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jasminemarie 's review for:
The Golden Braid
by Melanie Dickerson
What a delightful read! This is my first Melanie Dickerson book and I'm happy to hear that she has five more in the Hagenheim series.
If you are looking for a sweet love story, fairy-tale retelling of Rapunzel mixed with some Christian fiction, this is perfect for you. The dialogue is witty, the action and adventure is paced well, and the Christian message behind everything isn't too preachy.
My daughters and I love watching Tangled and when I signed up for this blog tour, I was curious to see what Dickerson's take on this fairy-tale would be. I am happy to say that her take on the story was definitely an original one and still very interesting. Rapunzel's character really spoke to me because she is searching for who she truly is, in a coming-of-age story. I love when people write princesses who are bold and adventurous, versus dainty and weak. Rapunzel is definitely no damsel in distress in this book, but she was still feminine and vulnerable too.
Mother Gothel was truly evil in this rendition, even more so than in the Disney version, in my opinion. I love the storyline with Rapunzel going against her mother to learn to read. It was a unique take on her relationship with her mother and later, Sir Gerek, who was definitely swoon-worthy, especially once the two of them start to rely more on God's guidance instead of their own.
I also enjoyed that this book felt very much like a historical fiction one with all the references to different time period in Germany. It was fun to learn about the different customs and traditions.
My only critique is that there times when the book bordered a little too closely to being cheesy at times, or cliched rather, but once I got over that, it was still very enjoyable.
Looking forward to checking out Dickerson's other titles!
If you are looking for a sweet love story, fairy-tale retelling of Rapunzel mixed with some Christian fiction, this is perfect for you. The dialogue is witty, the action and adventure is paced well, and the Christian message behind everything isn't too preachy.
My daughters and I love watching Tangled and when I signed up for this blog tour, I was curious to see what Dickerson's take on this fairy-tale would be. I am happy to say that her take on the story was definitely an original one and still very interesting. Rapunzel's character really spoke to me because she is searching for who she truly is, in a coming-of-age story. I love when people write princesses who are bold and adventurous, versus dainty and weak. Rapunzel is definitely no damsel in distress in this book, but she was still feminine and vulnerable too.
Mother Gothel was truly evil in this rendition, even more so than in the Disney version, in my opinion. I love the storyline with Rapunzel going against her mother to learn to read. It was a unique take on her relationship with her mother and later, Sir Gerek, who was definitely swoon-worthy, especially once the two of them start to rely more on God's guidance instead of their own.
I also enjoyed that this book felt very much like a historical fiction one with all the references to different time period in Germany. It was fun to learn about the different customs and traditions.
My only critique is that there times when the book bordered a little too closely to being cheesy at times, or cliched rather, but once I got over that, it was still very enjoyable.
Looking forward to checking out Dickerson's other titles!