A Bride Most Begrudging

I am behind on my book reviews. I don't know why I love writing these so much. I finished "A Bride Most Begrudging" by Deeanne Gist. She is a new author to me as most of the authors I read are:) This is yet another Christian fiction/romance book.

Background: During the colonial period, England was having a difficult time trying to populate the colonies. Therefore, they developed a practice of selling brides from England to the tobacco farmers for 120 pounds of tobacco. The term "tobacco brides" was coined as unmarried spinsters and widows volunteered. But with brides becoming more and more rare, the English began selling female criminals and on several occasions women who had been kidnapped. This was just such the case in "A Bride Most Begrudging."

Synopsis: Constance is a young women of privilege, and unlike other women of her stature, had become educated in science and mathematics. She hopes to have success with a career in mathematics, which is not a highly acceptable for women. But, instead she ends up on a boat to the colonies, kidnapped, and forced to be sold as a tobacco bride.

Drew O'Connor is only looking for a woman to cook and clean for his family and servants, not a bride, but ends up with the feisty Constance as his wife who knows nothing about the life of a tobacco farmer. Both must learn how to accept the other and survive in the yet untamed land of Virginia.

The beginning of the book was slightly annoying to me. The first half deals with the banter between Drew and Constance, and at times, I found the dialogue and scenes quite silly. Although, I did get more into the book the second half as the characters began to grow and develop. The book is a true romance novel pulling at your heart strings every chance it gets. Sometimes, I had to put to book down because of its frustrating pattern of events. The book was fairly predictable but aren't most romances? If you enjoy a good heart-jerking love story, this book will not disappoint. It's also a fairly good period piece bringing in several historical events happening during the building of the colonies.

I also finished "Looking for Cassandra Jane" by Melody Carlson and am now reading "Dark Star: Confessions of a Rock Idol" by Creston Mapes. Look for one or both of those reviews soon.