Review: The Merchant's Daughter

The Merchant's Daughter by Melanie Dickerson

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



The Merchant’s Daughter is a non-magical retelling of Beauty and the Beast, basically a historical romance set in the 1300s. It is also an ‘inspirational’ romance, meaning it’s the kind of book an evangelical Christian can feel safe reading. I’ve enjoyed some inspirational books in the past because you can be sure of getting the romance without the graphic sex, and the romance is usually more emotional than physical.

It does have its downsides, though, with characters who often go off into an aside with prayer or godly thoughts, or wait for God’s will instead of acting. Some inspirational authors are more preachy than others, using their characters to teach you how to live, but some don’t do this at all, and just tell a sweet story. Lately all of the ones I’ve read have had too much of the preachy aspect for me, and I think I’ve reached a point where the risk of the bad outweighs the (slight) chance for good in this type of book.

Because this was, hands-down, the preachiest book I’ve ever read in my life. I think half the book was some kind of sermon coming from the mouth or thoughts of the main character, and even worse, they were modern views being spouted from a supposedly Medieval girl. There’s more God-talk, prayer, Bible verse quoting, and WWJD thoughts than actual plot. The anachronisms made me cringe time and again. How I persevered to the end I will never know, but I do know I’m never going back to this author again.

The romance does have some sweet moments, which is probably how I managed to finish it, but the use of religion is so overpowering that it’s all I remember now. I do not appreciate having a historical fairy tale turn into an evangelical Bible study full of sermonizing. I can see religion having a place when it’s appropriate to the time-period (and not with the goal of teaching me lessons), but what we get here is inappropriate in so many ways - a brashly modern American evangelical view of Christianity completely out of place in 1300s England.

**Spoilers ahead**

It’s all because the heroine, Annabel, supposedly wants to be nun so that she can read the Bible for herself, and the entire book is driven by her consuming desire to know what the Bible actually says. It’s all wrong. Girls in the 1300s didn’t want to be nuns so they could read the Bible themselves. This is not a motivation that a merchant’s daughter in Medieval times would even think of. Prayer and contemplation, yes. Escape from the concerns of the worldly or a disagreeable marriage proposal, yes. Fathers needing to offload one of their daughters somewhere for safety or political reasons, yes. Even a desire to serve God! But the idea of what that meant in those times was not the opportunity for personal daily devotions.

So the girl’s entire character is based around this erroneous desire, and she is unstoppable about it. She is so impatient to read the Bible herself (not even able to wait for the convent), that she begs her local priest to let her borrow his Bible… remove it from the church and take it home for some nice cozy time by the fire... really? This is such unrealistic behavior for a young lady in the 1300s that I couldn’t believe what I was reading. How could this book possibly even masquerade as a historical novel?

What’s even worse is that - guess what! - the lord of the manor has his own Bible when the priest doesn’t. And lucky Annabel, because he asks her to read it to him every night. And she somehow knows Latin well enough to do so! So now we have to read through pages - pages - of Bible passages, along with their personal interpretations of how it all applies to them. So the romance is based on this devotional style reading of the Bible and ‘what does this mean to me’ interpretations between the lord and a maid who fall in love over their godly thoughts together. Kill. me. now.

I don’t care what your beliefs are (or mine), I don’t want bad sermons in my books. Or Sunday school lessons. I’m not reading to ‘learn about how to have a relationship with God’, especially offered through the mouths of characters who have no business spouting these concepts. If I want a sermon (or a Bible study, for that matter), I know where to go for one.

Rant over.



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