Gallant Knights and Fair Ladies - An Uncertain Choice by Jody Hedlund (2015, 4 stars)

An Uncertain Choice
Jody Hedlund
Zondervan
2015

* This book officially releases to the public on March 3rd, 2015. I received an advanced reader's copy, free of charge, from Zondervan in exchange for an honest review, which I have given.

Official Back Cover Synopsis:

Due to her parents' promise at her birth, Lady Rosemarie has been prepared to become a nun on the day she turns eighteen. Then, a month before her birthday, a friend of her father's enters the kingdom and proclaims her parents' will left a second choice. If Rosemarie can marry before the eve of her eighteenth year, she will be exempt from the ancient vow.

Before long, Rosemarie is presented with the three most handsome and brave knights in the land. But when the competition for her heart seemingly results in a knight playing foul, she begins to wonder if the cloister is the best place after all. If only one of the knights the one who appears the most guilty had not already captured her heart.

If you get a chance, hop on over to Jody's BLOG and get to know her better. Would-be writers are fortunate in that she's willing and happy to share tips from her years of experience as a published author!

My Personal Thoughts:

I was very careful while reading An Uncertain Choice to bear in mind the audience for which it is really intended, that is, teenage girls. I was one myself and so it wasn't too far of a stretch to remember that period in my life when my little heart went pitter-pat over the romanticism of knights, kings, queens, and fair ladies. To be honest, my heart still does that every time I think of Ivanhoe.

It's rare, at least it feels rare, to find a Christian historic YA series. At least not one set during the Middle Ages. So I am delighted to find Ms. Hedlund branching out with her writing into other areas of history that are not based on American soil. She's trying something new and I'm pretty sure it's going to pay off. Why? Because I found An Uncertain Choice to be absolutely charming!


The heroine, Lady Rosemarie, has been protected from the influence of romance for the last four years of her life, ever since the death of her parents, because she knows she must go to the church upon her eighteenth birthday. Can you even imagine resigning yourself to celibacy like that? Before you even know what not being celibate means? But an old friend of the family discovers a loophole for her, one he hopes desperately that she will take, and so he brings three of his best and most valiant knights to attempt to win her hand. If she can fall in love and marry before her eighteenth birthday, she is released from the vow her parents made upon her birth.

Now comes the issue of choosing a knight. Sir Bennet, Sir Collin, and Sir Derrick are the noblest of knights, all with strengths and weaknesses. Having no skill or experience with men, Rosemarie finds herself growing fond of all of them, but she can only marry one, and so she must choose, all while in a turmoil over the illness plaguing the people of her land, and the cruelty and torture methods exhibited by her sheriff who neither respects her nor adheres to her wishes.

Rosemarie is a delightful character, fresh and lovely with a strong and steady faith, having already dedicated so much of her young life to the service of God and to the caring of the people in her small kingdom. She truly wants to put the good of her people ahead of herself, and that makes me admire her all the more, especially considering her youth. All the knights have different skills, talents, and personalities that would each endear themselves to a certain type of young woman. But for Rosemarie there really is only one choice, who I will not name, but who I'm sure the readers will guess almost immediately.

And there's where my one minor hint of frustration arises. There was no point in having three knights. The reader could literally guess everything that was going to happen, right down to the dastardly villain who crops up near the end of the story. But I knew who Rosemarie would pick, and I certainly knew which of the knights was the one at the very beginning who rode to the rescue when Rosemarie attempted to stop public torture in her village square. I knew who he was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, and so for her to spent 40 or so pages trying to figure out which knight he was, made the going a little bit slow for me because it was obvious.

However, this is not a book necessarily meant for my generation, but for a generation younger, and so I refuse to judge too harshly. This is teen fiction, and as such, it is excellently written. I do, however, wish there had been less talk of public torture and less description of torture devices and their resulting effects. My stomach is a little squeamish, and that almost felt too much for me to handle, particularly near the end. It made me want to shoom into the Doctor's Tardis, go back in time, and beat a few choice torture device inventors over the head with a mace. But that's just me.

An Uncertain Choice is a charming little book set in an era that doesn't get enough attention right now. I love the Middle Ages, sans torture devices, and I absolutely adore knights. So Ms. Hedlund really wrote a delightful winner. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that maybe she'll write a few adult novels in this same era now that she's given it a try in YA fiction! Also, I'm pretty sure that is meant to be a series judging by how the novel ends, so I'm expecting a sequel at some point!

