Access Rose's Pledge (Harwood House, #1) Edited By Sally Laity Formatted As Hardcover

an historical novel with a lot of religious issues so really is not very my tape of novel, but Thanks to Netgalley and Barbour Publishing for the preview.
Step back into the early days of America, where Rose Harwood and her sisters become indentured to the highest bidders, When Roses new owner takes her deep into Indian Territory, a young frontiersman named Nate Kinyon tags along, hoping to save Rose from the machinations of a grubby trader and the appraising looks of young braves.
How much is he willing to payin dollars and senseto redeem the woman he loves And how much is Rose willing to sacrifice for his protection I cannot believe I actually finished it.


This book was tedious, predictable, and with flat, boring characters, The writing was supermarket romance in style without any bodice ripping, to keep it appropriate for the Christian market, I wish I had kept count of how many times the main character raised or lowered her lashes, or how many times her admirer was drawn to her "femininity and grace.
" This is a great story, I like the colonial historical fiction, I have an ancestor who moved at the end of thes/beginning of thes, near the Ohio River and he was killed by Indians one day while he stood in his doorway.
This book no put me in mind of that ancestor even though these events in this book took place aboutyears before my ancestor settled near the Ohio River actually near little Pigeon Creek.


Anyway, Rose was such a marvelous character and the other supporting characters were great, too,

The writing style sometimes seemed wordy and I scanned along through probably/or/rds of it, . Usually, I required such books to be rated automatically two, I though this book had more going for it than that,

I didn't particularly care for Mariah's character bookand I would be more interested in Lily's character book, but I will dutifully attempt bookIn the's in England, Rose Harwood was a very refined and privileged young woman taking care of her father and the family household.
In order to help her father get out of debt, Rose travelled to America to sell herself into indentured servitude for four years, Her two younger sisters followed her across the Atlantic Ocean, As they arrived on American soil each girl was auctioned off to the highest bidder going to different owners,

This story follows Rose's years during her indentured servitude, She was bought by a fur trader that was in charge of a Trading Post, As Rose's journey begins she was taken deep into the American wilderness to Indian Territory, She found herself facing rain, mud, freezing cold weather, doing the cooking on open fires, sleeping outdoors, crossing rivers, and watching out for Indians and other adventures including a romance and living among friendly Indians and helping others.


The story was filled with American History about indentured servitude, early frontiers men, fur trappers and the French and Indian War, The author is an outstanding storyteller with real live characters, The descriptions of the wilderness was vivid and the plot was so well written it gives the feeling as if you are in the middle of it all.
The story was fast paced and good from the first page to the end, A good read of Early American adventures with good history lessons, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to all, Roses Pledge is a moving, wellwritten story about one aspect of life during colonial America, Rose and Nate are complex characters with an intriguing mix of confidence and uncertainty, I learned a tremendous amount about the time period of which I knew very little, without the information being dumped into the story or presented in a dry, textbookish way.
The development of Mr. Smith Roses traderowner was fascinating, and I liked seeing him through Roses eyes, Her experiences with the Native Americans were also interesting from her first view of them through the end of the story, Her knowledge was based on here say and assumption, most of which were untrue, giving thought to modern day issues of prejudice and why it occurs.
Descriptions evoked the beautiful scenery as well as the brutally cold winter of the West, Dialect gave the flavor of the time without being distracting or difficult to read, There are a couple of incidents with the Native Americans, but the violence is neither gratuitous nor graphic, I look forward to reading the other books in this series, I liked the writing and the setting, but disliked the characters, I found Rose Harwood to be pompous, judgmental and hypocritical, and an allaround unlikable character, Instead of straightening her out a bit, Nate Kinyon climbed right up onto the highhorse with her, . . Bookin the series was definitely my favorite, Rose Harwood has pledged to save her father from debtor's prison, To that end, she sells nearly everything in the house that isn't nailed down, and when that isn't enough, she sells herself, . . as an indentured servant. Her two younger sisters, Mariah and Lily, join her aboard the ship to America, with the understanding that the three of them will be sold as a family.


However, at the auction in Baltimore, the ship captain auctions them individually, and the sisters are separated for the first time in their lives.
Rose finds herself the possession of a trader named Eustice Smith, and she is unceremoniously whisked off hundreds of miles west to the American frontier, to be Smith's cook at his trading post among the Shawnee Indians.


