With this Pledge by Tamera Alexander far exceeded the expectations and hopes I had for this book. Ms. Alexander wrote so passionately about this era and her characters so realistic, it brought the Civil War to a whole new level for me. My heart went through the gambit of emotions while reading this story and I was glued to the story the entire time I read it. My hat goes off to Ms. Alexander for such an engaging and emotionally moving story.

4.5 Stars!

I received this book for free. A favorable review was not required and all views expressed are my own. Thank you to Ms. Alexander, Thomas Nelson Publishing and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The setting and the characters in this book were so well described that I was actually able to envision life in the south during the horror of the civil war. I liked how the author described the relationships between slaves and slave owners, and the paradigm shift that had to take place in our main characters in order to help them come to terms with the outcome of the war. And the love story was sweet. I look forward to reading more books in this series.

Tamera Alexander does it again! I am excited for the rest of this new series. This one moved a little bit slower than some of the others, but I appreciated the historical context and character development!

I enjoyed this book. It was hard for me to get into the story at first. Although the story was slower paced, I wanted to know what happened to each person. I liked most of the characters and found them to be realistic and personable. Since this is set during the civil war, there was scenes of wounded soldiers and the vast variety of injuries. But it was respectful and not overly graphic. I know this is fiction but this book protrays what people went through during the war. I think there are a lot of valuable lessons we as readers can learn from this book.
I recommend this book to my family and friends.
I received this book from the publisher to read and give my honest review.

Helplessness is one of the worst feelings a human can experience. To me, there is nothing more awful than seeing someone in great pain and genuinely being unable to help. Tamera Alexander does a really good job of portraying true helplessness in With This Pledge. There are so many horrible moments that take place in this book where Lizzie, the heroine, feels utterly powerless to do anything to make the situations better. On the night of November 30, 1864, Carnton House was commandeered by Confederate soldiers and turned into a makeshift hospital. Acting governess to the McGavock family, Lizzie finds herself pulled in to help the surgeon as he furiously tries to save the lives of many, many broken and severely injured soldiers. Uncertain what to do, but absolutely willing to help, Lizzie aids the surgeon in ways she never imagined. Between the agonizing cries of the wounded and the devastation left after many, many men die senseless deaths, Lizzie struggles with how useless she feels. Sometimes in life, moments barrel us down leaving us questioning whether we will ever be able to get back up again. The Battle of Franklin and its aftershocks is a prime example of life beating down humans.

There have been a handful of times in my life when I have experienced a sense of helplessness. But I admit that I truly did not understand that word in its fullest sense until two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, my dad was killed in a car accident. Someone swerved in front of him on the freeway, and changed my family’s lives forever. There was literally NOTHING anyone could have done after that man made his choice to drive selfishly rather than safely. You want to know what true helplessness looks like? It’s watching your precious mother say goodbye to her best friend before the crematorium workers take your father’s body away forever. It’s knowing that there is absolutely NOTHING I can do to help my mom. It’s knowing that my beautiful daughter, nieces, and nephews will never again get to play with their beloved grandpa this side of Heaven. It’s knowing that my brothers, sister, and I have to wait until it is our turn to go to Heaven before we can hug and kiss our dad again. One man made a decision and there is NOTHING I can do about that. This is true helplessness. I completely understand how Lizzie feels in With This Pledge, and with every fiber of my being I wish I didn’t.

There are several timely themes weaved throughout With This Pledge; all so important for today’s readers to consider. The theme that most resonates with me is that while life is uncertain and there are no guarantees, we who love and cherish God can rest assured that He orders our steps. Nothing surprises God. Nothing shocks Him. God puts every single one of us on a path, and He promises to be with us every step of the way — even in our most helpless of moments. With my heart currently battered, shattered, and bleeding, I really needed this reminder that God is always in control and He is always near. This takes the sting out of what seems like chaos to me.

Tamera Alexander is incapable of writing a bad story. She truly is one of today’s leading Christian Historical Fiction authors. With This Pledge may be Alexander’s best book to date. With a setting that pulls the reader in from page one, characters who are brilliantly and realistically crafted and who worm their way into the reader’s heart, and timely themes, With This Pledge is a definite must-read for 2019. I highly recommend this stunning novel!

I purchased a copy of this novel from Amazon on January 9, 2019 to read and review. I also received a review copy of this novel in eBook form from the author via NetGalley through TLC Book Tours. In no way has this influenced my review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This book was so wonderful and yet heartbreaking to read. It was hard to read about the vivid details of the surgeries that happened to the soldiers, but it definitely brought the scene to life. It was a wonderful love story, interwoven with the civil war and all that heartbreak it entailed.

I really enjoyed this Civil War era romance. I loved the setting and the sweeping plot. All of the story takes place at the Carnton plantation which is turned into a hospital. I should give a warning that some of the content is gruesome, but it's really well done. The characters are well developed and have good chemistry. I'm interested to see where the series goes from here.

