ALA Booklist (Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2018)

In early nineteenth-century New England, oldest daughter Harriet chafes against the expectations placed on her, particularly when it comes to the handsome, eligible, land-owning neighbor, Daniel, whom her mother wants her to marry. Despite a slow-burning affection between Daniel and Harriet, the headstrong girl decides to join her brother Gideon when he leaves home to settle a parcel in the Genesee Valley. Determined not to let her gender get in the way, Harriet disguises herself as a boy and ultimately finds more challenges in the frontier than just hard labor. Ostrom infuses her lyrically written novel with plenty of period details about homesteading in western New York and cultivates a dynamic sense of atmosphere: the dense trees, mucky roads, and back-breaking labor under the sweltering summer sun are all vividly rendered. Harriet's fiercely independent spirit is accepted by just about everyone, which doesn't seem true to the time period, but despite the overly rosy depiction of the time, the warm romance and witty banter between the well-wrought characters should please plenty of teen readers nonetheless.

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Harriet Submit Winter has no intention of living up to her name and marrying her boring neighbor Daniel Long to meet expectations of gender norms set up in pioneer times. Instead, she disguises herself as Freddy, a boy, and leaves the family farm in New Hampshire with her brother Gideon to forge a new life in the wilderness of western New York. Ostrom effectively contextualizes the discussion of societal limitations imposed upon women within the story's well-drawn historical setting. For Harriet, her male alter ego provides her with a protective armor and a sense of limitless potential, while it also starkly highlights gender inequity. A complicated courtship in the wilderness plays out like Pride and Prejudice with a western backdrop, but the ending bucks tradition to set up a refreshingly level-headed ever-after that is steeped in reality and feels true to the journey. Ages 13-up. Agent: Rebecca Stead, The Book Group. (Mar.)

Horn Book (Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

Sixteen-year-old Harriet Winter, the eldest daughter in a farming family, lives in the wilds of New Hampshire in 1807, where she is expected to cook, clean, and marry her neighbor. Determined to control her own life, Harriet disguises herself as a boy and goes pioneering. The sweet, slow-burn romance that plays out for smart, progressive-thinking Harriet makes for a pleasurable, affecting read.