The Freemason's Daughter by Shelley Sackier

VERDICT A romance with great potential that is hurt by a sluggish start and a quick end. Although the characters are appealing and well drawn, this doesn't redeem the work. An educated, spunky, yet poor heroine a brooding, aristocratic hero and an intriguing and suspenseful setting should make this a worthy romance, but the slow pacing of the beginning and the rapid conclusion leave readers with a very mixed bag. Though the protagonist is empowered, the character development is heavy-handed. They will, however, tire of the constant reminder of how unusual it is for a girl, especially one of Jenna's station, to be educated. Though readers are told that the heroine is in danger, they likely won't feel it until the very abrupt end. Jenna has doubts about her family's strategy, especially in light of the feelings she has for the duke's son, Lord Pembroke, and the danger to herself and her family. In addition to building the garrison, the Freemasons have covert plans to use it to their advantage. Ironically, Jenna and her makeshift family of Freemasons are hired by the Duke of Keswick to build a garrison to protect his household from themselves and other Jacobites.

Gr 7 Up-Jenna MacDuff is the only child of the Scottish leader of a group of Freemasons who must flee Scotland for England to hide their support of the exiled King James Stuart. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title.

In Shelley Sackier’s lush, vivid historical debut, someone will pay a deadly price no matter what Jenna chooses. Will Jenna hide her family’s mutinous plot and assist her clan’s cause, or protect the life of the young noble she’s falling for? Jenna’s father repeatedly warns her to trust no one, but when the Duke of Keswick hires the clan to build a garrison on his estate, it seems she cannot hide her capable mind from the duke’s inquisitive son, Lord Alex Pembroke-nor mask her growing attraction to him.īut there’s a covert plan behind the building of the garrison-a secret that cannot be revealed. But their next job brings them into enemy territory: England.

Jenna’s small clan has risked their lives traveling the countryside as masons, secretly drumming up support and arms at every stop for the exiled King James Stuart so that he may retake the British throne. Saying good-bye to Scotland is the hardest thing that Jenna MacDuff has had to do-until she met Lord Pembroke.

The Freemason's Daughter by Shelley Sackier