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21 November 2013

Teresa S. Mathews Reviews The Captive Maiden by Melanie Dickerson

The Captive Maiden by Melanie Dickerson
Zondervan Publishers

Reviewed by Teresa S. Mathews
5 Stars*****

If you love being taken back to the medieval era of handsome knights that roamed the country side looking for damsels in distress to rescue, do I have a book for you! Melanie Dickerson once again wants to take you on a journey to a beautiful land far, far away where she brings to life for you the story of Gisela.

Beautiful eight year old Gisela was left in the care of her wicked step-mother, Evfemia, when her father died. She has had to endure many horrible things in the ten years since he died and the only joy in her life is when Evfemia banishes her to the stable to help with the horses. There is nothing she loves better than her horse, except maybe the handsome Valten, the Earl of Hamlin, whom she has dreamed of marrying since meeting him as a child.

Valten has been away from home for the past two years competing in tournaments and usually winning them whether they are jousting, sword fighting, or hand-to-hand combat. Now that he has gotten over the sting of his younger brother Gabehart stealing his betrothed, Valten feels a need to head home and find his purpose in life.

While walking through the marketplace Valten comes across a young blonde-haired beauty that is having trouble with a vendor. While he watches he is amazed at the way she carries herself with grace and confidence; it's then he realizes she is the same young woman he saw riding a horse a few days before that looks identical to his own. When his nemesis Friedric Ruexner approaches Gisela and tries to accost her, Valten steps in to rescue her. This starts a chain of events that will forever change Gisela and Valten's lives. Will either survive the troublesome journey they will be forced to travel in order to fulfill their destiny?!

Once again Melanie Dickerson has taken a classic tale (Cinderella) and put her marvelously wonderful spin on it! She can take a fairy tale from centuries ago and with her superb writing abilities breathe life back into it! This book has a  vast amount of excitement from the descriptive jousting tournaments that make you feel as though you are sitting in the stands watching, to the bone-jarring ride fleeing from the enemy that seeks to kill you, Melanie has included it all! This is truly a book you can't wait to pick up and devour and when you quickly come to the end you will be tempted to start it all over again! Thanks Ms. Dickerson for another grand adventure!

You can purchase this at AmazonChristian Book.ComBarnes and Noble and other outlets!

GIVEAWAY: Two paperback copies of The Captive Maiden will be given away this week to two different blessed commenters, so be sure to leave a comment on all the "Melanie" posts! *Don't forget to leave your email address for contact purposes!*



58 comments:

  1. What an exciting review TERESA!! What are you doing to me? You're making me want to ditch the book I'm currently reading and take up this one. Seriously! :) And the one I'm reading is probably going to be one of the top favorites for the year lol. Cinderella is honestly my best-loved fairy-tale, so this book is right up my alley! (Did I just say 'alley'?) lol

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    1. Oh NOELA I would say I'm sorry but this book is that good! lol Just add it to your the top of your TBR list! I too loved Cinderella as a child, not sure it was my favorite but after reading Melanie's it is now!! :)

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  2. Lovely review reminding us that the good stories have an ongoing life!

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    1. JUDY ANN it is wonderful reading the old classics with a new twist and boy can MELANIE re-write a story! AMAZING!!

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    2. JUDY I hope you will come back and leave your email address so we can contact you should you win!! :-)

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  3. I've read all the others by Melanie, and this one sounds like the best yet. Can't wait to own and read it!

    Kathy

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    1. Waving at you KATHY!! It's good to see you this morning!! MELANIE'S books are so good and I do believe this one is at the top of my favorites! Hope you get to read it soon! :)

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  4. Wow , Melanie your book sounds so good . Love the review . I have not read any of your books yet , but this may be the one . I always love to try new authors .
    lizd225(at)gmail(dot)com

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    1. Hi ELIZABETH thanks for coming by! If you haven't read any of MELANIE'S books yet then this should be the one and I know you will want to read the rest! They are all simply irresistible! :)

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  5. Such an exciting review, TERESA, and so is the book! My heart raced more than once while reading---how about yours? :)

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    1. DIANA you are so right, I might have had a few sighs escape and maybe there were a few times I wanted to cheer for Valten too!! What a great book this was!! Gotta love MELANIE'S books!

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  6. The book sounds great. I always did like Cinderella while growing up. This is a new blog for me. But looks like I will keep checking back!

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    1. SONJA how wonderful you dropped by today, Welcome to Overcoming With GOD!! We hope you do come back by and please give us your email address in case you are our winner this week! :)

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    2. Sonja(dot)nishimoto(at)gmail(dot)com

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  7. Wow, that does sound like a great book, Teresa! Haha! Thanks so much for this wonderful review! What a blessing you are! All of you OWG ladies! I can't thank you enough! :-)

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    1. Hi MELANIE ((Big Hug)) to you and let me say THANK YOU for all the hard work you put into designing this wonderful masterpiece! And let me also say it was my pleasure to read this and I am humbled I was able to review it!! I can't wait to see what you have next for us, your adoring fans!! :-) lol

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    2. You are sweet, Teresa! It is hard work writing a novel, but it's also fun. :-) I hope I get to keep writing them for a long time to come!

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    3. Yes, your adoring fans (which I happen to be one :P), can't wait to see what's in store for next year!

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  8. Great review! I can't wait to read this book! :)
    samanthaakuiper(at)gmail(dot)com

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    1. SAMANTHA thank you, I do hope you get to read this one, it will make your year! Thanks for stopping by!

