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Quickie Audio Book Review-The Warrior Maiden by Melanie Dickerson

by | Apr 23, 2022 | Audio Book Reviews, Book Reviews | 0 comments

This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

About The Book

From New York Times bestselling author Melanie Dickerson comes a fresh reimagining of the classic Mulan tale.

“When it comes to happily-ever-afters, Melanie Dickerson is the undisputed queen of fairy-tale romance, and all I can say is — long live the queen!” — Julie Lessman, award-winning author

She knows women are expected to marry, cook, and have children, not go to war. Can she manage to stay alive, save her mother, and keep the handsome son of a duke from discovering her secret?

When Mulan takes her father’s place in battle against the besieging Teutonic Knights, she realizes she has been preparing for this journey her whole life—and that her life, and her mother’s, depends on her success. As the adopted daughter of poor parents, Mulan has little power in the world. If she can’t prove herself on the battlefield, she could face death—or, perhaps worse, marriage to the village butcher.

Disguised as a young man, Mulan meets the German duke’s son, Wolfgang, who is determined to save his people even if it means fighting against his own brother. Wolfgang is exasperated by the new soldier who seems to be one step away from disaster at all times — or showing him up in embarrassing ways.

From rivals to reluctant friends, Mulan and Wolfgang begin to share secrets. But war is an uncertain time and dreams can die as quickly as they are born. When Mulan receives word of danger back home, she must make the ultimate choice. Can she be the son her bitter father never had? Or will she become the strong young woman she was created to be?

This fresh reimagining of the classic tale takes us to fifteenth-century Lithuania where both love and war challenge the strongest of hearts.

My Review

The Warriors Maiden is part of the pretty popular fairy tale retelling inspirational series. I don’t know about you, but I have seen these books all over my Libby app and I do adore a good fairytale retelling. I am doing the fairytale retelling reading challenge this year and this book here is part of that reading challenge as the theme for the month is “Mulan” and there just aren’t that many romance retellings featuring this retelling and I do wish that there was more. But it was also a good reason for me to pick up this author which I have been wanting to for a while. She tends to tackle the fairytales and not just the popular ones used in romance like Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast, but the retellings we don’t see used very much in fiction. I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. It is pretty close to the retelling of Disney’s Mulan (animated version). What we have in this setup, is it takes place in eastern Europe, and there is a war going to be happening soon. Our heroine, Mulan, was adopted by this European family in Lithuania, her adopted father was of little use and very emotionally abusive and a drunk at times. But her mother taught her everything that she knew. When war is called upon them, and Mulan realizes if she doesn’t go, they could lose their home as her adopted father is of little use to them now. So she cuts her hair, dresses in the warrior tunic and goes into the training where she meets Wolfgang, who is the son of a German Duke. There is a close friendship that forms between Mulan and Wolfgang, but it’s revealed early on that Mulan is a woman but she is a capable fighter and Wolfgang can’t seem to let her go home as he knows that she should. Because a woman fighting in a war is unheard of. As Wolfgang and Mulan and their warriors work together to defeat the armies out to destroy them, it will also build a beautiful love between the young pair.

I will be honest, I didn’t know what to feel about this book. I did listen to this one as an audiobook and while I enjoyed the narration, i just had a hard time really wanting to be invested in the story. I think maybe because it’s more fade to black type of steam, I honestly wasn’t expecting. I didn’t really look into the author or this series that much. So I really went into this one pretty blind. And I just wasn’t prepared for such a light on the steam type of read and I guess its also YA (which I had no clue haha) but granted most historical’s if written realistically, could be categorized as young adult instead of adult as most women got married really young But I was intrigued by this story, I had a fun time with the connection to the Disney tale of Mulan, and seeing how the author developed this story. Even though it doesn’t take place in China, I was so intrigued by this and the romance just seemed so much more authentic. But I had a difficult time connecting with the chemistry between the two here. It just felt like an adventure between friends at least till the end of the book, I didn’t really feel much intimacy being grown here. (and yes you can grow an intimate romance without sex in it). So I just wasn’t fully prepared for this writing style. It’s not bad at all, I just don’t think I was prepared for it, I didn’t do my due diligence in doing the research that needed to be done here so that I could go into the story with a better mindset. So part of this is my fault, however, I do think if you enjoy inspirational romance with a fairytale retelling, and don’t mind a more YA/NA feel to the audience, then you definitely will get a kick out of this one. I do plan on delving further into this series though and exploring more of this author’s work.

Book Details

Title: The Warrior Maiden

Author: Melanie Dickerson

Genre: Historical Romance

Format: Audiobook

Source: Library

Length: 8 Hours

About the Narrators

Jude’s imagination frequently leads her astray, and she eagerly follows while trying to keep out of trouble, or at least not get caught. For those of you who know her, you’ll know that’s not always easy. A picture, a smell, an unexpected glimpse of flesh, or a load of soil in the back of a pick-up, are all fodder for her writing. Her male characters run the gamut from the dominant male ruling his women with an iron fist, to a simpering purple-clad boy-toy, whose only desire is to please. As diverse and as richly depicted, her women find themselves in a myriad of exotic and erotic situations.At the present time, Jude is extremely proud to be one of the Total E-Bound authors and has several books them and more are scheduled for th via goodreads

Book Links

Amazon| Barnes & Noble| Kobo| Goodreads| LibraryThing| Storygraph| Literal Club| Audible

Book Evaluation

Storytelling Quality: 3.5

Story Itself: 3.5

Character Development: 3

Writing Style: 4

World Building 4

Feels + The Romantic Heart 2.5

Pacing 4

Plot 4

Narration= 3.5

Cover Art 4

Ending 4

Book Ratings

Rating of the Book

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Steam Level

Simmering cup of tea—soft warm touches and light intimacy

Warmin’ by the fire- a medium level of sexual tension, a balance of sexual and emotional intimacy, lighter on the details in the sexual moments.

Steamin’ up the room -the sexual content is more explicit in the language and tone, heavier amount of sexual scenes.

Blazing fire to the building-The prime focus is the sex scenes, scorching hot, and could burn one. Less focus on the emotional intimacy to the relationship.

Trigger Warnings:

Triggers/Warnings of Content:

Bullying, Reference to torture and pain, violence and death. Reference to Religious practices.

Series Order

Hagenheim

The Healer’s Apprentice-Pub 2010 # 1 in the Series

The Merchant’s Daughter-Pub 2011 #2 in the Series

The Fairest Beauty-Pub 2013 #3 in the Series

The Captive Maiden-Pub 2013 #4 in the Series

The Princess Spy-Pub 2014 #5 in the Series

The Golden Braid-Pub 2015 #6 in the Series

The Silent Songbird-Pub 2016 #7 in the Series

The Orphan’s Wish-Pub 2018 #8 in the Series

The Warrior’s Maiden-Pub 2019 #9 In the Series

The Piper’s Pursuit-Pub 2019 #10 in the Series

The Peasant’s Dream-Pub 202 #11 in the Series

About The Author

Melanie Dickerson is the New York Times bestselling author who combines her love for history, adventure, and romance. Her books have won a Christy Award, two Maggie Awards, The National Reader’s Choice Award, the Christian Retailing’s Best Award, the Book Buyer’s Best Award, the Golden Quill, and the Carol Award. She earned her bachelor’s degree in special education from The University of Alabama and has taught children and adults in the U.S., Germany, and Ukraine. Now she spends her time writing stories of love and adventure near Huntsville, Alabama.

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