The Beautiful Pretender - Melanie Dickerson

The Beautiful Pretender

By Melanie Dickerson

  • Release Date: 2016-05-17
  • Genre: Fairy Tales, Myths & Fables
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 105 Ratings

Description

After inheriting his title from his brother, the new margrave has two weeks to find a noble bride. What will happen when he learns he has fallen for a servant girl in disguise?

The Margrave of Thornbeck is under orders from the king to find a bride, fast. He invites ten noble born ladies who meet the king’s approval to be his guests at Thornbeck Castle for two weeks, a time to test the ladies and reveal their true character. But one of the guests is not who she pretends to be . . . and not everyone in attendance is there with good intentions.

A commoner, Avelina has only two instructions: keep her true identity a secret and make sure the margrave doesn’t select her as his bride. Since the latter seems unlikely, she concentrates on not getting caught. No one must know she is merely a maidservant, sent by the Earl of Plimmwald to stand in for his daughter, Dorothea.

Despite Avelina’s best attempts at diverting attention from herself, the margrave has taken notice. And try as she might, she can’t deny her own growing feelings. But something else is afoot in the castle. Something sinister that could have far worse—and far deadlier—consequences. Will there ever be a wedding at Thornbeck Castle?
Full-length, clean fairy tale retelling inspired by Beauty and the Beast and The Princess and the PeaStand-alone novel in the Medieval Fairy Tale series Book 1: The Huntress of Thornbeck ForestBook 2: The Beautiful PretenderBook 3: The Noble ServantIncludes discussion questions for book clubs

Reviews

  • U have to!

    5
    By blackwidow20041
    U have to get the next book it was so amazing!! I love it!
  • Cute story

    5
    By Tinkerbell23
    I really enjoyed this story
  • The Pretender

    4
    By Vereenlk
    The book was very well written. I enjoyed the watching Avelina grow and become the one to save the Margate and his troops.
  • The Beautiful Pretender

    5
    By Gebyjohn
    Well written easy to read entertaining book.
  • Another amazing tale!

    5
    By hickkids
    Once again, Melanie Dickerson pleases her readers. The boys and I read this one together. They enjoyed it as much as I did. This is the fairly tale retelling mix of the Princess and the Pea and Beauty and the Beast. We met the Margrave in The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest and learned that he took over after his brother died. He's being blamed for the death of his brother and that does not help Reinhart's guilt of not getting his brother out of the fire safely. Now the king has decided that Reinhart needs a wife. He sends him a list of 10 eligible women who would make a good wife. Reinhardt invites them to his castle and the contest begins. Avelina is a maidservant. When Lady Dorothea runs off with her lover, her father convinces Avelina to take his daughters place. He needs the help of Reinhart to keep his lands but doesn't expect Avelina to win his heart, just to make her presence known. Adeline tries her hardest to get Reinhart to fall for Lady Magdalen, a very sweet and deserving lady. No matter how hard she tries though, Reinhart keeps finding his way back into her thoughts. There is a lot of adventure. Some evil works against Reinhart, and plenty of mysterious happenings. And through it all we see the beauty within Avelina. And we find that Reinhart is a bit of a softy after all. The book is entertaining and well written. There are happy times and intense moments I received a pre-release copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. We (the boys and I) all give this one 5 stars and look forward to Ms. Dickerson's next book.
  • A delightful retelling of a fairy tale!

    5
    By Debora Wilder
    Melanie does an incredible job of intertwining aspects from both The Princess and the Pea and Beauty and the Beast in this charming medieval story. Knowing both of the usual fairy tales made it very easy to recognize the key components of those stories. But they were combined and the final story was completely new and refreshing. The main characters that she has created are so well developed and presented. I was able to connect with both of them very early in the story. Avelina of Plimmwald is a sweet and demure girl who only wants to do what she is told and take care of her family. Reinhard Stolten, Margrave of Thornbeck, is deeply brooding and grumpy about being forced to find a wife. All my favorite parts of a fairy tale are present and accounted for. A sweet damsel, that is poor and in need of rescuing. A strong handsome hero, that needs a woman to love. And an evil villain who wants nothing but to destroy both of them and all that is good. Throw in some sacrificial love where both the damsel and the hero try to save the other and all is good. I received a free eBook copy of this novel through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

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