The Pelican Bride
Thank you to Flemming H. Revell Company for providing me with a copy of this book to review.
I put this one down after getting through 58% of it, and even then I was debating whether or not to put it down. My final verdict was that this book just wasn’t for me. It’s not a bad book by all means. It had some downsides but also its strong points, so it’s difficult to judge and I think 2.5 would be a safe way to say that I’m really on-the-fence with this one.
“The Pelican Bride” does a marvelous job of creating an atmosphere of New France and the mindset of the time period, from the characters’ actions to the way they talk and the descriptions of how they live/dress. The names were also very fitting. But even with all of this going on I was able to form some sort of emotional connection only with Genevieve’s younger sister, Aimee. And even then “emotional connection” would be a stretch – it was more of an “emotional response” that was building until finally triggered when Aimee had the falling-out with her sister. She was written to be a complicated, emotional character, one that would, at times, seem immature or annoying, but other than her I didn’t feel the same emotional reaction with any of the other characters.
The story line took some time to get into as well as some time for it to pick up and the characters’ names weren’t that easy to memorize and associate with them at first, so from the point of view of the book’s pacing it was a tad off for me. And even with the events which occurred to add flavor to the story, overall, it was a somewhat disengaging read. The writing itself, though, is wonderful. A perfect blend of dialogue and description, the world of New France and the characters really came alive through the writing. It flowed wonderfully.
In short this book will appeal to a certain time of reader, one that not only prefers this genre but is also either more forgiving when it comes to a slower plot or is more patient than I, depending on circumstance. Christian fiction, blended with historical fiction, seems to be not my thing and thus I leave this book with a rather undecided verdict. Let the more engaged/patient reader draw one for themselves.
