Click HERE to read my review on The Healer's Apprentice, also by Melanie Dickerson.
Click HERE to read my author interview with Melanie Dickerson.
Check out Melanie Dickerson's website, HERE.
Check out Melanie Dickerson's website, HERE.
While Annabel is hard at work in the fields, her family slacks at home, unwilling to do their share of the work and dirty their white hands.
Of course, laziness like this cannot go unnoticed forever.
Annabel's family is faced with two choices. The disgusting and perhaps sometimes cruel Bailiff Tom wants to wed Annabel. She, however, will do everything in her power not to marry him. Unfortunately, he has promised to pay the fine that her family has been charged with because of their lack of work. The one thing he asks in exchange? engagement to dear Annabel.
She, of course, is completely against this proposition. Her sissy of a brother Edward, though, encourages it. And, while her mother does not insist on the matter, Annabel knows that she yearns for Bailiff Tom and her union. Her other sibling, Durand, claims that he is afflicted with too great a sickness to over exert himself. Thus, Annabel has no supporters. She knows that her father, had he been alive, would have sided with her all the way.
The only other option would be to send Annabel to work for Lord Ranulf while the rest of her family pays off their debt in the field.
Since her family wants to make her marry the disgusting Bailiff Tom, Annabel decides to leave them and offer herself to Lord Ranulf.
She is hired on as a field worker, but soon moved into the kitchens. Then when a fire occurs she is given the occupation of caring for Lord Ranulf, because she has some of knowledge of how to cure burns. Her lord is not as bad as she had first thought he might be. His hand is maimed, his face scarred, and his life a wreck. But somewhere in there he has a good heart.
Soon she is confronted with a problem. She is attacked by a man and when her friend rushes in to save her, they injure him seriously. Despite the fact that he was injured in a case of self-defense, problems quickly come of this, leaving Annabel and Lord Ranulf's futures at stake.
My thoughts:
This book is amazing! It is such a sweet, fairytale romance.
I love Annabel's kind heart. I love how rough around the edges Lord Ranulf is. I love how Annabel's dream is so simple - to be able to hold and read a Bible without the priest telling her what to believe.
This story is based loosely on the classic fairytale, The Beauty and the Beast.
I love a good medieval romance, and this certainly is that! The honesty and love in these pages is truly amazing. I recommend this book for anyone and everyone (girls especially :) ages twelve and up.
Objectional Content:
Language: None.
Romance/Sexual Content: Kissing, forced marriages. Bailiff Tom tries to get Annabel to kiss him and teases her.
Violence: Fighting. Fires. People getting seriously hurt.
Drugs/Alcohol Content: None as far as I remember.
I reviewed this book for:
Team Novel Teen.
Team Novel Teen is a group of bloggers dedicated to spreading the word about clean teen fiction.
Check out other posts about The Merchant's Daughter by: Melanie Dickerson by clicking on the links below, and check out www.NovelTeen.com for more information about Team Novel Teen.
The Librarian’s Bookshelf • Rachelle Rea • ADD Librarian • The Book Fae • My Life with a Mission • Katie McCurdy • Terri Harr • Book Nook 4 You • My Story Shelf • Sugar Peach • Jill Williamson
If you would be interested in buying this book, click HERE.
Good review! I agree about Ranulf--his roughness, yet his attempts to be gentle, were sweet. :-)
ReplyDeleteNice that you have a Objectionable Content section. Great idea! :-)
I love your synopsis! "Of course, laziness like this cannot go unnoticed forever." Awesome :)
ReplyDeleteKatie: Thanks! Ranulf is awesome. :)
ReplyDeleteI always like to see the objectionable content before I read a book. You never know what you're going to find in a book these days.
addlibrarian: Thanks! It's very true. :)
Sierra: Melanie Dickerson is AWESOME. I won a book in a giveaway on my birthday this past year. :)
I personally thought The Healer's Apprentice was a bit better, but they're both amazing. :)
I loved your review! I agree with Katie that it's great you have an objectionable content section, especially for parents with younger children.
ReplyDeleteI smiled quite a bit through your review: "her sissy of a brother, Edward." haha, it's true!
Haha, thank you! I hesitated just a bit to put it in my review, because I'd never say something like that in real life, so I shouldn't say it online... but it seemed like such the perfect word! :)
ReplyDeleteI echo Jessica Laurie about liking that you called Edward exactly what he is. :)
ReplyDeleteI feel like I could echo the "my thoughts" section all the way. I so enjoyed having Ranulf and Annabel so different (her sweet and kind ~ him rough around the edges).
I kind of wish that, at the end, Melanie Dickerson could have shown Edward humbling himself and apologizing to Annabel. :)
ReplyDeleteEdward couldn't apologize because I don't think he was sorry for anything but himself. Sad that such a sweet girl had such a terrible family. But God renewed that and gave her a new family that loved her.
ReplyDelete