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cari_roo13's review
3.0
❗️DISCLAIMER: If this is your first time reading a Melanie Dickerson book, I have suggestions at the bottom of this review that you should read instead. They are still by Melanie Dickerson and, in my opinion, are the better books of the Hagenheim series.❗️
I thought it was okay. I’ve read all of the Hagenheim-oriented books and loved most of them, but this one didn’t really “wow” me like they usually do. The plot felt a bit rushed and the characters didn’t have that much depth to them. Also, I felt like this whole book was just Kirstyn and Aladdin thinking about each other and questioning their relationship. That happened TOO. MUCH. But, even after this, Melanie Dickerson will still be one of my very favorite authors.
If this is the first book you’ve read of Melanie’s and you didn’t enjoy it, I suggest reading The Fairest Beauty, The Captive Maiden, or The Princess Spy, because, in my opinion, they are definitely some of her better stories. Or The Golden Braid... Or The Silent Songbird... Or The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest... you get the idea. 😂
I thought it was okay. I’ve read all of the Hagenheim-oriented books and loved most of them, but this one didn’t really “wow” me like they usually do. The plot felt a bit rushed and the characters didn’t have that much depth to them. Also, I felt like this whole book was just Kirstyn and Aladdin thinking about each other and questioning their relationship. That happened TOO. MUCH. But, even after this, Melanie Dickerson will still be one of my very favorite authors.
If this is the first book you’ve read of Melanie’s and you didn’t enjoy it, I suggest reading The Fairest Beauty, The Captive Maiden, or The Princess Spy, because, in my opinion, they are definitely some of her better stories. Or The Golden Braid... Or The Silent Songbird... Or The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest... you get the idea. 😂
crimson_recon's review
3.0
This book should get 3 1/2 star rating.... hopefully Goodreads can change that one day... but anyways about the book! I’ve been an avid reader of Melanie Dickerson’s books since I read the Healer’s Apprentice since high school. Ever since I’ve been reading her books. I finally got my hands on The Orphan’s Wish and I want to say I love it but it kinda disappointed me. Which breaks my heart but it really did. I know it was supposed to be a retelling of Aladdin story but it didn’t feel so much like the story Aladdin except for the character being named Aladdin and the character Abu. I mean I know it’s supposed to be more realistic so the genie and the magic lamp is out of the question but I believe those things are what makes the story Aladdin. Also the way it was written is different from Melanie’s books there are flashbacks which are fine but I’m not sure if that worked for this story. I don’t know I gave 3 1/2 stars because I love seeing the characters again and visiting Hagenheim. This has nothing to do with the story but I still wish to see the reunion between Gabe and Rapunzel! But yeah so disappointed that I didn’t love it but I’m still looking forward to the story Warrior Maiden! Also check Melanie Dickerson’s newest Southern historical romance A Magnolia Summer!
lucythebuller13's review
5.0
4.5 stars.
There’s a lot to unpack here. This book is just everything. EVERYTHING I WANT IN A STORY AND MORE. First; y’all, this ain’t a drill. WE HAVE CHILDHOOD BEST FRIENDS TO SWEETHEARTS BE STILL MY HEART. I don’t know if I’ve ever flailed about this but I FREAKING LOVE CHILDHOOD BEST FRIENDS TURNED SWEETHEARTS. Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes ALL OF THE YES.
This book has SO MUCH going on and I loved that! There was never a dull moment. We started out the book with Aladdin as a child and then we steadily went through his life, stopping for key moments, etc. I think that it’s a strong story, but I did find the retelling part a little lacking, just because it’s got Aladdin’s name in there and everything but I didn’t feel like it had much else in there from the story. However, I have only seen the Disney movie and I am by no means an expert on the original story, so this probably wasn’t retold from the Disney movie which would make much more sense.
I am going to put heavy content warnings here though. This is an adorable romance and I really loved it but there is some content you should know about. I will talk a little about this, but will also add trigger warnings to the bottom of this review.
This book largely focuses around Kirstyn being kidnapped. When I first got to that part in the book I rolled my eyes. Kidnapping plotlines are not new to the romance genre, especially historical and fantasy, this book being the former. But I was honestly pleasantly surprised by this book. Don’t disregard it for this storyline, perhaps even read it for it. The reason is simple. Most kidnappings in the romance and historical and fantasy genres are used, to put it simply, as plot devices. They usually happen to speed the story, but leave no lasting effects.
Y’all, if you were kidnapped, you would have some SERIOUS issues afterwards, including but not limited to, sometimes a form of PTSD, nightmares, depression, and it can cause serious mental health issues. What really won this book for me was that, rather than brushing off the kidnapping once it was over, Melanie met the issues head on, brought them into the story in a positive way.
