"Meriden Park" is a romance set in 1812 in England. Robert's enamored with the tales of Robin Hood, and he's trying to bring down a villain of his own who uses Sherwood Forest for smuggling. Robert's friends have been murdered after telling him of their suspicions but before proof could be found. With no land or money of his own, plus a bad heart, he can only offer Mary his admiration and friendship.

Mary's kind and polite to all but felt safe enough with Robert that she expressed her opinions. Usually, she's very aware that her origins mean that she doesn't fit in even with the correct manners and dress. She feels helpless as her one source of love and support, Mrs. Welling, is in poor health and she suspects that Robert's involved in something dangerous.

The main characters were likable, and Robert and Mary built each other up. When with Robert and later to help him, Mary came out of hiding behind her "mask." She discovered by the end the number of people she'd befriended and inspired along the way. Historical details were woven into the story to provide a distinct sense of the time and place. There was no sex or modern bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable historical romance.

It's not exactly a Robin Hood story. But also, it very much is. There is also a lot of Shakespeare which is definitely fun. This story takes you on at least 5 different paths than at least I expected. And it ends beautifully.

If you like rags to riches (ish), classic tales, moonlight, surprising characters, and subtle romance, I highly, HIGHLY, recommend this one. It feels a little long at some points but by the end, you won't regret a single word of it.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Robin Hood vibes
Set along a forest in the Regency Era
Murders in the woods
Damsel in distress
Betrayal
Slow burn romance
There is so much to love about Julie Daines newest book, Meriden Park. I loved our main couple. Their meet cute was my favorite part.
This story is filled with a little mystery, a little suspense, and some sweet romance. Perfect for a cozy reading day. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

As a child, Mary Grace was rescued from the streets of Calcutta and raised by the kind Mrs. Welling. With the death of Mr. Welling, the ladies have relocated to England where Mary struggles with class and identity issues. Meriden Park is on the edges of Sherwood Forest and Mary is drawn to the woods as is Robert Markham, who Mary has met in town. Mary and Robert enjoy the woods together and form a friendship, but a string of murders brings danger and distrust to their blossoming relationship.
I requested this book because I was intrigued by the premise – a 19th century romance with Robin Hood elements. The characters were likeable with good chemistry and the mystery was engaging however I found the pacing to be a bit slow in the first half and some of the behaviors of the characters a little unbelievable. While these minor flaws drew me out of the story a bit, Meriden Park was still and enjoyable read and I would recommend it to those looking for a clean, sweet, historical story. 3.5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley and Covenant Communication for an advanced readers copy of this novel.

This is a great read, especially for the handling of racial prejudice and the excellent writing which set it apart from other books in the genre. Mary Grace’s internal monologue is so delightfully written, even when the subjects are painful, that it really creates a full, well-rounded character. There’s a bit of history and legend and some mystery mixed in for good measure. Highly recommended.

#MeridenPark #NetGalley

What a beautifully written book. I love the cover. A tale near Sherwood Forest, and yes Robinhood plays a part in the plot. A story about acceptance of who you are inside and out. I loved how strong Mary Grace was. What a wonderful read.

This book was more than a beautiful love story! It was a story of finding love inside and outside of yourself! Julie always does such a wonderful job helping you fall in love with the area! Sherwood Forest is magical!!! She really knows how to aim relationships right into your heart… like Robin Hood’s arrow. This is a sure hit! Loved it!

Sweet story. It wasn’t my favorite of Julie Daines’ books, but I did enjoy it. It was an interesting departure from traditional Regency romance, and that was cool.

Thanks to NetGalley and Covenant Communications for the review copy. Opinions are my own.

A pleasant retelling of Robin Hood set in historical England. A great read for people who love to read clean historical romance novels with adventure.

This is a story set in the Sherwood Forest - long after Robin Hood haunted those woods. A beautiful young woman, Mary Grace, half-Indian & half-English, has traveled to England from India with her adopted mother to live in Meridian Park. Meriden Park sits in the shadow of those famous woods. This is an adventure story, a love story, and a story about prejudices. The woods are haunted with poachers and Luddites and are dangerous, especially at night. Murders are occurring and unusual things are happening. I wasn't sure if I would like this book at the beginning, but it didn't take long to get absorbed into the story with all of the all the different adventures. I really loved how one person can live their whole life thinking they are worthless, only to find out that everyone does trust and like them. You will enjoy reading this one!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are voluntary and unbiased and are entirely my own.

