The Redwood Bargain
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Description
Indentured servant Katrien longs to make amends after a difficult choice extended her cousin Helsa's servitude with their lord of the manor. So when a dark creature in the forest known as The Redwood Man demands the lord's youngest daughter as payment for saving his life, Katrien is eager to make her own bargain that will guarantee her cousin's freedom-so long as she can successfully lie.
Katrien must fool The Redwood Man into believing she is the daughter he was promised, Lady Zaviera. Yet three girls have already lost their lives trying to pose as the young noblewoman, with the increasingly impatient forest lord seeing through each deception and exerting his wrath in return.
To ensure Katrien's success where the girls before her have failed, Zaviera and her sisters teach her how to be the perfect imposter, even as The Redwood Man's sentient vines threaten to consume the manor and its staff. Turning a kitchen maid into a proper lady is no simple task, and matters are complicated further as Katrien begins to fall for the tenderhearted lady she might die for. Caught between duty, desire, and Zaviera's own blooming feelings, Katrien must decide if she's truly willing to risk her life to right past wrongs and sacrifice herself for the girl she's come to love.
Book Information
Posts
This was one of those books I really wanted to love The premise is genuinely strong: a kitchen maid forced into impersonating a noble girl to save her cousin, a mysterious forest entity demanding sacrifices, and a manor full of secrets and quiet cruelty. On paper, it’s gothic, eerie and morally complex exactly my kind of thing In practice, though, the story never fully clicked for me… My biggest struggle was with the characters, especially Katrien. I understood her motivations (guilt, loyalty, and love for her cousin) but her choices often felt impulsive in a way that made it hard for me to emotionally connect with her. I wanted to feel her conflict more deeply, not just understand it logically Her relationship with Helsa is clearly meant to be the emotional core, but even there, I found myself a little distanced. I did enjoy Helsa’s interactions with Henrik, those moments felt softer and more grounded than a lot of the main narrative and I actually wished we’d spent more time in that space My favorite character by far was Lady Zaviera. She felt thoughtful, restrained and quietly interesting in a way that stood out from everyone else. I really missed having her POV, because I think the story could have been even richer if we’d been able to see the world through her eyes, especially her complicated relationship with her family and her role in the bargain itself The romance was another mixed point for me. I liked the early moments, the etiquette lessons, the shared glances, the small almost-secret interactions. But emotionally, it never quite landed. I kept wishing it would either deepen into something more impactful or step back and let the main plot breathe Pacing-wise, the book took a while to pull me in. Once it picked up, I was more invested, but the beginning felt slow in a way that made it hard to stay fully immersed That said, I can absolutely see the appeal. The atmosphere is beautiful: eerie forests, old manor politics and a villain that feels genuinely unsettling There’s a lot of promise here, especially for readers who enjoy morally gray choices, slow tension and gothic settings that focus more on mood than action This just wasn’t a perfect match for me personally, even though I really admired what it was trying to do Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review
Description
Indentured servant Katrien longs to make amends after a difficult choice extended her cousin Helsa's servitude with their lord of the manor. So when a dark creature in the forest known as The Redwood Man demands the lord's youngest daughter as payment for saving his life, Katrien is eager to make her own bargain that will guarantee her cousin's freedom-so long as she can successfully lie.
Katrien must fool The Redwood Man into believing she is the daughter he was promised, Lady Zaviera. Yet three girls have already lost their lives trying to pose as the young noblewoman, with the increasingly impatient forest lord seeing through each deception and exerting his wrath in return.
To ensure Katrien's success where the girls before her have failed, Zaviera and her sisters teach her how to be the perfect imposter, even as The Redwood Man's sentient vines threaten to consume the manor and its staff. Turning a kitchen maid into a proper lady is no simple task, and matters are complicated further as Katrien begins to fall for the tenderhearted lady she might die for. Caught between duty, desire, and Zaviera's own blooming feelings, Katrien must decide if she's truly willing to risk her life to right past wrongs and sacrifice herself for the girl she's come to love.
Book Information
Posts
This was one of those books I really wanted to love The premise is genuinely strong: a kitchen maid forced into impersonating a noble girl to save her cousin, a mysterious forest entity demanding sacrifices, and a manor full of secrets and quiet cruelty. On paper, it’s gothic, eerie and morally complex exactly my kind of thing In practice, though, the story never fully clicked for me… My biggest struggle was with the characters, especially Katrien. I understood her motivations (guilt, loyalty, and love for her cousin) but her choices often felt impulsive in a way that made it hard for me to emotionally connect with her. I wanted to feel her conflict more deeply, not just understand it logically Her relationship with Helsa is clearly meant to be the emotional core, but even there, I found myself a little distanced. I did enjoy Helsa’s interactions with Henrik, those moments felt softer and more grounded than a lot of the main narrative and I actually wished we’d spent more time in that space My favorite character by far was Lady Zaviera. She felt thoughtful, restrained and quietly interesting in a way that stood out from everyone else. I really missed having her POV, because I think the story could have been even richer if we’d been able to see the world through her eyes, especially her complicated relationship with her family and her role in the bargain itself The romance was another mixed point for me. I liked the early moments, the etiquette lessons, the shared glances, the small almost-secret interactions. But emotionally, it never quite landed. I kept wishing it would either deepen into something more impactful or step back and let the main plot breathe Pacing-wise, the book took a while to pull me in. Once it picked up, I was more invested, but the beginning felt slow in a way that made it hard to stay fully immersed That said, I can absolutely see the appeal. The atmosphere is beautiful: eerie forests, old manor politics and a villain that feels genuinely unsettling There’s a lot of promise here, especially for readers who enjoy morally gray choices, slow tension and gothic settings that focus more on mood than action This just wasn’t a perfect match for me personally, even though I really admired what it was trying to do Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review