"A Mismatch Made in London" by Melanie Dickerson

About this book:

  “When Amelia Moore is invited to London for the social season, she hopes for a chance at love--but certainly not with Jeremy Beaumont, the season's most sought-after bachelor. Upon making the acquaintance of his sister Juliet at her first ball, Amelia becomes fast friends with her, but Jeremy's protective nature leads him to question her motives and wrongly accuse Amelia of using his sister to capture his attention and fortune. Outraged at his arrogance, Amelia vows never to speak to him again, which proves a more difficult feat than she anticipated.
    As Amelia attracts the attention of other wealthy gentlemen, Jeremy becomes concerned for her welfare and feels compelled to warn her away from certain suitors. When unexpected circumstances heighten the friction between them, Amelia and Jeremy are forced to confront their undeniable attraction--and discover whether their battle of wills has actually been a dance toward love.”


Series: Seems to be a stand-alone novel.


Spiritual Content- A few Scriptures are mentioned, remembered, & quoted; Prayers & Thanking God; A few talks about God & praying; 'H’s are not capital when referring to God or Jesus; Mentions of God, Jesus, God’s will, God’s vengeance on a man for his actions, & forgiveness; Mentions of prayers, praying, & thanking God; Mentions of churches, church going, rectors/clergymen, & sermons; A few mentions of those & events in the Bible; A couple mentions of salvation; A couple mentions of Christians; A mention of the Bible; A mention of a possible missionary who was killed by a pagan tribe; A mention of a cross necklace; A mention of being blessed; A mention of wishing someone godspeed; 
             *Note: Religious phrases: a ‘for heaven’s sake’ and a ‘heavens’; Mentions of evil men and their evil intentions (towards women); A mention of a good omen.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a form of ‘shut up’; Some eye rolling & sarcasm; Punching & Threatening someone (physically and with a duel, up to semi-detailed); Pain, Injuries, & Blood/Bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); Viewing a “shrunken head” in a museum (barely-above-not-detailed); Drinking ale (Jeremy, once); Many mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of deaths & grief (including for parents and spouses); Mentions of duels, possible deaths/killings, & the guilt of having someone’s blood/death on his hands; Mentions of wanting to physically harm someone who hurt a woman (Jeremy and other men want to punch or kill a man for his actions against a woman); Mentions of injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of threats & blackmail; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, & drunks; Mentions of gambling; Mentions of hunting; A few mentions of wars; A few mentions of thieves, stealing, & stolen items; A few mentions of throwing up & vomit; A few mentions of hatred; A mention of divorce; 
             *Note: A mention of a woman having several stillbirths; A mention of a boy being called a “gypsy” due to his Spanish heritage.
 
 
Sexual Content- Two hand kisses, three semi-detailed kisses, and a border-line semi-detailed // detailed kiss; Wanting to kiss/being kissed & embraced (often in the last half of the book, up to semi-detailed); Thinking about kissing & Talking about kissing/kisses (up to semi-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Hand holding, Warmth, Tingles/Flutters, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Blushes & Flirting; Noticing & Staring (up to semi-detailed); *Major Spoilers* Past halfway through, Amelia and Jeremy kiss at a party when alone and are caught by a group of others, so he proposes to her; Amelia isn’t sure about marrying him, but does enjoy kissing him and thinks of it often; Jeremy wasn’t sure he loved Amelia until they kissed and now wants to marry her; Jeremy vows to himself to not kiss her (for a third time) while she’s deciding on marrying him; While she thinks about their kisses often and wants to kiss again, she tells him not to kiss her until they’ve decided or not to get married because he “scrambles [her] thoughts” when he kisses her; Later when alone in a carriage with him, Amelia tells Jeremy that they shouldn’t kiss (which he agrees) and she has a war inside herself about it, calling herself “prudish” and remembering how good it was to kiss him and that there was “no harm” in kissing him (regardless, they do not kiss in the carriage this time, but are implied to have kissed a lot in the carriage ride after getting married and are pregnant shortly after getting married) *End of Spoilers*; A side character comments that it doesn’t “seem fair” that she can’t have “a little kiss” without people saying she did something terrible (and thus ruin her reputation); A side character (a young woman) goes off with a man for some time and it causes damage to her reputation (At first she says nothing happened, but *Spoilers, but about sexual assault* later reveals that the man threatened her to marry him, kissed her, grabbed her chest, and when she tried to stop him, he slapped her (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed of the girl telling Amelia about it); The friend feels ashamed and to blamed, but Amelia tell her not to be because it wasn’t her fault and God will get revenge on the evil man for what he did to her; When Jeremy finds out later, he physically threatens a friend of the man’s for spreading rumors about his sister and plans a duel with the evil man for molested her; The man later spreads rumors about the girl being with child and/or was with him all night, so Jeremy goes and plans a duel again, but another man makes the assaulter  sign a paper to admit to spreading the rumors *End of Spoilers*; Amelia goes into a room at a ball and sees a couple kissing “quite passionately” (she quickly leaves; up to semi-detailed); Amelia and Jeremy get involved in a maid’s life when she is said to be pregnant out of wedlock by a previous male guest (*Spoilers* The father of the child has disregarded the woman, but Jeremy makes him take responsibility and provide for the woman and the child *End of Spoilers*); Many mentions of kisses, kissing, & being in love; Many mentions of chaperones, reputations, women not being alone with a man, & women being ruined due to rumors of being alone with a man; Mentions of men taking advantage of women & possibly getting them pregnant; Mentions of men keeping mistresses/paramours; Mentions of men’s “immoral behaviors” that involve affairs/mistresses, getting young women pregnant out of wedlock, & having to pay the women or marry her; Mentions of a woman throwing herself at Jeremy and trying to kiss him; Mentions of flirts, flirting, & attraction; A few mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of a law being repealed about punishing a woman who bears a child out of wedlock (which Amelia and her friend are glad it is repealed as a woman “might become pregnant through no fault of her own—someone forcing himself upon her”); Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Amelia’s mother suggests to her about marrying her cousin and when Amelia protests at the thought, her mother says there’s nothing wrong with it.
 
