Book Review: The Merchant's Daughter by Melanie Dickerson

In its most basic form, this was a Christian retelling of 'Beauty and the Beast'.

Annabel's family used to be wealthy, but when her father died they lost everything. After shirking word duties for three years, her family is forced to either let their house be taken away or to give up one of the children to be an indentured servant to the new Lord in town. Lord Ranulf is 'beastly', scarred both physically and emotionally. Though this alone would not be ideal, the situation is worse because as a lowly indentured servant, Annabel is even more prone to the unwanted advanced of Tom the bailiff. Though Annabel strongly believes that her place is in a nunnery, throughout this novel both Annabel and Ranulf fight with themselves in order to discover what plans God truly has for them.

I think that my favorite parts of this book were the details given about the daily life in these times (1352), as well as the fact that the main girl character was not throwing herself at the man - in fact, she was terrified to be with ANY man. It was a refreshing look on relationships.

Unfortunately, though it was overall an enjoyable read, it was lacking in several areas.

First of all, many of the characters were rather flat and unfinished. Annabel's family (though I strongly hated them all) were rather weak. They were all selfish, with one of her brothers trying to force her into marrying Tom, and the other always making up illnesses to prove he was too weak to work. Though I understand the characterizations, it was hard to believe that anyone could be THAT nasty and selfish.

Second, there was a love triangle in this book that really didn't need to be there. Gilbert really confused me from the get-go - he decides Annabel should be an appropriate wife for him just because his son says so (after only five minutes with her, even)? I feel as though Gilbert's entire character could have been taken out of this novel without the reader missing anything (though I have to admit, his son was adorable).

All of this said, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who isn't religious. There are no religious 'undertones' - everything is an overtone. Just a warning.