I’ve loved every book I’ve read by Julie Daines, and I was extremely excited to read a Robin Hood retelling by a great author. But for some reason, I didn’t fully, 100% love this story. It was really hard to get into, and I feel like I kept waiting for the “hook” to really pull me in and be unable to put it down. Although, I will admit, the last 25% of this book helped me like it a lot more. And while the story was interesting and had some fun parts, overall it was not my favorite.
Probably the biggest thing that bugged me was the back and forth feelings Mary has for Robert. She’ll trust him one minute then doubt him the next, and for me, that was extremely frustrating. I did enjoy the fact that the main character is not your typical heroine in a regency, but at the same time.
But I did enjoy the romance, Robert is absolutely swoony and I adored his expressions of love towards Mary.
Another part I loved was the research that went into this book. Julie always does a fantastic job of weaving all her research into a beautiful story.
While this wasn’t my cup of tea, I don’t see why any other reader wouldn’t love this story. It really is a great historical romance with fun and interesting ties into the legend of Robin Hood.

3.5/4 stars

This book is an interesting retelling of Robin Hood. Robert is sure that Mr. Pykett is smuggling and killing people to cover it up. He and some friends visit Sherwood Forest quite often to try to catch the despicable man red handed. On one of his nightly adventures Robert runs into Mary Grace. Mary Grace has just come from India with a family that had taken her in when she was abandoned at a young age many years ago. Seeing that Mary is in the middle of a dangerous situation, being in the forest, Robert rescues her. He recognizes her as the maiden from town that he had an interesting meeting with. The fun and twists of this story begin.
I really enjoyed this book and the way it incorporated so many subtle and not so subtle things about Robin Hood and Maid Marian.

This book was an unexpected delightful surprise. I don't really know what I was expecting, but I found this book completely charming. Mary completely fit how I think a bi-racial woman would have reacted to the way she was treated. And she was funny, with her "That Man" and "The Liar". The story was fun, as I love tales about Robin hood and this wound nicely with those legends. I know it was a different time but it is heartbreaking to read the struggles of the poor and how awful those of color were treated, but the author was very sensitive to that and I felt did very well toeing that fine line. What a beautiful story of love and the importance loving yourself.

Content is clean, talk of murder, nothing graphic. I would recommend for all audiences

I received a copy from the Publisher for my honest review.

This is a review for Meriden Park by Julie Danes, released on 12/5/22. This book is a regency romance mixed with mystery that I really enjoyed. It was easy to read, and flowed well! I would rate it a 4 out of 5 because I did like it, but it didn't wow me like some books do. I read it in three days, and I thought the characters were great and meshed well together. I would recommend it, and I did enjoy it a lot!

First we meet Mary Grace in England, who was found surviving on the streets of India after being cast off by her English mother who no longer wanted her because she had an Indian father, so Mary Grace was considered a half-breed which was looked down upon during this time period. She didn't belong with the English, and she didn't belong with the people of India, but thankfully someone was able to look past her skin, and saw her value as a child, and took her off the streets, gave her a home, and loved her, and that person was Mrs. Welling and her husband, an English couple. They took Mary Grace into their home in India, loved her, and treated her as their own, but then Mr. Welling dies, and so Mrs. Welling decides to take Mary Grace back to England, but the same prejudices that chased her in India get worse in England. Here's a quote from the book about Mary Grace, "What she knew for certain was that she was a woman of mixed race. She belonged to neither world, abandoned by her parents, until, somehow, God be thanked, Mrs. Welling had found her."

When Mary Grace arrives in England, she is not well received by Mrs. Welling's nephew Branwell Welling and his wife Fanny. They treat Mary Grace like she is their servant, and not Mrs. Welling's adopted daughter. They let Mary Grace know that they think she is beneath them, and the remind her of that every day. Mrs. Welling is advanced in years, and Mary Grace worries that once she's gone, the "lessor Wellings" as she calls them, will throw her out on her ear, so that concerns her to say the least.

As Mary Grace is walking to town one day, she sees some young women gathered around a very handsome man who is selling hot cross buns to raise money for the workhouse, but she wants to keep her head down, and keep walking as not to be noticed and cause trouble for herself. But the handsome man, Robert Markham, a second stepson of a wealthy landowner and a mother who used to be an actress on the stage, sees one of the most beautiful women he has ever seen, and offers her a hot cross bun for a kiss, which turns out to be Mary Grace. This was considered a brazen act back then, but he just had to take a chance just to be introduced to her. Mary Grace, who usually wants to keep her head down, throws caution to the wind, and accepts his offer!! The news gets back to Fanny and Branwell, and they try to turn Mrs. Welling against Mary Grace, but Mary Grace doesn't regret her decision one bit!