-Amelia Moore, age 22
-Jeremy Beaumont
                 P.O.V. switches between them (Amelia in 1^st person, Jeremy in 3^rd person) 
                                         Set in 1811
                                                        304 pages
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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked the plot and characters a bit more than the author’s previous book, “The Good Fortune of Miss Robbins”, but there are some content concerns about this story for teen readers that ultimately affected my rating and the ages I would suggest it to. I would say my thoughts and comments about this book is very comparable to that previous book, but there were mentions of a sexual assault and a lot about kisses/kissing that brought down my ratings.

 

As a note, as far as I could tell, this book isn’t connecting to the “The Good Fortune of Miss Robbins” and I do not recognize any of the names mentioned on the back cover of the next regency book that is coming out by this author. It seems like they are all stand-alone books and not affiliated with each other despite releasing in a close time-frame and having similar pretty covers.

 

I really liked all of Amelia’s siblings and seeing them interact together as she is the oldest girl of twelve children. Seeing all of the big family elements in a regency setting was definitely my favorite part of this book—even if it was only at the very beginning and very end. 

 

As far as our main characters, I liked Amelia well enough, though I wished she would have been described in other ways besides “good” and “lovely” which she was called multiple times. She rambles and cries a lot, but has a good heart. Jeremy is kind of a jerk at first, so when his change towards her happens, it felt a little out of left-field. Similar to how I felt about the not-connecting previous book, because of the Female Main Character’s chapters being written in first person, it seemed like a diary at times with her thoughts being added into the story. Some of them just felt silly and worded in an odd way, which distracted me while reading. 

 

They seemed to be a good couple by the end, but I do want to give a caution about this book for teen readers due to the fact that their feelings become known to themselves after sharing a kiss. Once this kiss happens, they often think about kissing and wanting to kiss the other. While there were hints to them possibly tolerating each other better by that point (as they didn’t like each other at all at first), I think their emotions were heightened after sharing a kiss and it affected their reasoning and proper senses. Amelia admits this at one point (which I was glad to see), but continues wanting to kiss him despite not knowing what the future would be for them. I don’t think that is the best example for teen girls. Prior to this, Amelia thought herself in love with a couple other men (two separate times; after quickly falling for them after a few meetings) and was pretty devastated and sobbing when it didn’t work out. I didn’t care for much of the romance content of this book, particularly because of all the longing to kiss/be kissed and the emotions it brought up.

 

Along with all these parts of wanting to kiss the other, there’s quite a bit about men forcing themselves on women and a sexual assault that happens to a side character. An important side character is assaulted and feels ashamed by what happened, which became a bigger part of the book than I was expecting. 

 

There was a bit more faith content than I had expected, mainly on Amelia’s end. I would have liked to see more and Jeremy’s faith because there wasn’t much in that regard. I would have enjoyed seeing them discuss their faiths before considering the other as a potential lifelong spouse.

