The Maid of Ballymacool by Jennifer Deibel Review

 Happy Monday Bookish Lovelies :)

I'm so thankful you decided to drop by The Preppy Book Princess.

If you're new here, then welcome, I'm Kirby, and I love getting to share my love of the book world with you all. If you've been here before, then welcome back! I'm so excited you chose to stop by again.

I'm excited to get to share today's review with you all, as it's a review for one of the titles from "my most anticipated 2023 releases" post.

I hope you'll all stick around to the ending to read my review, and I hope you'll all take a chance on this title when it releases next month.

Before I jump into today's review though, I have to quickly state that this particular post is a pretty important milestone for my blog. Today's review is the 1000th post on The Preppy Book Princess, and I'm pretty proud of making it that far since I started my blog back in September of 2015!

Now with that being said, let's jump right into today's review.

The Maid of Ballymacool by Jennifer Deibel:

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Revell

Publication Date: February 21st, 2023

Genre: Christian Fiction/Historical Fiction

Synopsis:

Brianna Kelly was abandoned at Ballymacool House and Boarding School as an infant. She has worked there since she was a wee girl and will likely die there. Despite a sense that she was made for something more, Brianna feels powerless to change her situation, so she consoles herself by exploring the Ballymacool grounds, looking for hidden treasures to add to the secret trove beneath the floorboards of her room.

When Michael Wray, the son of local gentry, is sent to Ballymacool to deal with his unruly cousin, he finds himself drawn to Brianna, immediately and inescapably. There is something about her that feels so . . . familiar. When Brianna finds a piece of silver in the woods, she commits to learning its origins, with the help of Michael. What they discover may change everything.

Fan favorite Jennifer Deibel invites you back to the Emerald Isle in the 1930s for this fresh take on the Cinderella story, complete with a tantalizing mystery, a budding romance, and a chance at redemption.

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

I'm so thankful that I chose to pick up Jennifer Deibel's debut novel a few years back, as I discovered a new favorite author along the way. Her beautiful prose just gets better with each new title she releases, and I find myself wanting the real world to come to a halt each time I pick one up, as I just want to lose myself in the wonderful book worlds she creates.

Her upcoming release, The Maid of Ballymacool, was one of my most anticipated 2023 releases, and it definitely did not disappoint. A beautiful, historical fiction retelling of Cinderella, I could barely bring myself to put it down, and I loved the complex story woven around an atmospheric setting in Ireland.

Brianna Kelly's earliest memories are of being put to work at Ballymacool, and her life has changed very little since. She constantly faces the wrath of her guardian, an older woman who runs Ballymacool's boarding school, and has had to come to terms with her life being the challenge it is, with no hope of that fact ever changing. When Michael Wray is sent to the school to deal with his unruly cousin attending the boarding school, there's an instant spark between the two. Michael can't stand to watch the abuse that Brianna faces on a daily basis by the one who is supposed to be her caregiver, and he's determined to help her out of her situation. However, how could Brianna ever act on the feelings she's developed for Michael, when their situations in life couldn't be more different?

Jennifer Deibel's mastery of the written word shines through to readers on each and every page, and I think this may just be my favorite by her yet. The central them focuses around identity, and remembering whose you are amongst all of life's challenges, and I appreciated that the faith element was at the front and center. The romance is sweet, swoon worthy, and slightly slow burn which I loved, and I thought she did a wonderful job of adding an original element to the Cinderella storyline.

The mystery is well plotted and paced, and even though I thought I'd had it all figured out, the final reveal still ended up leaving me quite surprised. One of my favorite parts of all is that one of the POV's is from the villain of the story, and I think it added an even stronger element to the story, as the reader got to learn the quirks and reasonings behind her treatment of Brianna.

All in all, this one was even more than I was hoping for, and I love how much more this author hones her craft with each and every title she writes. 

I can't possibly recommend this one enough, and I can't wait to see what this author has in store for her reader's in the future.

Final Rating: 5/5.

Thanks so much to Revell for allowing me to advance read and review this one!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher (Revell) via NetGalley. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and this is my honest review.

Thanks so much for reading guys! I hope you all have a great rest of your day, and that your week is off to a wonderful start :)