Review: Merrick by Claire Cray
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 3, 2014
Considering the setting, 1799, quite original just like that, and the plot device, a young man sent as endured servant for 5 years, I was expecting for this story to be very gothic like, dark and brooding, maybe even a little dramatic.So it was with a little surprise that, page after page, I was discovering a romantic story, almost a sweet romance, with a kind Master who seemed more interested in taking care of his servant than using him; my prejudices almost pushed me to believe the Master was some sort of ogre and that he was fattening up the servant, but do not worry, this wasn’t the case.Anyway, William is really a clever boy, even if only 18 years old, he had already his business as bookseller, but he had bad companies, and he ended up to pay for all his fellow mates. Merrick, his Master, is some sort of hermit, a well-respected apothecary who hides his features behind a cloak he doesn’t remove neither in front of William. But he is gentle and kind, and he treats William in a good way, so much that William starts to believe his bad fate isn’t so bad after all, and even if he has never been interested in men, now that he is in close proximity with Merrick, he is very much attracted by the man: another device plot I was used in my old fashioned romance novels, William falls for Merrick without even knowing his looks, he falls in love for the kind man who is behind the cloak, not for a pretty face.A some sort of Beauty and the Beast, also here there is a reason for Merrick to hide himself, and William will have to prove that he loves Merrick despite all.