The Maid of Ballymacool by Jennifer Diebel

 

I have read Jennifer Deibel's books from the beginning with a Dance in Donegal and The Lady of Galway Manor. I think The Maid of Ballymacool may be my favorite so far.

Brianna Kelly has worked at Ballymacool Boarding School since she can remember. She was left on the doorstep of the headmistress and knows very little of her family. Still, Brianna feels she was made for something more--something different. 

Michael Wray, the son of a contributing family to the school, is sent to Ballymacool to deal with his unruly cousin. Michael is drawn to Brianna and has a sense that he has met her before.

Then Brianna finds a platter int he woods and Michael might know something about it.

I enjoyed the developing relationship between Michael and Brianna. Of course, I did not like the evil people and they were evil in this book. I kept turning pages to solve the mysteries of who Brianna is, where the platter came from, and more. It was a good story and I read it fairly quickly. The Christian characters also have a spiritual life that seems to be part of who they are. There is also some forgiveness and redemption that is part of the story. The Maid of Ballymacool was a good read and a sort of fairy tale type story along the lines of Cinderella. I have to add, the cover of this book is just gorgeous. The Revell team did an exceptional job on this one.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.