When I saw Deeanne Gist’s Maid to Match popping up on various blogs, I was attracted right away. The book is set in the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC, one of my favorite places to visit, and I have always thought the servants’ areas were almost as interesting as the rest of the house.
Tillie Reese had been trained for service all her life as her parents both worked for the Vanderbilts. Now as head parlormaid at the Biltmore estate, she learns that Mrs. Vanderbilt’s French lady’s maid is returning to France, and Mrs. Vanderbilt will choose among the current staff to replace her. One of the people being considered for the job is Tillie. She’s thrilled at the possibility of earning more money to help her family and others as well as the the privileges of being a lady’s maid.
But a rough newcomer comes to work at the estate, Mack Danver. Tillie’s brother, Allen, has been charged with training Mack, and it will reflect badly on him if Mack fails, so Tillie helps in Mack’s training.
Mack is motivated, though, because his sister is in an orphanage and his younger brothers are living with different families, and he wants to bring them together again. When he finds evidence that all is not as it appears at the orphanage, he tries to set things right, only to cause more problems.
As Tillie helps Mack both at the Biltmore and the orphange, she finds herself attracted, yet romance is not allowed between servants, and she will not let anything interfere with her quest to become a lady’s maid.
I mostly loved this book. Extensive research is evident as the book is filled with historical data, yet in a way that enhances the story rather than interfering with it. I loved learning more about the inner workings of the Biltmore, the Vanderbilts’ innovations and personalities, and the customs of the times.
Yet I had a couple of little quibbles. One was that not much is mentioned about Mack’s beliefs in the first part of the book — in fact, some of his behavior is not reflective of a Christian. But perhaps the point the author is making is that he was leaning on his own strength and trying to right things in the way he thought best until he finally realized he needed to trust the Lord about it.
The second was the level of sexuality in the book. This was the book I had just finished when I wrote about sexuality in Christian fiction last week. I wrestled with this a good bit in relation to this book, because it was handled tastefully and inexplicitly, yet it did still leave me with mental images I’d rather not have had. This would probably have been one of my all-time favorite Christian novels without that element.
Stray Thoughts 
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I was wondering which book had prompted your other post.
Can’t say this one is my cup of tea but it is interesting to connect the dots!
This is something I have been thinking about for a long while — this book just stirred up those thoughts again and this time I finally wrote them down.
I had the same sort of response to this title. I read it and enjoyed it, but was not quite comfortable with the racy elements. As such I didn’t really feel that I could give it an unequivocal thumbs up. Instead I urged readers to “exercise caution”.
I read Beguiled by Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand. The level of innuendo and phrasing seemed a little extreme for a Christian novel. I have a feeling this may be Deeanne Gist’s style. It’s not completely inappropriate but more sexual than I expect (and prefer) when picking up a Christian book.
Mostly in Beguiled it was phrasing, a little racier than needed. I tried to describe it to my husband and had trouble. I’d never read anything by Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand is a new author so I didn’t have any background. I understood your previous post and it made me think of this book right away.
I’m anxious to hear your thoughts on Francine River’s Her Mother’s Hope. I’d never read anything by Francine Rivers and really enjoyed it. Warning though – the next book Her Daughter’s Dream (Marta’s Legacy) comes out 9/14/2010.