A Noble Friend: A Bluebeard Retelling

by Kendra E. Ardnek

He'll follow her to the ends of the earth, even as she marries another. But what happens when her husband proves to be a monster?

Full blurb coming soon.

A Noble Friend is a NA Christian fantasy Bluebeard retelling.
Book #15 in Cornerstone Series

Genres: Fantasy, Retellings

109 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 25, 2025

About the author

Kendra E. Ardnek is the self-proclaimed Arista of Fairy Tales. She makes her home in the hills of central Texas with her fellow author husband, who she found at a writer’s conference. When not writing, you can usually find her crocheting her own cloaks, valiantly attempting to read every retelling ever written, and pretending that owning toy dragons makes her a dragon trainer.

Reviews

[Lindsey (Books for Christian Girls)]

About this book:

“He'll follow her to the ends of the earth, even as she marries another. But what happens when her husband proves to be a monster?”


Series: Book #15 in the multi-author series, “Cornerstone”. It does not seem to be connected to any other books, however. A stand-alone novel. Click on the books to be taken to that review: Book #1, Book #2, Book #3, Book #4, Book #5, Book #6, Book #7, Book #8, Book #9, Book #10, Book #11, Book #12, Book #13, Book #14, and Book #16!


Spiritual Content- A few Scriptures are mentioned; Church going & a sermon; Talks about God & those in the Bible; Most 'H's are capital when referring to God; Joah feels ashamed that he forgot it was the Lord’s Day and goes to the chapel when reminded (he has difficultly focusing on the priest as he focuses on Aloise sitting up front, but hears some of the sermon); *Major Spoilers* There is a letter for Aloise from Bluebeard in the room he told her not to go into that says about the Lord giving “our father and mother in the garden” a rule and how he gave Aloise the chance, but proved to be like “our mother” to be “treacherous and willful” as his prior wives so she must share their fate (death); Aloise thinks that she should have obey him because of what the Word commands, but her brother says that the Word commands husbands to love their wives the way the Son loves His church and that only God has the authority over life and death; Joah also says that the Lord will not be mocked and will not allow evil to reign forever; When Bluebeard comes home, he finds out what she’s done and plans to kill her, while ranting about being surrounded by treacherous women and that she isn’t the saint he thought she was; Joah says that the Lord is not even as cruel as Bluebeard is because God sent His Son *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of God (also called the Author); Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of churches/chapels, the Lord’s Day, a priest, & a sermon; A few mentions of the Word; A mention of Christians;
*Note: Joah notes that Bluebeard does not look at Aloise with the “worship she is due”; Joah thinks of Aloise as an “ethereal creature”; A few mentions of a rumored curse/legend on Bluebeard that his wives will die until he finds the right one (which Aloise says that curses don’t really exist “unless one has really displeased the Lord” so she doesn’t believe this rumor); A few mentions of some believing that Joah was the son of a wind spirit or some mystical creature with how he appeared on Aloise’s family’s doorstep; A couple mentions of luck & being unlucky.


Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a form of ‘dumb’; Some eye rolling; Fighting & Seeing a death (barely-above-not-detailed); Joah thinks the greatest thing he can do for Aloise is to die for her and considers the thought to be an honor; *Major Spoilers* Aloise comes into the room her husband told her not to and finds miniatures of his past wives with red slashes through their necks and a lock of their hair (which Joah calls the room “clearly designed to intimidate and unnerve”); There is a letter for her from him that talks about the Lord giving “our father and mother in the garden” a rule and how he gave Aloise the chance, but proved to be like “our mother” to be “treacherous and willful” as his prior wives so she must share their fate (death); When he comes home, he finds out what she’s done and plans to kill her, but Joah and her brothers protect her and kill him instead (barely-above-not-detailed) *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of murders, deaths, threats, grief, & guilt (including from a bad fall, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of jealousy; A few mentions of Joah being left on Aloise’s family’s doorstep underfed and half-conscious; A few mentions of hatred; A few mentions of people acting like whipped dogs or looking at another like “the worst dog to walk the earth”; A couple mentions of blood; A couple mentions of possible robbers attacking or a possible mountain lion attack;
*Note: Aloise makes a few comments about women like her being “traded and bartered for like sets of pretty dolls with no feelings”, how some men that would dismiss her protests as “silly female dramatics”, and another woman comments that men with power want “their wives meek and docile”; Joah is concerned that Aloise will be married off to a man who will likely be as cruel and demanding as her father & that her father only views her as a way to expand his riches and prestige; Aloise’s brother says that men have to protect women because “they are all to prone to death as it. It takes work to keep them alive.” and Joah frowns that that statement, but isn’t sure how to refute it.


