#huntress of thornbeck forest

[cafalla]

2024 READING - COMPLETED BOOK 15/12

Oh man, I've really fallen off the wagon as far as reading and updating on my reading, haven't I?

I finished my 15th book of the year back in like...July? Very beginning of August? I think? And tomorrow is September. Oops.

Let's just say getting Covid in July immediately following my birthday didn't keep my spirits or motivation high. Truthfully, I'm only just now starting to feel fully recovered and like my drive to pursue my hobbies is coming back to me.

Speaking of hobbies - the latest book I finished: The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest (306 pages).

I really enjoyed this story! The feelings and motivations of each character felt grounded and easy to follow. The main characters were both very likable to me, and watching them meet, fall in love, and reach their happily ever after was sweet.

Maybe I'm just simple and sappy, but I love a good ending where everything is resolved at the end lol! I mostly figured out the "mystery" right away, but I was still hooked on seeing how it played out.

The only part I was kind of iffy on was the masquerade fiasco, which I had to suspend my disbelief on in regards to the situation. I don't want to spoil it, but it was basically a mistaken identity situation (masquerade, masks - you know). Given what we know about Jorgen (the main guy) and how smitten he is with Odette (main girl), I just couldn't believe he would not realize it wasn't her?

The conflict there felt a bit forced, but everything else I really enjoyed! All in all, a good read.

I'm about 1/4th of the way through my next book, but at the rate I'm reading (and updating) on here, it probably won't be seen for a while lol. Hopefully I can burn through a few more books before we reach the end of the year. I can't believe it's already September!!

—

Total books read: 15 Total pages read: 4,176

[dancingqueennintynine]

When I learned that the Villains Ever After Series was getting a Swan Lake story, I knew I had to read it. I expected this book to be a new favorite because I love classical ballet, and romance novels inspired by fairytales. However, after finishing this book in just under two days, I am sad to say that The Sorcerer and the Swan Princess is one of the most unromantic adaptation of Swan Lake I have read. By no means, am I upset with the Sorcerer, named Dietrich, being the love interest instead of the prince. It’s in the title. This creative twist was what interested me to begin with. However, Dietrich, despite the attempts to humanize him, is still not a charming love interest in the slightest. Ava is the heir to the throne of her kingdom, but has always had dreams to be a ballet dancer. However, she was forced to hang up her pointe shoes following an ankle injury. I liked this feature to Ava’s character both as a nod to the source material and because unfulfilled childhood dreams rips my heart strings right out.

Things finally start looking up for Ava when she receives a visit from an old friend, Prince Siegfried. But, everything changes when Dietrich the Sorcerer appears, turns Ava into a swan against her will, and kidnaps her despite her protest that she wants to go home. Maybe Dietrich has his reasons to do so, maybe he truly has Ava’s best interest at heart despite absolutely not respecting Ava’s autonomy. I personally found the reason to be flimsy. <spoiler> Ava’s twin sister, Lina, asked Dietrich to turn Ava into a swan and kill her so that she can take her place as queen. Dietrich turns her into a swan and kidnaps her instead. I recall Ava asking why he didn’t explain the situation and ask her to come with him instead, and Dietrich’s response is basically, “You would not have believed me”. I would still be bothered if he only kidnapped her, but he also denies Ava, her humanity and twists her body into something unrecognizable. Like, I would not give a man a second chance after that, even if he has a tragic sob story on top of the protecting from an evil twin excuse. </spoiler>

After the initial abduction, Dietrich does not respect Ava or even appears to take her seriously. Towards the middle of the story, Ava and Dietrich are having a very heated discussion, and Dietrich realizes the conversation is not getting anywhere. Ava only becomes more and more upset with him. A mature adult would remove themselves from the situation until both parties have a chance to calm down, but not Dietrich. He turns Ava into a swan again to shut her up. He says it’s because she needs to “cool off”. What I took away from the exchange is that A. Dietrich cannot take any criticism, even if said criticism is the result of his poor communication. B. he is more powerful than Ava and he wants her to know it.