Robert Markham loves the old legend of Robin Hood, and like him, enjoys his time in the Sherwood Forest at night. Robert suffers from a heart condition, and so to keep himself healthy, he goes out and walks in Sherwood Forest. Mary Grace also goes out into Sherwood Forest because she continues to have a dream with a lady telling her to go into the forest to a specific tree so she can figure out the message of the woman in her dream, and that's when Mary Grace and Robert meet again. Robert ends up helping her solve the mystery of the dreams, and Mary Grace ends up sharing her past with Robert, and they begin to build a relationship.

They continue to go into the forest as Mary Grace has more dreams, but then some bad things happen in the forest, and Robert ends up in jail, and Mary Grace may be the only one who can save him, but how can she help since everyone looks down on her because of her parentage?? She needs help to free Robert, and that help ends up coming from sources she never thought possible!! Well you'll have to read the book to find out what happens!!

A lovely historial novel with unique twists.

I enjoyed the Robin Hood/Sherwood forest angle in this story. I also liked Mary's background. It made her more open to new things and to discovering herself and her strengths.
Robert was kind and determined to get justice for his friend. They're friends first and their romance is slow burn as they learn to trust each other.

There's also a mystery that they solve which brings them closer together.

The setting and side characters complemented the story nicely.

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

This was a charming read! I enjoyed the Robin Hood threads and loved the diverse cast of characters. And it's always fun to have some action mixed in with my romance. :)

This was an interesting spin on the story of Robin Hood, told in Regency time. I enjoyed the connections to Robin Hood and the fight for justice.

I was interested in the story, but it didn't hold my interest the whole time. It just lacked some depth. Mary Grace was an interesting character, with her Indian heritage and British upbringing. I loved that the story centered around her finding and accepting herself.

Robert was a noble and loving character, but it took too long to know his motivations behind his late night activities.

The book was enjoyable, I just wish it had more heart to it.

Thank you to Netgalley, Covenant Communications, and Julie Daines for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

I love retelling a. Julie Daines did a fantastic job on Meriden Park and the retelling of Robin Hood. I loved the slow build relationship between Robert and Mary Grace. It felt realistic and authentic. Well done!

MERIDEN PARK by JULIE DAINES is a well thought out romantic suspense novel set in England near the Sherwood Forest in the early nineteenth century. What great characters - the beautiful Mary Grace, who prefers the gentle moonlight to the sun’s brightness, hoping to hide her dark skin, the handsome Robert Markham with his obsession with the tales of Robin Hood and his fierce desire to obtain justice for his murdered friend, Robert’s feisty mother who remembers her acting career with pride and has a Shakespearean quotation for every occasion, Mrs Welling who found a little orphan girl on the streets of Calcutta and gave her a name and a loving home, and the “Lesser Wellings” and “That Man” who they are prepared to pay to marry Mary and take her off their hands. Of course there is also the criminal element full of dark and dangerous characters……
I loved the book and found it entertaining, exciting and inspirational. Some of my favourite quotations are - “The question of her life. Who was she?” “Daylight is too bright. It reveals all we wish to hide.” “Under the night sky, we all walk in shadow. Equals.” “Differance is not the same as less.”
I highly recommend Meriden Park to anyone who enjoys a good period romance full of secrets and danger.
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Covenant Communications. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

At first glance, one would expect a retelling of the Robin Hood legend. After all, there are many versions of his exploits described throughout history. However, "Meriden Park" is much more than regurgitated folklore.

This unique tale features hero Robert Markham, a self-professed Robin Hood fan who assists the less fortunate and is determined to have a murderer brought to justice. Due to her mixed heritage and circumstances of birth, lovely heroine Mary Grace generally hides from society because she's subjected to (at the very least) dismissive treatment by others. Their unconventional first meeting sets the tone for the sweet, unhurried romance that develops.

Secondary characters are also interesting. There's Fanny Welling, who's humorously described as a "lesser Welling", or "looking like a broomstick carrying a pumpkin". Apparently, anything can be expressed by quoting Shakespeare, as Robert's mother does more often than not. The author's research here is exhaustive.

Racism, class prejudice and smuggling all play important parts in this novel. The dream interpretation aspect is both touching and effective. Julie Daines' writing style is always a delight. Her descriptive prose flows well, and this book is clean.

Thanks to NetGalley and Covenant Communications for an ARC of this entertaining work.