In 1850, Mellicent "Mellie" Blanchard takes a job at a mill in Manchester, New Hampshire, to help support her family. In search of additional earning opportunities, she approaches a daguerreotype shop owner with the proposal that he hire her to make paper cuttings or silhouette portraits for those who can't afford an expensive daguerreotype.
When a particularly charming customer--whose broad smile and twinkling eyes catch her off guard--asks to escort her home, the seeds of romance begin to blossom. All the pieces of her new life seem to have fallen perfectly into place, but when her new venture brings her an unexpected opportunity, she is confronted with the truth that all is not as it seems. Will Mellie, who is keeping secrets of her own, find happiness in the new life she has carved out for herself in the busy mill town?
Review:
Starting with a side-note here: I'm a huge Avengers fan. I'm not going to lie, every time I read the surname Stark in this book, I thought of Tony Stark and I kept picturing his (Tony's) dad as in place of the character in the book. Aside from that odd little side note, I enjoyed this story, although I wish the conflicts weren't quite so easily resolved. I like happy ever after stories and enjoy seeing issues resolved, but it seemed to happen a little too effortlessly in this book. I need a little bit of struggle to make it seem more realistic.
Reading about what life was like as a mill worker was fascinating. I knew that people worked really long hours in difficult conditions, but this story made it more real to me. I also wasn't aware that they had so many rules in their (very limited) off hours.
I was intrigued by Mellie's talent at Scherenschnitte (paper cutting), enough so that I had to google it to find out just what it was all about. Definitely a lot more labor intensive than what I was originally picturing. What a fun talent that would be to have.
This was an enjoyable, clean book to read.
Purchase: Amazon
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