Books for Christian Girls: "Castle of Refuge" by Melanie Dickerson

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.

Series: Book #2 in “The Dericott Tales”. Review of the first book, Here!

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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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

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!