I received a free review copy from Netgalley.

A classic Tamera Alexander classic...in depth research permeates in this epic novel. Experience it yourself!!!

This book is just AMAZING!!!!!!! When I think of Civil War fiction I have two favorite authors that I believe nail it and Tamera Alexander is one of them. I read historical fiction because it fascinates me and for what I can learn from it. This book is heavy, don't kid yourself if you read this book you will feel something. It takes place during the heat of the battle and we are there right along with the author in the thick of things. Many of the characters are based on actual people who lived during this time period it makes the book very realistic. The author does extensive research and the quality of her books show it. I have been waiting to read this book for more than a year after reading Christmas at Carnton. The descriptions are just so realistic, the sights,sounds it's all there for you.
I look forward to many more books by this author.
Pub Date 08 Jan 2019
I was given a complimentary copy of this book by Thomas Nelson--FICTION through NetGalley. Thank you. All opinions expressed are my own.

With this Pledge is a well crafted historical romance. This book is set during the Civil War era in Tennessee. Loved the plot and the characters. I am normally not a fan of historical fiction but do enjoy the ones set during the Civil War. This book did not disappoint. I received an arc from Netgalley and this is my unbiased review.

Tamera Alexander is easily one of my favorite authors. I love her style of writing, I love the way she crafts her romances, and I love her attention to detail. That said, this book did not work for me. My thoughts:

What I liked

This book, more than any other of Alexander’s “Plantation” books really explores the complexity of slavery and Christian slaveowners. I thought she did a really good job of showing the layers of slavery and its effects on people personally and often professionally. Without telling you that slavery is wrong, through her characters she’s able to show you (almost too well, but more on that later).

Furthermore, she was really able to take a moment in history (there’s a battle/hospital scene) and really make it come to life with her descriptions. You could really see it and smell it and experience it.

I have read all of Alexander’s books and she continually amazes me by creating characters that are very different from one another and yet none of them are cookie-cutter. Lizzie is a very soft-hearted character (often too soft hearted) and you could really see that in every action and decision that she made.

What I didn’t like

Usually, Alexander interweaves history with fiction well. In this book, there were too many times where it just didn’t work. I would instantly know that the speech someone was giving was probably real, or the letter being read was genuine, or the description of some scene was used by a person who had actually been present at that time. It took me out of the story each time because it just didn’t flow. Instead it felt like Alexander did a ton of research and did her best to include as much as she could. It was too much.

It got slow. I don’t mind slow. Especially from master-crafts of characters like Alexander. But most of this book takes place in one location and I felt like I was there forever. I definitely was skimming the second half.

The setting. Let me first start by saying I really don’t care for the Plantation settings that Alexander has been on a kick with lately. I say this as someone who loves all things Civil War. I love Civil War fiction, I visit battle sites (and Plantation homes), I watch documentaries…I just plain find it all fascinating. So, it’s not the time period or the era that bothers me. At all. It’s this strange romanticizing of Plantation homes and their owners that I struggle with. She is constantly trying to convince that they were good, honorable people. I am quite simply not buying. That said, I’ve been able to push past it with her other books, but I think because Alexander tackled the issue of Christians owning slaves, I found it really didn’t work with this book.

I have always found it incredibly difficult to reconcile the idea of godly people being slaveowners but in this book we actually get some stories from the slaves themselves about their owners. And they’re awful. On the one hand I’m presented with the owners of Carnton as examples of all things godly, on the other hand I learn they sent their slaves down south so they wouldn’t run away and the one slave they kept is slightly terrified of them at times. So, yeah. That didn’t work.

Then we have the hero, Roland, who is also a slaveowner but held up to be honorable, kind, thoughtful, pious, and everything that a hero should be. Except his views on slaves while a product of its times, made him not a romantic figure in my mind. In fact, one of his slaves describes a horrific event that took place either under Roland or under Roland’s father’s authority and so now I’m really not liking the man. I get that Christian people owned slaves, but being cruel to their slaves is just mind-blowing to me. And when he complained about them running away…

By the end of the book I could have cared less about Roland and Carnton and Carnton’s owners. Like go fly a kite.

I get it. People are complex. And it cannot be easy to write a book that is accurate when it comes to the way in which people thought back then. But when these people are held up as a godly standard, and their slaves tiptoe around them, their piety just reads as false to me. And I’m not saying you can’t like problematic people. You absolutely can. Hello, Rhett Butler (talk about charming). And I have read Christian books with slaveowners as heroes that I actually liked (Charles in Lynn Austin’s Candle in the Darkness). But Roland didn’t work and I think it boils down to the fact that you can’t be presented as both kind and cruel. Either the hero stays a little bit cruel to everyone all the time or he transitions from cruel to kind. But he can’t be both. And Roland was both. As a commentary, his personality worked. As a romantic hero, he failed.

