Book - The Apothecary's Daughter

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The Apothecary's Daughter
Julie Klassen
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From Booklist
While working in her father’s apothecary shop in the small village of Bedsley Priors, Lilly Haswell dreams of one day traveling the world, perhaps even finding her mother, who had left her family three years before and has never been heard from since. When the chance to live with her maternal aunt and uncle is unexpectedly offered to her, Lilly sees the opportunity for a new life. Once in London, she indulges in a bit of romantic flirtation with several different men while also learning more about her mother’s mysterious disappearance. Then, when a crisis forces Lilly to return to Bedsley Priors, she faces the difficult challenge of giving up her fabulous independent life in order to help out the family she has always loved. Filled with fascinating details about the apothecary trade in Regency England, Klassen’s latest superbly crafted inspirational romance is an emotionally compelling and quietly powerful tale about the importance of faith and hope, family and friends, love and loyalty. --John Charles

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The beginnings of the book kept me very much interested in the story, and I did feel it was well written. There is Lilly, the heroine, her father Charles and her brother Charlie. Her father took on an apprentice, Francis Baylor. It was all a happy arrangement, until her mother's relatives came to visit and whisked Lilly to London.

It started to feel like a so-so book in the second part of the book. So in London, she went to balls, parties, outings, and the like, to "find a husband", so to say. She met many people too. And then her father got sick and she had to go back home, found out her brother was working for the local Rich Guy, Francis went apprenticing with another Apothecary...

I was sort of trying to grasp the point of the book. Let's see, so Lilly had like 4 suitors. Each had his own chapter. Fine. But then the suitors, were fickle. When they are turned down once, they go to another lady, and when she turns them down, they flock back to Lily. WTF!?

And then by the end, in the one same paragraph, Francis is sometimes Francis and then Mr. Baylor and then Francis and then Baylor and Mr. Baylor. All during narration, not dialogue. What gives?

And finally in the grand finale, the title of "Apothecary's Daughter" was given to Mary, Lilly's half-sister, who died. And somehow, when never once had Lily shown interest in Francis (or, same level of confused feelings towards 3 of her suitors) that she decides that he is for her and she pines for him.

I won't say this wasn't an enjoyable read. This was enjoyable while it lasted, but I thought and thought, and I still couldn't figure out the point... and many of the reasonings behind a character's decision.