Eden on the Frontier

Cheryle
Williams
Genre: 
Young Adult

HISTORICAL:  Seventeen-year-old Eden Anna Blair has no idea if life out west will really improve her Scots-Irish family’s life, but when they  set off in 1772 it seems like one problem after another follows them. With her mother increasingly ill and frustrated, a large passel of siblings to watch after, and pressure to choose a husband from several interested parties, Eden has many choices to make. On the untamed stretch of the frontier, both life and love await her, but will the family make it to Ohio and attain their dream? 

YA historical romance fans of “Little House on the Prairie” will love “Eden on the Frontier”! Set just before the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, it is a fun blend of adventure, romance, and pre-war politics. With multiple male leads offering different futures, Eden is practical about her options, and careful in her decisions. As a result, the romance and plot move quite slowly,  with only momentary increases in excitement and tension.  The characters themselves have varying levels of depth, their development marred only by the occasional time jumps and resulting ‘telling’ rather than ‘showing’ which distract the reader and occasionally change the plot direction without warning. However, despite these jumps, readers will find themselves looking forward to the next book and hopefully the conclusion to Eden’s romantic and familial dilemmas.

Sarah E. Bradley