Get ready to be transported back in time!
I did not much about Roanoke Island, except that the people there mysteriously disappeared. This fictionalized account really go mt interested in the subject. If you love history or you love a good story, this book is for you!
Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Elinor is a very well researched and descriptive book by Shannon McNear about the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island.. It takes place in the late 1500’s and Shannon really brought Elinor Dare to life for me. She tells a story of what might have happened to Elinor and the colonists she lived with.

I admit that it took me a little while to get into it but I ended up truly enjoying the story. I’m looking forward to reading her other books in this series.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Publication date 1 December 2021.

Reviews are being sent out now. This was a fantastic book and a great look at a historical event that remains a mystery today.

My favorite fiction genre is historical fiction. I love books in which an author can bring a place or event from the past back to life and make me feel like I am there, experiencing what the characters experience. I really admire authors who research so much that they can come up with plausible explanations for unsolved mysteries in the past. For example, what happened to the English settlers on Roanoke Island? Many theories have been advanced over the years! Shannon McNear has come up with a scenario that sounds quite likely in Elinor. It took me a couple of chapters to get into the story, but once I did, I had a hard time putting this book down.
The year was 1587. John White convinced his son-in-law Ananias Dare and daughter Elinor to accompany him to the New World. They planned to start an English colony in Virginia, but instead of being landed at Chesapeake, as they intended, they were put ashore on Roanoke Island. John was there previously, and had met the natives, and even painted pictures of them, but his party mistreated the “savages” and he was leery of settling on that island. They made the best of it, though, and soon Elinor gave birth to her baby, the first English baby to be born in North America. Then, John White had to leave to return to England to give a report and get supplies for the new colony.
Soon, the settlers found themselves forced to move to another island. Then, circumstances forced another move, and they faced starvation. What could they do? Some of the neighboring Indians were friendly and welcoming, but some were openly threatening. When Elinor found herself alone in the world, what could she do? Would her faith in God be enough to sustain her? She knew in her head that nothing could separate her from the love of God; would she now know this in her heart?
What really happened to the settlers on Roanoke Island? Did any survive the first year or two, when the colony vanished from sight? This amazing story proposes a possible explanation, as well as being an amazing story. If you enjoy historical fiction, don’t miss Elinor! I’m looking forward to reading the sequel soon.
I received a review copy of this book from NetGalley, and these are my honest thoughts about it.

Elinor Dare is one of the first women to come to the colonies in the 1500s. Their ship is bound for a different port, but they are put ashore near Hatteras, NC. She is part of the Lost Colony, so the author’s story is based on possibilities, of course.
The story is written in the vernacular of the time period. Once you read for a while, you settle into that voice. We meet Elinor and her family, including her father, the governor. There’s also her husband, Ananias, who comes to the New World with his bricklayer and construction experience. We also dig into the story of one of her captors, a Native American Indian.
The author weaves an interesting and plausible tale of Elinor and her fate. I have also just discovered this is book 1 in a new series.

The author does a marvelous job of authentically portraying a time period that has been very little written about in historical fiction. Her words show how well researched this work is.
I found it fascinating to read and learn about a long ago time period that is pretty much off the radar.
Like us the characters have hope dreams,romance,drama,uncertainty,joy,tragedy and death.
I enjoyed reading this story based on historical happenings.

Pub Date 01 Dec 2021
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

I don't usually read books like this, but I requested this one because it sounded really interesting. The idea of a story about one of the women from the "lost" Roanoke colony seemed fascinating to me. Whilst I found the ending a little confusing, I did enjoy this book immensely and respect the amount of work and research the author put into it.

(I haven't found an author's note in a novel which was 6 pages long in a while. If ever). I understand this was part of a series, so the next books might provide further explanation about a certain theory of what happened to the settlers of Roanoke.