I will say, it does feel a little like it was leaning towards “love of life solves all mental health issues”, and I did find that a little problematic. It’s not addressed how Kirstyn deals with these issues after the fact, just that they’re there. I did have some trouble with that, as it’s important to know, and I was really hoping they’d be dealt with in the story so we could have a view into how they handled the mental issues in historical times. It was slightly thrown over for the overarching romance plotline, which was understandable. But I think we could have had an extra 50-100 pages to deal with it, because it’s important to discuss mental health issues, especially in YA fiction.
That seemed a little negative, but I promise it isn’t! I really did love this book. I think it’s important to deal with mental health issues, even in historical romances, and this book does feature them. I think that’s great, but we still have a long way to go :)
This book is so well written and it absolutely pulls you in from the first page. It speaks to Melanie’s amazing writing abilities, clearly honed from years of writing and publishing amazing stories. I loved how she approached everything, and this is one of her more complicated stories yet she pulled it together effortlessly into a spellbinding story.
I also highly recommend listening to the Swan Princess soundtrack while reading this, mostly the end credits song or For as Long as Forever or the Other Side from the Greatest Showman because I just had those on repeat the whole book and it was perfect! But that could just be me.
I loved how Aladdin worked and worked and brought himself up from the streets to what he became in the end, not someone inhibited by his scars but rather propelled by them. He was such a strong character.
And of course I loved all the cameos from our beloved previous Hagenheim heroes and heroines! I love this series and the stories in it. You’d think after so many stories Melanie would have run out of things to add but with each one the stories and characters are so much richer and it creates a wonderful experience.
Overall, this is an amazing story with an adorable romance, but it also deals with more serious issues to create something worth reading, and worth loving.
TW: abuse(emotional and physical), kidnapping, ptsd, captivity
(that’s what I can currently remember, but if there’s more, comment them below and I’ll add them!)
There’s a lot to unpack here. This book is just everything. EVERYTHING I WANT IN A STORY AND MORE. First; y’all, this ain’t a drill. WE HAVE CHILDHOOD BEST FRIENDS TO SWEETHEARTS BE STILL MY HEART. I don’t know if I’ve ever flailed about this but I FREAKING LOVE CHILDHOOD BEST FRIENDS TURNED SWEETHEARTS. Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes ALL OF THE YES.
This book has SO MUCH going on and I loved that! There was never a dull moment. We started out the book with Aladdin as a child and then we steadily went through his life, stopping for key moments, etc. I think that it’s a strong story, but I did find the retelling part a little lacking, just because it’s got Aladdin’s name in there and everything but I didn’t feel like it had much else in there from the story. However, I have only seen the Disney movie and I am by no means an expert on the original story, so this probably wasn’t retold from the Disney movie which would make much more sense.
I am going to put heavy content warnings here though. This is an adorable romance and I really loved it but there is some content you should know about. I will talk a little about this, but will also add trigger warnings to the bottom of this review.
This book largely focuses around Kirstyn being kidnapped. When I first got to that part in the book I rolled my eyes. Kidnapping plotlines are not new to the romance genre, especially historical and fantasy, this book being the former. But I was honestly pleasantly surprised by this book. Don’t disregard it for this storyline, perhaps even read it for it. The reason is simple. Most kidnappings in the romance and historical and fantasy genres are used, to put it simply, as plot devices. They usually happen to speed the story, but leave no lasting effects.
Y’all, if you were kidnapped, you would have some SERIOUS issues afterwards, including but not limited to, sometimes a form of PTSD, nightmares, depression, and it can cause serious mental health issues. What really won this book for me was that, rather than brushing off the kidnapping once it was over, Melanie met the issues head on, brought them into the story in a positive way.
I will say, it does feel a little like it was leaning towards “love of life solves all mental health issues”, and I did find that a little problematic. It’s not addressed how Kirstyn deals with these issues after the fact, just that they’re there. I did have some trouble with that, as it’s important to know, and I was really hoping they’d be dealt with in the story so we could have a view into how they handled the mental issues in historical times. It was slightly thrown over for the overarching romance plotline, which was understandable. But I think we could have had an extra 50-100 pages to deal with it, because it’s important to discuss mental health issues, especially in YA fiction.
That seemed a little negative, but I promise it isn’t! I really did love this book. I think it’s important to deal with mental health issues, even in historical romances, and this book does feature them. I think that’s great, but we still have a long way to go :)
This book is so well written and it absolutely pulls you in from the first page. It speaks to Melanie’s amazing writing abilities, clearly honed from years of writing and publishing amazing stories. I loved how she approached everything, and this is one of her more complicated stories yet she pulled it together effortlessly into a spellbinding story.