 

 

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 received this book for free from the Author for this honest review.

"The Good Fortune of Miss Robbins" by Melanie Dickerson

About this book:

  “My only remaining marriage prospects were the head gardener, the vicar, and the steward. But how could I marry any of them when I was in love . . . with Lord Brookhaven?
    Charlotte Robbins accepts a governess position for the Earl of Brookhaven's siblings despite rumors of the earl's severe and mysterious demeanor. As a lowly governess, Charlotte entertains thoughts of possible romance with an eligible servant until she does fall unexpectedly in love--with the pensive earl himself.
    But love does not mean a match is possible, and the earl's friends warn Charlotte that if he were to fall for her, it would ruin him. Just as Charlotte resigns herself to the impossibility of her feelings, she receives news that she has inherited a fortune from a long-lost relative. Now thrust into London high society, Charlotte grapples with suitors vying for her attention, but her heart still belongs to the Earl of Brookhaven. As secrets unfold, she's no longer certain if her newfound fortune is a blessing--or if it is the very thing that threatens the love she's always longed for.”


Series: Unclear if it is part of a connecting series or not.


Spiritual Content- Scriptures are mentioned, referenced, remembered, & quoted; Prayers & Thanking God; Talks about God & His will; ’H’s are not capital when referring to God; Church going; Lord Brookhaven asks if Charlotte was taught to fear God and her sins being found out, but Charlotte responds that she was taught to fear God but because of reading the Bible for herself views it as more of a reverence (Lord Brookhaven asks if she uses her own sense to understand the Bible and Charlotte says she believes Scripture is true and helpful and likes to draw her “own conclusions about what it means”; This is a reference to men in this time believing that clergymen should explain the Bible to women, but Lord Brookhaven says he respects it); Charlotte imagines marrying a certain clergyman who think that his work is more important to him than her and is upset by the thought; Charlotte comments at the end that she can “literally feel God’s love” more after knowing what it’s like to be “loved deeply and well“ (by a man); Mentions of God, Jesus, His mercy and grace, His creations, & His will; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of churches, church going, clergymen, sermons, & men having the church be their occupation; A few mentions of Providence; A few mentions of Christian charity; A couple mentions of events in the Bible; A couple mentions of being blessed; A couple mentions of a cross necklace; A couple mentions of sins; A mention of comparing one’s self to others not being a Christian thing to do; A mention of christenings; A mention of spiritual epiphanies; A mention of someone trying to “eke [their] way into heaven”; A mention of someone’s concerning spiritual state based off a suggestion he gave; A mention of “hypocritical clergy” a man met who were “not particularly pious, too lazy for good deeds, and seeking an easy life”; 
             *Note: Charlotte thinks “Dear Lord” once and it does not seem to be a prayer or talking to God; A woman mumbles “Lord bless me” when startled; A couple mentions of luck & being lucky.
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘damnable’ (used as an adjective to describe a strongly disliked man), a ‘blast’, and three ‘stupid’; A couple mentions of curses (said, not written); Some eye rolling & sarcasm; A lie (by Charlotte, to get out of an awkward situation); Charlotte drinks watered-down wine at a dinner party; *Spoilers* About half-way, William blackmails a shady solicitor to say Charlotte was left a large sum of money an estranged uncle in order for her to be able to do anything she wants and to accepted into society; Towards the end, the solicitor tries to con the money out of Charlotte for himself, but William stops it from happening and the truth about the money is revealed to Charlotte *End of Spoilers*; William wishes to choke a man for his actions (but does not); William recalls feeling the “desire to erase his own existence” after his broken engagement; Mentions of deaths, those near death, illnesses, & grief (including of parents, an uncle); Mentions of a carriage accident, a child being ran over by a carriage, injuries, an injured child, pain, someone fainting when seeing blood, & blood/bleeding; Mentions of criminals, thieves, stealing, ploys to steal from another (acting hurt or distracting their victims), & children being used for begging and pickpocketing by adults; Mentions of orphaned children living on the street & being used and mistreated by evil people; Mentions of arrests & prisons/jails; Mentions of bullies, bulling, fighting, & physical fights between children; Mentions of lies, lying, liars, & deceit/deception; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, someone drinking often, drunks, & others getting tipsy/drunk; Mentions of smoking, tobacco, & pipes (seen and done on-page by Lord Brookhaven; Charlotte hopes that her future husband smokes a pipe deeming it perhaps the “most masculine thing in the world”); A few mentions of blackmail; A few mentions of threats; A few mentions of gambling; A few mentions of hatred; A few mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of an injured baby rabbit (barely-above-not-detailed); A couple mentions of children being beaten and punished at schools; A couple mentions of duels with pistols or swords; A mention of a woman dying in childbirth (to twins); A mention of a man abusing and trying to drag his daughter away (due to her withholding her wages from him); A mention of frostbite; 
             *Note: Charlotte is an orphan and feels alone in the world with no one to care for her (so she often has dreamed about falling in love, getting married, and having a family of her own); Charlotte is told about an injured young boy being screamed at and punished by his mother for embarrassing her in front of her friends (William); Side characters show prejudice to orphaned street children (including a woman speaks harshly about street children and says they will steal and attack others (calling them “vermin”, but Charlotte defends the children)); Mentions of orphaned children scarfing food as if it might disappear any moment and fearing that necessities can be withheld from them if they misbehaved or didn’t show gratitude; Mentions of classic authors, books, & fictional characters (Shakespeare, Burns, Wordsworth, Milton, Jonathan Swift, Thomas Gray, Jane Austen, Walter Scott); A couple mentions of it being expected for a titled man to not love his wife or children; A mention of a couple unable to have children of their own; A mention of a woman having no children that survived infancy; A mention of gypsies; 
 