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  9. I adore fairy tale retellings! This one sounds especially good... I can't wait to read it! Thanks so much for the review and giveaway!

    colorvibrant at gmail dot com

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    1. Hi HEIDI if you adore fairy tale retellings then this is THE book for you, MELANIE is a pro at them. Love your email address! :-)

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  10. What a captivating review! I can't wait to be swept away to a far away land!!

    texaggs2000 at gmail dot com

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    1. BRITNEY I know you will love this land of beautiful land of fairy tales! Thanks for coming by!

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  11. What a wonderful review. I love fairy tales. Would love to read this.

    eppersonkatrina@yahoo.com

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    1. KATRINA I sure hope you get to read this one, you will love it! :-)

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  12. "If you love being taken back to the medieval era of handsome knights that roamed the country side looking for damsels in distress to rescue, do I have a book for you!"

    You got my interest by those words. Can't wait to read it! Great review!! (y)

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    1. MARIAN I should have known I would grab you with line....I know I love pirates but knights are way up on my list of dashing heroes too! lol :-)

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  13. I would so love to win this for a friend who has not read any of Melanie's books yet... I have a copy coming to me from Melanie, thanks Melanie ! I loved this review and am so looking forward to reading this book ! Marian Baay, you are such a romantic ! Or was it the dress that won your heart ? LOL I think it was the dress !
    Blessings
    Linda Finn
    faithfulacresbooks@gmail.com

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    1. Hi LINDA that would be so sweet for you to win and then you give it to a friend! You are a good friend! :-)

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  14. Hello OWG gals. And, thanks Teresa for the review of Melanie's Book. Here I go again trying to win it. Teresa your was great. But then, this story sounds great. Who didn't love the Cinderella books and movies. It amazes me how authors can take a fairytale , and, make another story for us to enjoy. Thanks Melanie for doing a great job. Please put my name in the hat. Maxie mac262(at)me(dot)com

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    1. Waving at you MAXIE!! I would love for you to win a copy of this terrific book. MELANIE is an outstanding writer!

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  15. I love fairy tales! Sounds like such a good book. I just downloaded a bunch of her other books for kindle this morning. Thanks for the chance to win!
    Brittany McEuen
    kbmceuen(at)yahoo(dot)com

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    1. BRITTANY I just double checked to see if I had all of her books for my kindle! lol I know you are going to love them! Thanks for coming by!!

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  16. Thank you for review. This book would be a great read
    mcnuttjem0(at)gmail(dot)com

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    1. JACKIE you are so right, it is a great read! Here's hoping you will get to read it soon!! :-)

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  17. What a great review! If I hadn't already intended to read this book, the review would have made me want to. The Captive Maiden has such a lovely cover, very Cinderella looking. I'm planning to give it to my daughter, so would be very happy to win one of the copies you are giving away. We both love Melanie's books.

    pmk56[at]sbcglobal[dot]net

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    1. PAM that's great you are going to share with your daughter!! I know she will love this one! I have two sons and I could offer for them to read this with me but as good as it is I think the answer would be no! They always loved for me to read to them when they were younger but Fairy tales were not on the list!! LOL!! Thanks for stopping by!!

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  18. Great review, Teresa! Really entices me to read "The Captive Maiden"!

    Love the beautiful book cover - a new writing style for me, sounds suspenseful! Would love to become acquainted with your writing, Melanie - thanks for the opportunity to win a copy of "The Captive Maiden"!

    bonnieroof60(at)yahoo(dot)com

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    1. BONTON so glad my review caught your attention! Hopefully you'll have a chance to read this and the others MELANIE has written!! :-) Amazon has the e-book copies on sale now if you have a kindle or a kindle app!

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  19. This sounds like such a wonderful re-telling of CINDERELLA.

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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    1. MARY this is a terrific re-telling of Cinderella! I know you will love it!!

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  20. I would love to read this book!! I have never won a book yet, but I have hopes for this one!! joekel@embarqmail.com

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    1. ANONYMOUS here's hoping this is where you will win! Good Luck!! :-)

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  21. This book sounds really good! I love stories about princes and princesses, and this one sounds like a wonderful re-telling of Cinderella!

    chillirosen@hotmail.com

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    1. MALLORI this is THE best re-telling of Cinderella, it has it all!! Good luck in winning this!

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  22. I'm such a girly girl, in that I love to read and watch fairy tales! Of course, the cover is enough to tempt me. Its one of the most magical I've seen :) Your review seals it!

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    1. "Its" should have been It's with an apostrophe...I knew that. :/

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    2. ANNE isn't it funny how our fingers don't always type what our brains are thinking? Mine are guilty of that a lot! lol Yes that cover is absolutely gorgeous!

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  23. Great descriptive review, please enter me in the drawing.

    Janella
    arieljo12 (at) Hotmail (dot) com

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    1. JANELLA I'm so glad you dropped by; we have you entered! :-)

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  24. Can't wait to read this - have you noticed how wonderful the cover is? I enjoy reading about how they came to be.

    missionwife AT hotmail DOT com

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    1. Hi MELODY!! That beautiful cover was the first thing I feasted my eyes on!! I know you will love Gisela and Valten's story!

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  25. I just love grown up fairy tales - this book looks fantastic!

    dsickles87@hotmail.com

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    1. DAWN I know just what you mean, thanks for coming by! :-)

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  26. The Captive Maiden sounds wonderful and the cover art is beautiful. I have always been a fan of the Cinderella story, I think largely because my nickname when I was younger was Cinderella (based on my name not that I lived in the cinders). I would LOVE to win a copy of Melanie's book!

    Smiles & Blessings,
    Cindy W.

    countrybear52 AT yahoo DOT com

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    1. CINDY that's a cool nickname and I am so glad you didn't have to live in the cinders!! :-) We have you entered in the drawing!

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  27. What a great review. I am ready to buckle down and read.

    mauback55 at gmail dot com

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