Rose's courage, and her faith, will be severely tested in the months to come,

A glowing Christian romance set in thes, before the French and Indian Wars,.I thought the book was great in how Rose quickly adapted to living in the American wilderness having lived in England as a merchant's daughter.
She hated that she and her sisters were split up when they arrived in the colonies as indentured servants, Her relationship with the old man who ran the trading post mellowed toward her as the weeks and months went by and saw that Nate had feelings for her.
She learned how to survive in the wilderness and brought both Nate and Mr, Smith closer to the Lord, I loved how she and Nate

became man and wife and adopted little Jenny, I have always enjoyed reading historical novels set in Colonial America, Plots where women had to rough it to survive on the frontier make those types of stories even more intriguing to me, Toss in the fact that the heroine was orignally from England and sold herself as an indentured servant along with her sisters to help keep her father out of debtor's prison, thus causing them all to be shipped off to the Americas.
. . Well, I'll just say that makes for a intriguing plot with major potential, The authors pulled this concept off well and I learned quite a bit about the French and the Indian raids on traders' posts during that perilous period in time.
The setting was so well done I was freezing right along with them while they were on the run, The authors' writing and "voice" were seamless, as if written by one person rather than two,

Rose's Pledge was an enthralling novel with excellent pacing, It held my attention so well I wanted to do little else but read, The hero was charming and the spiritual thread in the story was gripping and believable, I enjoyed getting to know the characters and can't help wondering whose story will be next, I'm thinking it will be Mariah's story, I can't wait to read that one because I'm already intrigued with the setting she is in and her delusions of romance and grandeur,

I appreciated how the authors' used Rose's story to show how sometimes God uses the most unlikely circumstances to bring about our greatest joy in life.
The authors also showed that sometimes God strips everything from us so that we'll depend on Him for everything and learn to see Him working in every situation in our lives.
Peril will cause even the most unlikely people to seek God's protection and help, and sometimes they will even turn their hearts toward Him, Wellwritten, Rose's Pledge has a solid plot with great pacing, believable characters, and an intriguing setting, But most of all, it is a story of deep and abiding faith, I loved it! Lovely

I procrastinated reading this book foryears because i didn't think it would be that good, I was so wrong this was an amazing book I have fallen in love with this series, A very unlikable heroine. Find the enhanced version of this and other reviews at: sitelink blogspot .

Rose's Pledge begins in Bath but quickly takes us across the sea and deep into the wilderness and the center of a political firestorm about to erupt into what we know as the French and Indian War.
Bonded in service, Rose Harwood has little choice in traversing miles into the unknown and soon finds herself living among the natives in a world she never imagined.
Over the course of the novel we witness both the evolution of her faith and initial outbreak of conflict in the Ohio River Valley,

First off, I have to say I jumped at the chance to review this book because a I love history and b Sally Laity and Dianna Crawford are the ladies who turned me on to inspired fiction.
Many authors in this genre focus on their message but these two ladies have mastered the art of weaving a remarkable amount of history into their novels in addition to their spiritual message.
There are strong religious themes in their work but I find the context of their stories on par with some of my favorite secular writers.
Needless to say I was excited to find the two had reunited and were collaborating once again,

That being said, the words 'indentured servant' set off warning bells, There are a lot of directions to take the concept but all the same, Laity and Crawford tackled the subject pretty extensively in The Gathering Dawn.
The bells grew significantly louder in a scene where Rose stood on the deck of the Seaford Lady as it arrived in port, The brief conversation she shared with Seaman Polk is more than a little reminiscent of the exchange between Susannah Harrington and Seaman Yancy Curtis on the deck of another ship upon their arrival in the colonies in the opening scene of the aforementioned novel.
Much to my relief the story took a new direction and bells soon ceased, Unfortunately, the respite was short lived, Not only does Nate Kinyon have the same solution to Rose's situation as Daniel Haynes did for Susannah but he is as inarticulate as his counterpart when it comes to propositioning the lady in question.
At this point it really didn't surprise me that the ladies themselves reacted in an identical manner and brushed off their suitors with the same level of indignation.


As a fan I found this recycling sharply disappointing but it begged the question as to whether or not I should downgrade my rating.
Having just completed Long Trail Home, a book where recycled material played a key role in determining my overall opinion, I wondered if it was hypocritical to let this one slide.
Ultimately I decided that as a reviewer I needed to mention the similarities but it would not factor in my rating of the novel, Before you start rolling your eyes be assured I struggled with this one, The simple explanation is that Long Trail Home paralleled other books in the Texas Trail series where Rose's Pledge resembles a completely different collection that was published nearly two decades ago.
Additionally, Rose's Pledge covers a significantly wider historic scope, the details of which provide more than adequate compensation for us older readers,

On the subject of content I want to mention the substory of Hannah Wright, She appears in a single chapter but I found her scenes to some of the most powerful of the entire novel, I wont lie, the imagery wont appeal to everyone, especially readers whose imaginations are as vivid as my own, Ever a fan of realistic depictions in literature, the graphic quality of these scenes appeals to my historian nature, White settlers and traders who pushed west of the established colonies traversed an invisible line, essentially their movements placed them in the middle of a war zone.
Tragically , many of these individuals were caught in the crossfire as England, France and assorted Indian nations vied for control of the territory, Hannah represents these individuals and the description of her experience was appropriately intense,

All things considered, I enjoyed Rose's Pledge and while I look forward to the next installment of the Harwood House series, it is not without trepidation.
Mariah's character draws comparison to Jane, the flighty marriage obsessed sister of Daniel Haynes and I don't know if I'll be as inclined to dismiss the rehashing a second time.
Recommended to fans of The Midwife of Blue Ridge and the Freedom's Holy Light series, .