 
Sexual Content- Three hand kisses (one is barely-above-not-detailed), a fingers-to-lips touch, and three semi-detailed kisses; Wanting to kiss & Staring at lips (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Tingles/Shivers, Warmth, Nearness (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to embrace (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes, Winks, & Flirting; Noticing & Staring (including the hair on his chest a few times, barely-above-not-detailed); Flirting & Jealousy; Charlotte has a moment of concern about someone thinking that William is setting her up to be his paramour (which she would never agree to be and does not think that is his intent); William’s friends suggest setting Charlotte up in her own house (as his mistress) because no one will judge him for it as long as he is discreet, but William is appalled by their suggestion of ruining her and leading her to “a life of degradation and sin” (one friend says for him to “enjoy life a little” with her before he has to get married and produce an heir; William is upset at the friends for suggesting it and says Charlotte would not allow it; *Spoilers* His friends tell Charlotte that she must reject him if he confesses or it will ruin his standing in society *End of Spoilers*; As a note, one of these friends plans to have a career in the church); Charlotte enjoys a man flirting with her (thinking it makes her feel “alive and…pretty”) but knows he is after her fortune; A married woman invites William to her home and says she’s been lonely (he is shocked by her suggestion and leaves without a response to her comment); Mentions of married and unmarried people having paramours (including William’s parents having “numerous paramours”); Mentions of reputations & chaperones; Mentions of an engaged woman running off with another man; Mentions of love & there being little affection between some married couples; Mentions of flirting; Mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of “evil men” who prey on women; A few mentions of a man showing unwanted attention and smiling in a “predatory” way towards Charlotte; A few mentions of men’s chest hair; A couple mentions of married couples separating and having lovers; A couple mentions of an affair; A couple mentions of kisses; A mention of a man marrying a much younger woman; A mention of a lovesick man; A mention of someone of “questionable birth”; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Charlotte wishes to marry for love and will not settle for less; A friend of Charlotte tells her that her mother says that love comes after marriage which makes Charlotte wonder if that is right as she’s known that to be the case for some couples and others whose love died after originally being a love match; There are a few conversations and suggestions about doing what Charlotte’s heart tells her to do when faced with a proposal; Charlotte notes that she’s not willing to overlook a large age difference like other women who marry “someone old enough to be their grandfather”.
 
-Charlotte Robbins, age 25
-William/Lord Brookhaven
      P.O.V. switches between them (Charlotte in 1^st person, William in 3^rd person)
                                  Set in 1814 (Epilogue in 1815)
                                                        320 pages
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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

Charlotte is a unique character. She’s not the typical regency female main character. She’s a bit…overeager to fall in love, down to her list of potential husbands at her new position. She’s a dreamer, but also sensible. She has a love for life and a sunshine personality which added to the book’s springtime setting like a swirl of fresh air. She wears her heart on her sleeve and cries quite a bit, but it’s because of caring for others and her own dreams. I liked her and how she desired to be married and have a family of her own, but I wanted to tell her to seek God’s will for her life rather than focusing on her goal for her life. She reminded me a bit of myself as a teenager, so I think that’s why this element was more noticeable to me when I was reading. Charlotte has a desire to be married and fall in love which is wonderful, but I would be a bit concerned for a young preteen reading this book and developing (or highlighting) the longing for the future or looking for a husband around every corner. That said, as someone who was that way as a teenager, I probably would have loved this book and felt a kinship to Charlotte because of it. 