Any efforts to make the characters fall in love just feels forced after this even when Dietrich realizes Ava’s mindreading ability hasn’t been working and finally explains himself. Ava forgives Dietrich, because the premise of the Swan Princess and the Sorcerer falling in love needs to happen not because they had genuinely good chemistry.

Finally, and this is probably is not even a problem, but I am a little confused that some major characters are renamed from the ballet, but others are not. The sorcerer character, Rothbart, is called Dietrich, and the characters filling the roles of Odette and Odile are named Ava and Lina, but the prince's name is still Siegfried.

Okay, I clearly need to calm myself down before some hot sorcerer turns me into an emu and makes me calm down.

Any Swan Lake adaptions I would recommend instead? The issue is I have not read any other books where Ava and Dietrich become a couple. However, an excellent romance book that is more of an adaptation of Robin Hood with Swan Lake elements is The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest by Melanie Dickerson.

[friendly-neighbourhood-librarian]

Robin Hood retellings

Curse Painter — Jordan Rivet

The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest — Melanie Dickerson (Medieval Fairytales series)

Sherwood — Meagan Spooner

🏹🌳💰

More fairy tales

[c-h-a-r-m-necklace]

My mood board of The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest by Melanie Dickerson. Great medieval Christian fairy tale novel and a great adventure story!

[searchingwardrobes]

Book Review

I love all of Melanie Dickerson’s novels, and this one in particular I was excited about because the heroine, Magdalen, appeared in another of her books, The Beautiful Pretender. Actually, the male hero, Steffan, appeared in that book as well. Magdalen and Steffan had chemistry when they danced at a ball in The Beautiful Pretender, so I was eager to see how things progressed between these two!

This is Melanie Dickerson’s retelling of the fairy tale of the goose girl, which isn’t a well known tale. Lady Magdalen travels to the village of Wolfberg to marry the Duke but is usurped by her handmaiden. When they arrive in Wolfberg, her handmaiden has stolen her identity and Magdalen is forced to live as a servant, tending the Duke’s geese. Meanwhile, Steffan narrowly escapes being murdered by his evil uncle’s henchman and returns to find HE has been replaced by his cousin Alexander as the Duke of Wolfberg. Steffan poses as a lowly shepherd so he can figure out how to prove his identity and thwart his uncle’s evil plans. And, of course, he finds the REAL Lady Magdalen in a surprising place. (All of this is explained in the book summary, so these aren’t spoilers.) 

First of all, I had never before considered the impact of a world with no photographs when it comes to a person’s identity. Steffan and Magdalen haven’t seen each other for two years since the ball where they danced. Imagine that for a moment - to go two years and not see a Facebook or Instagram post, not even a photograph. Imagine that you haven’t even heard their voice for two years. The author paints this medieval world so well, it made the core conflict completely believable. 

As a romance, this novel includes two very common tropes (besides mistaken identity): 1. hiding a person’s true feelings due to fear and 2. miscommunication. I have no problem with either one. We see it so often in romance novels because it is a common reason for relationship issues in the real world. However, sometimes lack of communication get dragged out in fiction for sake of the plot or the reasons for it don’t seem believable. That was NOT the case in this novel.

Steffan’s fears in this novel, particularly his fear of falling in love, make complete sense. One of his fears, resulting from a childhood traumatic event, result in what we would today call panic attacks. These “flaws” in Steffan’s character made me empathize with him and made him feel like a real human being. 

The miscommunication between the couple also made complete sense. Steffan tells Magdalen early on that he wasn’t the one who sent for her to marry him. He also flat out tells her that he believes a man of his station should marry for only practical reasons, and since Magdalen’s community of Mallin is destitute, she knows he has no reasons to make a match with her. It makes complete sense then that she would carefully guard her heart. Wouldn’t we? Steffan also misconstrues something Magdalen says later on. I won’t spoil things by telling you what it is, but let’s just say that every female reading the book will understand her feelings completely. A man, especially of that time, would be completely dense about it!

