Grace by Contract - Rachel Rossano

Grace by Contract

Rachel Rossano

Once Upon a Duchy

SPOILER WARNING

Where to Purchase:

Official Blurb:

After her father uproots the family to the northern duchy of Brackenhurst, Grace Eldon and her four younger sisters struggle with a new life of hardship. Desperate to keep a roof over their heads amid mounting debts, she and her youngest sister seek employment in the Duke of Brackenhurst's household despite fearsome rumors.

Scarred and maimed from a terrible fire Silas Isling, Duke of Brackenhurst, buries himself in his work to avoid the stares of pity and fear. When one of the new maids shows no fear at his appearance, he is intrigued. That is until his meddling steward gives her the task of cleaning Silas' bookroom. It is a most unwelcome disruption since he prefers to be alone.

While a thief plagues his castle, an old nemesis reappears, and enemies invade in the guise of guests. Amidst the distractions and chaos, Grace brings some unexpected order. Once convinced his scars had stolen all hope for love, Silas finds his life forever changed by the quiet maid. Could she love a scarred Duke?

As a Retelling:

The basic hallmarks of B&B are here. An attractive young woman by name of Beauty ends up in the castle of a disfigured local lord, and ... wait, no (checks notes again), it's actually her sister, Grace who the Duke falls in love with. They are the daughters of a merchant, though this merchant is ... a bit of a rat, defrauded a bunch of his customers, and is currently allowing a fellow rat to impose upon his very beautiful but mentally challenged daughter, Beauty. Grace seeks employment from the local Duke in order to clear their debt and gain his protection.

There's a lot to this setup that has a definite feel of Pride and Prejudice - Grace's is a family of five sisters, Silas's history with Sir Webb is very Darcy-Wickham, and the head housekeeper plays a very good Catherine de Bourgh. It might have just been the fact that I read this coming right off an actual P&P retelling, but it was quite glaring to me.

Weirdly, combining the two stories in this format lessened rather than intensified the romance's conflict. There's little if any prejudice that drives our couple apart, though Grace does make a lot of noise about their class difference and his favoritism causes her issues with the head housekeeper. His disfiguring injuries are actually what throws them together, since he struggles to read and write due to weakened eyesight and the loss of his dominant hand. She used to keep the paperwork for her father, so the steward gives her the task of reading and writing for the duke.

The climax of the story does parallel the original story, with Grace leaving for home to deal with family issues, and then things quickly growing worse from there.

Arista's Thoughts:
All together, a touching romance between a duke who thinks no one can love him and a servant girl who has the world against her. It's set in Rachel Rossano's greater world that contains most of her books, and it works pretty well. I've seen most of the themes implemented better in other retellings, but they came together well for a very cohesive whole here. I felt the villains were a bit over the top, and I think the author shied a bit too hard away from Sir Webb's vileness and thus made certain aspects a bit confusing, but seeing them go down was satisfying regardless. If you like your retellings without the magic, I definitely recommend this one.

Loose Retelling: Beauty and the Beast

Unintentional Retelling: Pride and Prejudice

Cameo - Wild Swans, Twelve Dancing Princesses

Non-Magical
Indie

Traditional European

Have you read Grace By Contract? If so, leave a comment below with your own short review to help future readers!

Doctor & King - Camille Esther

Doctor & King

Camille Esther

The Fairyless Tales #1

SPOILER WARNING
for "as a retelling"

Where to Purchase: Amazon

Official Blurb: Not your average Sleeping Beauty retelling.
Rescuing a stranger from her poisoned sleep is one thing, but shouldering the weight of a kingdom and a hundred doubts and fears is another.

Kissing an apparently dead maiden was not what young king Gervaise had planned for the day. Nor was nursing her back to health and acting as her impromptu  protector. Forced to face and counter danger for the first time in his life, Gervaise realizes he lacks the heroism he ought to have.

As the real source of the threat against his patient comes to light, the king-turned-doctor finds himself in the sole position to thwart an ambitious new ruler. But how can he save a kingdom that doesn’t believe it needs saving? And how can a coward such as he win the day with only a handful of men?

As a Retellling: Of all fairy tales, retelling Sleeping Beauty without the magic can be the hardest to pull off. Thus, this is a pretty loose retelling. In fact, most of the "sleeping beauty" part is over within the first twenty percent of the book - a kiss alerts Gervaise to the fact that the girl he found in the woods is still alive (not as creepy as it sounds, it was a kiss on the hand and a salute of respect to a girl who had presumed to have died alone), and then he later uses a spindle as a weapon. However, there are a few larger plot elements that, if they aren't a reference to the Disney movie, including the main romance trope and the title given to the antagonist, are a pretty suspicious coincidence. They're handled in very much their own way, but the fact remains.

Arista's Thoughts: I quite enjoyed this retelling, but the hero could get on my nerves with his indecision. The main conflict of the book stemmed from some early miscommunication, which I connected the dots on early and found quite frustrating. There was also the fact that, while most of the book is first person from Gervaise's perspective, there were a couple swaps to third person from Vannie's, and some of them went back in time and I found them confusing. All said, it's a sweet tale, if a little more padded than it possibly needed, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a Christain, non-magical retelling.

Loose Retelling - Sleeping Beauty
Non-magical
Christian
Indie
Traditional European
Disney Knockoff (Again, not the worst offender, but the tropes used are 3-2 to Disney)


Alternative Covers:

Have you read Doctor and King? If so, leave a comment below with your own short review to help future readers!