The Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickerson

Description:

 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.

My Opinion:

I love reading re-tellings of fairy-tales, and this one was probably my favorite yet. There were some definite similarities between this story and Snow White, but also some very well thought through differences. I loved the fact that Gabe was not her betrothed, that he in fact, was not even supposed to be her "Prince Charming". Gabe was more than what Sophie saw for herself, but less than what Gabe thought she deserved, which was a really sweet twist on things.

When reading this I kept thinking of the TV series Once Upon a Time. It was a very nice blend between Snow White and Prince Charming's actual story to the one in the TV show. The difference is that I did not picture the characters like their actors at all. It was so much it's own unique story that my imagination was not hindered by these other story-lines. 

I liked the emotional issues that the characters went through. Sophie's was all about acceptance. How was she going to accept all that she deserved when she was fed lies her entire life about how ugly and useless she was? How was she going to accept herself?

Gabe's was about selfishness and greed. What was he willing to give up so others could be happy? Was he willing to give up Sophie so she could have a better life? What were his true motives in rescuing her anyway?

The one thing that I believe could have been done better was the The Cottage of the Seven. Obviously, this was supposed to symbolize the Seven Dwarfs from the real story, and I liked the concept of it. However, the way she went about it I feel made the story a little bit cheesy and unrealistic. In my opinion, it held the story back from its full potential just by a hair.

Rating: 4 1/2 Stars