Overall, not my favorite. But I’ll still read the next book she writes.

**I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

When you read a book like With This Pledge, you think, do my thoughts even matter? At this moment, all I can really say is that you need to read this book for yourself.
This book is not an easy read. Yes, ok, grammatically and style wise, it's easy to read, but the way Lizzie's and Roland's story will storm your emotions will not be easy. The reason for this, most likely, is that this story is not in its entirety made up. Nearly, all the characters were living, breathing people who's lives were forever changed by a five-hour battle on a field just south of Nashville.
Not long ago, I visited Carnton for myself and it is exactly as Ms. Alexander describes. I could picture the rooms and layout in my mind as I read. She writes of the blood stains in the floorboards-- I've seen them.
I cried more tears while reading this book than any other. To be honest, I'm still crying while trying to write this review.
I will warn you. With This Pledge is about war. While certain descriptions are dealt with as tactfully as possible, this was a gruesome battle and some images are disturbing. If you are sensitive to discussions of this nature, I don't recommend this book. However, if you love to read about historical events and the people who lived through them, this is exactly your kind of book.
The themes of this book are Sacrifice, Freedom, and Promises. It begs you to ask the question, "would you be willing to sacrifice everything to do what's right?"
The strength and fortitude of the women in this story, Lizzie and Carrie, are beyond imagination. With only one hour to spare, their beautiful home becomes a field hospital and Lizzie is called upon to assist in surgery, something she's never done before. The kindness and compassion both women show as they comfort the dying and honor the dead, is something we can all learn from.
This book is about evaluating your beliefs. Why do you believe what you believe and would you be willing to die for those beliefs? The confederate soldiers died for what they believed in and yet, they were wrong. Slavery is sin. It was emotionally heart-rending to see these characters struggle to understand and come to terms with the battle and the results of that battle. They knew the end was coming. Their whole world was about to change. The question is, could they change with it?

With This Pledge was such a great book. Just imagine, you are serving as a governess for a Southern family and all of the sudden the fighting of the Civil War is at your doorstep. That is exactly what happens in this book. You get to go inside an estate that gets taken over as a hospital for Confederate soldiers, while the Federals are attacking on the next estate. You get to go on the battlefield and feel the aftermath of a battle and see the mistakes the leaders made. You get to see how soldiers battled and the conditions in which they faught. You also get to see the human side of this war and how young lives were lost and the families that were left behind. But you also get to see a romance between a kind and faithful governess and a wounded soldier.

With This Pledge is so well written. I loved the romance but I also loved seeing the compassionate way the slaves were treated by some, and the harsh way they were treated and how viewpoints changed when the Federals won the war. Slaves were able to have choices and make their own decisions for the first time. I highly recommend this book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I received an ARC of this book and this is my honest feedback.

This is a beautifully written story but so hard to read. Hard because war is hell and this book takes place right in the thick of it. It was not the author's intent to make things gory but the atrocities are written so vividly it is not difficult to see all the blood. So. Much. Blood. So many died or lost limbs etc. So, not gory but yes, vivid.

Alexander writes about difficult things-war, slavery, losing loved ones.... There are moments of tears, and moments to feel sickened. A few swoony moments and moments to smile. This battle takes place near the end of the war and we see the point of view from both sides of slavery. We see how both sides became weary of war. We see compassion and we see horrible, calloused and cruel people. We see people repent and change and others who we wish would change but don't.

The romance is a love triangle and that is hard too because both men are good. We love everyone and want everyone to be happy and it seems that it can't be so.

The book is based on real people and I'm curious to know just how much is factual and how much is fiction but I don't know enough history to be able to say.

There is a fairly heavy Christian theme woven through the story. Some are struggling with their faith and others are very strong in faith.

Even though the subject matter made this difficult to read in some ways, I loved reading the book. Well done.

Sex: no
Language: no
Violence: yes


I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Tamera Alexander has outdone herself with this book! I have loved all of her books but believe this is the best yet! So much history! I knew the civil war was terrible but the Battle of Franklin must have been horrendous beyond belief! Captain Roland Jones is a strong male protagonist who is fighting for what he believes. He is also an honorable man who will not pursue a relationship with a woman who is promised to someone else. Governess Lizzie Clouston is a courageous woman who believes slaves should learn to read. When Lizzie is called upon to assist the surgeon with amputations, she fulfills the task! Mrs. Alexander has researched Carnton Plantation and the Battle of Franklin so is able to provide many details and descriptions. With This Pledge is based on true facts from the Civil War. If you enjoy history, you will not want to miss this book! I received an e-book through NetGalley. This is my honest opinion.

