by Lex Croucher
First published 2024
Mariel leads a struggling band of Merry Men in Sherwood Forest, trying to honor her grandfather Robin Hood's legacy. She's perpetually angry and desperate to prove herself worthy of the famous name. When her group kidnaps Clem, a cheerful healer whose guardian helped the Sheriff of Nottingham, Mariel thinks she's finally taking decisive action. But everything goes wrong when Jack Hartley, her father and the Merry Men's commander, gets captured in an ambush. Now Mariel must rescue him with her annoyingly upbeat prisoner in tow. As they travel together through a forest torn by conflict, Clem's kindness and terrible jokes begin wearing down Mariel's certainty about her cause. Many people no longer see the Merry Men as heroes. Sharing a horse and sleeping arrangements, the two young women grow closer while Mariel questions whether the legacy she's fought to uphold is worth the cost. Their growing bond forces Mariel to choose between family duty and her own conscience as danger closes in around them.
Genres: romance, historical-fiction, adventure, fantasy
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Nottingham, Sherwood Forest
Period: 19th-century
352 pages · Paperback · Bloomsbury Children's Books