Daughter of Helaman

Daughter of Helaman
By Misty Moncur
Bonneville Books, 2011. 201 pgs. Young Adult

Although Keturah is of marrying age, she has no intention of getting married yet. Instead, she wants to join her brothers and the other young men of their people as they form a rag-tag army and prepare to battle their enemies, the Lamanites. Ezekiel, the boy who has been her friend all her life, wants Keturah to accept his offer of betrothal, and while she thinks she loves him, she can't help the rising feelings she has for Gideon, the only man who seems willing to accept her need to be a soldier.

This was an exciting adventure, the first book in a new series, and overall I enjoyed it and I think other readers will, too. It's fast-paced and Keturah is a spunky character. I was a little put off by the use of modern slang in a historical fiction novel. ("Duh", "awesome", etc. just don't strike me as being a big part of the vocab before Christ...granted, I don't know what would have been, but it was a bit jarring.) I also got a little frustrated with Keturah going so far as to tell Zeke she loves him (multiple times) but all the while obviously being attracted to Gideon. It honestly made me frustrated with her; I can be sympathetic to her being conflicted about her feelings, but if she KNOWS she's conflicted, then she shouldn't tell Zeke she loves him. Also, I didn't feel like her relationship with Zeke was developed enough to really make me take her feelings for him seriously; we see a lot of him being bossy or opposing her (and some good stuff, too), but mainly it felt like the author TOLD the reader that there were feelings there, rather than actually showing it. All in all, though, I was intrigued by the book and look forward to the rest of the series.

AE