One other thing I loved about this book was a scene in which Magdalen begins to cry and is trying to keep Steffan from noticing. It made me realize how rarely we see women cry anymore in fiction, whether it be TV, movies, or books. Unless someone is dying or dead, it seems women these days never cry. They certainly never cry just because of a man! I get the whole women’s empowerment thing, but as a woman who cries pretty easily (even at sappy commercials), it makes me sometimes doubt my strength or feel ashamed of my emotions. That’s so wrong! So it was exciting to see Magdalen cry. She had been so strong and brave throughout the novel, but she also cries! I loved that!

I know I seem to repeat myself about Dickerson’s novels, but I loved this book and highly recommend it! You can read it on it’s own, though the first two in this series are The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest (a mixture of Robin Hood and Swan Lake) and The Beautiful Pretender (a mixture of Beauty and the Beast and The Princess and the Pea).

 @snowbellewells​ @whimsicallyenchantedrose​ @vvbooklady1256​ @welllpthisishappening​ @ekr032-blog-blog​ @thislassishooked​ @onceuponaprincessworld​ - thought some of you may be interested

Let me know if you want to be tagged in any of my book reviews!

[flowerpowell]

Lantern, cider, cinnamon

lantern - how did you meet your best friend?

I met most of my friends in college and one of my besties I met through the internet!

cider - a food that you disliked as a child but now enjoy?

I used to hate beetroot and spinach! Now I cant imagine my life without these two, I love them so much eat them all the time, lol

cinnamon - what books are you reading, how are they?

I just finished reading “The Best of Intentions” by Susan Anne Mason and it was 10/10, I havent read such good book in a while! It’s set in 1919, after the war and idk how much do you want to me to say about it but it’s a romance (and so much more omg) and it’s super duper amazing. Currently, I’m reading “The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest. A Medieval Fairy Tale” and it’s good too! I’m also reading and book on depression (and it’s super helpful and explains a lot of things) and a book on self-esteem! 

Thank you so much for the ask @mrsnazariowritesagain!! ♥

[thenovelartist]

Do you like to read books? If so what are your favorites?

I do! Though I have not been able to read much lately because I can’t focus on sitting down and just being quiet and reading. (This is also the reason I never answered a couple asks about fanfic recs because I haven’t been reading too many lately. Thanks anxiety) I have found recently that it’s somewhat easier to read a manga and have annihilated two series lately, but I digress. 

To answer your question of which are my favorites.

The Lost Heiress byRoseanna M. White.  (Tidbit: It actually inspired The Love of a Cat. ;) )

Storm Siren by Mary Weber.

The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest  and The Beautiful Pretender by Melanie Dickerson

(And then, since I brought it up in my ramblings, the Noragami manga series is actually really good in terms of a fantastically intriguing storyline that has totally sucked me in.)

These are the ones I can think of right now. I’d love this list to be longer, but like I said, I haven’t been reading a whole lot lately because I just get overwhelmed at large amounts of words right now. Don’t know why or how to get over that. XP

[nat-reviews-books]

The Warrior Maiden by Melanie Dickerson

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Ok, so I've read other books by this author that I really enjoyed. This one, I didn't like very much. As a story, I liked it, but as an adaptation of the legend of Mulan, I hated it.

There may be spoilers below, just warning.

So, they took Mulan, a Chinese legend from China and made the character half-Lithuanian and half-Mongolian...the author took China out of Mulan?? Really??

The books I've read by Dickerson had good romances with characters that went together well. This book would have been better if she had decided not to go along the romantic route. Wolfgang was a boring romantic partner who would rather lock Mulan in a castle while he fought her battle for her (yes, this is a thing that happened, sorry about the spoiler).

The religion in this book was insane. I realize that in the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church ruled everything, but it was jarring when I'm reading about a battle and suddenly there's a Bible study class in the middle of the scene.

Also Wolfgang's brother was a terribly written character. His thoughts made no sense and his motivations were nonexistent.

Here are some things I liked, since it may seem like I've just been shitting on this book (I have been, it was not good).

I liked the relationship between Mulan and her stepmother. Honestly, Feodosia was a BAMF. I also liked the relationship between Mulan and Andrei. It was almost like the relationship between siblings, and they were always looking out for each other.

If you're looking for a good book by Melanie Dickerson, this is not it. Go to The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest, that one it a 5 star read. The Warrior Maiden is a 2.5 star read.