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Book Review: Love Unexpected by Jody Hedlund (3.5 stars, 2014)

Love Unexpected by Jody Hedlund
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The story takes place in 1859, on Presque Isle, Michigan. With their steamboat under attack by fresh-water pirates, Emma Chamber and her brother Ryan jump overboard into the frigid waters of Lake Huron, praying for a miracle. Neither of them believe strongly in miracles anymore, ever since their mother died of starvation in Ireland and their father passed away after doing whatever was necessary for them to survive, including theft which then led him to drink. But lighthouse keeper Patrick Garraty spotted the sinking steamboat from his perch and rushes to save whoever he can, meaning Ryan and Emma. Befuddled by the loss of their passage, once again nearly penniless, Ryan must work locally in order to earn enough for their passage on a new ship, work which will take him at least a few months. Emma is left to her own devices, saddened that her brother is once again saddled with her as a burden, that is until Patrick Garraty and the local preacher, Holy Bill, approach her with a proposition. Patrick's wife just recently died and he is in desperate need of someone to watch his two-year-old son, Josiah, while he tends to the care and upkeep of the lighthouse. The only condition is that they must marry. After a moment of panic at the very notion, Emma agrees to Patrick's plan, having already taken a liking to the toddler and thrilled at being able to release her little brother from his responsibility in protecting and providing for her. Now Patrick and Emma must work together to form a new life for themselves and for little Josiah, but their fledgling relationship is tested by local gossips and the rumor mill, raising doubts in Emma's mind about the suitability and faithfulness of her new husband.

This is my third Jody Hedlund book, and the start to a brand new series by her, entitled Beacons of Hope. Ms. Hedlund enjoys writing about lighthouses, particularly those in the Michigan area run by female lighthouse keepers, and so she based Emma and Patrick off two real people, Patrick Garraty and his wife Mary Chambers. The historicity of the novel is fascianting. Even Holy Bill, an eccentric and amusing character, is based off a real individual. I always find that using historic people and places, doing your research as a writer, always enhances historic fiction, and Ms. Hedlund does one of the finest jobs out there when it comes to her research.

As to the characters themselves, I truly appreciated Patrick, both as a husband and as a father. He has a speckled past, full of mistakes and poor choices, but he turned his life around with God's help and refuses to return to his past sins. He is a gentle and loving father, an affectionate husband, and a dedicated lighthouse keeper, determined to keep the lighthouse going every night, even when he's so tired that he can barely stay awake. I struggle more with liking Emma, unfortunately. It's not that she's unlikeable, it's just that she makes errors in judgement. She chooses to befriend the nosiest, most mean-spirited woman in town, spilling her new husband's secrets in earnest to the woman, hoping for advice. Emma creates most of the problems in this book by her foolishness in trusting the wrong people who are obviously the wrong people from the start.

I deeply appreciate Ms. Hedlund's writing. She is skilled in her descriptions and her dialogue, painting very real and vivid pictures most of the time. I just wish, in this book, that Emma and Patrick had talked. A lot of the angst and turmoil could have been avoided with a few simple conversations. Emma constantly jumped to conclusions about Patrick: oh, he couldn't love her, she's plain, he's angry with her, he could never desire her, etc. All while it's obvious that Patrick adores her and is highly attracted to her. She even tries to leave because she assumes something she sees is true, that her opinion of it is right, and that a conversation with Patrick would be pointless. She's sure she's right, and so she runs away without talking to him. That's foolish and reckless. Communication is just as important in fiction as it is in real life, and I just wish that Patrick and Emma had communicated more.

On my rating scale, I would give Love Unexpected 3.5 stars. I'm rounding it up because the flaw is not in her writing, only in some of the character development and design. The book is a quick and simple read, enjoyable in many places, and one that most readers will love.

- I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review, which I have given.

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Book Review: The Preacher's Bride by Jody Hedlund (2010)

The Preacher's Bride by Jody Hedlund
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Elizabeth Whitbread desires to be of profound service to her family, her neighbors, and to her Lord. So when Sister Costin dies soon after the birth of her 4th child, Elizabeth's heart breaks, not only for the babe, but for the husband and three small children left behind. This being a strict, Puritan society during 1650s England, Elizabeth is bound by the laws of her town and make an unfortunate enemy of Mrs. Grew, a powerhouse of female influence upon her husband, Alderman Grew because Elizabeth refuses to back away from helping the Costin infant, even at Mrs. Grew's insistence. The babe, Thomas, struggles to survive, and it is only through the wet nursing of a woman of debatable character is he able to grow strong, all due to Elizabeth's influence and compassion for the family.

