Retrato do autor

Shannon McNear

Autor(a) de The Cumberland Bride

9+ Works 224 Membros 95 Críticas

Séries

Obras por Shannon McNear

The Cumberland Bride (2018) 59 exemplares
The Blue Cloak (2020) 51 exemplares
The Rebel Bride (2019) 38 exemplares
Elinor (2021) 37 exemplares
Mary (2022) 19 exemplares
Rebecca (2023) 16 exemplares

Associated Works

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Sexo
female

Membros

Críticas

A lovely story of loving your enemies. It had been a while since I read a civil war romance that I enjoyed as much as I enjoyed Shannon McNear's The Rebel Bride!

I found this to be a historically accurate story which I liked even more

I voluntarily received and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the author. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.
 
Assinalado
abigailkayharris | 12 outras críticas | Jan 1, 2024 |
This was a very interesting book. I liked the main characters and I liked the setting. The author did a fantastic job in the details of the scenery. I could picture myself in the places where the book took place.
Kate's father decides to move the family to Kentucky in 1794. She is eager for the move and hopes to journal her story and the stories of those traveling with her. She's very interested in their guide Thomas's story. Thomas is very reserved and has promised himself that he'd never make a woman cry for him. Unfortunately, a series of unfortunate circumstances throw Thomas and Kate together. The most scary was being captured by a local Indian tribe. Through God's grace Thomas rescues Kate and they realize that they love each other. They get married and Thomas takes her back to her family.… (mais)
 
Assinalado
Sassyjd32 | 14 outras críticas | Dec 22, 2023 |
Elinor Dare arrived in the New World pregnant and full of hope for the future. She, along with her husband, her father, and the other settlers who’d made the voyage, are ready for a new start, even with the difficulties that come from being dropped off in the wrong location. The island of Roanoke will be their home, at least for a time, but as history tell us, that colony did not fare well in that location. Though its true fate is still a mystery, in this book, Shannon McNear offers a possible glimpse into the colonists’ fate.

The idea of exploring what might have happened to the lost colony of Roanoke was really intriguing to me. And it’s clear, both from the book itself and from authors’ notes before and after the book, that McNear did her research. The atmosphere she painted really took me back to that time. However, the plot moved very slowly for the first half of the book, and I really struggled to get through it. I was confused about the title focusing on Elinor, when it seemed to be about so much more than her—her father’s and husband’s points of view were shown about as often as hers, and then sometimes a Native American from an opposing tribe. I was really uncertain about what the true plot was for a while.

Then just after the halfway point, a major event happened, and the story hurtled forward. It was a plot point I fully expected, but it came much later than I expected or would have preferred, considering the synopsis and that one of the genres the book is listed as is romance. I almost put the book down then, because I knew where the book was going, and I really didn’t want to go through it. But I kept going, and the 2nd half of the book came through for me better than I expected.

One of the things that I liked most about the book was the spiritual journey that Sees Far, the Native American I mentioned earlier, went through. I would have liked to see that fleshed out more in the second half, and the first half pared down. I like McNear’s writing in the couple of books of hers I’ve read so far, but this time, for me, the story just got bogged down by the history. However, I do think a lot of fans of history and Christian fiction will like this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Barbour Publishing, Inc. for providing me a copy of this book to review.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
Kristi_D | 20 outras críticas | Sep 22, 2023 |
(3.5 / 5)

In the wilds of Tennessee and Kentucky in the late 1700s, Rachel’s newly married close friend gets caught up in a nightmare. Sally’s groom and his cousin, Big and Little Harpe, become outlaws and leave a trail of destruction, dragging their family along with them. Rachel is worried for her friend, as well as for her new acquaintance Ben Langford. Ben came to the frontier to keep his cousin out of danger, but sadly discovered that Thomas was one of the Harpes’ first known victims. Now he only wants justice for his cousin, and Rachel wants to see her friend freed from her murderous husband’s grasp.

This is the third book in the True Colors series that I have read. For the first half of this book, I felt that it was a bit better than the other two (The Yellow Lantern & The Gray Chamber). The main characters were relatable, my heart broke along with Sally’s as things went from bad to worse, and the romance was sweet, if not a little weird given the backdrop.

The book was well-researched. An author’s note at the beginning even made it clear that McNear knew this was a difficult subject, and there is a real question of “how dark is too dark for Christian fiction?” I think the answer is…this. This story of the Harpes and what they did to potentially 50 men, women, and children in their time might just have proven too dark to use as a setting for a Christian romance. I’m not one who was all that put off by what was in the book, though a bit of it was definitely more disturbing than the rest, however, because the author understandably couldn’t go too in-depth in these matters, the story just came off very shallow. I think that is an indication that this bit of history just should have been passed on for this series.

However, I was planning to give this book 4 stars until just after the halfway point, when a really confusing scene happened that made me feel like an entire other scene had been deleted from the book, and the author forgot to re-write a callback to it. And then, by the end of the book, I became weary by the repetitiveness of the characters’ thoughts and prayers (that feels so bad to say, but honestly, at times it just felt like it was copied & pasted from earlier). Overall, though, the book was well-written, with just a few gripes.

So this is the part where I normally sum up my thoughts and then make recommendations for who should read the book. As I said above, the book has some more graphic spots, but overall tends to gloss over the details of the crime and depravity of the Harpes. Still, it’s not for the faint of heart, and many Christians would likewise find it too much. But if it sounds like something you’re interested in, especially if you’re a fan of Christian romance, I’d definitely say give it a try.

Thank you to Netgalley and Barbour Publishing, Inc. for providing me a copy of this book to review.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
Kristi_D | 19 outras críticas | Sep 22, 2023 |

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Associated Authors

Estatísticas

Obras
9
Also by
2
Membros
224
Popularidade
#100,172
Avaliação
½ 4.4
Críticas
95
ISBN
23

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