[christianbookdeals]

3-books $2.99 | A Melanie Dickerson Collection: The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest, The Beautiful Pretender, The Golden Braid (A Medieval Fairy Tale) by Melanie Dickerson @melanieauthor | @TNZfiction https://t.co/iA407SrYTp #kindledeals https://t.co/njgZhUsn5H Buy on Amazon : https://amzn.to/2V7qJzc

[beyondforks]

[eccles4il6by]

The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest by Melanie Dickerson ebook mobi

The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest by Melanie Dickerson ebook mobi

The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest by Melanie Dickerson ebook mobi A beautiful maiden who poaches to feed the poor. A handsome forester on a mission to catch her. Danger and love are about to unite in Thornbeck Forest. The margrave owns the finest hunting grounds for miles around—and who teaches children to read, but by night this young beauty has become the secret lifeline to the poorest of the…

[friendly-neighbourhood-librarian]

The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest - Melanie Dickerson

Similar to the Hagenheim series, Melanie Dickerson has written another series, simply called the Medieval Fairy Tale series. The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest is a combination of Robin Hood and Swan Lake, and I loved it!

For the past year, Odette has spent her nights poaching deer from Thornbeck Forest to feed the poor families and orphans of the town, and she has been rejecting marriage proposals from every wealthy man her uncle introduces to her for far longer. When she meets the kind and charming commoner, Jorgen Hartman, it is the first time she thinks she could be happy in a marriage, if her uncle would ever allow such a match. But there is a bigger problem: Jorgen is the newly appointed forester, tasked with apprehending the poacher who has been stealing the king’s game.

Elements of the Robin Hood and Swan Lake narratives are incorporated, but the story and characters are unique to themselves. As the conflict becomes deeper and more complicated as the story progresses, I was never quite sure where it was headed next! The two main characters complement each other well, and their blossoming romance was believable and very sweet. I really enjoyed watching their relationship grow as they came to understand each other! Loyalty and betrayals; secrets and mystery; love, friendships, family, and trust -- and a fairy tale ending, of course! 

Medieval Fairytales series: The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest | The Beautiful Pretender | The Noble Servant

More fairy tales

[michelina8f0q873]

The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest by Melanie Dickerson pdf book

The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest by Melanie Dickerson pdf book http://book-release.info/2017/01/23/the-huntress-of-thornbeck-forest-by-melanie-dickerson-pdf-book/ The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest by Melanie Dickerson pdf book A beautiful maiden who poaches to feed the poor. A handsome forester on a mission to catch her. Danger and love are about to unite in Thornbeck Forest.

[friendly-neighbourhood-librarian]

Fairy Tale Retellings Masterlist

If you spend a lot of time on my blog, you might notice that I really enjoy reading fairy tale retellings! And because I also love organization, here are all the fairy tale books I have read and reviewed, grouped by fairy tale and listed alphabetically. Series name is in brackets — if there’s no number it means the series does not need to be read in a specific order. Under the cut because it’s long...

Update: apparently there is a limit to how many links Tumblr will let me add to one post, so the larger sections will now link out to separate posts.

Aladdin

The Forbidden Wish - Jessica Khoury

The Stolen Kingdom - Bethany Atazadeh (Stolen Kingdom series #1)

A Whole New World - Liz Braswell (Twisted Tales series)

Alice in Wonderland

Heartless - Marissa Meyer

Beauty and the Beast

As Old as Time - Liz Braswell (Twisted Tales series)

Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge - Lisa Jensen

Beastly - Alex Flinn

The Beast’s Heart - Leife Shallcross

The Beautiful Pretender - Melanie Dickerson (Medieval Fairy Tale series) (+Princess and the Pea)

Bellamy and the Brute - Alicia Michaels

Belle - Cameron Dokey (Once Upon a Time series)

Belle - Sarah Price (Amish Fairytales series)

A Curse So Dark and Lonely - Brigid Kemmerer (Cursebreakers series #1)

Heart's Blood - Juliet Marillier

Human Again - E. L. Tenenbaum (End of Ever After series)

