About the Book

Title: The Captured Bride

Author: Michelle Griep

Release Date: June 1, 2018

Genre: Historical Romance

A war-torn countryside is no place for a lady—but Mercy Lytton is a lady like none other. Raised amongst the Mohawks, she straddles two cultures, yet each are united in one cause . . . to defeat the French. Born with a rare gift of unusually keen eyesight, she is chosen as a scout to accompany a team of men on a dangerous mission. Yet it is not her life that is threatened. It is her heart.

Condemned as a traitor, Elias Dubois faces the gallows. At the last minute, he’s offered his freedom if he consents to accompany a stolen shipment of French gold to a nearby fort—but he’s the one they stole it from in the first place. It turns out that the real thief is the beguiling woman, Mercy Lytton, for she steals his every waking thought.

Can love survive divided loyalties in a back-country wilderness?

Click here to purchase your copy!

About the Author

Michelle Griep’s been writing since she first discovered blank wall space and Crayolas. She is the author of historical romances: The Innkeeper’s Daughter, 12 Days at Bleakly Manor, The Captive Heart, Brentwood’s Ward, A Heart Deceived, Undercurrent and Gallimore, but also leaped the historical fence into the realm of contemporary with the zany romantic mystery Out of the Frying Pan. If you’d like to keep up with her escapades, find her at www.michellegriep.com or stalk her on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

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Guest Post from Michelle

A Visit to Fort Niagra

Whether you’re a history buff or don’t have a clue what the French and Indian War was about, there’s a destination in upstate New York that’s fun to visit for the whole family . . .

My husband and I made the trek to this living history site last summer. I had no idea what to expect, other than what was advertised as a “reenactment camp.” For those who don’t know, this is when volunteers who adore history come together to present a particular event, such as a battle. These people usually choose a real person from the era upon whom they fashion their modern day persona. They dress, speak, eat and live as that person might have. Here I am with some of my new friends:

Generally around the 4^th of July, the 1759 Battle of Fort Niagara is recreated in a 3-day extravaganza of soldiers, muskets, canons and an entire market place to peruse selling period-related items.

Some of the things that surprised me about stepping back into the mid-eighteenth century were:

• How much smoke muskets kick out
• Once the battle begins, it’s hard to see who is your enemy or ally
• Canons are really loud
• Everything wasn’t as black and white as it seems in pictures—gowns and uniforms were very colorful

What makes this event so spectacular is that they take the entire 20 day siege and condense it into 3 days. If you visit every day, you’ll see and experience exactly what happened. You’ll be there to see the British, Colonial regulars and Iroquois allies sneak out of the tree line to shoot at some French soldiers who were pigeon hunting just outside the fort. You’ll hear the war whoops and barrage of angry French epithets roaring on the air. You’ll even get a chance to taste some of their food as you wander around inside the French Encampment set up inside the fort walls.

To experience a bit of the danger, sights and sounds of what Mercy and Elias lived through in The Captured Bride, Fort Niagara really is a fantastic place to visit.

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My Thoughts

The Captured Bride (2018) by Michelle Griep is the third book in the Daughters of the Mayflower series. This book is SO good, I could not put it down. Every single page of this book is engaging and full of adventures, twists, and turns. There is virtually NO way to get bored reading this AMAZING story.

In the play Oedipus Rex, the title character suffers from an intense case of pride and arrogance. There is a stubbornness to Oedipus that prevents him from seeing truth until it is too late. Sight is a predominant symbol in the play — while Oedipus has sight, he is incapable of seeing truth, but blinded he can “see” everything. The Captured Bride does a phenomenal job of using sight as a metaphor just as Sophocles did in his play. Mercy, the heroine, has eagle-like eyesight. She is able to close off the distractions of the world, and hone in her sights to telescopic levels. It’s actually a really cool gift — one that serves her well as a scout. However, Mercy’s stubbornness and pride time and time again prevent her from seeing truth. Like Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice, Mercy passes judgement on others without really knowing their full stories. One of the most relatable moments in this book for me is Mercy’s struggle with her mother. Mercy treated her mother abominably as a young girl and teen because of how she perceived her mother to be.

My mother and I struggled from the time I was 9 until I was 22. I fought my mother ALL the time. I thought my mom was hard and cold and distant. I never felt like she understood me. I could never figure out what I needed to do so she would be proud of me. Straight A’s, making the Varsity Girls soccer team in high school, getting into college, having a job and paying my own way — none of it seemed good enough. Honestly, I always felt like I was a disappointment to my mom, so I just gave up. I figured it was just the way it was going to be between me and my mother. Some women have close relationships with their mothers, and some don’t.  I hated it, but what could I do?