 

While Charlotte falls quick for William, it didn’t feel like insta-love or attraction based only on physical appearances because they had some personal conversations where they shared their feelings on different topics, so that felt more believable to me. I didn’t personally love how she noticed and thought about his chest hair a few times—I feel like I’m as red as a tomato just typing those words—but other than that, they do not feel like they were overly admiring the other’s appearance. I wish there had been a little more descriptions used for Charlotte and William: It’s noted that they are both kind and good multiple times. It became a little repetitive and made me think that everyone else around them must have been either stuck-up snobs or awfully mean (neither which seems to be the fully case). 

 

Because of her chapters being in first person and we get a lot about her feelings and emotions, it almost felt like a diary at times. This will probably be a pro or a con for some readers. 

 

I didn’t love the conversations about doing what Charlotte’s heart tells her to do when regarding a potential marriage. I wish there had been more discussion about praying for the right path and trusting God rather than trusting her heart and what would please her. The only potential suitor who brings up about praying about her answer to his proposal wasn’t William, which was a bit disappointing. There’s a comment from Charlotte that marrying the man is all she needs to make her happy. These few technical parts aside, I did enjoy this book and Charlotte’s caring nature, especially towards the children she meets.

 

 

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 received this book for free from the Author for this honest review.

"Lady of Disguise" by Melanie Dickerson

About this book:

  “Only the hidden treasure will allow Louisa and her sister to gain their freedom.
   England, 1388: All her life, Louisa has dreamed of finding the rumored “Giant’s Treasure,” a collection of ancient, lost riches said to be hidden on a mountaintop in Scotland, guarded by a fierce monster. It’s a story her father used to tell her, and when he dies and she and her younger sister have to go live with their shiftless, greedy uncle, Louisa is determined to find that treasure. It’s the hope that has kept her defying her uncle’s efforts to marry her off to the highest bidder.
    After her uncle starts to parade Louisa’s twelve-year-old sister Margaret in front of potential husbands, Louisa realizes she has no time to waste. She disguises herself as a boy and takes off for Scotland. But the road is a harsher place than she’d imagined, and she is relieved to find a friend in the knight, Sir Charles, who goes along with her on her journey.
    Charles is intrigued by this young woman who claims her name is “Jack” and is set on going to Scotland. He goes along, pretending to believe she is a boy, in order to make sure nothing bad happens to her. As they meet new friends along the road, and as Louisa comes clean about her identity, the pair find themselves falling in love. But what will happen when they reach Scotland? Will they find their independence and the freedom to marry in the form of a buried treasure, or will the monster from Louisa’s own past keep the young couple apart?”


Series: Book #6 in the “The Dericott Tales”. Review of the Book #1 Here!, Book #2 Here!, Book #3 Here!, Book #4 Here!, and Book #5 Here!


