The Noble Servant {by Melanie Dickerson}

Title: The Noble Servant
Author: Melanie Dickerson
Series: Thornbeck #3
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Genre: Christian YA Fiction
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
source: publisher

She lost everything to an evil conspiracy . . . but that loss may just give her all she ever wanted.
Since meeting Steffan, the Duke of Wolfberg, at Thornbeck Castle, Lady Magdalen has not been able to stop thinking about him. She knows—as a penniless lady with little to offer in terms of a dowry—she has no real hope of marrying such a highly titled man, so it comes as a great surprise when she receives a letter from him, asking for her hand in marriage.
But all is not what it seems at Wolfberg Castle. Steffan has been evicted by his scheming uncle, and his cousin has taken over the title of duke. Left for dead, Steffan is able to escape, and disguised as a shepherd, hopes to gain entry to the castle to claim the items that will prove he is the true Duke of Wolfberg.
Journeying to the castle, Magdalen has no idea what awaits her, but she certainly did not expect her loyal maidservant to turn on her. Forcing Magdalen to trade places with her, the servant plans to marry the duke and force Magdalen to tend the geese.
Without their respective titles—and the privileges that came with them—Steffan and Magdalen are reunited in the shepherd’s field. Together they conspire to get back their rightful titles. But they must hurry . . . or else they risk losing it all to the uncle’s evil plan.

If you've been here long enough, you know that I love my Melanie Dickerson books. They're fun, easy to fly through, and I love anything fairy-tale related. This one was based off of The Goose Girl, which I don't think I've seen done all that much, so I was interested to see how she would take this one.

We first met Magdalen in The Beautiful Pretender. She had Steffan had hit it off, but she hasn't heard from him in the few years since. Until, one day, she randomly gets a marriage proposal from him. While Magdalen thinks it is a bit suspicious, she will do anything to help save her people from poverty (not like her mother would give her a choice anyway). Until she is thwarted by her maid, and forced to tend to the geese. Only to discover that the man posing as the shepherd is none other than the Duke himself. They work together to be restored to their rightful positions.

Honestly, this was probably one of my favorites of her books. I had been feeling...less than excited about some of her newer ones, so it was great to find what I loved about her books again in this one. The characters themselves, however, were nothing really special. They were the typical for this genre: sweet, perfect "good girl" heroine; supposedly masculine love interest with a hero complex. Honestly, I'm tired of reading the same characters over and over again.

But I did enjoy the story. Like I said, The Goose Girl was a fun one to base it off of and the story was fun and easy to read. It kept me engaged the whole time, and seemed a little more exciting plot-wise than some of her others. All in all, it was just a fun story that I enjoyed reading.

Other books in this series:

Melanie Dickerson:

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