Books for Christian Girls: "Veil of Winter" by Melanie Dickerson

About this book:

“Princess Elyce is on the verge of marrying the nephew of the unscrupulous King Conrad of a neighboring kingdom when she discovers that Conrad will use her marriage to force her people to work in his mines. In order to fake her own death and escape him, she takes a sleeping potion, planning to awaken on the third day and then travel to Prague to seek help from King Wenceslaus, who rules the Holy Roman Empire. But her plan goes awry: the third day comes without her waking up.

Sir Gerard is convinced by Delia, his sister and Elyce’s best friend, to go help the sleeping princess, still slumbering and held captive by King Conrad’s guards. He manages to wake her with a kiss, but the princess is not pleased at this rude awakening. Still, he is her only hope of escape. Thus begins their journey to Prague in the dead of winter, hounded on all sides by elements and enemies. The greatest threat may come from within, though, as they desperately fight against their growing feelings for one another.”

Series: Book #3 in “The Dericott Tales”. Review of the Book #1 Here! and Book #2 Here!

Spiritual Content- A few Scriptures are mentioned & remembered; Many Prayers; Going to a chapel to pray; Talks about God; ‘H’s are capitalized when referring to God; Elyce thinks that she must be a faithful person because she wonders why God would allow certain things to happen & asks for repentance; Elyce struggles with guilt for disobeying her father because of the Scripture is honor your father and mother (though, her father isn’t doing good for the people of their country); Mentions of God, His will, & being called by Him; Mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, & blessings over food; Mentions of a vision & receiving one from God (Gerard); Mentions of going to a chapel to pray; Mentions of chapels/cathedrals, popes, & priests; Mentions of sins; A few mentions of the How Scriptures/Holy Writ; A few mentions of a crucifix at a chapel; A few mentions of those & places in the Bible; A mention of monks;

*Note: Elyce grew up being told that there is two unforgivable sins which would cause everyone to stop loving her: being selfish and showing too much emotion (by her father & aunt, but she wonders that if that’s true, why would God give her emotions in the first place; *Spoiler* At the very end, she realizes that they were wrong *End of Spoiler*); Gerard wonders if the attract he feels for Elyce is a test or a temptation from the devil (compared to Jesus being lead into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to fast and then be tempted by the devil); Elyce’s father says that God will punish her for not listening to him; Mentions of evil people; A mention of a priest telling a man that he cannot murder his child or God will send him to hell (the man says that he’ll worry about that later and that God can forgive any sin, which the priest responds that there is no forgiveness without repentance); A mention of a healer being vouched for despite her not going to church or confession in many years.

Negative Content- A bit of eye rolling; Seeing a fight & death (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Being strangled, almost passing out, & pain (*Spoiler* Elyce’s father to her *End of Spoiler*, up to semi-detailed); Nearly drowning & freezing to death (up to semi-detailed); Taking a potion & going into a deep sleep (somewhat painful, barely-above-not-detailed); Elyce lies for her and the others’ safety (she asks God for forgiveness after); Elyce is hurt by her father not loving her; Elyce’s father & aunt told her that she shouldn’t show her emotions and Elyce thinks that if she does show her emotions, no one will love her and that emotions are disgusting and dangerous; Mentions of wars, rebellions, & fighting; Mentions of a death, fights, injuries, & blood/bleeding; Mentions of Gerard & his brother being falsely accused of treason and murder & being almost executed (Book #1); Mentions of the possibility of being killed; Mentions of threats of violence, death, & executions; Mentions of harsh working conditions, being treated like slaves, & deaths (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a woman being chased to her (almost) death off a cliff & her being willing to take her own life to get away from the man; Mentions of someone who froze to death & the possibility of it happening; Mentions of stopping a man from being beaten; Mentions of blood/bleeding & injuries; Mentions of treason; Mentions of ransoms; Mentions of a potion that makes the person be believed to be dead by slowing their heartbeat and breathing, the possibility of injury from it, or possibly death and being buried alive (Elyce takes it); Mentions of hatred; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of hunting & dead animals; Mentions of having to use the bathroom outside (embarrassing for the women); A few mentions of thieves & stealing; A few mentions of alcohol & drinking; A few mentions of bullies; A couple mentions of beatings; A couple mentions of being concerned about a sick horse; A mention of a rumor; A mention of animal waste.

Sexual Content- Four hand kisses (one unpleasant and one barely-above-not-detailed), a cheek kiss, two barely-above-not-detailed kisses (one is not meant to be romantic as Gerard was trying to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Elyce), two semi-detailed kisses, and two border-line semi-detailed // detailed kisses (before one of them, Gerard thinks that he knows he shouldn’t kiss her, but she wants him to kiss her and that if he did, “he’d be pleasing himself as well as her”); Quite a bit of remembering kisses (up to semi-detailed) & wanting to kiss again (including Elyce trying to think of a way to get Gerard to kiss her, barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, Warmth, & Nearness (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes & Winks; Noticing & Staring (barely-above-not-detailed); Elyce & Gerard have to sleep close together for warmth (it’s awkward for both of them, but Elyce thinks at one point that there is “something deliciously intimate about sleeping next to him”); The group (Elyce, Gerard, and two others) have to share a bedroom (nothing happens); When Elyce asks a man if he’ll be faithful to her, he talks about having “freedom” and that their marriage would be for the countries’ well-being, not for love (she says she intends to be faithful to her husband and wants him to respect her); Many mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of Gerard trying to do to mouth-to-mouth to Elyce & her not being happy about it; Mentions of men (not) touching women inappropriately; Mentions of jealousy; Mentions of blushes; A few mentions of Gerard recalling when he was younger and kissed a few maidens (the knight he was in service with encouraged him to do that and more with the local woman) & how he didn’t feel right doing it, especially after one of the maidens catching him kissing another girl (he regrets his insensitive behavior); A few mentions of flirting; A few mentions of broken hearts; A couple mentions of Elyce hoping that she would love her future husband “at least enough to kiss him and have children with him”; A couple mentions of a man saying lustful things about servant girls (which caused Elyce to wonder if all men were brutish animals); A couple mentions of men saying that their wives changed personalities after getting married; A mention of Elyce thinking that she always hoped her first kiss to be with her husband (& her being mad that Gerard just stole that when he did mouth-to-mouth resuscitation); A mention of an accusation of a princess throwing herself to a knight; A mention of Elyce not liking how some guards were staring at her; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;

*Note: A mention of Elyce being thankful was still “as skinny as a twelve-year-old” as her aunt told her she was (though her aunt meant it as an insult because she believed a curvier figure was more desirable for being able to have an heir).

-Princess Elyce, age 19

-Sir Gerard, age 21 (?)

P.O.V. switches between them

Set in 1382 Medieval/Historical

320 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

This may not have been my favorite book by this author, but it was still an overall cute one. I think I struggled the most with how young Elyce felt and acted. Gerard was fine as far as leading heroes go. While, sure, I rooted for their mission and wanted them to be together, neither of them stood out to me nor did I feel connected to either of them. I’m not sure why that was. I felt bad for Elyce having to grow up being belittled and told that having emotions is sinful (mind you, this is from her father and aunt as her mother passed away having getting upset at her father; not a clergyman) so Gerard was a good fit and an encourager to her. I do wish they hadn’t spent so much time thinking about kissing the other, though.

Some things were a little coincidental or predictable at times, but it was overall a good book and I liked that the characters prayed throughout the whole book.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!