Sentence of Marriage by Shayne Parkinson

"Sentence of Marriage" by Shayne Parkinson was published in 2009. It's the first book in a trilogy entitled "Promises to Keep." Book two is "Mud and Gold," book three is "Settling the Account." Even though it's touted as a trilogy, there is a fourth book "A Second Chance."  

You can acquire book one free from many websites online (I got mine on my Kindle from Amazon) - the others are sold for $2.99 which is a very good price for books.

"In 19th Century New Zealand, there are few choices for a farm girl like Amy. Her life seems mapped out for her by the time she is twelve. Amy dreams of an exciting life in the world beyond her narrow boundaries. But it is the two people who come to the farm from outside the valley who change her life forever, and Amy learns the high cost of making the wrong choice. Book 1 of 'Promises to Keep'" from smashwords.

This book does have good description of life in the 19th century in New Zealand. Parkinson is very descriptive and is a very good writer. I did struggle with the "story" of Amy. I kept waiting for the girl to get a break.. She never did. I kept thinking "this is fiction, the author can take the story any direction she wants, WHY on earth is it so bleak, so sad, so aggravating???" 

My only hope is that things begin looking up in the following books, I'm not too optimistic about this after reading the synopsis and reviews of the other books. Interestingly, the reviews of this book are either "love, love, love it" or "HATE" it! Not many on the fence. - except me. I did not like the book but again, I'm hoping the other books redeem my opinion on "Promises to Keep." 

It begins with Amy as a young girl of 13 and takes us through the next few years of her life. Her Dad annoys the heck out of me.... But at the same time I do realize fathers haven't always taken an active roll in the lives of their daughters especially when a living was made by his hands in hard labor - they just didn't have time.  I won't even go into how I felt about her step-mother... and her step-mother's brother - oh man, I'll just keep quiet on this.

The one redeeming quality of the book was Amy's cousin Lizzie. She really had a love for Amy and really did try to help and do what was right for the girl.

This book was suggested to me by a friend and when we went to dinner last week with him and his wife I really gave him a hard time about suggesting this book to me! He, however, liked the book and is very hopeful about the rest of the series.

I haven't yet decided if I'm going to take the time to read them or not... verdict is still out.

Shayne Parkinson does have a website HERE.  And she has a blog HERE.

If you take the time to read this FREE book, let me know what you think. I would love to have a discussion about it with you.

**