Title: Cloak of Scarlet [The Dericott Tales 5]
Author: Melanie Dickerson
Genre: Historical, Fantasy, Romance, Re-Telling
Rating: 1 Star (DNF)
Description/Synopsis:
She was an orphan of no importance . . .
Violet Lambton never imagined herself as anything but average. Adopted as a young child, she’s content with her comfortable life in her small medieval town with her faith, her books, and her baking . . . and the vivid red cloak her grandmother gifted her. Her one dream: to find a love that is pure and true. Then, her beloved grandmother is robbed by the villainous Baron Dunham. Outraged, Violet finds herself in the midst of the action and determines to put an end to the evil baron’s mistreatment of the hardworking people.
He was an ordinary knight serving the baron . . .
Sir Merek, a knight in the service of Baron Dunham, has pledged his life to fighting injustice and defending the weak. But when he encounters the spirited and beautiful Violet and discovers the depths of the baron’s treachery, he realizes that serving his employer is not serving the kingdom—and so he sets out on a daring journey to go behind the baron’s back to expose his deceitfulness to the king.
Suddenly the kingdom depends on both of them.
But before Merek and Violet can act to bring the corruption to light, Violet is captured and brought directly to Dunham—where she shockingly discovers a secret that shakes her entire world . . . and the future she dreams of. Thrown together in the baron’s quarters in a race against time to save the lives of their loved ones and themselves, Violet and Merek must learn to trust each other to expose Dunham’s treachery to the king—all while succumbing to their growing feelings for each other. Can the two find their happily ever after against all odds, or will the wolves amongst them drive them apart?
WARNING – SPOILERS MAY ENSUE BEYOND THIS POINT – REVIEW BELOW
I hated this book. By the time I got 40% in, I was bored to tears. Part of the problem is, despite being labeled as a re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood, and marked as a fantasy… there was zero indication of being anything but a historical story. The links to the original fairytale consist of a grandmother who lives in the woods and a red cloak. That’s it. It felt like I’d been lied to about what this story was.
The story was written like a child telling a fairytale. The writing style was incredibly bland. There was no poetry to it, very little description, and the characters came across as both simple-minded and naïve. They spent more time talking about their devotion to God (who, by the way, speaks personally to at least two of the characters) than actually doing anything. I was not expecting this to be Christian Fiction.
At almost halfway into the book, the only hint at romance was a mention that the knight was handsome – which, considering he’d never actually be described in any abundance of detail, felt like an offhand comment. There was no romantic tension, or really any tension at all in the writing.
So I gave up. I am absolutely baffled how this book got the ratings it did because this is one of the worst books I’ve read this year out of the 43 I’ve completed thus far.
Author Unpublished 