THE APOTHECARY'S DAUGHTER

THE APOTHECARY'S DAUGHTER by Julie Klassen

From Amazon.com:

Lillian Haswell, brilliant daughter of the local apothecary, yearns for more adventure and experience than life in her father's shop and their small village provides.  She also longs to know the truth behind her mother's disappearance, which villagers whisper about but her father refuses to discuss.  Opportunity comes when a distant aunt offers to educate her as a lady in London.  Exposed to fashionable society and romance - as well as clues about her mother - Lilly is torn when she is summoned back to her ailing father's bedside.  Women are forbidden to work as apothecaries, so to save the family legacy, Lilly will have to make it appear as if her father is still making all the diagnoses and decisions.  But the suspicious eyes of a scholarly physician and a competing apothecary are upon her.  As they vie for village prominence, three men also vie for Lilly's heart.

I wasn't too thrilled with this book.  It was interesting to learn about the different remedies used for specific ailments, including the disgusting leeches, but the rest of the story didn't keep me entertained.  It might have been the style of the writing to show the formality of the interactions between the characters that turned me off the book.  I just couldn't form any attachment to any of the characters.

This was read on my Kindle and worked as a book to be read while waiting for an appointment, but I'm glad I didn't spend any money on it - it was a free book.