The Mayflower Bride

Author: Kimberley Woodhouse
Genre: Historical Romance

Can a religious separatist and an opportunistic spy make it in the New World?
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A brand new series for fans of all things related to history, romance, adventure, faith, and family trees.

Mary Elizabeth Chapman boards the Speedwell in 1620 as a 

Separatist seeking a better life in the New World. William Lytton embarks on the Mayflower as a carpenter looking for opportunities to succeed—and he may have found one when a man from the Virginia Company offers William a hefty sum to keep a stealth eye on company interests in the new colony. The season is far too late for good sailing and storms rage, but reaching land is no better as food is scarce and the people are weak. Will Mary Elizabeth survive to face the spring planting and unknown natives? Will William be branded a traitor and expelled?

Reviewer: Laura J. Davis

​Author Kimberley Woodhouse is the first author to offer a story in the new series Daughters of the Mayflower , and she does not disappoint as she takes us on a journey across the ocean, on board the Mayflower. 

While many characters in the book were actual passengers aboard the Mayflower, our main characters of Mary Elizabeth Chapman and William Lytton, were not. But the author has done an excellent job of making their story and the lives of those on board the Mayflower, come alive. 

One of the reasons I love historical fiction so much is because I know authors like Woodhouse will put in the effort to make it as historically accurate as possible. And so I learn things I never knew before. If only everyone could take a history class through a novel like this! The harrowing journey to the New World was filled with sickness, danger and ultimately death. It is by the grace of God that anyone survived the journey. While the budding romance between Elizabeth and William was fictional, it made the story of the voyage all the more real to me.

The only problem I had was with the character of Peter. He appeared so infrequently that I would forget about him and his purpose, so that when he was mentioned again I had to stop and think - who is this? Making his role seem almost insignificant. What did stand out of course was the faith of Elizabeth and how she struggled to keep it, but ultimately trusted in God for all things. At the beginning of the journey William had no faith, but by the end, he was a man of God ready to do what was right, no matter the price. 

If you enjoy history and romance, you will most certainly find yourself glued to the pages of this book!

Book provided through NetGalley and Barbour Publishing.

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