Books for Christian Girls: "A Last Hope" by Verity Sandahl

About this book:

  “Can one find hope when all is lost?
    Once every thousand years, two souls are entwined, uniting the powers of the kingdoms. But what if your soul is connected to your enemy? King Marc’s father betrayed Arianna’s family and stole her kingdom, and all she wants is revenge. Disguised as a lowly tanner, Arianna works with the rebels, and when King Marc asks her to marry him, she agrees only so she can steal his throne. How long can she hide her identity and mission from a husband who unknowingly shares her powers and is determined to know her past? Dark forces push the kingdoms back toward war, and Marc submits to the marriage law only to preserve the peace. But when he marries a minute past midnight, he is forced to abdicate, leaving him a mere commoner, and as he comes to know his wife, he realizes that her secrets could destroy them all.”

Series: Part of the “Hope Ever After” series and features characters from a couple of those books and future books by this author.

Spiritual Content- Ephesians 3:14-19 in the Dedication; Prayers & Blessings over food; Talks about the One Father (God) & having hope; ‘H’s are capital when referring to Him; When young, Arianna is confused by someone mentioning the One is greater than her father because “no one was greater than her father”; After something happens to change his position, Marc doesn’t understand why the One Father would allow it to happen; Arianna isn’t sure when she last prayed because she doesn’t see the point in praying to a Father who doesn’t listen & later thinks of something as another strike against her by the One Father; Arianna doesn’t go to church; *Spoiler* When Marc prays, Arianna feels peace and has a war within herself about that feeling; Later, she thinks that she wants his happiness and joy with how he fights against the darkness, but knows that “such power” cannot be hers because she believes the sacrifice will be too great *End of Spoiler*; *Spoilers* Arianna views the One Father as her earthly father who was always judging her and never satisfied with her, but towards the end she prays for help and feels His warmth (which is the warmth she’s felt from Marc); She forgives someone and then feels free from her hatred *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of the One Father, His son, a higher Power, the book of the One Father, and prayers/praying; Mentions of churches, church going, & a priest; Mentions of hope, planting seeds, & forgiveness; Mentions of sins; A few mentions of miracles; A few mentions of callings from the One Father;
             *Note: A prophecy about two souls who would be intertwined and united the kingdoms together; The families have magical powers, Arianna and her family can fly (which is shown on-page and described as “climbing the air around [her]” (up to semi-detailed)) & Marc and his family are able to tell a person’s feelings by touching them (we see this often & some gifts are later described as worship to the One Father when they are doing their gif); Arianna is given a protection spell by a woman (*Spoiler* who is later revealed to be her fairy godmother *End of Spoiler*) to keep others from reading her emotions & someone tells her to use it for getting rid of her fear (twisting it’s intent); We see other magical powers such as someone lifting water (and planning to use boiling water to harm others) and push air (Arianna); *Spoiler* Marc’s twin brother was always believed to not have any powers, actually has the power to control/push others to do what he wants *End of Spoiler*; Destined souls, soul mates, connected souls, and bonded souls are mentioned as this happens to our main characters when they were children & is a part of a prophesy; Later, Arianna calls this connection a “cruel curse”; Marc’s brother says that Aria has bewitched him and Marc replies that if it’s an enchantment, he likes it; Arianna wonders if a place could have a soul after seeing a beautiful garden; Dragons are said to be deceivers and lure people to their doom; As a child, Marc was told to ring a church bell at midnight and he would be able to talk to someone who had died (he attempts this but no spirit/dead person appeared); Mentions of spells & curses (including the protection spell on Arianna); Mentions of magic & a peace treaty sealed with dragon’s blood (which some say is the darkest kind of sorcery; A mention of someone looking magical and not quite human; A mention of someone calling Aria a witch; A mention of a superstitious country.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘by the saints’; Some sarcasm & eye rolling; Pain, breaking a bone, resetting it, injuries, & Passing out (up to semi-detailed); A side character squeezes someone unconscious (in his point of view, up to semi-detailed); Seeing an attack on her country and people, someone knocked unconscious, fighting, & a fire (up to semi-detailed); Arianna has hatred towards Marc and his people & is very bitter, believing that there is no hope; Arianna wants blood as a small payment for what Marc’s family did to her like his family being gone, his castle burned, and his people homeless (*Spoiler* but towards the end she realizes that she doesn’t want that anymore *End of Spoiler*); Arianna feels as if something in her died after the attack & all hope is gone (which someone tells her isn’t true, but she still believes it anyway); Arianna lies; Arianna recalls being a young girl and seeing a badger and a gelada fight where the latter was killed (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed; Marc calls this wicked and the person ordering it a bully); Many mentions of lies, lying, liars, deceit, & hatred; Mentions of wars, attacks, murders/deaths (including of children and children being orphans), fighting, fires, screams, rebels, prisoners, & bloodshed; Mentions of slavery & slaves; Mentions of stealing & thieves; Mentions of verbal abuse & beatings (including Arianna’s father towards servants); Mentions of bullies; A few mentions of nightmares; A few mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of rumors; A few mentions of Arianna’s process of tanning hides (barely-above-not-detailed); A couple mentions of eavesdropping; A couple mentions of manure; A mention of an executioner; A mention of vomit; A mention of spanking;
             *Note: A mention of a mother dying in labor (Arianna’s mother).

Sexual Content- Three hand kisses, a forehead kiss, three almost kisses (one which Arianna stops by saying that she isn’t ready), two not-detailed kisses, and three barely-above-not-detailed kisses; Touches, Dancing, Warmth, (barely-above-not-detailed to semi-detailed); Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Some flirting & winks; *Spoilers* Arianna and Marc are forced to be married and there are mentions of it being their wedding night and about sleeping together, but nothing happens between them as she sleeps elsewhere; Marc knows that Aria doesn’t love him but knows that he will woo her; They do not share a bed and Marc tells her to take all the time she needs; Later, she thinks of them not truly as husband and wife because they’ve never kissed; *Bigger Spoilers* Towards the end, there are a couple hints to their love for the other and at the very end it’s said she’s with child *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of kisses, kissing, & wanting to kiss; A few mentions of flirting; A few mentions of a young boy (8 years old) is teased by his twin about liking a girl (he thinks she’s interesting and pretty; a bit later when noticing her and noticing a girl for the first time, he feels awkward and shy talking to her); A mention of enjoying the silk sheets of a woman’s bed (if Marc married her); Love, falling/being in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: A mention of people leering at Arianna when she was a dancer & a friend protecting her.

-Arianna, age 21
-Marc, age 21
                                P.O.V. switches between them & another character (x2)
                                                        215 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this book at first, but I ended up enjoying it. I wasn’t super familiar with the King Thrushbeard story, which was kind of nice because I had nothing to compare it to and this book felt like it’s own story.

The first chapter is them as children and it felt very middle-grade-ish then, but as the book progressed you see some much-needed character development and lessons learned by our main couple.

Marc was cocky. Which you know, fits for the retelling, but I didn’t like him much at first because of it. Though, he starts being a love sicken fool for her and I did quite like those parts! I always find it funny when we switch point of view of the main couple and they’re thinking completely opposite things about the other. This book had a few of those scenes that made me smirk every time.

I did struggle at times staying interested in this book’s plot, but I think that was just me because the ending kept my attention, and I was curious to see what the conclusion to the plot would be!

While I’m not typically one for marriage of convenience stories, I did really like the message of letting go of hatred/bitterness and allowing Hope to enter into your heart. It was a sweet message and story overall!

See y’all on Friday with a new review!