Title: The Healer’s Apprentice
Author: Melanie Dickerson
Series: Hagenheim / Fairy Tale Romance series, book 1
Genre: Christian, Fairytale, Historical, Romance, YA
Publisher: Zondervan
Release Date: September 15th, 2010

Note: Even though The Healer’s Apprentice is the first in a series, it can be read as a stand-alone story, as with the other books in the series. However, the characters that are in this book are featured in rest of the series, which is why I recommend staying in order.

A retelling of The Sleeping Beauty.

Hagenheim, 1386

As implied in the title, Rose has become the apprentice of the town healer, and she is eager to show how helpful and reliable she can be. This is her chance to make something of herself, despite her lowly upbringing. When the future Duke of Hagenheim, Lord Hamlin, comes to the healer injured, Rose has the chance to prove herself – but she doesn’t expect to fall in love along the way.

The future Duke cannot, of course, marry so far beneath his elevated position – which is exactly why we know that he, too, battles feelings of his own for the lovely apprentice. But they both know that they cannot be together, no matter how much they may want that. Is the love developing between them enough to make a way?

Let me start by saying that I love Melanie Dickerson’s fairytale retellings overall! Unfortunately, this book was not a favorite of mine. It was a little hard to get into, especially compared to some of her other books. Here are some thoughts as to why:

1. I wasn’t that into the romance of the story, and that is pretty much all this story is – a romance. So I think that is where she lost me.
2. Also, it is very Christian. I know that is the genre it falls under, but sometimes it just felt like too much for me. (And this is coming from someone who has called herself a Christian her entire life.) Some of Dickerson’s books come across this way, but others do not. This is definitely just personal preference when it comes to reading fiction.
3. Lastly, Dickerson has a way of not allowing her characters to be together, like they cannot fall in love because one of them is above the other in terms of status. Part of this, I completely understand because it is a way to develop conflict within the romance. But that’s just it – it is one way. Yet it seems that this is her go-to in every single book of hers. How could this person possibly love me, when I am so far beneath them? (Spoiler alert: somehow, their different statuses never seem to matter as much as they think they do.)

All that to say, I really do like these books as a whole. This one, not as much as others.

Click on the links below to get your copy of this book and the others in its series: