Fairer Than Morning

Ann Miller envisions her future suitor to be a man of nobility, the knight on the white horse who will come and sweep her off her feet. A man who can romance her and quote words of love to her. She has this detail so well scripted out in her life, she can only see one person to fill that role and that is Eli Bowen!

Only Eli is four years older than Ann, and with her father's stern request that she waits til she is 18 to marry, she can't give him the answer to his proposal while she is only 15. Confident that Eli will wait for her, she tries to persuade her father, a traveling preacher/saddler to change his mind. He tells Ann the reason he wants her to wait is because her mother would have never married him if she fell in love with the first person she met. He wants to make sure whomever she chooses to marry it will be the right one.

When Ann sees Eli at the local mercantile while she is picking up an order for her father, and he has already moved on to another young lady, Penelope. It breaks Ann's heart that even though she believed God was telling her that Eli was the one, apparently in his eyes, Ann isn't the one for him. Opening the barrel for her father, Ann discovers some papers at the bottom. What she discovers are handwritten letters from a mother dying of consumption to a son named Will. Feeling that these letters belong to a boy named Will, Ann sets out to return them to the owner.

Luckily Ann's father has plans to go to Pittsburg where the letters have arrived from, and she begs her father to go. She hopes she can reunite the letters with Will. Will Hanby is a saddle-maker's apprentice working for Jacob Good. He has agreed to become an indentured servant for Mr. Good for a period of 5 years, while he receives room and board and learns to be a saddler. Unfortunately what Will discovers is that being an indentured servant for the Good family is signing an agreement to become a slave, and a abused one at that.

Jacob Good has a great thing going, convincing orphaned boys to sign up to be indentured apprentices, so that they can serve the needs of himself and his wife at any cost. He needs to make sure that in addition to Tom, whose been working for him for years, that Will learns what happens when things aren't done to his liking. Unfortunately for Will and Tom, their contract allows Mr. Good to treat them anyway he wants because they have agreed to do whatever he tells them to do.

Will Ann find what she is looking for in Pittsburg? Will she be able to help Will escape Mr. Good? Will Ann find that her definition for what God has planned for her is different than what she thought?

In the latest novel, Fairer Than Morning by Rosslyn Elliot, the reader is taken into the early 1800's in Ohio at the time where slavery was still considered desirable by some. Not only are slaves still an issue but now residents of Pittsburg, like Mr. Good have found a way around the slavery issue in hiring orphans and the poor under the premise of learning a trade and receiving free room and board. Unfortunately like Will's about to discovery, not everything in writing is a great as it sounds.

I received this book compliments of Litfuse Publicity for my honest review and LOVED it. The storyline was one I hadn't heard of before with indentured servants in the early 1800's. It's hard to imagine how poor people would jump at opportunities to learn a trade only to have people take advantage of them and the court system ruling in favor on the contractual agreements. Will's character is exceptional despite all he has endured, he still is willing to look at helping others as a way to escape his own fate. I award this one a 5 out of 5 stars and look forward to the rest of the books to follow in The Saddler's Legacy series.

For more information about this book, the author and where to pick up a copy of this exceptional series, please click on the links below:

Fairer Than Morning by Rosslyn Elliot

You can also find Rosslyn Elliot on Facebook by clicking here.

To celebrate the release of her debut novel, Fairer Than Morning, Rosslyn Elliott is giving away two fabulous prize packages. The first is brand new KINDLE in her Fairer Than Morning Kindle Giveaway. Then on September 20th she's giving away a $200 gift certificate toward a Custom-Made Historical Reproduction Dress (from Recollections) during the Fairer Than Morning Book Club Chat Party on Facebook! Sigh...romantic.

Fairer Than Morning is receiving wonderful reviews - Library Journal said, "A well-written historical series debut…". Read more reviews here.

Be sure to join the fun and enter the Kindle contest -

One winner will receive:

* Kindle with Wi-Fi

* Fairer Than Morning (for Kindle)

To enter just click one of the icons below. But, hurry, giveaway ends on 9/19. Winner will be announced on 9/20 at Rosslyn's Book Club Facebook Party. Details and official rules can be found when entering the contest.

Then be sure to RSVP for Rosslyn's Facebook Party! During the party Rosslyn will be chatting with guests, hosting a book chat about Fairer Than Morning (don't worry if you haven't read the book yet - you could win a copy!) & historical Fiction, testing your trivia skills. She'll also be giving away that $200 gift certificate toward a FABULOUS custom-made period dress from Recollections!