The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: The Captive Maiden

Series: Hagenheim #4

Author: Melanie Dickerson

Genre: Young Adult, Clean Romance, Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction, Retelling

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review:

Happily Ever After…Or Happily Nevermore?

Gisela’s childhood was filled with laughter and visits from nobles such as the duke and his young son. But since her father’s death, each day has been filled with nothing but servitude to her stepmother. So when Gisela meets the duke’s son, Valten—the boy she has daydreamed about for years—and learns he is throwing a ball, she vows to attend, even if it’s only for a taste of a life she’ll never have. To her surprise, she catches Valten’s eye. Though he is rough around the edges, Gisela finds Valten has completely captured her heart. But other forces are bent on keeping the two from falling further in love, putting Gisela in more danger than she ever imagined. – summary from Goodreads

The Captive Maiden was such a cute, adventurous retelling of Cinderella, that I adored!

I have come to learn that some of my favorite retellings are Cinderella’s, even though her story isn’t my favorite. I just love all the different ways her story can be done.

This is definitely a favorite Cinderella retelling! It was much more action-packed than you typically see, and the Cinderella character and the prince character actually had a relationship prior to the ball, which I enjoyed.

This book follows Rose and Wilhelm’s, from book one, oldest son Valten. Valten was actually in The Fairest Beauty a little bit, as he was betrothed to Sophie before Gabe married her. Despite there being a two-year gap between the end of the last book and the beginning of this book, I liked how Valten still struggled with this a little bit. It’s completely understandable, and I appreciated how it wasn’t overdone but also wasn’t completely forgotten. I really liked Valten’s storyline, too. He was trying to find his purpose, after spending so long doing tournaments he wasn’t feeling fulfilled. I loved that storyline, and it one I can related to. I also liked how he had to learn to trust in God and not rely so much on himself- an important lesson.

Gisela was amazing! I have to admit I liked how much she loved her horses. She also didn’t fall into the common trope of being too kind to stand of to her stepmother and stepsisters, which was enjoyable. That’s not to say she wasn’t kind, she was, she just had some backbone.

Their relationship was so cute; I loved it so much! I loved the contrast between Sophie and Gabe and Valten and Gisela. In the previous book when Sophie met Valten she was a little shocked by his scars and didn’t really enjoy his gruffer attitude. Gisela, on the other hand, loved his scars and understood his gruff attitude. I love how well they understood each other- it was very heartwarming. I also really liked how protective they were of each other.

There are very few times that I read a Cinderella retelling with as much action as this book had. Spoilers ahead: Gisela was sold by her stepmother, she was kidnapped, both her and Valten were held against their will. It was a whole adventure, with lots of danger. I loved it! It made the story so much richer and really proved how much Valten and Gisela cared for each other.

There were strong Christian themes, and the historical aspects were enjoyable. I learned quite a bit about jousting and tournaments.

I will say we got to see Gabe and Sophie for a minute at the end of the book, and I loved seeing these characters in love and happily married!

The Captive Maiden was an adventurous retelling of Cinderella set in medieval Germany that follows Gisela and Valten as they find love amidst danger!