Hunted - Meagan Spooner

Lost in a Book - Jennifer Donnelly

The Merchant’s Daughter - Melanie Dickerson (Hagenheim series)

Of Beast and Beauty - Stacey Jay

Rose Daughter - Robin McKinley

Ogre Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine

The Princess and the Hound - Mette Ivie Harrison

Roses - Rose Mannering

Silken Scales - Alex Hayes (Chameleon Effect series #1)

Uprooted - Naomi Novik

Cinderella

All the Ever Afters - Danielle Teller

The Blood Spell - C. J. Redwine (Ravenspire series)

Cinder - Marissa Meyer (Lunar Chronicles #1)

Ella - Sarah Price (Amish Fairytales series)

Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine

End of Ever After - E. L. Tenenbaum (End of Ever After series)

Geekerella - Ashley Poston (Once Upon a Con series #1)

Godmother - Carolyn Turgeon

Just Ella - Margaret Peterson Haddix

Stepsister - Jennifer Donnelly

Goose Girl

The Goose Girl - Shannon Hale (Books of Bayern series #1)

Thorn - Intisar Khanani (Dauntless Path series #1)

King Arthur

The Camelot Rising series - Kiersten White [1][2][3]

Little Mermaid

Beautiful To Me - E. L. Tenenbaum (End of Ever After series)

The Jinni Key - Bethany Atazadeh (Stolen Kingdom series #2)

Mermaid - Carolyn Turgeon

Part of Your World - Liz Braswell (Twisted Tales series)

Sea Witch - Sarah Henning (Sea Witch series #1)

Sea Witch Rising - Sarah Henning (Sea Witch series #2)

Speechless - Madeline Freeman (Unfortunate Souls series #1)

Stars Above - Marissa Meyer (Lunar Chronicles #4.5)

To Kill a Kingdom - Alexandra Christo

Mulan

Reflection - Elizabeth Lim (Twisted Tales series)

Peter Pan

All Darling Children - Katrina Monroe

Lost Boy - Christina Henry

Tales of the Wendy series - Erin Michelle Sky & Steven Brown

Pied Piper

The Piper’s Pursuit - Melanie Dickerson (Hagenheim series)

Rapunzel

Bitter Greens - Kate Forsyth

Cress - Marissa Meyer (Lunar Chronicles #3)

The Golden Braid - Melanie Dickerson (Hagenheim series)

The Journey series - JacQueline Vaughn Roe (+Other fairy tales)

Red Riding Hood

Scarlet - Marissa Meyer (Lunar Chronicles #2)

Red Shoes

Dark and Deepest Red - Anna-Marie McLemore

Robin Hood

Curse Painter - Jordan Rivet

The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest - Melanie Dickerson (Medieval Fairy Tale series) (+Swan Lake)

Sherwood - Meagan Spooner

Rumpelstiltskin

A Curse Dark as Gold - Elizabeth C. Bunce

Lies of Golden Straw - E. L. Tenenbaum (End of Ever After series)

The Rumpelstiltskin Problem - Vivian Vande Velde

Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik

The Wish Granter - C. J. Redwine (Ravenspire series)

Sleeping Beauty

Briar Rose - Jane Yolen

Once Upon a Dream - Liz Braswell (Twisted Tales series)

Spindle Fire - Lexa Hillyer (Spindle Fire series #1)

Spindle’s End - Robin McKinley

Snow Child

The Snow Child - Eowyn Ivey

Snow Queen

Breadcrumbs - Anne Ursu

Conceal, Don't Feel - Jen Calonita (Twisted Tales series)

Snow White

Boy, Snow, Bird - Helen Oyeyemi

Fairest - Gail Carson Levine

Fairest - Marissa Meyer (Lunar Chronicles #3.5)

Girls Made of Snow and Glass - Melissa Bashardoust

Heart of a Hunter - E. L. Tenenbaum (End of Ever After series)

Poisoned - Jennifer Donnelly

Sadie - Sarah Price (Amish Fairytales series)

The Shadow Queen - C. J. Redwine (Ravenspire series)

Stitching Snow - R. C. Lewis

Winter - Marissa Meyer (Lunar Chronicles #4)

