Books for Christian Girls: "The Lady of Lanaria" by Michaela Bush

About this book:

  “A kidnapped princess, a promise, and a kingdom cursed with mysterious plagues.
   "Mark my words, Evangeline; if you set foot outside this tower, you will surely die."
   Evangeline has spent her entire life hidden in an ancient watchtower, gazing through a window as the world passes her by. She heeds her mother's warning closely, the truth hidden from her always. When a young guard stumbles upon the tower, Evangeline's life is changed forever. As she strikes up a secret friendship with the guard, she learns about the Kingdom of Lanaria and the mysterious plagues that haunt all who live there. But as she delves into the world she barely knows, not everything her mother says adds up. Will they find the truth before it's too late?”

Series: Book #1 in the “Legends of Lanaria” series.

Spiritual Content- Three Scriptures are listed at the beginning (Psalm 112:4, Micah 7:8, & John 1:5); A few Scriptures are mentioned/quoted; Prayers & Thanking God; Bible reading; Talks about God; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Evangeline found a Holy Book and reads it (which Mother is very upset about and wants her to destroy it as it will only fill her mind “with lies and fairytales of archaic deities who somehow care about you”; *Spoiler* Towards the end, Mother burns the Bible *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of God & His will; Mentions of a Bible & Bible reading; A few mentions of prayers & praying; A few mentions of blessings & being Blessed; A couple mentions of the king being a believer of Christ; A couple mentions of not being able to serve two masters; A couple mentions of a priest & him performing a ritual prayer for health; A couple mentions of the fallen, sinful world; A mention of a God-given talent; A mention of a cathedral;
             *Note: Prior to the story starting, it’s said that witchcraft took a hold of the kingdom and it spread along with evil and darkness; Mother is a witch, practices dark magic, calls it her religion, & wants Evangeline to learn it as well (but she does not want to as something inside of her tells her it’s evil and sinister); *Spoiler* The “curse” is actually poison because Mother is not strong in the “dark magicks” so her “spells” are illusions and the “curse” is poisonous fruits and plants *End of Spoiler*; Mother says the Bible is all about angry armies going to slaughter others and people being murdered because of what it says (Evangeline disagrees); Many mentions of the Witch who cursed the kingdom, curses, spells, witch-hunts, a book of spells and dark magicks, chanting, & witchcraft apprentices; Mentions of evil people; Mentions of Evangeline’s fate being “written in the stars” and that it’s her destiny to be the heir to the witch family (said by Mother); Mentions of blood bonding between Mother and her witch apprentices (she teaches them the wrong enchantment so they aren’t actually bounded to her); Mentions of nymphs, lost spirits, ghosts, fairies, & such creatures (teasing about seeing them in the forest or being under a spell by them, but none are actually seen); A few mentions of wicked people; A couple mentions of enchantments; A mention of Mother saying Evangeline’s God condemns liars; A mention of some believing that the witch killed the princess and used her blood to enact the curse; A mention of a sorceress; A mention of someone being called a “cheeky devil”; A mention of a devilish cackle; A mention of someone keeping a rabbit’s foot around his neck; A mention of a booth selling fortunes; A mention of a group wanting others to see them as great saviors; A mention of someone being “otherworldly” (Mother).

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘hush up’, three ‘blasted’s, five ‘bloody’s, and six ‘shut it’s; A bit of sarcasm; Seeing someone fall to their death (up to semi-detailed); Seeing a murder (barely-above-not-detailed); Fighting, Being stabbed, & Blood/Bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Being hit, Being held at knifepoint, Being drugged, Being almost drowned, Passing out, Pain, Injuries, & Blood/Bleeding (from Mother’s abuse, barely-above-not-detailed); At one point, Evangeline savors the idea of death because she knows where she would go; Mother belittles and verbally abuses Evangeline; Evangeline keeps Gabriel’s visits a secret from Mother & lies to her; A bird’s nest is destroyed and it’s babies are killed (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Many mentions of Evangeline being told that she will be killed if the guards or king find her (told to her by Mother); Many mentions of poison & deaths; Mentions of a plan to kill someone & holding someone at knifepoint; Mentions of a fire & family being burned alive (including the person who set the fire committing suicide by going into the fire); Mentions of deaths, sicknesses, rat bites, & grief (for parents, sisters, a daughter, and an infant granddaughter); Mentions of a kidnapping; Mentions of violence, crimes, criminals, arrests, & prisons; Mentions of threats & blackmail; Mentions of someone threatening to burn a house down with someone in it; Mentions of Mother whipping Evangeline and smacking for disobeying (physical abuse and Gabriel is concerned for her, up to semi-detailed); Mentions of hatred; Mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of thieves; A few mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of vomiting; A couple mentions of animal abuse; A mention of some royal men killing their wives to marry another; A mention of an abusive husband; A mention of a grotesque death; A mention of some believing that a witch ate the kidnapped princess; A mention of someone being drawn and quartered; A mention of a widow used for cannons and “other killing contraptions” towards someone’s enemies; A mention of Gabriel recalling the foster homes where the families would beat him; A mention of nightmares; A couple mentions of drinking & wine; A mention of betting.

Sexual Content- A cheek kiss, three forehead/head kisses, and two border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed kisses; Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Hand holding, Nearness, Smelling, & Butterflies (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes & Winks; Noticing & Staring (barely-above-not-detailed); A man asks if Gabriel used or forced himself on Evangeline (he did not and is disgusted that the man would ask that); A couple mentions of kisses & kissing; A mention of lustful men;  A mention of some of the guards having “less-than-honorable attitudes toward women”; Some love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Mother does not have a high opinion of men (she says they are hypocritical and awful beings who lie and cheat those around them); All Mother has told Evangeline about her father is that he was awful and not to trust men.

-Evangeline “Eva”
-Gabriel, age 19
                                P.O.V. switches between them & a couple others
                                                        321 pages

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Early High School Teens-

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My personal Rating-

{Sensitive animal lovers might have a hard time during one scene}

Oh my goodness, that was such a good retelling!

Here’s the thing about retellings: It doesn’t matter how many times we read the same concept of a certain fairytale, it always pulls you in while you wait for a favorite classic moment and, personally, I love to see how each author makes it their own. For this Rapunzel retelling, it was so neat to have faith content mixed in and while, yes, my brain did go to Tangled often, there was a lot of differences that made this book stand out. Especially with Gabriel…he’s as different from Flynn Rider as you can get (a guard vs a thief) but he was so well done and perfect for Eva. She was a dear and so sweet. Really, this book was such a sweet retelling!

I did notice a couple errors in the Kindle edition I was reading (such as a paragraph being repeated in the wrong place), and there was some head jumping between characters in the same chapter. (Which did confuse me at times, but I was quick to be fine with it because most of those additional POV parts were so cute!) Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book.

There was magic content, but it was only used by the villain and her minions. There were many mentions of curses and spells, but it’s all explained at the end. (*Spoiler* The villain doesn’t actually have any powers, though her family is said to have had them. She has come this far by using poison and blackmail, rather than any spells or actual magic-related elements. *End of Spoiler*). One thing I really liked about this story was that the line of Good vs Evil was clearly drawn and Eva wanted nothing to do with Mother’s evil intentions. The magick/witch content was clearly shown as wrong, no doubt or wiggle-room about that. I liked how the author incorporated faith content and how everything played out. I’ll definitely be picking up the second book when it releases!

See y’all on Monday with a new review!