As for the husband, John Costin, he grieves the loss of his precious wife, Mary, but focuses all the harder upon his calling from God, to teach the Word, a thing not viewed favorably by the Anglicans since he has not been ordained as a minister of the Gospel. A lowly tinker by trade, John Costin is wise man with a heart for the Lord and he refuses to back away from his calling to preach. Tensions rise in England and King Charles II is placed back on the throne after Richard Cromwell fails in his role as Lord Protector, bringing Catholicism and strict adherence to the religion of the realm back into style. It is during these tenuous times that Elizabeth realizes she need not settle to marry a man she does not love, and John too understands that he could possibly find comfort in a woman's arms again, the arms of Elizabeth who endears herself to him more each day as she cares for his household and supports his teaching. But life is uncertain for an un-ordained minister who refuses to cease his preaching, and John's future is fraught with peril.

Jody Hedlund's books remain an absolute delight for me. I thought I could not love another of her books more than I loved Rebellious Heart, but I was wrong because The Preacher's Bride captured me utterly. Over the last few days I've tried to narrow down why I love the male characters that I do and it always comes back to two things. They are completely masculine, and they are usually devoted to the Lord in profoundly moving ways. I love ministers of the gospel, always have, and always will. So, the appeal John has over me is that he is both masculine and in love with the Lord. A man who loves and serves Christ faithfully and without reserve, pursuing that love ardently and without fear, is attractive in the extremes to me, and that is the type of man Jody Hedlund excelled at creating in this book.

Now, it is possible that I wouldn't have liked The Preacher's Bride nearly as much if the heroine hadn't been equally as well-rounded and likeable as the hero. Elizabeth Whitbread has a servant's heart. She desires the best for those around her and yearns to serve the Lord all her days. She is warm and compassionate, and even though she does fear for the safety of John and urges him to stop preaching, she does it in a way that is gentle and endearingly loving. It didn't take me very long to realize that Elizabeth is, in fact, an ISFJ. Everything about her screams it, and I wish I were as whole of an ISFJ as she is.

One last final note, I love how Ms. Hedlund based The Preacher's Bride off the lives of John and Elizabeth Bunyan. As most of you should know, John Bunyan wrote the famous Pilgrim's Progress which I have yet to read, but he wrote it while in prison for preaching the gospel without being ordained. The historicity is magnificent and I cannot praise Ms. Hedlund's work enough. I love her character development, the setting she uses for her stories, and her impassioned style of writing that gives me just enough sensual desire in her lead characters while still maintaining their solid faith and dignity. She is a winning writer for me, one of my absolute favorites, and The Preacher's Bride is a top-notch historic novel.

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Book Review: Rebellious Heart by Jody Hedlund

Rebellious Heart by Jody Hedlund

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



- Received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Susanna is the typical young lady to be found in the Americas just before the Revolutionary War. The daughter of a clergyman, she seeks to do good as the Lord desires, treating the downtrodden with compassion, but still maintaining loyalty to England. That is, she is loyal until young lawyer Benjamin Ross begins planting thoughts in her head, thoughts she would rather not have, of liberty from the oppressive British soldiers. It isn't until Susanna finds herself in the situation of helping a runaway indentured serving girl that she realizes some rules must be broken because God's laws are higher than man's. And perhaps she'll be fortunate enough to find love along the way.

This book is amazing, from start to finish. I could barely put it down. Susanna is the ideal heroine because you see her make decisions and not just believe everything thrown at her. She has to see proof before she changes her mind and the fact that she isn't easily swayed is appealing to me. She is not so stubborn as to be irritating, rather she is a darling young woman with a genuine compassion for those less fortunate than herself. Throwing Benjamin Ross into the mix was pure genius. He is vocal where Susanna might be quiet, passionate where she is calm. They are the ideal mix and the passion within their relationship is breathtaking.

So, I loved it. Jody Hedlund paints a clear picture of life in the colonies before the Revolution. And what's more she adds mystery and intrigue in the most frightening of ways. The one thing I would have changed is the background history of the villain. It just does not jive with his behavior. No one could possibly fall so far into evil just because an evil blow was dealt him. So, in that regard, I didn't entirely buy the motives of the villain, but the hero and heroine far make up for that flaw.

My next goal is to devour as many of Ms. Hedlund's books as possible because she is a marvel!



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