I also highly recommend listening to the Swan Princess soundtrack while reading this, mostly the end credits song or For as Long as Forever or the Other Side from the Greatest Showman because I just had those on repeat the whole book and it was perfect! But that could just be me.
I loved how Aladdin worked and worked and brought himself up from the streets to what he became in the end, not someone inhibited by his scars but rather propelled by them. He was such a strong character.
And of course I loved all the cameos from our beloved previous Hagenheim heroes and heroines! I love this series and the stories in it. You’d think after so many stories Melanie would have run out of things to add but with each one the stories and characters are so much richer and it creates a wonderful experience.
Overall, this is an amazing story with an adorable romance, but it also deals with more serious issues to create something worth reading, and worth loving.
TW: abuse(emotional and physical), kidnapping, ptsd, captivity
(that’s what I can currently remember, but if there’s more, comment them below and I’ll add them!)
anname's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
jabenny's review
2.0
Melanie Dickerson is known for her ability to tie in God, romance, and religion to her fantastical/fairytale books. And that is why I will always recommend her books.
Now, I didn't enjoy this book as much as much as other of Ms. Dickerson's books (or other Christian-Romance books) but it is hard to pull off a good fairytale retelling.
This book takes a twist on the Aladdin story and brings it to life in a different way. We still get the images of the classic tale we are familiar with by exploring the hard life images of an orphan boy struggling to find his place in the world and a girl wanting be her own person. But we do miss out on the magical side of things that the classic tale brought us.
Aladdin and Krystin grew up together in the early 1400's of Germany. Aladdin as an orphan was never able to have a home or family of his own until her met Krystin, daughter of a duke. As the two grew from childhood to adulthood with one another they slowly fell in love. Without realizing it.
There were a few things about this book that bothered me and that was mainly in the execution of the growth of the characters. We jumped from their youth and up through the years through the first quarter of the book which was honestly a bit disorientating. I would have liked an initial introduction of how they knew each other and hen be more established in their relationship later on. By the time some of the main conflicts came about, I wasn't sure how old the characters were which effected my perception of them.
Aside from the basic idea of two characters falling in love out of social circles, there was nothing really that connected this book to the original Aladdin tale which was a little disappointing.
As is typical of Ms. Dickerson we see the characters come closer to God while grappling with their own questions and crises of faith. I think that's a great selling point for these books, we can look into our own lives as we also gain insight to what our relationships with God can become.
Now, I didn't enjoy this book as much as much as other of Ms. Dickerson's books (or other Christian-Romance books) but it is hard to pull off a good fairytale retelling.
This book takes a twist on the Aladdin story and brings it to life in a different way. We still get the images of the classic tale we are familiar with by exploring the hard life images of an orphan boy struggling to find his place in the world and a girl wanting be her own person. But we do miss out on the magical side of things that the classic tale brought us.
Aladdin and Krystin grew up together in the early 1400's of Germany. Aladdin as an orphan was never able to have a home or family of his own until her met Krystin, daughter of a duke. As the two grew from childhood to adulthood with one another they slowly fell in love. Without realizing it.
There were a few things about this book that bothered me and that was mainly in the execution of the growth of the characters. We jumped from their youth and up through the years through the first quarter of the book which was honestly a bit disorientating. I would have liked an initial introduction of how they knew each other and hen be more established in their relationship later on. By the time some of the main conflicts came about, I wasn't sure how old the characters were which effected my perception of them.
Aside from the basic idea of two characters falling in love out of social circles, there was nothing really that connected this book to the original Aladdin tale which was a little disappointing.
As is typical of Ms. Dickerson we see the characters come closer to God while grappling with their own questions and crises of faith. I think that's a great selling point for these books, we can look into our own lives as we also gain insight to what our relationships with God can become.
kmcphers's review
3.0
I usually really like the Hagenheim books, but this one didn't really resonate with me. I feel like I just couldn't connect to the characters. Nevertheless, the plot was pretty good. Not my favorite.
books_hello's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Overall I would say this is a good book. It has suspense, romance, and a bit darker themes. If you are wanting a happier book this one is maybe not for you. This is also one of Melanie Dickerson's less spicy books. So, if that is what you like I recommend this book.
banana83854's review
3.0
Oof I liked most of this, but there was a big chunk in the second half that got annoying and draaaaaaggged.
thefriendlybibliophile's review
4.0
I really loved this book! Seeing Kirstyn and Aladdin's relationship develop as they grew up was so sweet! I also totally related to Aladdin's struggles with perfectionism. The ending was so adorable!