The Captive Maiden by Melanie Dickerson | Review

Title: The Captive Maiden
Author: Melanie Dickerson
Pages: 306
Publisher: Zondervan
Goodreads rating: 3.93 Stars
Published:  November 23, 2013
Source: Paperback/Bought

Description

Gisela's childhood was filled with laughter and visits from nobles such as the duke and his young son. But since her father's death, each day has been filled with nothering bu servitude to her stepmother. So when Gisela meets the duke's son, Valten-the boy she has daydreamed about for years-and learns he is throwing a ball, she vows to attend, even if it's only for a taste of a life she'll never have. To her surprise, she catches Valten's eye. Though he is rough around the edges, Gisela finds Valten has completely captured her heart. But other forces are bent  on keeping the two from falling further in love, putting Gisela in more danger than she ever imagined.

My Thoughts

I'm a big fan of Melanie Dickerson, and The Captive Maiden was no exception. The author has a way with fairytales that really just make you love them, and I do love how she brings God and scripture into each one.

Gisela is everything you would expect a Cinderella-esque heroine to be: beautiful, kind, caring... and mistreated.  She lives with her stepmother and two stepsisters in her father's house, trying to keep her stepmother from selling off all of her late father's beloved horses.  She shares the love her father had for the animals, preferring them to her step-family.

The book changes the meeting between Gisela and the prince {or in the case of this book, the young lord} much like the live-action Cinderella movie Disney released a couple years ago - a chance meeting in the woods.  Though Gisela isn't quite as whimsical as Lily James' Cinderella, she still has the kindness we all love in our little Cinder-girls.  While The Captive Maiden is a fairtale retelling, it does try to show a little how life would have actually been during that time period {although fairly loosely}.  Like needing a male escort to go to the market {or face unwanted attention from rude men} or being completely at the mercy of your family, not matter how much you disliked them and didn't agree with how they were running the family's affairs.

However, one thing that was much more fairytale than real was the leading man's choice on a wife: he was able to pick from any of the single, beautiful females of the land.  Lord Valten has been a little shafted in love, since his betrothed married his younger brother.  But he isn't too upset by that, as he hardly knew her, yet alone loved her, and his younger brother was quite in love with the girl {and she with him}.  After traveling and competing in tournaments for a while, Valten decided it was time to go home and settle down.  Enter Gisela and a chance meeting in the marketplace.  They quickly bond over their love of horses and both find the other very attractive.

While there was some typical, expected elements to this book, it took a rather unexpected turn a little over halfway through, and had at least one good "what in the world?" moment towards the end.  If you like fairytale retellings or just want to give one a whirl, this would be a great one to pick up.  Though I would suggest starting with the first one, as this is the fourth in a series and would ruin the others with some of the information causually thrown out later in the book.

Overall, it was a great quitck read and I would highly recommend it!

Beauty by Nancy Ohlin

Title: Beauty
Author: Nancy Ohlin
Pages: 175
Publisher: Simon Pulse
My rating: 3 stars
Goodreads rating: 3.34 stars
Published: May 7th 2013 (first published April 1st 2005)

Description:

Looks to kill for...

Ana is nothing like her glamorous mother, Queen Veda, whose hair is black as ravens and whose lips are red as roses. Alas, Queen Veda loathes anyone whose beauty dares to rival her own—including her daughter.

And despite Ana’s attempts to be plain to earn her mother’s affection,
she’s sent away to the kingdom’s exclusive boarding school.

At the Academy, Ana is devastated when her only friend abandons her for the popular girls. Isolated and alone, Ana resolves to look like a true princess to earn the acceptance she desires.

But when she uncovers the dangerous secret that makes all of the girls at the Academy so gorgeous, just how far will Ana go to fit in?


I sat down to read this yesterday, and I honestly didn't get up until I was done {very engrossing + shorter book + Little D was taking his long nap = getting stuff done!}.  Beauty combined newer YA with {dare I say it?} a bit of classic Disney.  The story was great, and the plotline was really good, but there are some "buts"... I'll get to that in a minute.  First, characters!

