Review: The Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickerson

Title: The Fairest Beauty

Author: Melanie Dickerson

Publisher: Zondervan

Publication date: January 8, 2013

Genre(s): Young Adult (Fantasy/Fairytales)

Source: Publihser
Format: ARC

Pages: 352

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A daring rescue. A difficult choice. 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.

This book is for fairy tale lovers. Sophie has been a scullery maid all her life, a prisoner in Honhendorf Castle. Her evil stepmother, Duchess Ermengard, hated Sophie due to her beauty. Sophie had black hair, pale skin, natural red lips and big blue eyes. The duchess throws Sophie into the dungeon for every little thing. Sound familiar? Yup, this story is based on Snow White. When a stranger named Gabeheart comes and tells her she is royalty, betrothed to his brother,Valten, she decides to run away with him. What she didn't expect, is that she would fall in love with Gabe. Can she break her betrothed to Valten, and still live in a loving family, which is all she ever wanted? 

If you like romance, action, suspense, and fairy tales, then this book is perfect for you. I am not a huge fan of historical fiction, but this book was still really good. The beginning was a bit boring to me because I'm not a Snow White fan, but I still decided to give it a chance. It was so good after the first few chapters! I will tell you guys out there in advance, there is some religious points in the story, as both the main characters, especially Sophie, believe strongly in God and Jesus. Anyway, the book was pretty amazing, and I might even read it again. The flow was smooth and easily understandable to me. 

I think my favorite part was when Sophie first met Gabe. I thought it was interesting to see how they would react to each other, like a cat reacting to a strange new animal. I didn't know what she would do next. Would she stay? Would she call the Duchess, who murders every trespasser who doesn't come to please her? I couldn't tell and the suspense was killing me!! Nothing from the book really annoyed me. I thought it was a good book. 

The writing style was actually a favorite of mine. Every chapter or 2, she would switch points of view, so in one chapter, I was Sophie, then in another, I was Gabe. I like that writing style. This is a wonderful book. I totally recommend it to 7-11 graders. The Fairest Beauty is for fairy tale lovers who always want a happy ending.