The Headmistress of Rosemere

So...I think Sarah Ladd did better on characterization on this one than the first, because I can already tell that this cast of characters is going to be easy to remember. It was a good story, and definitely has me on the list for buying her next.

The writing style at first had a number of bumps that pulled me out of the story. The biggest of these was the use of the word compress; it in this sense should be a dressing for a wound, yet in the story was repeatedly used to refer to a cloth used to wipe or clean a hurt, not to bind it up. You don't wipe a wound with a bandage; you clean it first, then put the bandage on it. It would have been easier to excuse if the same thing didn't happen three separate times. There should have been some clean linen somewhere in a girl's school!

The story plot was excellent. I wish there had been more room to develop the details, because it went by way too fast in some areas. I could easily have stayed with these people for more than four or five hundred pages instead of just over three hundred. I would like to have seen more of the spiritual growth in these two; it seemed to be over very quickly, and was not deeply necessary to the story.

I have read a lot of books where men have pasts and then go on to win good women and have responsible lives thereafter. However, Patience seems to take his past very much in stride and never consider the consequences, diseases, other possible illegitimate children, etc, regarding him fondly as a fixed man. A player of his type in real life would have a lot more emotional obstacles to deal with than just being able to prove his bravery and get out of debt. As a young woman who's picky about Prince Charming, this handsome fellow didn't quite cut the mustard.

Patience was my favorite character. I loved her devotion to her family and fully appreciated her struggles.

And I hope to hear Cassandra's story someday...