The Merchant's Daughter by Melanie Dickerson

In 1352 England, seventeen-year-old Annabel, granddaughter of a knight and a would-be nun, eludes a lecherous bailiff but falls in love with Lord Le Wyse, the ferocious and disfigured man to whom her family owes three years of indentured servitude, in this tale loosely based on Beauty and the Beast.

This version of the beauty and the beast was fantastic. The story had twists and surprises that I couldn't predict. However I couldn't stand Annabel... She was quite annoying at moments and that was driving me crazy.

Combine Jane Eyre with a bit of Beauty and the Beast and you might have found yourself in The Merchant's Daughter. Earlier this year I found myself reading Melanie Dickerson's debut being a mixture of Tristan and Isolde with Sleeping Beauty in [b:The Healer's Apprentice 7826101 The Healer's Apprentice Melanie Dickerson http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1277339504s/7826101.jpg 10876284]. I was very delighted to learn that this fall she had something new in [b:The Merchant's Daughter 10742462 The Merchant's Daughter Melanie Dickerson http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51t-WCD3S0L.SL75.jpg 15653522]. Again I have the same qualm as before in that... my first and only qualm is that this book is listed as young adult. I don't agree with that, it's not a teen novel. It is shorter than my normal read, but it is definitely one for girls of marriageable age and boy is it an adventure. ... but then perhaps I just do not understand the genre behind “young adult” as I thought I did. In a way, there is even a bit of Cinderella here. Not in the plot line perhaps, but in the personality of Annabel. There is not magic in the sense of the Disney Beauty and the Beast, he doesn't suddenly float in the air and become beautiful. In a sense, it's always there, just marred and hidden until an unexpected (to him) healing can occur. Yet... isn't that what the entire book is about? You read it, and tell me. :) Thanks to Zondervan for providing a copy for review.

Finished this little sucker in one day. Two, technically since I stayed up until 3:30am to finish it. Very well done. Beauty and the beast + history + religion. It's been a long time since I read a novel with undercurrents of Christianity that were developed this well but most of all...this novel was truly FUN. I had a great time reading it and will definitely be looking into the authors other stories.

Cons: let me just mention it wasn't perfect. It bothers me that I believe some characters were primarily used in the novel as drama creators and I thought the drama could have easily been done without. It has a point for Anabel's personal emotional development but the drama didn't have to be taken that far. Still, I was too immersed to really care by that point and was too invested to see how each character would react