Maid and Minstrel by Kate Stradling

My edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 145
Standalone
Genre: Retelling, Fantasy, YA
Published: April 26, 2022
Rating: 5 STARS

Synopsis:

Rosalind always shared her birthday with her father’s horses, but she never expected to share their fate.

Sheltered and pampered, beautiful Rosalind of Lovana turns eighteen with fluttering excitement. Nobles and dignitaries across the land are to celebrate with her—including young King Philip of Mallinae, whom she secretly adores.

But instead of a party, she descends to an auction where she is the prize up for bid. Incensed, she ridicules the guests, slinging a willfully hurtful barb at Philip in their midst.

Her father, enraged to have his moneymaking schemes thus ruined, delivers a seething ultimatum: Rosalind must marry a beggar that very night, or she dies.

Review:

For all the stupid couples Seriously, just talk to each other

When I read the dedication page, I knew I was going to like this story.

Rosalind is turning eighteen and her father decides she can finally have a celebration. Only when she comes to her supposed party she is told by her father to choose a husband of one of the many noblemen who bought an invitation. So she insults every single one that showed up. Even her childhood crush Philip.

Due to the insults not only to the kingdom’s nobles but to her father as well, he gives her the ultimatum to marry the beggar who knocked on his door or die. She then marries the beggar and has to leave her father’s lands.

I loved this. I do wish for a bit longer but it was amazing. I love Rosalind and Barnabus. They are so caring towards each other. I loved it. I am so adding more of Stradling to my TBR.

Voyage with the Vikings by Marianne Hering & Paul McCusker

My edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 80
Series: Imagination Station #1
Genre: Children’s, Christian
Published: March 1, 2011
Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis:

Mr. Whittaker, a kind but mysterious inventor, has sent cousins Patrick and Beth to Greenland through the Imagination Station. It’s the year 1000, and they meet Viking Erik the Red, who is angry about the new God. Mr. Whittaker wants the cousins to find a Sunstone, but what does one look like? And what does it have to do with the mysterious letter found in the inventor’s workshop? Most important, can Patrick and Beth find a Sunstone before Erik’s son Leif sails away with the Imagination Station on board his ship?

Review:

There isn’t much that I can say about this but it was super cute. I liked it. It’s a Christian form of Magic Tree House. Instead of siblings, it’s cousins. Instead of a tree house, it is a machine that was made by Mr. Whittaker who owns Whit End. It’s a definite book series I will get for my son when he is old enough to read.