The Pelican Bride by Beth White Book Review

 // The Pelican Bride //

By Beth White

{Review By Bethany}

Book Title: The Pelican Bride

Series: Gulf Coast Chronicles // Book #1

Author: Beth White
Source: Revell Review Program
Genre: Christian Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 367
ISBN: 0800721977
Publisher: Revell
Publication Date: April 15th, 2014
Rating: Two out of five stars

// Book Synopsis //

Taken From GoodReads

"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."

// Bethany's Book Review //

 

I had heard about this book last year, and seeing how it looked interesting, I really looked forward to it's release and eagerly requested to review it once the opportunity came to do so. I was very excited to be able to read this book. I just adored the feminine white cover, and hoped that the story itself would be just as lovely as the cover. While the story was beautiful-both the writing style and characters were very nice and well-planned out-I just felt like there were two main things that kept me from enjoying this novel.

I'm going to be really honest here and say I didn't like this book. While there were only a few small things that lead to this, I'd have to say the number one thing for me that really made this book more of a "chore" to read than a delight, was how slow it was for me. It took me over a week to finish this book, since every time I was able to read I just didn't want to read it, and almost had to make myself finish it. About half way through the novel I really felt like I wasn't going to enjoy the rest of it, after continually trying to give it another chance and see if I changed my mind on it; which never happened. So I ended up scanning the last half of the book as an alternative to not finishing it, which I'd probably have done had I not been required to review it. Honestly, I was sad that I had to review it, as I hate having to write an honest, yet negative review of a book. I also really didn't want to discourage the author with a negative review, as I feel lots of people will enjoy this book-I just feel like it wasn't the right match for me.

As I said, I really felt like the story line was drawn out and while it did have a very intricate story line that involved several main characters, I just felt like the whole story was very slow. Also, I felt like I just couldn't connect with the characters, which is the second important factor that lead me not to enjoy this book as much as I wanted to. Another thing I found different was the relationship between Genevieve and Tristan. They literally got married as a spur-of-the moment type decision and immediately the next morning Tristan left for duty and from that point on there was very little of the story where they were together. I just found it odd that the main characters weren't together as much, especially since they'd just gotten married, and I almost felt like the timing for their hasty wedding could have been planned in a more wise manner instead of a hasty decision that may have lead to a bad start for a life-long marriage.

However there were several aspects of this book that I did enjoy such as the several intricate characters and the Christian influence in the story. However, sadly for me the aspects that I didn't like in this novel far outweighed the good ones.

While I may have come across as a reader who really hated this novel, that isn't the case. I did find things I enjoyed in this novel, but for me the things I didn't like were much more than the things I did like. However I in no way wish to discourage the author or say that this book should be avoided. I felt that for me personally, this wasn't a good match with my reading taste. However that in no way means that you shouldn't give this book a try! After all, everyone's personal reading tastes are different and all of them vary, so while I didn't enjoy this book as much as I'd have liked, I do know that there are lots of people out there who would absolutely love this book. So I encourage everyone to give this book a try, and not avoid such an opportunity just because I didn't like it, as I know several ladies who did enjoy this book.

 

D I S C L A I M E R :: I received a free copy of The Pelican Bride by Beth White from the publisher to review. I was not paid to write this review, nor required to write a good review, if I didn't like the book. All the thoughts expressed in my review are honest and unbiased.