The Golden Braid by Melanie Dickerson a Litfuse Book Review

About the Book

The Golden Braid (Thomas Nelson, November 2015)

The one who needs rescuing isn’t always the one in the tower…

Rapunzel can throw a knife better than any man. She paints beautiful flowering vines on the walls of her plaster houses. She sings so sweetly she can coax even a beast to sleep. But there are two things she is afraid her mother might never allow her to do: learn to read and marry.

Fiercely devoted to Rapunzel, her mother is suspicious of every man who so much as looks at her daughter and warns her that no man can be trusted. After a young village farmer asks for Rapunzel’s hand in marriage, Mother decides to move them once again—this time, to the large city of Hagenheim.

The journey proves treacherous, and after being rescued by a knight—Sir Gerek—Rapunzel, in turn, rescues him farther down the road. As a result, Sir Gerek agrees to repay his debt to Rapunzel by teaching her to read. Could there be more to him than his arrogance and desire to marry for riches and position?

As Rapunzel acclimates to life in a new city, she uncovers a mystery that will forever change her life. In this Rapunzel story unlike any other, a world of secrets and treachery are about to be revealed after seventeen years. How will Rapunzel finally take control of her own destiny? And who will prove faithful to a lowly peasant girl with no one to turn to?

My Review

When I was picked to read this book for a review I quickly ran off to familiarize myself with the author. Unbeknownst to me I had already read one Ms. Dickerson’s revamped fairytales previously in The Merchant’s Daughter and already had really enjoyed that. Well in the time before I received the Golden Braid I devoured all of the other 5 of Ms. Dickerson’s previous fairytale versions that I had missed before.

So yes I liked them.

Normally a book described like this wouldn’t cross my radar. I expected something full of magic and whatnot and that was not here at all.

The Golden Braid is the latest in a line of Ms. Dickerson’s fairytale revisions that all tie together in one way or another.

Rapunzel is a young beautiful (of course) woman pretty much controlled by her mother. Her hair doesn’t play such an enormous part in this retake but it is still lovely to look at and has captured the attention of one young man. Like the movie version she doesn’t quite get along with Sir Gerek for much of the book.

I appreciate how Ms. Dickerson is able to tell the story without the introduction of spells and magic. I wondered how she would do that but it’s done as in most of her other renditions.

In this book The Golden Braid also sort of wrapped up the previous novelThe Princess Spy which was a nice touch.

But…as much as I liked this book I didn’t really connect with the main character. She seemed kind of cold and aloof (I know she was abducted etc.) so when she came to fall for the Sir it was like a blah moment. I wish she had been written with more feeling.

I still liked the book. And the cover is lovely.

Now if you haven’t read the rest you will miss the little appearances by former characters but you can still read this as a stand alone.

About the Author

Melanie Dickerson is the author of The Healer’s Apprentice, a Christy Award finalist and winner of the National Reader’s Choice Award for Best First Book. Melanie earned a bachelor’s degree in special education from the University of Alabama and has been a teacher and a missionary. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Huntsville, Alabama.

Connect with Melanie online: website, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube

You can read more reviews of The Golden Braid on the Litfuse Group website here.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Litfuse as part of their Blogger Review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”