Books for Christian Girls: "Cloak of Scarlet" by Melanie Dickerson

About this book:

  “She was an orphan of no importance . . .
   Violet Lambton never imagined herself as anything but average. Adopted as a young child, she’s content with her comfortable life in her small medieval town with her faith, her books, and her baking . . . and the vivid red cloak her grandmother gifted her. Her one dream: to find a love that is pure and true. Then, her beloved grandmother is robbed by the villainous Baron Dunham. Outraged, Violet finds herself in the midst of the action and determines to put an end to the evil baron’s mistreatment of the hardworking people.
    He was an ordinary knight serving the baron . . .
    Sir Merek, a knight in the service of Baron Dunham, has pledged his life to fighting injustice and defending the weak. But when he encounters the spirited and beautiful Violet and discovers the depths of the baron’s treachery, he realizes that serving his employer is not serving the kingdom—and so he sets out on a daring journey to go behind the baron’s back to expose his deceitfulness to the king.
    Suddenly the kingdom depends on both of them.
    But before Merek and Violet can act to bring the corruption to light, Violet is captured and brought directly to Dunham—where she shockingly discovers a secret that shakes her entire world . . . and the future she dreams of. Thrown together in the baron’s quarters in a race against time to save the lives of their loved ones and themselves, Violet and Merek must learn to trust each other to expose Dunham’s treachery to the king—all while succumbing to their growing feelings for each other. Can the two find their happily ever after against all odds, or will the wolves amongst them drive them apart?”

Series: Book #5 in “The Dericott Tales”. Review of the Book #1 Here!, Book #2 Here!, Book #3 Here!, and Book #4 Here!

Spiritual Content- Scriptures are directly referenced, mentioned, quoted, & remembered; Many Prayers; Talks about God; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Violet goes to a church to pray and lights a candle and crosses herself when there; God talks to Violet (about holding her in the palm of His hand); Merek strives to have Christlike character in all he does; Many mentions of God, His plans, prayers, praying, thanking God, & faiths; Mentions of God speaking to others (Violet and her grandmother; Violet’s mother says that God only speaks to priests and prophets); Mentions of those & events in the Bible; Mentions of churches/cathedrals, priests, confessing sins to priests, & a crucifix; A few mentions of the Holy Writ/Holy Scriptures; A few mentions of psalms & Psalters; A few mentions of forgiving others so God is able to forgive you; A few mentions of sins; A couple mentions of Heaven; A mention of a blessing over food; A mention of a godly person; A mention of godspeed; A mention of Holy days; A mention of a pilgrimage; A mention of someone being a whitewashed tomb; A mention of the lake of burning fire;
             *Note: Violet’s grandmother shares with her about marrying a man without asking God if she should and it being a rough marriage; Mentions of evil people & evil actions; A mention of some villages being fearful of anyone in authority, even the Church clergy.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: an ‘egads’; A mention of curses (said, not written); Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Fighting, Being grabbed/attacked, Being held at knife-point, Being tied-up, Being beaten, Pain, Injuries, Blood/Bleeding, & Passing out (up to semi-detailed); Seeing a fight & someone bleeding a lot after being stabbed (*Spoiler* the person ends up passing away, which causes Merek to feel some guilt over killing another, but it relieved that it means that evil person can’t hurt others anymore *End of Spoiler*, up to semi-detailed); Almost being attacked by a wild boar & Fighting it (up to semi-detailed); *Spoiler* Violet’s birth father threatens her to submit to his plans or he’ll kill her and her loved ones, and also holds a knife against her throat *End of Spoiler*; Merek has a temper and has to reign it in multiple times to keep himself from going after revenge and physically fighting others (he imagines fighting and besting others, barely-above-not-detailed); Violet & Merek drink wine and ale at dinners/parties; Violet struggles with the injustice happening in her village (her grandmother tells her that “we will never be content, as God intended, if we rage against the things we can to nothing about. It is better to accept them”); A man relieves himself outside in front of Violet & Merek (he tries to shield her from that, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Many mentions of stealing, thefts, thieves, & being attacked and threatened; Many mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of murders, killing, & wanting to kill or harm another who are doing a crime; Mentions of deaths (including Violet’s birth mother starving to death); Mentions of threats of harm, death, and execution (including towards loved ones to get another to do as they say, up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a murder, crimes, treason, & being locked in a prison (Book #1); Mentions of torture; Mentions of attacks, fighting, beatings, injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of alcohol (including stronger spirits), drinking, social drinking at dinners, drunks, & hangovers; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of hunting; A few mentions of Violet being “killed, or worse” after standing up to men in powerful positions; A few mentions of a priest being hung after speaking out against an authority figure (barely-above-not-detailed); A few mentions of wars/battles; A few mentions of criminals; A few mentions of drugging someone so they will sleep (main characters towards an evil character); A few mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of hatred; A few mentions of relieving oneself, human excrement, & urine; A couple mentions of someone being thrown from a horse & dying (barely-above-not-detailed); A mention of a man often leaving his family and then coming back and repeating it many times; A mention of killing a hog (semi-detailed);
             *Note: Violet is adopted and it’s brought-up many times, particularly Violet feeling like she always has to do more for her family to show her appreciation at them taking in a “helpless, needy child who could give them nothing in return”, that she’s an orphan of no importance, remembering starving prior to being adopted helping her be humble and grateful to her adoptive parents, being a burden to her family, how she felt helpless to help her birth mother, that her adoptive family will ceases to love her if she’s not a blessing to them, and feeling as if she’s responsible for her birth mother’s death; Violet recalls the time her birth mother said they have no food and Violet remembers the feelings of extreme hunger (her birth mother would soon pass away from not being able to eat, up to semi-detailed on the feelings of hunger); Violet’s mother has anxiety & worries a lot; Violet asks if a man shoots orphans for fun because he’s already violating the Holy Scriptures by another action (she was being sassy); When Violet finds out about her birth mother, she feels as if her adoptive family has lied to her but tells herself that they “only omitted a lot of important information”instead; A few mentions of some men and women abusing their spouse; A mention of a man saying “what good is it for a woman to learn to read?”; A mention of someone asking if Violet is “soft in the head”.