Sexual Content- A blush; Seeing a married couple embrace and share two hand kisses; Joah is in love with Aloise, but tries to hide it because of their difference of status and believing he would be sent away by her father or her husband if they found out about it; When Aloise bats her eyelashes, Joah forgets how to breathe and later, also think of her as being “perfection itself”; Joah prays for resistance against the temptation of being with Aloise and tries not to imagine being anything more to her than just her guard; When Aloise pulls Joah into her bedroom to tell him something, he tells her it is highly inappropriate; Mentions of reputations; Mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of blushes; A mention of Aloise and her husband having bedroom far from each other; A mention of desire; Very light love, being in love, & the emotions;
*Note: Joah notices that Aloise’s corset is pull too tight which has given her “unnatural curves”.

-Joah, around age 18
1st person P.O.V. of Joah
104 pages

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Pre Teens- One Star
New Teens- One Star
Early High School Teens- Two Stars
Older High School Teens- Three Stars
My personal Rating- Two Stars

When I first heard about this book, I was concerned for two reasons:
1. The Bluebeard part of this story. I’ve read a clean fiction retelling of that one before and the original tale turns my stomach. (Plus I’m a dedicated rule follower and couldn’t imagine opening a door that I was specifically told not to go into.) This author kept that information much lighter than the original story, though, which was good and made it cleaner for sure!
2. Male Lead is in love with his foster-sister-like-friend who has just gotten married to another man. There’s a lot to unpack in that sentence but it was mostly the “married to another man” and Joah following her as her guard that made me nervous. Thankfully, though, he does not act on his feelings for her—even prior to her marriage because of the status difference—but especially not when she’s married because he doesn’t want to cause gossip or harm her reputation. I was nervous about a potential cheating element, but was very relieved that there wasn’t any on her part or him trying to tempt her away. It’s a touchy line and I’m glad that it wasn’t crossed.

We don’t get her POV, just Joah’s which I think worked well enough for the story. It would have been nice to see someone else’s perspective like Aloise’s just to see how she views everything that is happening, though. Within the first two pages I was thinking, “you got it bad for her, bud” and that was Joah’s whole personality, but to be fair, when the Bluebeard guy was introduced, I agreed with Joah that that guy was suspicious. 🤨

I think for me this was a miss because I don’t care for this fairytale in general and how Scripture was twisted by a villain. The ending had a promise of hope for the main characters, though, which was good, and I hope it works out for them!


Link to review:
https://booksforchristiangirls.blogsp...


*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
*I received this book for free from the Author for this honest review.

[Katja Labonté · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars. I was really curious to see how Bluebeard could be retold, and I am thrilled with the results. While the original story is pretty much the same, I love the POV of the lady's bodyguard/servant and also having some explanations for Bluebeard's actions. The world building was good, and I LOVE how slowly "Bluebeard" was revealed to be a villain... looking at it knowing who he was, you saw how slimy he was, but from her POV, he was lovely. It's a quick, straightforward story, with good themes and a sweet friends-to-more romance. I was so invested and the climax was so suspenseful even if I knew the story!

*I beta-read this book and was not required to write a positive review. These are my honest thoughts and opinions.*

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure about this at first but I was very pleasantly surprised! Rounded to 5⭐️

It was a tad simple, following the original story so well, but it was enhanced and the characters came to life. The author improved the fairytale for certain! I also loved Joah so so much!
I wish we had been given more answers at the end though… it didn’t seem rushed exactly, the pacing was fine, but just cut off.
There were a few typos and the formatting wasn’t as polished but it didn’t matter once I was invested.

I enjoyed this!

[Smasher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Content:

Profanity: None.

Violence: Mild. Threatened violence and previous deaths/murders (it's a Bluebeard retelling).

Sexual: Mild.



I will keep this brief.

There were so many typos I got angry and didn't care about the story anymore.

But the story wasn't great anyway, so I couldn't overlook the typos because I didn't care about the characters. Joah was massively obsessive about Aloise, to the exclusion of him having a life outside of her. It was disturbing and toxic. Aloise barely had a character save for being impulsive. The romance was barely developed and I didn't care for it at all.

