Tag: fairy tales

Series: Fairy Tales #2

An unthinkable danger. An unexpected choice.

Annabel, once the daughter of a wealthy merchant, is trapped in indentured servitude to Lord Ranulf, a recluse who is rumored to be both terrifying and beastly. Her circumstances are made even worse by the proximity of Lord Ranulf s bailiff a revolting man who has made unwelcome advances on Annabel in the past. Believing that life in a nunnery is the best way to escape the escalation of the bailiff’s vile behavior and to preserve the faith that sustains her, Annabel is surprised to discover a sense of security and joy in her encounters with Lord Ranulf.

As Annabel struggles to confront her feelings, she is involved in a situation that could place Ranulf in grave danger. Ranulf’s future, and possibly his heart, may rest in her hands, and Annabel must decide whether to follow the plans she has cherished or the calling God has placed on her heart.

2.5 Drink Me Potions

I don’t even know where to begin this review. And I always have something to say when giving opinions on books. Please. It’s second nature to me. So this isn’t a good sign.

Annabel was a really sweet girl. Too sweet, in fact. Yes, she wanted to learn more and grow spiritually, although the priest back in her time did not think a woman should be doing such things. I want to be nice like her, but it was almost too much. She did what she was told and constantly worried about things. From worrying about not betraying her friend’s trust to working hard as a servant girl now to warding off men who couldn’t take “no” for an answer.

Fine, the last one is a reasonable thing to worry about, but still.

And besides being a really nice girl, she was beautiful. It was obvious from the way men kept coming after her. Or from the snide comments from the other maids employed in Ranulf’s household who were jealous. I mean, that’s great and all. But she was like PERFECTION. And almost seemed to have no backbone. I couldn’t connect with her very well.

As for Ranulf, he fit the ideal of Beast if anyone did. But I just did NOT like him. If it was written well, I would be able to at least sympathize with him and actually like him as the love interest. I just didn’t care for him much.

It may be the time difference (it was the Middle Ages after all) that most of these characteristics can be attributed to. Like, men could get away with doing whatever they wanted with a girl. Who’s gonna believe the word of a woman, huh? It still baffled me quite a bit why Dickerson had so many of the other maids try to seduce Lord Ranulf so they could get his title. I mean, sure, that happens in any century, but it seemed rather random and unnecessary to the plot. They thought he was ugly as crap. He was scorned and had terrible scars, literally, but still.

I’m gonna just cut this review short. Honestly, I don’t feel much for The Merchant’s Daughter. I did not enjoy it, but it wasn’t boring. That’s the distinction. Still readable, but not much feeling towards anything going on. This is apathy at its greatest.

Overall Recommendation:
Having read some of Dickeron’s other novels, The Merchant’s Daughter just didn’t compare. With a Beauty and the Beast theme, Annabel is given the choice to work in Ranulf’s place as punishment. He was definitely a beastly man, but that was all he is. I couldn’t empathize and it made liking him as the love interest hard. Annabel was a little too nice of a girl for my taste. I like my protagonists to have a bit more fight in them, to stand up for their passions, to feel something. How could I feel something for them if they don’t actually have strong feelings? I wouldn’t recommend this on your reading list unless you don’t mind these annoyances that just bugged me endlessly.

Series: Fairy Tales #5

A new suitor. A shocking discovery.

Margaretha has always been a romantic, and hopes her newest suitor, Lord Claybrook, is destined to be her one true love. But then an injured man is brought to the castle, claiming to be an English lord who was left for dead by Claybrook’s men. She convinces herself “Lord Colin” is just an addled stranger, until Colin retrieves an heirloom she lost in a well and asks her to spy on Claybrook as repayment.

Margaretha knows she could never be a spy—not only does she tend to talk too much, she’s sure Colin is completely wrong about her potential betrothed. But she soon discovers her romantic notions may have been clouding her judgment about not only Colin but Claybrook as well. She soon finds herself running for her life–and it may be up to her to save her father and her family from one man’s wicked plot.

2.5 Drink Me Potions

I had really hoped to like this one. The synopsis of The Princess Spy was intriguing, although it didn’t really remind me of any particular fairy tale story like the others in Dickerson’s collection. And after seeing Margaretha featured in The Captive Maiden, a book I enjoyed and read not long ago, I had SUCH high hopes.

Only to fall back gently into disappointment.

Margaretha talks a lot. She really does. Yammers on and on about whatever she’s thinking. And she knows this. Even her little brothers think she talks WAY too much. I’m gonna agree with this. It was a huge challenge to get beyond it. I mean, it’s not that I didn’t like Margaretha ’cause of it. I just wanted to skip reading over her huge monologues occasionally.

Oh, but that wasn’t the only thing. Oh no. The beginning was SO boring. Margaretha thinks Colin is kinda not fully there in the head, while he’s yapping away in a slightly crazy manner about Lord Claybrook. It was exhausting. Honestly. Nothing really happened until they got beyond that point of believing he wasn’t crazy.

Their building relationship and romance was believable, but it wasn’t in any way….exciting. Okay, basically the whole story lacked excitement. It was just on this constant level of emotion. There were “fight scenes”, and I’m putting that in quotations ’cause they didn’t last long, but I didn’t ever really think that anyone important was gonna die or anything. So there goes the suspense or potential edge-of-my-seat moments.

Colin was a good guy. He may have been trying to exact revenge and it took him a while to realize that what he was doing wasn’t necessarily bringing Claybrook to justice. I liked the moral of the story, but it wasn’t the kind of fairy tale quality I had been looking forward to. Therefore, disappointment just gives way to apathy. I read the whole thing but my heart was never really INTO it, if you know what I mean. I just didn’t really care in the end about anything or anyone in the book, and that’s never a good sign with me when reading a story.

Overall Recommendation:
There was potential from the synopsis for a fun and grand adventure with Margaretha. After all, she was already a familiar character from the previous Dickerson novel, and an interesting character who loved to talk a whole lot. And I do mean, a whole lot. Spying for Colin could’ve dragged out into many different areas, but it didn’t last. It was boring in the beginning, and nothing could really excite me from there on. It might just be me, but this latest installment really lacked the whole fairy tale theme. She was just a girl with a title back in the Middle Ages. There was no fairy tale magic to spice it up, and I think that was what could’ve saved The Princess Spy. I’d say it’s readable still, but not necessary.