The Merchant's Daughter by Melanie Dickerson

★★★

Three stars.

The Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairy tale. I was so excited that I received this book through Goodreads First Reads.

Unfortunately, this book fell flat for me. I failed to realize that this was in fact a Christian publication. It didn't stop me from reading it, of course, and I have read others before. But in the end, this caused me to remain somewhat untouched by this story. I liked that Lord le Wyse and Annabel bonded over their faith, and read the Bible together. However, I felt that this story was too Bible dependent- constantly quoting or paraphrasing verses. In short, it was just too Christian for me- one who is not Christian at all.

That being said, if I choose not to think about that, it was a relatively enjoyable story. A bit cliche, and the end felt rushed, but that's sort of to be expected with the fairy tale genre, especially in a retelling such as this.

If you're Christian and love fairy tales? Great! This book is for you. If not, you may want to pick up another.