The Golden Braid

The one who needs rescuing isn’t always the one in the tower. Rapunzel can throw a knife better than any man. She paints beautiful flowering vines on the walls of her plaster houses. She sings so sweetly she can coax even a beast to sleep. But there are two things she is afraid her mother might never allow her to do: learn to read and marry.

Fiercely devoted to Rapunzel, her mother is suspicious of every man who so much as looks at her daughter and warns her that no man can be trusted. After a young village farmer asks for Rapunzel's hand in marriage, Mother decides to move them once again—this time, to the large city of Hagenheim.

The journey proves treacherous, and after being rescued by a knight—Sir Gerek—Rapunzel in turn rescues him farther down the road. As a result, Sir Gerek agrees to repay his debt to Rapunzel by teaching her to read. Could there be more to this knight than his arrogance and desire to marry for riches and position?

As Rapunzel acclimates to life in a new city, she uncovers a mystery that will forever change her life. In this Rapunzel story unlike any other, a world of secrets and treachery is about to be revealed after seventeen years of lies. How will Rapunzel finally take control of her own destiny? And who will prove faithful to a lowly peasant girl with no one to turn to?

I received an advanced copy of this e-book in return for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First of all, this book is simply wonderful. I loved Rapunzel and her story. What I didn't know before reading this is that it is actually book six of the Hagenheim/Fairy Tale Romance series. This is a young adult book and I would say the genre is probably romance. This isn't a fantasy fairy tale, but it is loosely based on the tale of Rapunzel. This book is a fairly easy read, just under 400 pages. The e-book took me eleven days and that was only reading it at night.

I found the characters to be very easy to relate to, even though they live in a time in the far past, of horses and carriages and no indoor plumbing.

At heart, this is a fairy tale, not a far fetched one, but one that could have happened. I loved that it took the fantasy story of Rapunzel and made a story of its own. It was wonderful to see the elements of the classic fairy tale woven into this story.

Overall, I would recommend this to anyone who loves the retelling of a good fairy tale. Wonderful!