The Dollmaker's Daughter

First things first, I never found out who the dollmaker was or what significance he/she had.  Other than that, it was a typical light romance where boy meets girl, boy gets girl (loosely), boy loses girl, boy gets girl back.  In the meantime, there is a rock that holds "magical powers" that everyone wants.  Some believe is it the Umim of the Old Testament and a couple of Jewish men read the inscription on the stone and tell Simon Morgan, the one who holds the stone at the time, that they are not able to pronounce the name on the stone, but that it is God's name.  This stone creates some intrigue within the book to keep the reader interested.  

Amity Archer not only wants adventure, she wants to write about it and capture it in words for her brothers and sisters.  When she runs into Mary, a Revolutionary War widow who follows the camp as a laundress/cook, she wants to write Mary's story as well.  When Amity finds that her Aunt Clementine wants to go visit friends in Williamsburg, she decides to go along.  Amity's father asks Simon Morgan to accompany them on the trek over the mountains. Her father's instructions to Simon are almost indecent.  He tells Simon that if Amity is compromised, she will do the right thing and marry him.  Then he asks if Simon understood what he is saying.  That alone gave me pause because I cannot imagine a father asking someone to compromise his daughter so that she will marry.  No father in my acquaintance would have ever done that. 

While this stone, sometimes called the Horeb Stone, is supposed to be powerful, it is not magic, though wielded in the wrong hands could give that impression.  Many people want the stone for their own purposes and one of those people is the widow, Mrs. Blackstone. Her son is dying and she believes the stone will heal him.  She go to extreme lengths to get the stone and try its magic, including compromising Simon. 

Overall, this book is an easy read that doesn't take too long.  There are parts that are more compelling than others, but the reader does stay engaged with the story.  I've not read anything by Izzy James before, but her style is pretty formulaic.  That's neither a positive nor a negative, it is just the way she writes.  I'd give this book 3.5 stars, but I'll round up to 4. 

Pelican Book Group and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review.  All opinions expressed are solely my own.