The Apothecary`s Daughter (Superior Collection)

by Julie Klassen

Lillian Haswell, brilliant daughter of the local apothecary, yearns for more adventure and experience than life in her father's shop and their small village provides. She also longs to know the truth behind her mother's disappearance, which villagers whisper about but her father refuses to discuss. Opportunity comes when a distant aunt offers to educate her as a lady in London. Exposed to fashionable society and romance--as well as clues about her mother--Lilly is torn when she is summoned back to her ailing father's bedside. Women are forbidden to work as apothecaries, so to save the family legacy, Lilly will have to make it appear as if her father is still making all the diagnoses and decisions. But the suspicious eyes of a scholarly physician and a competing apothecary are upon her. As they vie for village prominence, three men also vie for Lilly's heart.

• ISBN10: 0764204807
• ISBN13: 9780764204807
• Publish Date: 1 January 2009
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
• Imprint: Bethany House Publishers, a division of Baker Publishing Group
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

Even as an English major I was never of those girls that swooned over the book version of Mr. Darcy. (Although I will confess I do have a major crush on Colin Firth.) The Regency period has never seemed all that fashionable to me with all the rules. The women always seem so constrained even if they long to break the mould, they never do. The Apothecary’s Daughter fits firmly into this period and doesn’t stray from the predicable route. Although I certainly had hopes after our heroine, Lilly, returned home after just over a year in London and took over her father’s shop.

I did enjoy listening to The Apothecary’s Daughter which I borrowed from the library. Tavia Gilbert had a soothing voice and mastered a variety of different English accents for both the male and female characters. It was mostly her narration that allowed me to get through this sugary sweet predictable romance despite some technical issues that apparently occurred when the CDs were ripped to the MP3 version available via Overdrive.

I did get frustrated with the main character. Lilly had a lot of promise as a medical professional and each time she got a chance to use her gifts, I had hopes that perhaps she would actually get the life I felt she desired and perhaps deserved. I often forget that not every historical fiction book can have characters willing to buck the social norms of the time. So in the end, I was disappointed with the path that Lilly chose, but she seemed satisfied with it.

My decision to listen to The Apothecary’s Daughter happened at the right time. Work was stressful. I needed a soothing voice and predictable storyline to get me to and from work. At a different time and if I had read my copy of the eBook vs. listening to the audiobook, I’m not so sure that Lilly’s story would have sat so well with me.


This review was originally posted on Second Run Reviews

[ladygrey]

There were several things I liked about this book.

Not initially, though. Initially, the language sounded so stiff, not in a way that is authentic to the time period but in an awkward way like the author is trying to hard. But that seemed to only exist in the prologue and I didn't notice anything but charming dialog and good characters the rest of the book.

I really liked that, unlike most regency romance novels where there is the man everyone wants her to be with and the one she truly wants and will inevitably end up with, there were lots of men in this story, lots of possibilities and no certainty until 3/4 of the way through who she might finally love. All of the men were viable in their own way, or apt to surprise. It made reading the story so much more fun with so many different variables.

I also really liked how the faith aspect was handled, because it wasn't heavy handed. It felt very true to the time period and very much what was a part of people's lives. If I hadn't known the publisher, I wouldn't have guessed it was Christian fiction.

The only reason I had to give it 3 stars instead of 4 is that the romance wasn't quite captivating enough. Of course, there were plenty of men to flirt with and dance with and for Lilly to be admired by. And there were moments that were very good. But even in the resolution, there was no sense of grand fulfillment, no overtures of romances once they were finally together.

But still, good book and enjoyable read.

[cherryblossommj]

Another incredible piece of historical fiction with strong characters from second published author[a:Julie Klassen|928415|Julie Klassen|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1438099690p2/928415.jpg]. Without a doubt, Klassen is on my favorite author's list. Both [b:Lady of Milkweed Manor|2043100|Lady of Milkweed Manor|Julie Klassen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1322223127l/2043100._SY75_.jpg|2048032] and [b:The Apothecary's Daughter|3870943|The Apothecary's Daughter|Julie Klassen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1325356997l/3870943._SY75_.jpg|3916135] were so enjoyable.

Each chapter starts with a quote of various pharmaceutical and apothecary means as well as a few others and it really sets the scene. It is something she also used in her first book, and I truly believe that it adds an incredible important element to the way her story is told. This book is divided up into sections that works quite well. It is a long book and fabulously so, I did not want it to end.

The one qualm that I did have, is that the last section is very dark to me. Everything that can go wrong is going wrong and it was a little much to experience all at once, when the rest of the book was much more light heart-ed. I feel kinda like if there was so more happiness in there with the dark toward the end that it would have worked better. Then it ends abruptly exactly as a perfect ending as it could be. My opinion would have been to draw it out with more details and more "happy" within the dark cloud, rather than having everything fixed in a last chapter and epilogue. But then we readers cannot get everything we want when fabulous authors are limited to just 400 pages or so.

Good points and bad, my overall opinion is that the story is fabulous. My favorite portion of all is where the name for the book came from. It makes me teary eyed. And you will just have to go read it to find out why.

Once again a winner from Julie in my opinion, and I desperately cannot wait for more books from her in the future!