I did like how the books showed both sides, and that the settlers weren't always in conflict with Indigenous people. Some got on and co-operated, becoming friends and co-existing peacefully. Even learning one another's langauges and sharing food. I didn't know that slavery was a long established practice among the native peoples of North America, since it is usually only asscociated with Europeans. Yet humans are humans, and money or convenienc often overcomes our more positive traits. I think that's true for everyone, regardless of nationality or ethnicity.

Thanks to Barbour Publishing for approving me to read a PDF of this title. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions expressed herein are my own.

What happened at Roanoke Colony has long been a mystery. This novel attempts to portray what happened through Elinor’s perspective. Elinor is a very relatable character. I found her to be very strong. She goes through much hardships. Thus, she learns to forgive and embrace in God’s love. Overall, this story is about courage, redemption, and forgiveness. The characters are all very complex. The story is very well-written. It tells an interesting tale on what happened to Elinor and Roanoke Colony. I recommend this for fans of Angela Hunt, Jody Hedlund, and Francine Rivers!

I found this story to be fascinating and very well written. It captivated me.
Many thanks to Barbour Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This novel gives a very detailed description of what if would have been like to land on Roanoke Island. As someone who's visited a couple times and always been fascinated by the mystery I knew I had to read this. It took me a while to read because there was a lot of historical information I wanted to savor. But I love this time period and the novel felt very real, even though we aren't sure what happened. The grit and hardships are also very real throughout this novel. Definitely worth reading if you've always theorized about Roanoke.

I love historical fiction when it is well done! Shannon McNear did an excellent job with Elinor, postulating what might have been. Elinor is the story of Elinor White Dare and her time as a settler of the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Ms. McNear has written an intriguing story mixing the small amount known about Roanoke with what might have happened. I really enjoyed the storytelling, and her descriptions were enthralling. This is the first book by Ms. McNear that I have read and I hope it won't be the last!

Pour up a glass of peach tea, grab a throw, and settle in for a tale of what might have been...

I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley with no expectations. All thoughts are my own.

DNF
While I like historical novels, this one just didn't click for me. Not my style.
Advance Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Fascinating historical mystery!

Elinor is a fictionalized account of one of the greatest mysteries in United States history. This is a story that provides a highly entertaining and plausible account of what happened to the colonists who came to the New World in approx. 1587 to start the first permanent colony for England.

Over the centuries, these colonists were thought to be lost. This has been the prevailing legend taught in schools (and I did so as well when I taught 3rd grade history), but this theory was initiated by very early settlers who did not know what happened and feared the worst.

After many years of research, excavations, interviews with people of the area, it is now believed that the settlers of Roanoke were never lost. They simply assimilated into the existing native population in order to survive. And this is the premise of the book, Elinor.

I enjoyed every page of this story. The characters are superb, so finely portrayed that I felt they were the actual people who came to Roanoac. Their actions and beliefs were congruous to what is known of that time and place. The colonists were deeply devout and prayers to God suffused their lives. The Native Americans while at times brutal, were portrayed with respect. Their feelings of betrayal and grudging admiration for the Europeans was explained with sympathy. It is evident that Shannon McNear approached the difficult task of writing this with great care.

I loved this book, and while I was a little nervous to read it because I was afraid it would be too sad, I couldn’t put it down until I knew what happened to Elinor. Despite the inevitable tragic events, I was satisfied with the happy ending.

McNear strives for historical accuracy so some of the vocabulary and historical spellings will be unfamiliar, but there is a glossary at the end of the book that was helpful.

Elinor is a well-researched book and the fictionalized account of what may have happened to the colony was so intriguing, that I want to read even more about that them. I highly recommend this book and this author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#Elinor #NetGalley

Never finished it. Too boring. Too many dialogs with no real purpose and a difficulty in defining the characters and the storyline. Didn't let much time for the reader to appropriately introduce the characters, get to know them, and understand the plot.

This is such a intriguing story based on the lost colony of Roanoke and written with a great cast of characters. The story keeps your attention from beginning to end. I found this to be a good book and one I would recommend to others.

