I’m getting more selective in the books I choose to review. This one wasn’t my usual choice, but something about it drew me to accept the review invitation. I’m glad I did. Tidewater Bride is a wonderful story that kept me captivated to the end.
Tidewater Bride doesn’t follow the typical romance formula. There’s no cute meet because the love interests already know each other. It’s not even a case where they know each other but hate each other. No, theirs is a slow romance that develops over time. It further deviates from the formula when they get together but that’s not the end of the story.
I think the secret to Tidewater Bride is that it’s not just a romance. It’s a well-researched look into colonial times that happens to have a love story.
Historical fiction is my genre of preference, but so often I can’t make it through books because it’s so obvious that the author failed to grasp the time period. They plop modern characters into a historic setting, insert a few cool trivia facts they learned, and run with it. But a proper historical fiction book requires an in-depth understanding not only of the wardrobe and meals of the times, but the behaviors and customs and thought processes. Tidewater Bride does that. Laura Frantz went way beyond the surface to truly capture the people and places of the 1600’s. She includes a grittiness that is often missing in romances. She also includes faith elements that are integrated into the characters’ lives and are congruent with the times.
Although I wasn’t familiar with Laura Frantz, I see that she’s the author of many historic romances. I look forward to reading more.
If you’re looking for a book to transport you in time and hold you there until the last page, you’ll want to check out Tidewater Bride.
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Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. Opinions expressed are my own.
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Thanks for the review of “Tidewater Bride”. Laura Frantz is one of my favorite authors from my local Georgia library, mainly because of her focus on the U.S. colonial period. She and I have exchanged several emails about aspects of her writing relevant to DAR members. I’m not sure my library will have this, though, because their purchase of new fiction, especially Christian fiction, is almost at a standstill for 2021. Maybe they will have the e-book! I’m glad you’ve found another good author to read!
I’ve always leaned towards late Victorian era through the 1930’s, but this has stirred my interest in reading more from the colonial period. Which is your favorite Laura Frantz book?
HI. Thanks for asking about other books by Laura Frantz. I liked “The Colonel’s Lady” because I thought the story of living in a fort in the wilderness of Kentucky was so interesting. I also liked “A Bound Heart”–partly set in Scotland and partly in colonial America. “An Uncommon Woman” is interesting in telling the story of a settler stolen and raised in an Indian Tribe. She also has a trilogy called The Ballantyne Legacy and is a winner of several awards, including the Christy for “The Lacemaker”. So many good reads–a dozen books, mostly around the time of the American Revolution.
I like to read the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, too! Lately many of my reads are of The Great War.