Spiritual Content- Scriptures are mentioned & quoted; Many Prayers & Thanking and Praising God; Going to churches, lighting candles, & praying; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Louisa’s aunt tells her that it’s her “duty to God and to [her] husband to bear children and baptize them”; There is a friar that joins Louisa and Charles & is very opinionated and shares many judgmental things (such as stained glass on churches are for the “uneducated” people to feel God’s presence, shoos away a beggar child and comments on the child going to becoming a thief, begging being “idleness and is of the devil”, that Louisa rebelling is a sin of witchcraft and needs to repent for that and wearing a man’s clothing, telling Charles and Louisa that they are committing a graven sin by traveling alone together, comments on the way for a soul to go to hell is broad, and fears for Louisa’s soul if she doesn’t repent); The friar shares about the dangers for a woman alone and other “various tales of woe” which are not in the Holy Writ, which Louisa knows because she’s read the Holy Writ herself; Charles comments to the friar about Jesus traveling with women during his ministry & the friar has nothing to say about that; Charles thinks that the friar is condemning Louisa because she showed more Christian charity and compassion to orphan children than he did; Charles tells the friar that Jesus only condemned Pharisees and the teachers of the law, adding that Jesus care more about mercy towards others and He said to not judge others or they will be judged in the same way; Because of the friar’s words making her feel like “the worst kind of sinner”, Louisa prays and asks God if the friar is right; Louisa has a moment where she wants to tell the friar that he is being pharisaical and not Christlike at all; Louisa prays about finding the treasure & thinks that God would bless her with it if she believed it was real; Charles thinks that people are too fearful of the devil & forget that God is more powerful; A woman wants to pray at a church and put a penny in the poor box at every church she sees because “who knows where one might meet the very Spirit of God and gain His favor for a miracle?” (Louisa has never thought of it this way before and has a desire to pray where many others have prayed before her); Louisa has had a couple of times where God appears to her with a thought appearing in her mind; Louisa prays for a sign from God about a decision & recalls a conversation with a priest (the priest discourages her from asking for a sign, she asks why not because Gideon asked for a sign, & he only answers with “you are not Gideon”which wasn’t good enough for her; Louisa believes she’s more justified in asking for a sign compared to Gideon because she “didn’t have the benefit of hearing from God first”, but understands that “asking for a sign was not something to be done lightly or in any and every situation. She had to truly believe and not doubt, and to go against what God was telling her would surely be a grave sin”; She later sees something that makes her wonder if it is a sign or just her trying to see what she wants); When Louisa takes part in a ritual about dreaming about her future husband, she thinks that while she believes in miracles “surely God did not let people manipulate Him into telling her who she would marry by placing herbs under their pillows on certain night of the year. However, just as she’d argued with her priest, perhaps Gideon using the fleece was simply an example of a child of God asking Him to confirm what they believed God had told them” & she asked God to let her dream of the man she would marry; *Spoiler* Louisa prays with the “giant” for forgiveness of his sins and after repenting, he says he feels lighter; He later thinks that he deserves whatever happens to him because of the bad things he’s done, but Louisa is quick to say that “none of us get what we deserve because God is merciful and forgiving, and He has forgiven you” *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of God, Jesus, His will, & forgiveness; Mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, & praising God; Mentions of the Holy Writ & reading it; Mentions of those & events in the Bible; Mentions of churches/cathedrals, monasteries, priests, friars, nuns, & stained glass; Mentions of a mother going to a shrine to procure some of “St. Thomas’s Water” for her sick daughter (hoping that it will heal her) & when she put a drop of the saint’s blood with water on a man’s forehead in the sign of the cross and it shockingly did not restoring his strength; Mentions of sins & sinners; A few mentions of crucifixes; A few mentions of showing Christian charity; A handful of mentions of pilgrimages & holy relics; A couple mentions of miracles; A couple mentions of blessings; A couple mentions of God resting someone’s soul; A couple mentions of others crossing themselves; A mention of bad things happening to everyone because we live in “a fallen and evil world”; A mention of Heaven; A mention of being Blessed; A mention of a chant from church; 
             *Note: The phrase “saints above!” is exclaimed thrice; Louisa thinks she sees a unicorn & is excited about it (thinking that it may be a sign from God); A child that was born with one arm is called cursed by a village leader and is casted out of the village (Charles has read the Holy Scriptures are knows that the child isn’t to be blamed for misfortunes); A man (who is called a “giant”) says that people want to know if he made a deal with the devil or if he was “cursed by a witch or a demon” to look the way he does; With many mentions of the Viking treasure, there are also mentions of magical beans, giants, fairies, elves, & unicorns; Mentions of curses & people calling others cursed because they are different than “normal” (including a child with one arm and a man who is very tall); Mentions of a ritual about young women putting certain herbs under their pillows & dreaming about their future husbands (Louisa takes part of this); Mentions of evil men; A couple mentions of luck; A mention of strange tales that were of “miracles and fairies and giants, strange beasts and heroic deeds that defied normal abilities of man”; A mention of a child being born with only one arm being considered as a “sign of the devil’s curse”; A mention of a guardian angel; A mention of fate deciding something; A mention of an evil spirit.
 

