The Synopsis:
The Margrave of Thornbeck has to find a bride, fast. He invites ten noble-born ladies from around the country to be his guests at Thornbeck Castle for two weeks, a time to test these ladies and reveal their true character.
Avelina is only responsible for two things: making sure her deception goes undetected and avoiding being selected as the margrave’s 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—far deadlier—consequences. Will Avelina be able to stop the evil plot? And at what cost?
I received this book from the author/publisher via Litfuse for the purpose of this review. All comments and opinions are entirely my own.
Review:
Melanie Dickerson is a master of the fairy tales and her retellings are both unique and engaging. With her books, we can go back to our childhood favorite fairy tales and enjoy them all over again with new twists.
The Beautiful Pretender, I don’t believe, is a retelling of any sorts, if it is then I am not familiar with it’s original story and therefore could not recognize it. However, this book definitely feels like the warm and cozy fairy tales that we all love.
It has a decent amount of suspense and action, but not overly graphic and the romance is clean and far from cheesy. The only thing that readers may have a small problem with is that the plot line is slightly predicable, but this is to be expected from this specific type of book.
Overall, The Beautiful Pretender is a great book for teens and adults alike and would make a perfect book to through in your beach bag for your summer vacation. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
Rated:
Rayleigh is a Freshman in college with a major in Accounting and long-term goal of being a CPA. She is an avid reader of all genres, and just as much of her time is spent writing as it is reading. She is the Associate Editor and Web Manager for PURSUE Magazine, in addition to posting her monthly articles on their blog. Rayleigh interns for Hartline Literary Agency where she advises authors in the best way to market their books. She is also a Social Media Manager for various businesses.
Her writing pseudonym is Rae Leigh and she is in the process of seeking publication for her Dystopian novella, Program MIRA.
This is one of those books that I’ve been meaning to read. 🙂 Good review!
It is definitely worth the time! Thank you so much!