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!
*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.