When I was 22, my mom told me a story that I will never forget. When I was a toddler, I was playing in my mom’s bedroom. My mom’s room had a sliding glass door, and I loved to play in the sunshine as it streamed through the door. One day, I was playing when I started screaming. The kind of baby scream that tells a mom her baby has been hurt. My mom ran into the room and found me holding my hand and crying. She heard a buzzing noise. She looked up and saw a bee buzzing by the door trying to get out. My mom grabbed her pillow and began whacking at the door yelling at the bee for hurting her kid. The whacking apparently went on for a good five minutes; what finally stopped my mom’s maniacal whacking was the silence in the room. My toddler-self was so dumbfounded by my mom’s actions that I just stopped crying and stared at her. Coming out of attack mode, my mom picked me up, kissed my hand, and told me she would do whatever it took to keep me safe from scary things that wanted to hurt me. In case you’re wondering, the bee totally died.

This story changed the course of my relationship with my mother. I realized that my mom did love me, she just loved me her way. This understanding shocked me to my core. And then, I felt like an absolute monster. I broke down into tears and begged my mom for forgiveness. She totally loves me, so she gave her forgiveness freely and immediately.

Why am I telling you this really embarrassing fact about my past? Because there is a moment when Mercy realizes the truth about her mother and is ashamed by her past actions, too. Mercy didn’t treat her mother well. In fact, Mercy was often downright cruel to her mother. In a FABULOUS scene, Mercy realizes the errors of her ways and cries out, “I did not see your strength because I did not look for it.” I’m not gonna lie — I balled my eyes out at this point. How Mercy feels when she makes this statement is exactly how I felt after my mom told me the Bee Story. I never stopped to really look at my mom and value her for her. I didn’t see her strengths. All I could see was how she had failed me in the ways I thought she was a failure. I was as blind and judgmental as Oedipus Rex, Elizabeth Bennett, and Mercy Lytton.

There is so much depth to this book, I didn’t even cover 1/8th of what happens. There are fantastic and timely messages about God and His faithfulness, forgiveness, and learning to leave the past in the past. There is a powerful romance that develops well over the course of the story. There are some seriously scary and evil villains. A few times, I found myself holding my breath because some scenes are just that intense. The Captured Bride really does have it all! If you are looking for a book that is highly engaging, thought-provoking, and well-written then The Captured Bride is the book for you!

I received a review copy of this novel in eBook form from the author via Celebrate Lit. In no way has this influenced my review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

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GIVEAWAY

To celebrate her tour, Michelle is giving away a grand prize of:

a signed copy of The Captured Bride and a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card!!

Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/d06e/the-captured-bride-celebration-tour-giveaway

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Blog Stops

Vicky Sluiter, June 9

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A Baker’s Perspective, June 9

History, Mystery & Faith, June 10

Inklings and notions, June 10

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Faithfully Bookish, June 11

The Power of Words, June 11

Genesis 5020, June 11

Bakerkella, June 11

My Writer’s Life, June 12

Christian Chick’s Thoughts, June 12

Luv’N Lambert Life, June 12

Among the Reads, June 13

Book by Book, June 13

D’S QUILTS & BOOKS, June 13

Moments Dipped in Ink, June 14

Splashes of Joy, June 14

Artistic Nobody, June 14 (Spotlight)

Bibliophile Reviews, June 14

Pause for Tales, June 15

All-of-a-kind Mom, June 15

Mary Hake, June 15

Bigreadersite, June 15

Connie’s History Classroom, June 16

Simple Harvest Reads, June 16 (Guest post from Mindy Houng)

Two Points of Interest, June 16

The Christian Fiction Girl, June 17

Daysong Reflections, June 17

Novels corner, June 17

Kathleen Denly, June 18

A Reader’s Brain, June 18

Remembrancy, June 18

proud to be an autism mom, June 19

Texas Book-aholic, June 19

Christian Author, J.E.Grace, June 19

Reading Is My SuperPower, June 20

Red Headed Book Lady, June 20

Margaret Kazmierczak, June 20

Mommynificent, June 20

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, June 21

Janices book reviews, June 21

Jeanette’s Thoughts, June 21

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Carpe Diem, June 22