A good read

Bennett, Holly. Bonemender’s Choice.
Orca, 2008. 222p $7.95 978-1-55143-718-7
Fantasy

This third book about Gabrielle the healer presents her with a difficult choice. The two children of the king are kidnapped by pirates who plan to sell them at the slave auctions. When the ship sails into port, they discover the town closed due to a plague called the "Gray Veil." One of the crew becomes infected and passes it to the king's daughter. A rescue party made up of Gabrielle, her elf husband, Tristan brother to the King, blacksmith and jewelry maker Derkh (who Gabrielle healed in a prior book) and Yolenka an exotic dancer., sails in pursuit. They disguise themselves as traders and come to the fortress of the pirate. Gabrielle is brought in to heal the girl. Each member of the rescue party plays a specific role in the rescue. By pretending that both children are dead, they escape. Sailing back toward home, Gabrielle finally begins to understand the nature of the disease but must choose to save the girl or her husband who contracted the disease while carrying the girl.
Even though it is a third book in a series, the reader can quite quickly surmise some of the action of the prior books. The action is nonstop with minimal descriptive passages. The only drawback is that the speech of foreign characters reminds one of the stereotypical speech of Old West Native Americans.
This is a thoroughly pleasant read.
This is the third book of the Bonemender series. JT