Negative Content- Eye rolling & Sarcasm; A mention of a curse (said, not written); Being attacked by robbers, Being attacked with arrows (& shooting one that injures another), Being slapped, Fighting, Fighting back, & Pain (up to semi-detailed); Being surrounded by wolves, attacked by them, & killing them (up to semi-detailed); Louisa behaves badly with potential suitors to keep them from choosing her (scowling, crossing her eyes, and “generally saying and doing anything that might make a man not choose her for his wife” when her aunt and uncle weren’t looking); Louisa disobeys her aunt and uncle when she thinks their commands are unreasonable (“which was often” she adds); Louisa runs away from home to find a rumored treasure (to be able to live with her sister without the pressure of marriage or her uncle’s ways); Louisa lies about being a boy to others (including Charles; which she hopes will be forgiven because she’s only trying to save herself and her sister & she hates deceiving him; He realized right away that she was a girl); Louisa feels guilt about potentially stealing someone else’s treasure; A giant is said to have skinned & killed people that come after his treasure & threatens Charles and Louisa (*Spoiler* It turns out that the villagers are forcing him to kidnap those who come for his treasure so that they can get ransom money for them; Other times, they have kill the people; *End of Spoiler*); Charles thinks about killing someone, but knows he wouldn’t because the man was unarmed and that vengeance belongs to God; Charles threatens someone about harming him if Louisa is hurt at all (saying that if she is harmed or touched, he will kill the man and even adds that the man will wish he was never born; Louisa takes comfort in his words and is soothed by picturing it); A man threatens Louisa with slitting Charles’ throat and burying his body if she doesn’t listen to him (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of killing, murders, & being held hostage for ransoms; Mentions of deaths (including of Louisa’s parents and a cousin); Mentions of potential illnesses and/or deaths; Mentions of attacks, being attacked, screams, injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of stealing, stolen items, & thieves/robbers; Mentions of women being beaten and flogged for disobeying a man above them (implied that this would happen to Louisa when she’s found); Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of alcohol, alehouses, & drunk men; Mentions of relieving one’s self (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of being attacked and/or killed by wild animals; Mentions of hunting & slaughtered animals (for food, up to semi-detailed); A few mentions of a baron who mistreated, murdered, & robbed his own people (Book #5); A few mentions of a man who lost his arm in a sword fight (Book #1); A few mentions of almost beheadings (Book #1); A couple mentions of treason; A couple mentions of poisons; A couple mentions of nightmares; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of a massacre; A mention of a bully; A mention of horses being shot with arrows unintentionally; A mention of a nearly dead horse; 
             *Note: Louisa thinks about how woman have no more power than in Jesus’ lifetime (thinking about the women that followed Him and went where they pleased); Louisa’s aunt and uncle threaten and manipulate her to do their bidding (typically by threatening to marry off her younger sister); Louisa’s aunt calls her selfish and ungrateful, which Louisa doesn’t think she’s any more selfish than more people as she just wants to protect herself and her sister; Louisa wants to rebel against the “duties” her aunt says she has to do (such as getting married and bearing children specifically) because the aunt has made marriage to be “something distasteful that was done out of duty, not a joyful relationship of love and choice” (this makes Louisa thinks that most men didn’t have such distasteful duties and could do whatever they pleased; She also thinks that she wants to rebel more the more her aunt talks); A man is called a “giant, misshapen beast of a man”because of his height and appearance; Mentions of a man’s chest pains & him believing that he doesn’t have much longer to live; Mentions of those with afflictions being treated as if having a curse (a women with difficultly walking and a child being born with one arm); A couple mentions of some women laughing at another woman for being clumsy and breaking her ankle.
 
