About this book:
“Audrey
is a viscount’s daughter who has suffered her sister Maris’s cruel, jealous
behavior all her life. An act of malice led their father to send Maris to a
convent, but Audrey was still left with scars. Three years later, Audrey’s
father is determined to marry off his damaged daughter, and Maris is returning.
Desperate, Audrey sneaks away.
However, life outside her home is
dangerous, and she soon finds herself attacked, injured, and in dire straits.
She is taken in at Dericott Castle to be nursed back to health. While there,
she decides to keep her identity a secret and work as a servant in the castle.
But she doesn’t count on falling in love with the young and handsome Lord
Dericott, who lost his arm several months earlier.
Meanwhile, Edwin—Lord Dericott—is
curious about the new, well-educated servant’s identity. When the man Audrey’s
father wanted her to marry comes looking for her, each must make a
life-changing decision about what to believe and whether or not love is truly
worth trusting.
In this Ugly Duckling retelling, New York Times bestselling author
Melanie Dickerson brilliantly crafts a high-stakes, encouraging tale about the
power of love.
Spiritual Content- Many Scriptures are quoted, mentioned, & remembered; Many
Prayers & Thanking God; ‘H’s are capitalized when referring to God; Many mentions
of God & faiths; Mentions of prayers, praying, blessings over food, &
Thanking God; Mentions of Bibles (the Holy Writ and a Psalter) & Bible
reading; Mentions of those & events in the Bible; Mentions of a convent,
monastery, the activities there, churches, chapels, & priests/nuns; Mentions
of blessings & being blessed; Mentions of Heaven; A few mentions of sins; A
couple mentions of the book of Song of Solomon; A couple mentions of miracles; A
mention of the Church of England;
*Note: Mentions of evil; Mentions
of people believing that scars are from the devil & that the person is
cursed (Audrey says it’s true in her case because she’s cursed by having a sister
like Maris); Mentions of a pagan grave mound (Audrey explores one with Edwin)
& seeing a place they practiced their pagan religion; A few mentions of thinking
someone is possessed by a demon; A mention of that if you kill a good man, God
will allow Satan to control your mind.
Negative Content- Thinking you’re about to die/be killed (semi-detailed); Fighting,
being attacked, being held at knifepoint, & pain (semi-detailed); Falling/Being
pushed into a fire, pain, burns, & injuries (up to semi-detailed); Being
kidnapped (barely-above-not-detailed); Falling off a horse (barely-above-not-detailed);
Being threatened harm & killing (Maris to Audrey); Audrey’s sister is very
mean and abusive towards her (verbally and physically, but is also violent
towards the servants); Being sick & passing out (up to semi-detailed); Nightmares
(up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of jealousy/envy & hatred; Mentions of
wanting to kill someone in hatred & how (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of wars/rebellions,
fighting, & killing (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of being accused
of murder and treason, nearly being executed, & Edwin losing his arm (barely-above-not-detailed,
Book #1); Mentions of being kidnapped, injuries, & blood/bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed);
Mentions of fires & smoke (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a nanny that
abused a child (slapping, pinching & beating the child, barely-above-not-detailed);
Mentions of being robbed, stolen items, & robbers/thieves; Mentions of nightmares
(up to semi-detailed); Mentions of drinking & alcohol; Mentions of lies,
lying, & liars; Mentions of wild animals, the possibility of being killed
or harmed by them, & dead wild animals (barely-above-not-detailed); A few
mentions of sicknesses & deaths; A couple mentions of slaves; A couple
mentions of debts; A mention of a girl’s parents who fight & yell at home; A
mention of wondering if a horse is being abused;
*Note: (Killing a snake, barely-above-not-detailed);
A few mentions of women running away from cruel husbands.
Sexual Content- A hand kiss, two
cheek kisses, a forehead (barely-above-not-detailed) kiss, a hair kiss, five barely-above-not-detailed
kisses, two border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kisses, and
three semi-detailed kisses; Smelling, Nearness, Touches, Embraces, &
Dancing (barely-above-not-detailed); Laying next to each other (for warmth, border-line
barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Noticing, Blushes, & Winks (including
noticing muscles, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of kisses & kissing;
A few mentions of men (not) touching a defenseless girl (Audrey); A couple
mentions of Audrey’s sister offering for a young man to sneak out and meet her
in the middle of the night; A couple mentions of flirting & flirts; A mention
of a concubine; A mention of thinking a girl ran off with her lover; A mention
of a book being profane and sacrilegious for anyone, but especially a young
unmarried girl; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
*Note: Audrey’s father plans for
her to marry a man that is around the age of her father; A few mentions of Audrey’s
mother who died while giving birth to her (Maris says Audrey killed their
mother multiple times).
-Audrey, age 19
-Edwin, age 23
P.O.V.
switches between them
Set in 1382 (Chapter 1 in set in 1378)
328 pages
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While I thought the first book in this series was decent (definitely not my favorite by this author), this second
book was much better in my opinion. I really liked Audrey, but also the faiths
shown in this book reminded me of the second book in the “Hagenheim” series,
which I’ve always said is probably my favorite in that series.
I’m not sure I focused more on
Audrey than Edwin, but he didn’t stand out too much to me for the majority of
the book. Not sure if we didn’t see his thoughts enough or I was paying too
much attention towards Audrey, though.
It might be an odd thing to
comment on, but I really liked the pacing of this book and how long it felt.
(not long in a “oh my goodness, this is sooooo looooong!” way, but in a way
where it didn’t feel like the book was rushing to and from new plot points. So
this is a positive thing! ;) )
I think the romance was very
sweet (and clean) and even though there were no mentions of men trying to take
advantage of young women, I think this book might be best for those in high
school because of said romance.
See y’all on Friday with a new
review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this
author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
I really enjoyed this book as well! I have not read anything else by her, but I plan to!
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