The Seeker -- Ann H. Gabhart

For this third marking period's Independent Reading Project, I am reading The Seeker by Ann H. Gabhart. It follows the life of Charlotte Vance, a young woman who has always known what she wants. But everything collapses when the man she is set to marry, Edwin, joins the Shakers, a religious group that bans matrimony. And things get even worse for Charlotte when her father, a Kentucky senator, brings home a new wife that is young enough to be Charlotte's sister. With the country and Charlotte's own life on the brink of Civil War, she has nothing left to do but follow Edwin to the Shaker community of Harmony Hill. Yet, her choices may need to be changed after meeting a mysterious man named Adam, whom steals her heart away...
I really enjoyed reading The Seeker. I was first skeptical about the novel, with it being about religion and all, but it was actually interesting to learn about the Shakers. The novel was also themed around love and following your heart, which made some of the drier parts of the novel less boring. The background of the Shakers, which is an actual religion, was also quite interesting and was somewhat of an educational read.
I also liked the fact that the novel sometimes switched off between Charlotte's life in the Shaker village and moved to Adam's experience in the Civil War. It added an extra perspective to the book, though it is told through third person throughout, and gave an insight into Charlotte and Adam's individual feelings for one another. And even though the end of the novel is inevitable from the beginning, Adam and Charlotte's love story is so sweet it made you want them to be together.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction, romance, and an overall good read. The Seeker is also a part of Gabhart's Shaker series (it's book number three).