3.5 Stars

I've been on a historical midwife and witch kick lately, so this book was right up my alley. It's actually been on my to-shelf for years, at least two. So I figured it was time to give it a go. It proved to be a fairly enjoyable read with a great main character and fascinating historical storyline with unknown elements for me. Despite a few hitches, I would feel comfortable recommending this book on to others.

I adored the historical story explored in this book. Information about indentured servants and the back country of Appalachia are not often represented in historical fiction. The author gives a ton of details about how the indentured servant system worked and how it impacted all the parties involved, both the servants themselves and the bidders for their contracts. She also makes the rough life on the frontier in the 1700s come alive. Abundant details on daily life illustrate how tough it was to survive in this wild environment, where either the weather or the natives could take your life easily. The author does a great job at making the reader viscerally experience both aspects of the history explored.

Maggie made this novel for me; she's tough, courageous, and practical. She comes from a harsh background to create a life in a new world equally as harsh. Death and despair are common occurrences in her life. However, Maggie doesn't let that drag her down. I loved the way she approached the hardships in her life, with grit and a sensible outlook on life. I found elements of my own personality in hers and so found her all the more relatable.

Most of the secondary characters and the main male lead, Tom, were as distinct an individual as Maggie. I loved Tom. He stands out as a rugged, courageous man comfortable in the wilds of frontier North America and within his own skin. I also grew to love Maggie's indentured family whom she served and the rest of the inhabitants of the nearby town.

However, one of the hitches of this book fell in this area. The main villain came off as a caricature for the most part. He's over-the-top, to the point of un-believability. Let's just say that if the railroad had existed in this time, I could have seen this villain tying Maggie up and doing a Snidely Whiplash routine like the cartoon. There would have been much mustache twirling going on. This exaggeration of his character detracted from my enjoyment of his scenes and role in the book.

My other problem with this book has to do a bit with the villain and his scenes with Maggie. The story goes into some very dark places; yet, I expected that from reading other reviews. In fact, that was one of the reasons I hadn't picked up this novel till this point. After reading this book, I feel that some of what happened to Maggie at his hands were over-the-top, like his characterization. I felt the story would have held as much weight without these unnecessary brutal scenes. I don't fault scenes like these being in historical fiction titles; brutal things like this did happen. Yet, the ones included with this book seemed unnecessary with the rest of the narrative flow.

Despite a few hiccups with unnecessary scenes and a two dimensional villain, this book was an enjoyable journey into colonial frontier America. A strong main character leads the cast of equally strong secondary characters to make the reader live the story, not just read it. The fact that the author explores unfamiliar historical details and stories is just icing on the top for me. I would feel very comfortable recommending this book to friends and family, especially if you have an interest in colonial America fiction. ( )

I really loved the way the main character 'spoke', I like reading accents. Thie scottish lass is brought to America willingly as an indentured servant. She is also a midwife and healer using herbs. I really enjoyed the midwife and healing side of the character. I did however find it hard to get to know the characters better. I felt them a bit standoffish about their feelings.
The book is beautifully set and there is almost non-stop action. I loved the book by the end and was hoping the author had written more like this, but unfortunatelt she did not write about Scottish Lasses in future novels.
This is a great on Historical facts and how things were back when America was new. ( )

Midwife of the Blue Ridge by Christine Blevins is a rollicking adventure novel mostly set in the American wilderness. As an healer and midwife, Maggie Duncan is in search of a new life and agrees to sign papers to be an indentured servant for four years. As she travels across the ocean she draws the attention of the vicious viscount, Julian Cavendish, but with the help of captain and crew manages to evade his attentions. They also help Maggie avoid Cavendish at the auction and instead she become indentured to a kindly frontiersman, Seth Martin, who is in need of a healer for his ailing pregnant wife. It isn’t long before Maggie meets Tom, a young frontiersman and Seth’s best friend. As Tom and Maggie fall in love events and circumstances keep them apart.

Overall I enjoyed this book, it had lots of action and seemed to be fairly accurate with the historical details. I would class this book as an historical romance and because of Maggie’s Scottish language and her healing skills I was constantly reminded of the Outlander series. Maggie is a very strong, independent woman and I liked both her and Tom a lot. Unfortunately the viscount was too one dimensional and came off more like a cartoon character. I like my bad guys to have a little more depth to them than this.

Midwife of the Blue Ridge was a fairly quick, easy to read book and the author had obviously done some extensive research on herbal and natural remedies that were used in Colonial America. It was history on the light side but I would not hesitate to read this author again. ( )

This was a pretty good book. I'm not a huge romance reader but this book was done in good taste. Story flowed and kept me interested. It left me wanting to read others by this author. ( )

As a child, Maggie is the sole survivor after a murderous rampage on the village in Scotland where she lived with her family. She is found by Hannah, a medicine woman who more or less adopts her and makes her an apprentice. Hannah teaches Maggie all that she can, but when Hannah dies, Maggie is left on her own. She eventually agrees to be a bondservant for four years in exchange for passage to the New World. After her grueling boat ride across the Atlantic, Maggie lucks up when it comes time for her to be purchased. Because of her healing skills, Seth Martin buys her to tend to his family which includes three children and his ailing pregnant wife Naomi. He takes Maggie to his homestead, which is apparently around the area of Kentucky (Kenta-kee). And that's when the real trouble and heartache begins.

The book does have romance and adventure, but too much of the latter and not enough of the former, for my taste. And the adventures were quite graphic and somewhat depressing (scalpings, stabbings, shootings, etc.). I know things like that really happened in the frontier of the young America, I just don't like reading about them in such a stark light.

I really wanted to like this book, and I truly thought I would. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. I guess I was expecting something different than what it delivered. I kept flipping to the back, counting the pages left before the end. It was well written and interesting enough, I suppose, yet because I had pictured something else when I read the book's description, that is what I wanted to read about. So I cannot fault the author for not reading my mind before she wrote her book! I would have simply preferred more of a straightforward story with more romance and less violence.

However, my lowish rating of this book will not stop me from reading "The Tory Widow" by the same author. I think that one will be more my style. ( )