Ana is a love-starved young woman when she's first introduced.  She craves her mother's love and affection, and has seen the only way she can obtain that is by trying to be as hideous as possible {think Snow White and her stepmother type of relationship, if Snow White was aware that her stepmom }.  And the author does describe her as being pretty hideous {boils, zits, pock-marks, green and black nails, no personal hygiene whatsoever}, so it is a little weird that she can go from that to absolutely stunning within a short period of time when she goes to the Academy and starts actually cleaning herself up.  But its also kind of interesting that Ana {our Snow} knows her mother resents her for the beauty people saw in Ana when she was young {before she started to make herself physically repulsive to earn her mother's love}.

Ana craves her mother's love like its a drug.  She will do anything for it, which is evident by the way she treats herself.  Its a little sad to read a story about a girl who will pretty much harm herself to make her mother not hate her {I honestly can't write that her mother even likes her... I just can't...}.  Thank goodness she goes to the Academy, because she finally gets some self-worth and starts to value herself and treat her body like something she cares about {no more junk food 24/7, taking baths, just overall learning decent hygiene}.  Too bad for her, that also makes her look more and more beautiful {beauty from the inside is able to blossom on the outside as well!}.

We all know the premiss of the Snow White story: girl is beautiful, stepmother is jealous when girl becomes more beautiful than her, stepmother hires someone to kill girl.  The twisted part to this story is the stepmother is her actual birth mother who eventually wants her dead.

I enjoyed this book, but it was a little too anticlimactic for me.  I had to read the ending twice just to be sure I didn't miss something, it all happened so fast.  It was only 175 pages, and I think the first 145 or so felt like it was just the beginning of the story {not in a bad way}.  Some of the characters could have used better development, but I am also used to read slightly longer books, so 175 pages doesn't seem like enough to do a really in depth story.  Overall it was a nice read, but for such a quick read I think I would go with something a little "fluffier".

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Title: Enchanted
Author: Alethea Kontis
Pages: 305
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
My rating: 5 stars
Goodreads rating: 3.97 stars
Published: May 8, 2012
{Kindly provided by the wonderful people at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Books for the joy of reading with the promise of review}

Description:

It isn't easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past - and hers?

Enchanted was... enchanting.  I love the way it was written - Alethea Kontis has a way with words and weaves an amazing fairytale.  Or, should I say fairytales?  Enchanted seems to encompass every fairytale: Jack and the Beanstalk, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, the Frog Prince... the list goes on.  But, its all blended wonderfully and the author makes it her own, which makes this book enchanting.  I love using that word for this book, because it just seems to sum it up very well.


The characters are all very intriguing, and I would love it if the author wrote a little more about them {especially the sisters and their stories}.  Sunday is a bright young girl, who, like most bright young girls, is loveable and quick to love, which works in Grumble's favor {he is also pretty loveable and quick to love, as all he remembers is being a frog}.  I love how sweet, yet sassy, Alethea Kontis makes Sunday.  She is cute, endearing, but she has that "wonder why" element that most children and young people have {and adults, too, if we're all being honest with ourselves}.  And there is so much more the Sunday than our first few encounters!  I won't spoil it, but she is just down to her very core wonderful.  And Rumbold {aka Grumble}?  He's so wonderful.  He's at war with himself in so many ways, and he doesn't even remember why {well, at least for some of it}.  He wants so desperately to be the strong and noble man Sunday deserves, but there is so much in his past that he knows will prevent her from seeing him as such.   And their families can't even be described...

One thing that might bother some is how it will shift from chapter to chapter between Sunday and Rumbold.  I'm actually getting used to this, as quite a few of my recent favorite reads have done that.  It adds a little more to the story than what I might otherwise get if it was just one POV or just followed the one main character.  I loved seeing what was going on with Rumbold during different times he wasn't with Sunday and what he was thinking, as well as what was going on with Sunday when she was not with Rumbold.

Alethea Kontis is taking fairytales to a whole new level with this book, and I honestly can't wait to see what she has to bring to the table next.  The world she weaves with her words are so convincing I felt like I was there observing everything!