The Captive Maiden

No. This couldn’t happen. She couldn’t let this happen! “You will be found out. If you let me out now, I won’t tell them what you were planning.”

Nothing. Then footsteps, getting farther and farther away as Evfemia descended the stairs.

Gisela started at the door, too horrified to cry, too numb to think. “God,” she whispered. “God, please, please, please… help me.”

Book: The Captive Maiden by Melanie Dickerson, Zondervan Publishers, 2013

 

Genre: Fairy Tale

Target Audience: Girls13+

Subjects: Trust in God, Romance, Family Relationships       

Summary: No matter what they say, she IS going to attend the tournament! Thankfully, she has a good friend who will loan her the right clothes and help her get there. She never imagined that she would be chosen by the prince as queen of the tournament though! Imagined or not, it’s happening! She’s the one who caught his eye. She, who is nothing more than a slave to her step-mother and step-sisters. There’s a lot of danger in this privilege though. Dangerous people will stop at nothing to get rid of the one the prince chooses.

Notes: One of the fairy tale knock-offs from Melanie Dickerson, this is a Cinderella story. In this one, the prince struggles with putting his trust in God. He’s always been able to do everything himself. He’s succeeded at nearly everything he’s ever attempted and yet his attempts to save the girl keep failing. Every time he rescues her, the bad guy just snatches her right back! He finally has to humble himself and trust God to take care of the one he loves. One note about the target audience – I said it’s for girls but if a boy could get past the beautiful cover of a girl in a gorgeous dress there’s some good content for boys too – good perspective from the male character. Unlike the other books in her fairy tales series, this one is actually a sequel to the last one – Fairest Beauty. In Fairest Beauty, the girl that the boy got was supposed to be for the main character in this story, but she fell in love with his younger brother. So this one tells the story of the older brother and the girl who falls in love with him.

Spiritual Content Recommendation Scale: 5/5

Reviewer: J:-)mi

2 Corinthians 12:9 – But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.