Sexual Content- Two hand kisses (unwanted), two cheek kisses, a nose kiss, two forehead kisses, three not-detailed kisses, a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, two semi-detailed kisses (one in a dream), and two detailed kisses; Remembering kisses (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to kiss (up to semi-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Nearness, & Smelling (including unwanted/forced as well, up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Violet has a dream of kissing Merek & wakes up startled, thinking that she’s being unseemly because she’s unmarried; After kissing Violet, Merek wonders if he’s “died and gone to heaven”; *Big Spoiler* Violet finds out about a third of the way through that her birth mother was an orphaned servant that was taken advantage of by a powerful man who mistreated her; Violet feels sick to learn this information and that the Baron is her biological father; Her grandmother tells her that she is not responsible for anything that happened to her mother or anything that the baron did; Towards the end, Violet realizes it was a blessing that her birth mother took her away from him because she would have had a different life with mistreatment otherwise *End of Big Spoiler*; *Ending Spoiler* In the final chapter of the book, Violet and Merek are married in front of the king and then the epilogue is two months later with talks about them getting married the next day in their own church (not called a wedding, but getting married); She’s with child at this time *End of Spoiler*; A few mentions of Violet being “killed, or worse” after standing up to men in powerful positions; A few mentions of men leering at or looking at Violet or her figure; A few mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of temptations & some men taking advantage of women (Merek says he does not want to be like those men); A mention of the Church not viewing a couple as married until the marriage is consummated; A mention of a man staring at Violet’s mouth; A mention of seducing someone; A mention of a mistress; A mention of a married person preferring illicit company rather than their spouse; A mention of flirting; A mention of some men speaking profanely about women; A mention of a man charming women; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Violet wonders if a man will try anything “unseemly” towards her, but knows “where to hit a man to incapacitate him”; A mention of a young women possibly being casted out from her family when it was revealed she was pregnant; A mention of a mother passing away in childbirth; A mention of a stillborn baby.

-Violet Lambton, age 18 (?)
-Sir Merek, age 21
                                P.O.V. switches between them
                                            Set in 1386 (Medieval)
                                                        336 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{Could be possibly trigger for adoptees and/or those in or were in foster care}

This series has been making me wondering if I’m too old for YA books anymore—and I know that’s not the case.

Here’s the thing, the writing and the very simple plot line make me think that this book is better for ages 14 or 15, but the romance was so physically attracted based and really the main part of the story, I hesitate to recommend it for younger teenagers. It could definitely push the thoughts of romance/boys too early (especially with two detailed kisses), though, for some girls—depending on the girl and her age.

There was a good amount of faith content and lots of prayers, along with Scriptures referenced in conversations and prayers, which was nice to see.

I never felt connected to Violet or Merek and they were from arguing and fussing at the other to wanting to kiss the other so fast and Violet dreaming of kissing him. It was zero to ninety very fast in that regard because they were very attracted to the other. Their personalities and character were noted by the other, but it almost felt like an afterthought because they were already physically attracted to the other. There is also a mention of consummating a marriage and a scene where a man relieves himself outside that I truly don’t understand why those parts/comments were necessary?

There’s one thing that I’d like to note for parents of the girls who may be interested in this book: *Spoiler* In the final chapter of the book, Violet and Merek are married in front of the king and then the epilogue is two months later and talks about them getting married the next day in their own church. She’s with child at this time. I note this only because, while yes, they were married prior, they refer to the second event as a marriage and not a wedding. This could be slightly confusing for some girls. *End of Spoiler*

I can see why some readers may enjoy this one because it was overall clean, but, personally, I don’t think it was anywhere near as good as other books by this author.

See y’all on Friday with a new review!