Snow White and Rose Red

Snow & Rose - Emily Winfield Martin

Twelve Dancing Princesses

Entwined - Heather Dixon

The Door in the Hedge - Robin McKinley (+Princess and the Frog)

House of Salt and Sorrows - Erin A. Craig

Wildwood Dancing - Juliet Marillier (+Princess and the Frog)

Other

The Bear and the Nightingale - Katherine Arden (inspired by Russian folklore/fairy tales)

Book of a Thousand Days - Shannon Hale (Maid Maleen - Grimm)

Eurona Duology - Wendy Higgins (The Singing Bone - Grimm)

Girl, Serpent, Thorn - Melissa Bashardoust (inspired by Persian mythology)

Keturah and Lord Death - Martine Leavitt (original fairy tale reminiscent of the Hades and Persephone myth)

The Language of Thorns - Leigh Bardugo (original fairy tales set in the Grishaverse)(Hansel and Gretel; Little Mermaid)

The Two Princesses of Bamarre - Gail Carson Levine (original middle grade fairy tale)

Nonfiction

Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale - Marina Warner

[friendly-neighbourhood-librarian]

The Beautiful Pretender - Melanie Dickerson

The second book in Dickerson's newest fairytale series, The Beautiful Pretender loosely reimagines Beauty and the Beast and the Princess and the Pea.

Like her previous Beauty and the Beast story, the "Beast" character is a gruff, closed-off man with a physical deformity, in this case a limp he acquired during the fire that killed his older brother and left him with the title of Margrave of Thornbeck. When the king requests that he marry a lady from the surrounding regions to help settle the growing unrest, Lord Thornbeck reluctantly invites the eligible young women to spend two weeks at his castle in order to select the most worthy bride. Avelina, maidservant of the inconveniently absent Lady Dorothea, is sent to Thornbeck in her place with strict instructions not to reveal her true identity or to let the margrave choose her as his bride. Easier said than done.

I loved this book almost as much as the first one in the series! It doesn’t resemble Beauty and the Beast very much, and there is only one very obvious reference to Princess and the Pea, but I enjoyed the story as it was and watching these two fall in love. In spite of the fact that Avelina was lying about who she was, their interactions just felt very honest and true to themselves. And the events at the end were not what I was expecting!

Medieval Fairytales series: The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest | The Beautiful Pretender | The Noble Servant

More fairy tales

[thenovelartist]

Hello 👋🏻 Love of a Cat is so freaking cute and well written and I wanted to ask if you knew of some books (whether they be classics or not) that include knights and princesses and cutesy stuff like that. Tysm

Well, how about I begin by telling you the book I read that inspired the Love of a Cat in the first place ;)

The Lost Heiress by Rosanna M. White 

I took a lot of inspiration from this book, from the plot to trying to emulate her writing style. It was such a good read (as are the two afterwards, but I liked number three a whole lot more than the second one), I HIGHLY recommend it. As this is something like a trilogy, and I originally wanted to have Love of a Cat happen more like the books, where you have three different parings of people take care of the gems while three different villains tried to get the gems. But that didn’t happen. Probably for the better.

The other books that I’ve liked that I’d recommend in that style are:

A Noble Masquerade by Kristi Ann Hunter (the ones that follow are good as well)

The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest  and The Beautiful Pretender by Melanie Dickerson are both really good. I enjoy a lot of her work (because she puts interesting spins on classic fairytales), but these two are her best.

An Uncertain Choice (and the two that follow it) by Judy Hedlund are short but cute knight/royalty love stories.

Finally, since I spewing recommendations here, My favorite novel is

Storm Siren by Mary Weber. It’s a fantasy, there’s magic, there’s romance, it’s good. I love it.

Also, To Whisper her Name and To Win her Favor (I know they sound super sappy[and they are] but bear with me) by Tamera Alexander are old-time western romances, but these two are really well-written and I loved the writing style, so I thought I should mention them.

So there’s my list of reads. But I’ll admit that I am a Christian, and while I’m not someone who is insistent upon only reading Christian authors, all the above happen to be Christian authors. So they do have underlying (or sometimes direct) Christian tones, but for the most part, they are just clean romances that I really enjoy.