The Silent Songbird by Melanie Dickerson

Evangeline longs to be free, to live in the world outside the castle walls. But freedom comes at a cost.

Evangeline is the ward and cousin of King Richard II, and yet she dreams of a life outside of Berkhamsted Castle, where she might be free to marry for love and not politics. But the young king betroths her to his closest advisor, Lord Shiveley, a man twice as old as Evangeline. Desperate to escape a life married to a man she finds revolting, Evangeline runs away from the king and joins a small band of servants on their way back to their home village.

To keep her identity a secret, Evangeline pretends to be mute. Evangeline soon regrets the charade as she gets to know Wesley, the handsome young leader of the servants, whom she later discovers is the son of a wealthy lord. But she cannot reveal her true identity for fear she will be forced to return to King Richard and her arranged marriage.

Wesley le Wyse is intrigued by the beautiful new servant girl. When he learns that she lost her voice from a beating by a cruel former master, he is outraged. But his anger is soon redirected when he learns she has been lying to him. Not only is she not mute, but she isn’t even a servant.

Weighed down by remorse for deceiving Wesley, Evangeline fears no one will ever love her. But her future is not the only thing at stake, as she finds herself embroiled in a tangled web that threatens England’s monarchy. Should she give herself up to save the only person who cares about her? If she does, who will save the king from a plot to steal his throne? – from author’s website

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Another delightful medieval fairytale by Melanie Dickerson. The characters are likeable and fairly easy to relate to. One thing I don’t particularly enjoy about this series is that the series jumps around timeline wise and location wise. Some are set in Hagenheim and some are set in Glynval. This book is set in Glynval and is set earlier than some of the previous books in the series. I didn’t resonate with the plot as much as some of the other books in this series but I still found it enjoyable.

The Captive Heart by Michelle Griep

Proper English governess Eleanor Morgan flees to the colonies to escape the wrath of a brute of an employer. When the Charles Town family she’s to work for never arrives to collect her from the dock, she is forced to settle for the only reputable choice remaining to her—marriage to a man she’s never met. Trapper and tracker Samuel Heath is a hardened survivor used to getting his own way by brain or by brawn, and he’s determined to find a mother for his young daughter. But finding a wife proves to be impossible. No upstanding woman wants to marry a murderer. – from author’s website

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The storyline to the book felt very much like another book I had read several years ago – so much so that I was tempted to put the book down. It was only about half way through the book that it started sounding unique from the book I had read previously and I started enjoying it. There was nothing that really stood out for me as something super special about the story. It was a nice little story but it wasn’t that memorable.