.

Visit www.bethwhite.net for more information.






My Review: 

Like people through the ages, Frenchwoman, Geneviéve Gaillain has come to the Louisiana Colony more or less for religious freedom. Her father was murdered for his Huguenot Christian Faith, and Geneviéve was imprisoned for also shooting and killing a guard who was taking her father.
Escaping France and going to the colonies had to be a very brave thing for a young woman, she escaped prison with the help of a Priest and traveled to King Louis’s colony. She is also responsible for her younger sister, and rather spoiled young lady, Aimée. A girl that could use a good spanking at times, she sure causes her share of problems for all that know her.
Welcome to the exciting, and often-cruel new world, survival to an older age here sure seems to be very limited. Life is extremely hard, and dealing with nature, bugs, Indians, and lack of food. Imagine everyone’s surprise when they find that Ginnie is a baker, and a fine one at that.
There are several women who came to the colony in the hopes of making a successful marriage. They are at a place where men totally out number woman, and only a few will win the heart, or luck of marrying. At times they must have felt like a piece of goods on display. All is not happy in this harsh place, and what happens to some of these woman, can and does break them.
We find that we do not know who or whom to trust, one seems likely, but you had better think twice. Where a few who love and protect will do it to the death, others are just users. Come and enjoy this historical story, so much to think about, and see how this early colony in America lived and how they got established. This is a many faceted love story, with both happy and unhappy outcomes. Once you pick this one up you will not be able to leave it alone. Enjoy!

I received this book through Revell Publishers Blogger Tour, and was not required to give a positive review.


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