Book Summary (from Goodreads): Though once a baron's daughter, Lady Merry Ellison is willing to go to any lengths to protect the orphaned children of her former village. Dubbed "The Ghosts of Farthingale Forest," her band of followers soon become enemies of the throne when they hijack ill-gotten gold meant for the king.
Timothy Grey, ninth child of the Baron of Greyham, longs to perform some feat so legendary that he will rise from obscurity and earn a title of his own. When the Ghosts of Farthingale Forest are spotted in Wyndeshire, where he serves as assistant to the local earl, he might have found his chance. But when he comes face-to-face with the leader of the thieves, will he choose fame or love?
My Thoughts....
Imagine Robin Hood....but instead of a man leading his merry men, you have Merry Ellison, a young woman who takes it upon herself to lead a group of other young people in order to survive. But Merry is not the soft, sweet type. Due to the hardships she's faced in her life, she's become tough, steeling herself against emotions that could cause harm to herself or her new found family. She works hard to provide, train, and protect them. When she sees Timothy Grey, however, a little crack begins to form in hard shell she's built around her heart.
I really enjoyed this reverse take on the tale of Robin Hood. Merry was a character that I wanted to root for. Her soft spot was for the young children and "men" she protected and trained. There was more than one occasion she was willing to give her life for them. Her unwavering devotion to her new family was inspiring and provided the soft moments in the story that helped balance out the action that took place.
When Merry sees Timothy Grey for the first time in many years, she has mixed emotions. Love, sadness, suspicion...all of which are legitimate emotions that play out throughout the story. Timothy wants to build himself up, make a way for himself as he is the youngest of nine children. But he's willing to compromise his convictions to do so, which also compromises Merry and the orphaned children she cares for. This is where the internal and external conflict come in. Merry feels she has to choose between the strong feelings in her heart that she has for Timothy and the children she is committed to care for. Timothy must also choose between his heart and his desire to rise to a position of authority and respect.
This novel had all the elements of a good story. It had devotion, true love, action, danger and angst as Merry and Timothy must make some difficult decisions about their future and are pursued by evil. There was even a strong supernatural element as God intervened when all seemed hopeless. The romantic aspect was mild and sweet, but with another man also in pursuit of Merry it became even more interesting.
"Dauntless" was a good read. I will say that with the title, and the recent popularity of the "Divergent" series, it was hard not to compare the intensity of the action in that novel to this one. I would say that this novel doesn't have the intense amount of action that I expected with the title, but I really enjoyed the way that Merry trained herself, and her men, to defend themselves mentally and physically. If you love medieval fiction, you'll enjoy this first book in Dina Sleiman's Valiant Hearts series.
**I was given a free copy of this novel from the publisher, Bethany House, for an unbiased review.**
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