Tamera Alexander's new book, With this Pledge, is a delightful read. It was hard to put down, and historical fiction at it's very best! The story takes place near the end of the American Civil War and begins during the Battle of Franklin. The battle that day led to enormous losses for the Confederate army, and the nearby family home of Carnton belonging to the McGavock family becomes a temporary hospital.

The McGavock's nanny, Lizzy is the female heroine of the story. Even though rattled to the core by the devastating wounds of the soldiers that enter the home, she immediately takes on the task of lay anesthetist for the men who require surgery for their injuries. Lizzy advocates for Captain Roland Jones who begs the surgeon for his leg to be spared amputation and against the Dr's better judgment, he concedes. Jones becomes Lizzy's love interest, even though she is engaged to Towny, her best friend from childhood.

The story deals with the subject of slavery and presents both the North and the South's point of view. As the author pointed out in her Afterword, the themes of the novel center around freedom, choices, and promises. The novel was extensively researched and notably based on history and the real lives of the central characters.

I am a recent fan of Tamera's books, and this one has kept me enthralled with her work. I am grateful to NetGalley for this ARC given to me for my honest review.

The first book in Tamera Alexander’s new series is a thoroughly engaging read from first page to last and brings home both the personal and collective cost of war. I became almost as attached to some of the soldiers Lizzie tended as she did, even shedding tears with her at various times during the story, and I have nothing but admiration for Lizzie and for the countless women and men who have done as she did throughout the pages of history: stepped up to assist with the medical and emotional care of wounded soldiers.

I love the historical research that goes into Tamera Alexander’s novels, and this one is no exception. In fact, it was even better, knowing that so much of this story was based on what really did happen at Carnton following the Battle of Franklin—even the developing relationship between Captain Jones and Lizzie. It also takes a writer of keen insight and sensitivity to set stories in the South during this time period without either demonizing all who fought for the Confederacy or minimizing the injustice and inhumanity of slavery, and I particularly loved the way Captain Jones grappled with his beliefs and practices regarding owning slaves as the story progressed.

But beyond its historical aspects, it was the relationships that hooked me into this novel: the dedication Lizzie showed towards the wounded soldiers, fighting not just to save their lives but to restore their spirits and fulfil last requests; her determination to treat Tempy and George as equals in humanity, if not yet in social status, regardless of what it might cost her; and her struggle to keep her promise to Towny, even as she recognised her regard for Captain Jones was moving beyond simple friendship.

This is a definite must-read for lovers of Civil War fiction, and highly recommended for all other readers besides.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not influenced the content of my review, which is my honest and unbiased opinion.

I absolutely loved this book! Author Tamera has a way of making me feel as if I were there amidst the action. The silent strength Lizzie possessed along with risks she took throughout the story is very admirable. Captain Jones charmed  his way into my heart with humor during this dire time as well many of the young soldiers who found themselves in this unfortunate situation. Many of the characters including the main ones were real life people and Tamera retrieved alot of the information from Captain Jones' Great-great-great-great-gransdson David. On her website she has a link that will show the truth and fiction with pictures included. So if you love history you are sure to enjoy this gem!

If you've been looking for a lengthy book you can deep-dive into ...

If you're a history buff with particular interest in the Civil War ...

If you're a Tamera Alexander fan (or have never heard of her) ...

This book is for you.

Painstakingly researched and written, With This Pledge sweeps you back to Civil War times. A very different time and country await you in this 450+-page book. Prepare to be changed.

The book does come with an author's note, cautioning readers that some descriptions are gruesome. They are; war is no respecter of persons (or readers). Sometimes I caught myself squinting my eyes or skimming past a surgical description -- an option I'm grateful for. I'm also grateful I kept reading. This necessary story brings the Civil War to life, 150 years later, replete with its struggles, shades of gray, and, ultimately, hope.

Much like Lisa Wingate's Before We Were Yours and the Great Depression, With This Pledge opens a door on the Civil War to readers who will never know it firsthand.

Winston Churchill famously said (paraphrasing George Santayana), "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." This book, I believe, will help prevent that ... at least with regards to the Civil War. If I could put With This Pledge in the hands of Civil War students everywhere, I would. Textbooks only get us so far; this can help us go further on the important path to remembering -- and learning from -- history.

I received a copy of the book from JustRead Publicity Tours. All opinions are my own.

Tamera Alexander is an author whose novels I have enjoyed. Her most recent novel,<i> With This Pledge</i>, is no exception. Set at Carnton House during and after the Battle of Franklin, Alexander's meticulous research skills and ability to craft an engaging story truly shine in this work. As you read, the sights and sounds of the battle and the makeshift hospital are vivid. While definitely a work of fiction, it is hard to remember that the characters and the events depicted really happened.

If you enjoy historical fiction, particularly Civil War stories, you will enjoy this book. I greatly enjoyed how Alexander wove themes of fighting injustice and bucking the system into a story told from largely from the Confederate point of view.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received the book With This Pledge via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”