Some Historic Content (because of course I had to research the topic 😉)

Facts:
✔️The origins of one of the America’s oldest unsolved mysteries can be traced to August 1587, when a group of about 115 English settlers arrived on Roanoke Island, off the coast of what is now North Carolina.

✔️ John White, governor of the new colony, sailed back to England, late in the year 1587, in order to gather a fresh load of supplies. He was detained in England for a time…

✔️ In August 1590, White finally returned to Roanoke, where he had left his wife and daughter, his infant granddaughter (Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the Americas) and the other settlers three long years before. He found no trace of the colony or its inhabitants, and few clues to what might have happened, apart from a single word—<b>“Croatoan”</b>—carved into a wooden post.

No one knows what happened to the colony but of course there are theories, including:

✔️ “Croatoan” was the name of an island south of Roanoke that was home to a Native American tribe of the same name. Perhaps, then, the colonists were killed or abducted by Native Americans.

✔️ Perhaps after White’s Journey for supplies took so long they tried to sail back to England on their own and got lost at sea.

✔️Perhaps the colonists of Roanoke met a bloody end at the hands of Spaniards who had marched up from Florida.

✔️Perhaps after running out of supplies and believing White was not returning they moved further inland and were absorbed into a friendly tribe.


No one knows what happened to the colonists of Roanoke — Archeologists are still investigating in 2022

Elinor sails to Roanoke, Virginia from England with her father and husband. Their dream is to carve out a new life from the untouched wilderness. They encounter hardships and heartbreak and face trials that they never imagined. I thought that the author did a wonderful job of providing an explanation of what might have happened to the lost colony. History buffs will enjoy.

I was looking forward to reading about this time in history. And being from North Carolina, the story was even more appealing. While the language was historically accurate, it got a little tedious reading some of the verbage. I was disappointed that there was not as much development of the character, Elinor. It seemed to focus too much on other historical events. I admire the author for the amount of research she conducted. However, the story seemed to drag and it did not hold my attention. There are many positive reviews, though, so I encourage you to read the book if you enjoy historical fiction with a Christian focus.

Thank you to NetGalley and Barbour Fiction for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

This is an exceptional well-written book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Elinor is based off of true historical events which makes it a wonderful page-turner as well. Sometimes I found myself unable to put this book down. If you like inspirational and true historical stories than this book is for you. I like that this book also has an informative guide in the back to help readers to better understand some of the languages represented throughout the book. I look forward to reading more books by Shannon McNear in the near future!

*Thanks to NetGalley and Barbour Publishing for giving me an e-copy in exchange for my honest opinions/reviews of this book!

I find the subject of the lost colony of Roanoke fascinating, so I was eager to pick up Elinor by Shannon McNear. I had read her book, The Blue Cloak, and knew that portraying history realistically was something I could count on from this author. Elinor was no exception. The story and dialogue felt very authentic. I appreciated getting perspectives from several different characters, but at times it was difficult to follow the transition from POV to POV. This difficulty, coupled with the slow moving pace led to my rating of 3 stars. Overall an enjoyable story, and those who don’t mind a slower moving plot will likely be enchanted by Elinor’s story.

Thanks go to @NetGalley and @BarbourPublishing for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is a true Historical read part of the Daughters of the Lost Colony books. This book takes place in the 1500's era, when Elinor makes the journey to the new world. When she and her family find themselves not in the glorious land they had envisioned, little did they know they are in trouble and forced to survive on their own, they are running out of hope and time. As they struggle to find food, shelter and the land they were promised, can they make it? Who will survive this terrible time? Will Elinor keep the faith that God will provide?

If you like a suspense historical read, this will be a book you will enjoy. It is of history and great details of just how people had to survive during this era. It is the history of the lost colony of Roanoke and will give you insight of the new settlers coming from England had to endure.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Celebrate Lit Books. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions 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 Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.