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A review by bookwormjourney
The Lady of Lanaria by Michaela Bush
5.0
First, let me say that I absolutely adore Gabe. He was such an absolute sweetheart. Clean romance is my favorite genre so having a good leading man is critical and he fits the bill. Of course, Evangeline was great too so don't get me a wrong. Together I absolutely adored their chemistry. They were super adorable together and I enjoyed their moments of slight shyness around each other.
The Lady of Lanaria is a Rapunzel retelling and it has all the elements we've come to expect from Rapunzel stories: stolen child, evil witches, long hair, being locked in a tower, meeting a guy who helps her sneak away to see more of the world. There are some more faith based elements to this version which I enjoyed. The main characters both shared a faith in God and it was mentioned periodically without being done in a preachy manner.
Evangeline is a fairly naive girl who has lived her whole life in a watchtower with her mother, who is cruel and disdainful. She's been told the king would kill her and her mother if she ever leaves the tower and enters the kingdom, which of course she believes. Her mother is frequently gone from the tower so Evangeline is left alone and this is how she ultimately meets Gabriel, a guard in the very kingdom she's been told not to enter. While she is initially leary of him, they quickly strike up a friendship. Evangeline's mother is forever pressuring her to learn dark magic, which Evangeline does not want to as she gets her truths from the Bible and knows this dark magic is not something she should be involved with.
I really enjoyed this story overall. The ending was so sweet and I will often end up rating a book with 5 stars if I love the ending enough. This was definitely got two thumbs up. I felt like it was a little slower before it snagged my attention but once it did, I just kept reading. I would totally read more fairy tale retellings by this author. Pretty please?
I received a complimentary copy of this book and I'm leaving an honest and voluntary review.
The Lady of Lanaria is a Rapunzel retelling and it has all the elements we've come to expect from Rapunzel stories: stolen child, evil witches, long hair, being locked in a tower, meeting a guy who helps her sneak away to see more of the world. There are some more faith based elements to this version which I enjoyed. The main characters both shared a faith in God and it was mentioned periodically without being done in a preachy manner.
Evangeline is a fairly naive girl who has lived her whole life in a watchtower with her mother, who is cruel and disdainful. She's been told the king would kill her and her mother if she ever leaves the tower and enters the kingdom, which of course she believes. Her mother is frequently gone from the tower so Evangeline is left alone and this is how she ultimately meets Gabriel, a guard in the very kingdom she's been told not to enter. While she is initially leary of him, they quickly strike up a friendship. Evangeline's mother is forever pressuring her to learn dark magic, which Evangeline does not want to as she gets her truths from the Bible and knows this dark magic is not something she should be involved with.
I really enjoyed this story overall. The ending was so sweet and I will often end up rating a book with 5 stars if I love the ending enough. This was definitely got two thumbs up. I felt like it was a little slower before it snagged my attention but once it did, I just kept reading. I would totally read more fairy tale retellings by this author. Pretty please?
I received a complimentary copy of this book and I'm leaving an honest and voluntary review.