With This Pledge (#01 in The Carnton Series)

I love the way Tamera Alexander weaves together a story and this tale is no different. Lizzie is put in a difficult situation where the wounded soldiers are being brought to the house where she is governess. Unused to seeing such violence, she soon becomes accustomed and is actually able to assist the doctor. Love blossoms between her a captain as she works to save his life. There is nothing quite so delicious as forbidden love, which in this case, Lizzie is engaged to a man she has no real affection for. A great read!

This American historical novel captures the love, friendships, faith, pain, suffering and struggles of the civil war. The Author brings the past to life in this novel by including some real characters from that time in history. The characters develop and grow along with the storyline. This is a well researched novel where the Author has blended history with storytelling, and gives the reader a realistic glimpse of what life would have been like during the civil war.

I love novels set during the American Civil War. All those hooped skirts combined with a good dash of southern courtesy. What's not to love? For that reason, I was looking forward to reading With This Pledge and jumped into it with high expectations. Unfortunately, it didn't quite hit the mark for me. The history was excellent, particularly with the understanding that these characters were based on real people. The author also dealt with the slavery issue with honesty and compassion (which appears to be a feature of her writing). There were also some parts of the story that held my attention and kept me turning pages. However, for the most part, I felt the story was dragged out way too far. The setting rarely moved beyond the walls of the Carnton Plantation, and the story became somewhat tedious. With This Pledge is no Gone With the Wind (and some would say that's a good thing). For me, it lacked the energy and vitality to sustain a book of this length.