∎ Download The Captive Maiden Fairy Tale Romance Series Melanie Dickerson Books

The Captive Maiden Fairy Tale Romance Series Melanie Dickerson Books

Download As PDF : The Captive Maiden Fairy Tale Romance Series Melanie Dickerson Books

The Captive Maiden Fairy Tale Romance Series Melanie Dickerson Books

An adorable story! I simply can't get over Melanie Dickerson's books! She has such lovely, charming characters. And unforgettable adventures. And noble lessons. And victorious, fairy tale endings! ^_^

If you like stories of feminine, endearing damsels in distress and handsome, brave, warrior-like knights, you will love Melanie Dickerson's HAGENHEIM series. Her female characters are not simpering fools, but they are sweet and lovely and always the alluring princess who allows the courageous knight to rescue her when in need.

This retelling of Cinderella was no different. Gisela is a servant to her snooty, ridiculous, mean-spirited stepmother and stepsisters. She tells herself she doesn't care, and almost believes it. But then the knight she always thinks about and as a child, dreamed of marrying, appears in her life, and nothing is the same.

Drama, danger, romance, and breathtaking moments ... The Captive Maiden is a perfectly lovely rendition of the classic fairy tale of Cinderella.


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The Captive Maiden Fairy Tale Romance Series Melanie Dickerson Books Reviews

It's the story of Cinderella as you've never seen before! Gisela is a strong, hard-working young woman who lives under the cruel hand of her stepmother and two stepsisters. She dreams about the day she'll be free from their oppression, but in the meanwhile she's finding ways to make the most of her situation. She also dreams about Valten, the eldest son of the duke of Hagenheim and champion of tournaments around the world, whom she met when she was a child and has admired from afar.

When Hagenheim hosts its own tournament and Valten comes back home, Gisela hardly hopes to even catch sight of him. But when another competing knight named Reuxner accosts her in the marketplace, Valten interferes and makes sure Gisela gets safely away from him. Valten finds the outspoken and quick-witted Gisela enchanting, and asks her to be sure to come to the tournament so he can see her again.

As Valten and Gisela begin spending time together and forging a friendship, Reuxner sees this as the perfect opportunity to hurt his longtime rival. He approaches Gisela's stepmother and she agrees to sell Gisela to be Reuxner's bride. Knowing she won't marry him willingly, the two plot to kidnap Gisela and threaten Valten in order to force her acquiescence. The courageous Valten has a thing or two to say about this plan and sets off to find and rescue Gisela.

I really liked the character of Valten. He's a man of strength and determination, but one of his weaknesses is relying too much on himself. The twists and turns of the story bring him to a place of humility and the realization that he needs to lean on the Lord and to accept the help of others if he ever hopes to free his captive maiden. As someone who is often stubborn enough to think I can handle things on my own, I could identify with Valten and I enjoyed his journey.

There are no fairy godmothers in this version, just friends who are there to help Gisela and Valten become who they need to be. The idea of community is not always a popular one in this world that prizes fierce independence, but God desires that we walk in fellowship with others and help one another on life's path. In community is strength, and I am glad we get stories like this to come along and remind us of that every now and then.
I liked The Captive Maiden (Hagenheim #4) by Melanie Dickerson though it was the least imaginative of the retellings so far – or at least the first half was. It was Cinderella, the classic version, barely changed until the midnight escape from the ball which was when the story finally went an entirely different direction. I liked the story (jousting!) but there were several times I thought it stretched believability. The second half was interesting since it was covering new ground – except it got repetitive so the new ground was…not so new very quickly.

Specifically (SPOILERS) I thought it was a real stretch to believe the bad guy (or his men) were able to sneak in, get in touch with evil girls, and kidnap Gisela all while soldiers were on guard searching. And then the escape, get caught, escape, get caught, escape… Was it just me or did Valten shorten their hiding every other sentence? They hide in the cave, he said, “We’ll hide 2-3 days.” They wake up, he says, “We’ll hide a couple days.” They eat breakfast, he says, “We’ll leave tonight”. So I can’t say I was surprised when they got caught after essentially *not* hiding. Most especially, the climactic ending made little sense to me. The random blindfold for no reason and then throwing them in a tower was crazy. Why would any sane bad guy leave his captives alone together? And then they escape (again) only to discover two more seconds and they’d have been rescued anyway. Honestly, I felt like the whole tower scenario was written just so there could be a “making out blindfolded” scene. Also, the big reveal at the end was too sudden. Some foreshadowing could easily have been worked in earlier.) (END SPOILERS)

There was a moment during the grand climax that I expected something to happen and was disappointed when it did not. I felt like there was an opportunity for a more complex resolution to occur and the author opted for the easy way out instead. The romance was sweet and funny but I never quite bought into it. After 4 books, my feelings about the series have cemented – very cute but simple. I still love the series but they’re categorized as light YA romances in my brain now so I can stop expecting more complexity.
An adorable story! I simply can't get over Melanie Dickerson's books! She has such lovely, charming characters. And unforgettable adventures. And noble lessons. And victorious, fairy tale endings! ^_^

If you like stories of feminine, endearing damsels in distress and handsome, brave, warrior-like knights, you will love Melanie Dickerson's HAGENHEIM series. Her female characters are not simpering fools, but they are sweet and lovely and always the alluring princess who allows the courageous knight to rescue her when in need.

This retelling of Cinderella was no different. Gisela is a servant to her snooty, ridiculous, mean-spirited stepmother and stepsisters. She tells herself she doesn't care, and almost believes it. But then the knight she always thinks about and as a child, dreamed of marrying, appears in her life, and nothing is the same.

Drama, danger, romance, and breathtaking moments ... The Captive Maiden is a perfectly lovely rendition of the classic fairy tale of Cinderella.