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A review by seraphjewel
The Peasant's Dream by Melanie Dickerson
2.0
I'm back reading this author again. I missed the short and sweet fairy tale-inspired romances. This one promised to be interesting since it was a Cinderella reversal, but... well, to be honest this one felt a little bit closer to an Aladdin re-telling than the actual one with Aladdin. Which would have been fine, except the writing felt more mediocre than usual and there was a lot of repeating. Not sure if the author was rushed to get this one out or just wasn't as passionate about it, but it was definitely lacking in comparison to some of the others in this series.
I think my biggest disappointment is in Frederick's character. Something about his parentage is revealed that made the whole concept that he was a peasant in love with a duke's daughter pointless. But then the reveal itself turned out to be pointless because in the end, he was still living as a poor wood-carver. So why even put that reveal in there? What purpose did it serve? So little of the story and plot would have changed if he was just kept the son of a farmer.
This book also suffers from a lot of "tell" versus "show". The narrative constantly tells that Adela is spoiled, but I saw very little evidence of it in the book. I guess in the sense that her parents actually allowed her to choose her own husband, that might be considered spoiled, but they were like that with all their kids. In fact, it was a little odd how initially wary of Frederick they were considering who all the other kids married. You guys were fine with one daughter marrying a knight and another a merchant (or whatever Aladdin was), so what's the problem with a wood-carver? Anyway, Adela didn't seem selfish and in fact was concerned about how she could help others but just wasn't given any guidance or direction. I think "sheltered" would have been a better word.
I also feel bad for the other character vying for Adela. He seemed like a decent guy, just quiet. And in the end it felt like he got shafted. First, finding out he's not the oldest child and that his father loved someone before his mother, and then losing the girl who he wanted to marry to his surprise half-brother. His last appearance in the book is worrying that his room was given away! Why is this book kicking this poor guy when he's down? The only problem Adela had with him was he was quiet. Girl, your oldest brother is quiet. That's not a flaw in character.
The chemistry was sadly lacking. It was a "wow he's hot" insta-love situation. At least with some of these, the characters got to know each other. In this one, all the two knew about each other was that they were good-looking and both artists. And to be quite honest, the two of them were just plain boring. Again, the other characters in these books had some personality. These two were so uninteresting and bland. The only time Frederick got interesting was around his abusive father, his thief friends, and his sisters. In other words, when he had some conflict to play off of. But even the main conflict was boring because the antagonist showed up halfway through the book and the motivation felt very weak. This dude was getting way too involved in the concerns of the duke and I'm not even sure why.
I like to say something positive to end on but all I can think of is that it did some parts of the Aladdin story well. It had the peasant boy locked in a dungeon, it had the girl dressing as a peasant to be able to go out to the market, it had a liar reveal (done poorly but it was there), it had guys who were trying to steal treasure. Which considering that wasn't even the tale it was going for, doesn't really feel like a positive?
So yeah, this was definitely on the weaker side of this series. It had promise but it just never took advantage. It's a slightly better version of the Aladdin story but the main leads are boring, the writing is repetitive, and the conflict feels almost forced just to make SOMETHING happen.
I think my biggest disappointment is in Frederick's character. Something about his parentage is revealed that made the whole concept that he was a peasant in love with a duke's daughter pointless. But then the reveal itself turned out to be pointless because in the end, he was still living as a poor wood-carver. So why even put that reveal in there? What purpose did it serve? So little of the story and plot would have changed if he was just kept the son of a farmer.
This book also suffers from a lot of "tell" versus "show". The narrative constantly tells that Adela is spoiled, but I saw very little evidence of it in the book. I guess in the sense that her parents actually allowed her to choose her own husband, that might be considered spoiled, but they were like that with all their kids. In fact, it was a little odd how initially wary of Frederick they were considering who all the other kids married. You guys were fine with one daughter marrying a knight and another a merchant (or whatever Aladdin was), so what's the problem with a wood-carver? Anyway, Adela didn't seem selfish and in fact was concerned about how she could help others but just wasn't given any guidance or direction. I think "sheltered" would have been a better word.
I also feel bad for the other character vying for Adela. He seemed like a decent guy, just quiet. And in the end it felt like he got shafted. First, finding out he's not the oldest child and that his father loved someone before his mother, and then losing the girl who he wanted to marry to his surprise half-brother. His last appearance in the book is worrying that his room was given away! Why is this book kicking this poor guy when he's down? The only problem Adela had with him was he was quiet. Girl, your oldest brother is quiet. That's not a flaw in character.
The chemistry was sadly lacking. It was a "wow he's hot" insta-love situation. At least with some of these, the characters got to know each other. In this one, all the two knew about each other was that they were good-looking and both artists. And to be quite honest, the two of them were just plain boring. Again, the other characters in these books had some personality. These two were so uninteresting and bland. The only time Frederick got interesting was around his abusive father, his thief friends, and his sisters. In other words, when he had some conflict to play off of. But even the main conflict was boring because the antagonist showed up halfway through the book and the motivation felt very weak. This dude was getting way too involved in the concerns of the duke and I'm not even sure why.
I like to say something positive to end on but all I can think of is that it did some parts of the Aladdin story well. It had the peasant boy locked in a dungeon, it had the girl dressing as a peasant to be able to go out to the market, it had a liar reveal (done poorly but it was there), it had guys who were trying to steal treasure. Which considering that wasn't even the tale it was going for, doesn't really feel like a positive?
So yeah, this was definitely on the weaker side of this series. It had promise but it just never took advantage. It's a slightly better version of the Aladdin story but the main leads are boring, the writing is repetitive, and the conflict feels almost forced just to make SOMETHING happen.