The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: The Fairest Beauty

Series: Hangenheim #3

Author: Melanie Dickerson

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

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review:

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. – summary from Goodreads

The Fairest Beauty was a wonderful Snow White retelling that took place in medieval Germany with strong Christian themes, and an adorable romance!

Snow White isn’t my favorite fairytale, but I really enjoyed this retelling! It has been my favorite in the series so far!

Small spoiler: this follows Rose and Wilhelm’s, from book one, second son, Gabeheart. I love the throwback to the original couple and seeing how their relationship progressed. I loved seeing them as parents- it was everything!

I loved the characters! Sophie was wonderful- she was so sweet and caring, and I know I have said that about all of Dickerson’s female leads, but it’s true and I love it. If you have followed me for a while, you know I am somewhat tired of the super strong, emotionally stoic female leads. So, Sophie and Dickerson’s other characters are a breath of fresh air for me. They are strong in their own rights, but they also admit when they need help and aren’t afraid to cry.

Gabe was my favorite! He was a lot of fun, but he also had a protective streak I really enjoyed it! I loved watching his growth. One of the biggest things throughout this book was Gabe becoming more responsible- he was known as the irresponsible child and to watch him grow was a lot of fun. At the end of his story you could see how much he’s grown, and I loved it so much!

Gabe and Sophie were so cute together! I loved how well they worked together and fought for each other. They had such a sweet romance, it was adorable.

I liked how things were done pertaining to the Snow White retelling. Gabe and Sophie met much earlier in the story and actually remained together, getting to know each other, which I really enjoyed. It made their romance so much more worth it because they actually cared about each other and had gotten to know each other. I also really liked how the dwarfs were done. Instead of them all being dwarfs, they were men who had been cast from society because of various reasons. It was realistic and true to the time period, which I enjoyed. The stepmother side of things was also nicely done, and I particularly liked how the mirror was incorporated without there being any magic.

The apple was also incorporated nicely, and I enjoyed how that was done. Small spoiler: I liked how Sophie didn’t actually eat the apple- she sensed something was wrong with it. I thought that was a nice touch and felt more real to me.

This is the only book in the series so far that has three POVs. We get Gabe and Sophie’s, but we also get the stepmother’s, which I found interesting. I don’t know that it was entirely necessary, but I enjoyed it.

This book still has heavy Christian themes, but it is not as strong as the first two books. It is still very much there though. Again, I like how it is incorporated into the story, and I like how Sophie’s cross saves her.

This book is historically accurate, as far as I can tell, just like the first two books. If you have read my reviews of the first two books, then you’ll know that there are some heavier storylines present throughout the books. That is not really prevalent in this story, which was a nice shift.

The Fairest Beauty is a historical fiction Snow White retelling with Christian themes, wonderful characters, romance, and adventure!