 
Sexual Content- Two almost kisses (one in a dream), two hand kisses, two hair/forehead kisses, two cheek kisses, two barely-above-not-detailed kisses, and six semi-detailed kisses (including two of him kissing her neck); Remembering kisses & almost kisses (up to semi-detailed); Staring at another’s lips & being tempted by the thought of kissing the other (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to kiss (up to semi-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Being held, & Nearness (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (up to semi-detailed); Swooning; Blushes; Noticing (including muscles, up to semi-detailed); Louisa recalls when a potential suitor (who was drunk) sneaked into her room and tried to force himself on her (also called trying to steal her “virtue”; she was able to knock him out and she had nightmares of it for weeks after, mentioned a few times, barely-above-not-detailed); Both Louisa & Charles aren’t interested in marriage due to past events; Charles thought he was in love with a wealth woman and entered her bedroom to find out that she’s been stringing him and other knights along (she’s engaged to someone else and tells the knights they can love her from afar; Charles says he doesn’t want to spend his life in love with a married woman; They had prior shared kisses); Louisa disguises herself as a boy on her trip (including by binding her chest), but Charles realizes she’s a girl right away; When Charles helps her, Louisa is afraid that he’ll want something in payment that not money (she doesn’t think he’s that kind of man, but is distrustful towards men because of a prior event); Louisa starts to wish that Charles could see her as a pretty and feminine woman; A friar asks if there is something between Louisa and Charles that “would be considered fornication” (which they both quickly deny); Louisa and Charles sleep close to each other on the ground when a storm keeps them in a shelter/cave (they both think about how much they want to kiss the other, but Charles definitely won’t kiss her when she’s asleep because that would be unchivalrous); Louisa’s uncle comments on her running off by saying that bad things would happen to her and that she “would be with child and then [she] would be no good to him anymore”; Louisa’s uncle asks if she’s with child & she answers that she is not and asks him if he is (he says that would be impossible and she responds that it is the same for her); After one kiss that leaves them breathing hard, Charles comments on needing to be “a bit more restrained until we’re married and alone with a lock on the door”; Many mentions of Louisa’s uncle trying to marry her and her twelve-year-old sister off to man (ranging in age from 16 to 60 and some are called “disgusting” and “perverted”) for the highest amount (it’s also said that some of the men will just “use [Louisa and Margaret] and not care about them”); Mentions of kisses & kissing; Mentions of reputations, virtue, & it being looked as “unseemly” that Louisa & Charles are traveling alone together; Mentions of flirting; A few mentions of men leering at Louisa with greedy and disgusting smiles & make her feel as if there were bugs “crawling on her”; A couple mentions of men trying and succeeding in taking advantage of servant girls; A couple mentions of men “blustering about their conquests or making ribald jests” about women; A couple mentions of children born out of wedlock (including Jesus); A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of seeing a couple kissing (barely-above-not-detailed); Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Margaret (Louisa’s younger sister) comments on her lack of breasts and sticks out her flat chest to Louisa; A man comments on Louisa being “well proportioned”; Mentions of women being forced to marry & bear a man’s children (Louisa mentions this for herself and her younger sister & being “used” by a man who only care “about having a boy child to carry on his name”); Louisa is concerned about falling into the same “trap” that her aunt and uncle set for her about “marriage and a life of having babies until her body was so worn down that it gave up”; A mention of Margaret not being able to bear children yet, but would be able to soon; A mention of a wife dying in childbirth to a stillborn baby.
 
-Louisa Lenton, age 18
-Charles Raynsford, age 21
                                P.O.V. switches between them 
                                           Set in 1388 (Medieval)
                                                        304 pages

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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

After some…concerns with content in a couple other books of this series, I was pleasantly surprised that this one did not have an insta-love attraction between the main characters. They fell more for the other’s personality than their physical appearance (though, they did notice the other’s physical assets) which was better to see after said prior books in the series.

 

I’m learning with a lot of fairytale retellings, that you really have to suspend your disbelief for a lot of the book. At least, that’s how I’ve been feeling with the series. Louisa is not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. I don’t understand her logic of wanting to protect her sister and then goes off to find the treasure which means she’s leaving her 12-year-old sister alone with the people that are trying to marry her off?? She estimates that she would have a week to stop a wedding from happening if she comes back to that, but that’s way too close for my comfort and events can come up to alter travel plans—especially in this time period when plans get derailed easily. 

 

I liked the Charles wasn’t fooled by her disguise at all, that he instantly knew that she was a girl. He did have about the same personality though as his brothers in the prior books especially because they all really want to do is rescue damsels in distress and be all knightly. There really hasn’t been much difference in their thoughts, compared to the prior main characters of this series. 

 

I wasn’t a fan of the message of asking God for a sign and then Louisa brushing off a priests’ comment on the topic. In this series, I have noted that if there are priests or any type of clergyman (friars even) their comments get pushed to the side because the main characters know what the Bible says about such topic they’re discussing. (Because they’ve been privileged enough to have been able to read the Holy Writ for themselves.) And I think the author is trying to point out that you should read the Bible for yourself and just the overall the judgmental era of the history with the Catholic Church, but it also puts those supposed to be men of God in a bad and judgmental light. I could go much more in depth on my thoughts about both of those elements, but this review is long enough.

 

Honestly, it wasn’t terrible. It wasn’t fantastic either, in my opinion. I liked it more before all the kissing happened. I feel like it’s just a bit too much kissing to be read by preteens. And that’s what I feel like fairytale retellings are really for—or should be aimed for—especially in the Christian Market when the plot is very fluffy like in this book. Older teens would probably be absolutely fine with that amount of kissing, but the storyline may be too simple and cheesy for some. Definitely better than the prior books of the series in terms of plot and characters, but I still just didn’t love it, unfortunately, and would not give it a wide age recommendation.

 

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.

 

"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! 

*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.