Maid to Match

I’ve already disclosed my love of a heartwarming love story (see this post) and my fascination with Gilded Age history (see this post).  So it’s no shocker that I found Deeanne Gist’s novel Maid to Match enjoyable.

First, it’s set at the Biltmore House around 1899, right after George Vanderbilt married Edith Stuyvesant.  Tillie, the main parlormaid, is vying for the position as Edith Vanderbilt’s lady’s maid.  Her mother’s been training her to be a lady’s maid for years and now that Edith’s French maid is leaving to go back home, this is her chance to prove she is dedicated to Biltmore and the Vanderbilt family over everything else.  

Secondly, the love story is just refreshing, nothing forward or explicit.  Mac decides to come look for a job at Biltmore to help out his younger siblings that are split up due to his parents’ deaths.  He doesn’t like the idea of dressing up and taking orders when he’s more used to the open mountain air, but he is committed to getting his family back together.  When Mac meets Tillie, sparks fly, but the house rules say you cannot be in a relationship with another worker in the main house and Tillie is fierce in her desire to improve her station.  Then they find a cause that could possibly unite them:  the local orphanage that is being run by a ruthless couple who looks pious on the outside but abuse the kids when no one’s looking.  

The last reason I liked this book was the Christian undertones.  It does show the sinful nature of men and the lust that comes from it (for women, drink, or power).  It doesn’t scream “Christian fiction” at first, but the way Tillie and Mac treat each other is very Biblical:  he respects her boundaries, they sacrifice for each other, and come together to fight for the kids at the orphanage.  Even when Mac is resigned by the fact that Tillie won’t leave her job for him, his response is prayer because he realizes that he can’t force her to change her mind, only God can create that sort of change.

All in all, it was a sweet read with enough conflict and romance to keep you interested but without all the cursing and premarital sex that seems to permeate from other romance books.  It leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling and illustrates a healthy couple resolving conflict.  Good job, Deeanne Gist!