A Perfect Silhouette
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In 1850, Mellicent "Mellie" Blanchard takes a job at a mill in Manchester, New Hampshire, to help support her family. In search of additional earning opportunities, she approaches a daguerreotype shop owner with the proposal that he hire her to make paper cuttings or silhouette portraits for those who can't afford an expensive daguerreotype. When a particularly charming customer--whose broad smile and twinkling eyes catch her off guard--asks to escort her home, the seeds of romance begin to blossom. All the pieces of her new life seem to have fallen perfectly into place, but when her new venture brings her an unexpected opportunity, she is confronted with the truth that all is not as it seems. Will Mellie, who is keeping secrets of her own, find happiness in the new life she has carved out for herself in the busy mill town?
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A lovely historical novel that I accidentally put off reading for far too long. Mellie is trained as a lady but after her family falls on hard times, she has to seek a job to try to keep a roof over her sister's, niece's, and nephew's heads. When the mills don't pay as much as the person who convinced her to come work there led her to believe, she has to take on an evening side hustle: the silhouette-cutting of the title.
Meanwhile, Morgan, the hero, has much on his plate. He's getting involved in the family business and wants to learn the mills from the bottom up. There's some intrigue for him both from his parents' reckless choices and from a new bag-weaving design that they don't want other mills to get wind of before they can get it into production.
I truly enjoyed the unique sort of story and found both leads easy to like and root for. The ending was rather abrupt and I'd like to have had an epilogue to see how they did, to find out if her sister got a better home, and to see what happened to her mill friends Cora and Clara.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free reading copy. A favorable review was not required. This review is based off a final copy read via KU.
