Review: The Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickerson

Title: The Fairest Beauty
Author: Melanie Dickerson
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Zondervan
Publish Date: January 8, 2013
Source: I received a copy from the PR; however, this did not affect my review.

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You like fairy tale retellings.
• You like Christian fiction.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Sophie desperately wants to get away from her stepmother's jealousy, and believes escape is her only chance to be happy. Then a young man named Gabe arrives from Hagenheim Castle, claiming she is betrothed to his older brother, and everything twists upside down. This could be Sophie's one chance at freedom—but can she trust another person to keep her safe?

Gabe defied his parents Rose and Wilhelm by going to find Sophie, and now he believes they had a right to worry: the girl's inner and outer beauty has enchanted him. Though romance is impossible—she is his brother's future wife, and Gabe himself is betrothed to someone else—he promises himself he will see the mission through, no matter what.

When the pair flee to the Cottage of the Seven, they find help—but also find their feelings for each other have grown. Now both must not only protect each other from the dangers around them—they must also protect their hearts."

My Two Cents:

"The Fairest Beauty" is a fairy tale retelling of Snow White. By now, you all might know that I really like fairy tale retellings and therefore, I was really excited to read this book. This is another fairy tale where I'm admittedly more familiar with the Disney version than the original fairy tale. Yet another

Dickerson really breathes new life into this fairy tale. In this story, Sophie (Snow White) has pretty much been taken hostage by an evil Duchess who has turned her into a scullery maid. It's a terrible existence. Sophie spends a lot of time thinking about the family that she must have once had. It's very sad and I definitely felt bad for her. Most of the book covers Sophie being rescued by Gabe. Their adventure is high stakes and filled with twists and turns.

I liked the love story in the book. Sophie and Gabe fall in love very quickly without a lot of motive so there is definitely a little bit of insta-love there, which I don't really care for (I always want to know why people fall for each other). The love story did eventually grow on me. Gabe originally goes on the mission to save Sophie from the evil Duchess because his brother, who was betrothed to Sophie when she was a baby, gets hurt and can't make the journey. When Gabe and Sophie fall for each other, they know that they aren't supposed to fall in love but they do despite it all. It's very sweet.

Side note: This book has a very strong Christian vein running through it, which I didn't know when I was solicited for a review. Christian fiction just isn't one of my preferred genres. I don't read it in my own reading so I can't really speak to that aspect of the book.