Book Review: The Healer's Apprentice by Melanie Dickerson

 Summary:
Two Hearts. One Hope.

Rose has been appointed as a healer's apprentice at Hagenheim Castle, a rare opportunity for a woodcutter's daughter like her. While she often feels uneasy at the sight of blood, Rose is determined to prove herself capable. Failure will mean returning home to marry the aging bachelor her mother has chosen for her—a bloated, disgusting merchant who makes Rose feel ill.

When Lord Hamlin, the future duke, is injured, it is Rose who must tend to him. As she works to heal his wound, she begins to understand emotions she's never felt before and wonders if he feels the same. But falling in love is forbidden, as Lord Hamlin is betrothed to a mysterious young woman in hiding. As Rose's life spins toward confusion, she must take the first steps on a journey to discover her own destiny

 My Review:
I heard about Melanie Dickerson's novel, The Healer's Apprentice, through a few different sources (blogs, reviews, etc.) and decided it was worth checking out.

Dickerson provides a very realistic setting and likable characters. I found myself thinking about what it would be like to live in Rose's time period. It is so different from today it's almost unimaginable to see myself without modern technology. Or wearing a tight corset! Going into it, However, her twist on "Sleeping Beauty" was almost too predictable for me. I had the ending solved in a few mere chapters leaving the rest of the book to be lacking.

As for the characters, I admired Lord Hamlin and Rose. Lord Hamlin was especially dear to my heart. His chivalry, authority, and want to do right by himself and Rose made my heart flutter. And as for Rose, I couldn't really find myself relating to her as much as I would have hoped. After all, a girl with no desire to marry was very uncommon in her time period. Maybe Frau Garuscha influenced her somehow.

This was a good read from a writing standpoint. Dickerson definitely provided a well established (and most likely accurate) setting and characters. I look forward to what fairytales she does next.

Interested? You can purchase the book here!

I checked this book out at my local library, no review required.