The Apothecary's Daughter
Lilly Haswell remembers everything--whether she wants to, or not . . .
As Lilly toils in her father's apothecary, preparing herbs and remedies by rote, she is haunted by memories of her mother's disappearance. Villagers whisper the tale, but her father refuses to discuss it. All the while, she dreams of the world beyond--of travel and adventure and romance.
When a relative offers to host her in London, Lilly discovers the pleasures and pitfalls of fashionable society and suitors, as well as clues about her mother. But will Lilly find what she is searching for--the truth of the past and a love for the future?
Blending romance, family drama, and fascinating historical detail, The Apothecary's Daughter is a novel to savor and share.
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Community Reviews
I think every romance reader under the Sun has a genre "cat-nip." Mine is by far historical - Regency's in particular. Sometimes, when you read a string of novels where everyone is pretty "horrible," you need something to lighten your mood and only a Mary-Sue will suffice. And when it comes to historicals, I feel like it doesn't affect the story one way or another if it's considered "clean" or not. Obviously, some readers are pretty polarized by this, but I'm coming to it from a "Jane Austen is my favorite author" perspective, and while I don't mind it when modern authors do, Jane didn't do the dirty on the page.
So, I needed a palette cleanser after the last few "bleak" novels I've been reading. Clean Romance saves the day, yet again!
This might be the second time I've read a Julie Klassen novel, and while the first wasn't spectacular, they're sufficient. They do the job. It's cool, it's fine, it's just whatever. I feel like this was better than the first one I read, though it's got a lot of the same problems. I'll get into that part later on.
Lilly Haswell has been helping her father, a village apothecary, for years. Especially since her mother ran away. Lilly has an uncanny knack for remembering everything and would probably have made a fantastic apothecary herself, except that as a woman she can't be one. Still, without the official title, she does the work probably better than anyone, including the official apothecary's apprentice, Francis Baylor.
Cool, so one day her aunt and uncle come a'visiting from London with the intention of taking Lilly's brother for adoption to have as an heir. (This was actually super common at the time.) They quickly learn that Charlie Haswell is a poor candidate due to his handicap. Instead, they decide to take Lilly to live with them in London for a while so that she can have a proper London season and hopefully catch herself a rich husband. Secretly, Lilly also wants to use this as an opportunity to find her lost mother. Eventually, she returns home, and that's when things start to get interesting.
Ok. A few things. While I love the amount of research put into this novel - Regency era apothecary practices aren't something I see with this much depth - this novel suffers from a lot of the problems that Klassen's other(s) suffer from, and all of Christian novels in general - and that is that they're plots are poorly structured and lead to some dead-ends. For example, Lilly has a lot of suitors that are interested in her but they all sort of drop off the face of the Earth for no reason until the last one remain. On one hand it could leave the readers guessing until the end, but honestly, there wasn't much real chemistry with any of them. Usually, there will be an obvious tell - when introduced, the author will give the love interest some kind of intimate distinction. "He smells like vanilla," something like that. I'd say that Klassen threw us off that trail immediately.
Towards the end, things went a little bonkers, going from one cracked trope to another, relentlessly. Again, this is really sort of typical for a Christian historical, but if you're going to invest your time and energy reading a 400-page novel, you deserve more than some cheap gimmicks after everything you've been through. Almost all of the drama at the end was entirely unnecessary, and the wrap up was pretty convoluted. I felt like the author forgot what she'd started earlier in the story because she got distracted by something else and had to find a quick resolution.
Another reason why I find Christian novels insufferable is that there's usually a Christian moral, and they range from exasperating (even for me) to encouraging. The Apothecary's Daughter could pass off as "normal/clean." The moral was simply to trust in God. Pretty simple. Nothing really grating.
I didn't hate this novel, it was a fine read. But it wasn't great either. It was a pretty simple, classic style Regency romance with a lot of interesting research on 18th-century apothecaries.
This review was originally posted on my blog, which you can find here
So, I needed a palette cleanser after the last few "bleak" novels I've been reading. Clean Romance saves the day, yet again!
This might be the second time I've read a Julie Klassen novel, and while the first wasn't spectacular, they're sufficient. They do the job. It's cool, it's fine, it's just whatever. I feel like this was better than the first one I read, though it's got a lot of the same problems. I'll get into that part later on.
Lilly Haswell has been helping her father, a village apothecary, for years. Especially since her mother ran away. Lilly has an uncanny knack for remembering everything and would probably have made a fantastic apothecary herself, except that as a woman she can't be one. Still, without the official title, she does the work probably better than anyone, including the official apothecary's apprentice, Francis Baylor.
Cool, so one day her aunt and uncle come a'visiting from London with the intention of taking Lilly's brother for adoption to have as an heir. (This was actually super common at the time.) They quickly learn that Charlie Haswell is a poor candidate due to his handicap. Instead, they decide to take Lilly to live with them in London for a while so that she can have a proper London season and hopefully catch herself a rich husband. Secretly, Lilly also wants to use this as an opportunity to find her lost mother. Eventually, she returns home, and that's when things start to get interesting.
Ok. A few things. While I love the amount of research put into this novel - Regency era apothecary practices aren't something I see with this much depth - this novel suffers from a lot of the problems that Klassen's other(s) suffer from, and all of Christian novels in general - and that is that they're plots are poorly structured and lead to some dead-ends. For example, Lilly has a lot of suitors that are interested in her but they all sort of drop off the face of the Earth for no reason until the last one remain. On one hand it could leave the readers guessing until the end, but honestly, there wasn't much real chemistry with any of them. Usually, there will be an obvious tell - when introduced, the author will give the love interest some kind of intimate distinction. "He smells like vanilla," something like that. I'd say that Klassen threw us off that trail immediately.
Towards the end, things went a little bonkers, going from one cracked trope to another, relentlessly. Again, this is really sort of typical for a Christian historical, but if you're going to invest your time and energy reading a 400-page novel, you deserve more than some cheap gimmicks after everything you've been through. Almost all of the drama at the end was entirely unnecessary, and the wrap up was pretty convoluted. I felt like the author forgot what she'd started earlier in the story because she got distracted by something else and had to find a quick resolution.
Another reason why I find Christian novels insufferable is that there's usually a Christian moral, and they range from exasperating (even for me) to encouraging. The Apothecary's Daughter could pass off as "normal/clean." The moral was simply to trust in God. Pretty simple. Nothing really grating.
I didn't hate this novel, it was a fine read. But it wasn't great either. It was a pretty simple, classic style Regency romance with a lot of interesting research on 18th-century apothecaries.
This review was originally posted on my blog, which you can find here
I really enjoyed this book. I have always enjoyed Jane Austen and the Regency period. It was a nice glimpse into the middle class of the time. I identified with Lily very much. The story pulled me along and was very gripping. I did spend most a good part of the book trying to figure out who she was suppose to marry. Most books I can figure it out pretty quick. This one I really was not sure until practically the end.
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