This is the nail in the coffin for me for this author. I legit just deleted every other book I have from her in my Kindle. The last three books I've tried from her were riddled with typos and grammatical errors that numbered over 2 dozen at least. It's just not worth my time. There are too many other books out there that I want to read.

[Hoku Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Noble Friend is a deeply evocative and emotionally charged tale that delves into themes of loyalty, love, and sacrifice. It takes readers on an unforgettable journey through the complexities of friendship and devotion, pushing the boundaries of what it means to protect someone you love—no matter the cost.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the overall story and the characters. I wish some of the details had been more fleshed out as the story seemed a tiny bit rushed but it was sweet and fun. Blueberry is such an interesting fairytale and I liked this version of it.

I received an ARC copy of this book, but this review and my thoughts are my own and not given under compulsion of any kind.

[Rose Q. Addams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me start out by saying I don't like Bluebeard. Story ALWAYS freaked me out as a child.

And when I started the book, I thought "Ugh. This guy is a lovesick puppy. He's annoying and she's a spoiled twit that all she has is looks. I will hate this."

I was wrong, reader. Very wrong.

The 'lovesick puppy' grows to be a very noble, devoted guy who develops wonderfully over the course of the book. No, I am NOT crying. There's just something in my eye.

The girl, while a bit spoiled, is, like many of us girly readers, very much someone who just really wants to be loved and appreciated. She's been left behind by her brothers, is missing a mom, and her dad is at his wit's end because what is he supposed to do with a girl, for heaven's sake? Not to mention that he's trying his best to be a good lord and keep up with what's expected. While he looks rather selfish, he ends up having something of a heart of gold in that he trusts our hero to take care of her and he tries to put her where she will be happy.

The villain is a crazy dude with an awesome house, and it's not as... violently macabre as the original, but still keeps enough creep factor to duly honor the original.

Of course, God's character is well-reflected in that of the story characters, and the theme here is love and trust. While people may fail us, He will not. And while He asks us to trust Him (sometimes blindly), He'll always give us reason to trust Him and not punish us for our questioning.

I actually recommend this book wholeheartedly, despite my initial impressions!

[Meagan Myhren-Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Noble Friend
Cornerstone #15
By Kendra E. Ardnek

Joah was abandoned when he was 7 years old. When he was first left on the Rowanshaw doorstep, Joah was raised as if he were a sibling to Charles, Anton, and Aloise. But once the brothers were sent away to school, Joah discovered his true place within the family: that of a servant.

Since that time, he has devoted his life to being there for Lady Aloise Rowanshaw. However, the time has come for Aloise to get married. When Joah is assigned as her personal guard, the dynamics of their relationship shift once again.

Joah is to be a silent sentinel, ready to give his life if need be, but never to address Aloise. There is just one little problem, Aloise asks him to share his insights on her potential suitors. Yes, that works so well when Aloise is instantly smitten with a suitor, whom Joah names Bluebeard.

This is when the Bluebeard retelling really becomes apparent. Overall, it is a good story. The more gruesome aspects of the original fairytale are omitted from the story, making it suitable for teen readers.

I was provided a complimentary ARC copy of this book with no expectations but that I provide my honest opinion. All thoughts expressed are my own.

[Theplacesihavebeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a really tough time with this one. My rating is actually closer to 3.5 stars. While I really enjoyed the premise of this story and the angle that the writer tackled it from, I feel as if it was lacking that spark that really made me feel a part of the story. Joah is a very noble MMC, but he is also not very well-rounded. He is solely focused on the FMC and has nothing outside of her, which makes him a little hard to read, in my opinion. That being said, it was not a bad story, I was interested in how Bluebeard was going to be portrayed in this and found that the author did well in making it not grisly and I liked the test that was set. I think this book is worth reading and would be well suited to a little younger reader, maybe 15-16yrs. This is clean, with no swearing and minimal violence. I did receive an advanced copy of this book and was requested but not required to provide a review. All opinions are my own.

[Ami Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This clean, uplifting Bluebeard retelling was a great way to end this series! There was plenty of drama, an extreme villain who is suffering his own crisis, and a happy ending for the main characters! I loved the way the siblings and the bodyguard helped each other, and kept each other safe!