This is a well written book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I found it to be a very sweet coming of age story. Melanie does a great job of taking you on a wonderful journey. This author is a master at character development. Our two main characters meet at a very young age. Aladdin has grown up poor and all alone. He meets Kirstyn, a beautiful young daughter of the duke of Hagenheim, at a birthday party. Lady Rose, Kirstyn's mom, is the patroness of the orphanage where Aladdin lives. Despite the big differences between the two of them, they become best friends who are inseparable. As time goes on and they grow older their feelings start to change toward each other. It happens for Aladdin a little quicker than for Kirstyn who is a few years younger. I love the way Melanie was able to draw hope out of the darkness in this story. She was able to keep me guessing until the end. And then left me wanting more. I would recommend this wonderful story. I received a copy of this book from Thomas Nelson Publishers through NetGalleys. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was touching and this small boy went thru so much. The man that took him from his mother's body taught him how to steal. He tried to steal from a knight and got caught. The priest traveling with the knight decided to take Ala ad din with them. They got to the town of Hegenheim where the priest lived. when the priest died he went to the orphanage where he met Lady Kirstyn. She is the daughter of the duke there and she likes to play with the children. As time goes by they are great friends.
This similar to Alba and the 40 thieves. The are differences but it still a good story.
The characters seem so real, but when they are bad they really are. bad. The plot twists around and makes a story that keeps your attention, it is mesmerizing. I loved the part where the kids play Blind's man Bluff or when they went to the Forest, to enjoy the day.

The Orphan’s Wish
Melanie Dickerson

Dickerson has done it again with a sweet fairytale inspired novel. I am a sucker for fairytales and she did not disappoint. I loved the twist on the Aladdin tale and enjoyed every part of the novel. There was a lot of story packed into this book and I felt like I grew to know that characters more than her previous works. The novel kept me reading, and I didn’t want to put it down needing to know what happened next.

Such a sweet, adventurous novel. A definite must read!

A really wonderful book that touches on realistic struggles and presents well formed characters growing through those struggles. I highly suggest this book! Also, the romance is wonderfully portrayed and, I think, really does show a relationship that can prove to be an uplifting example in this day and age. Thank you Mrs. Dickerson for this little piece of joy!

This absorbing story by Melanie Dickerson is exactly what you would expect it to be: A Christian fairytale with the author’s own imaginative retelling of the story of Aladdin. She sets Aladdin’s tale in Germany, instead of the Middle East, and he interacts with some of the other characters in the Hagenheim realm. It’s a sweet, clean tale of growing up, friendship, love, and hope.

If you want your fairytale to be be “modern” and address specific issues from that viewpoint. then this isn’t the book for you. If you don’t want to read “flowery” phrases, then skip this one. But this is exactly what I hoped it would be: A lovely, captivating fairytale filled with action, suspense, and romance. Aladdin is portrayed as a young man of faith and honor who struggles at times with his own imperfections, but learns from his own mistakes. Aladdin and Kristyn have to go through many struggles on their way to their happily-ever-after. But isn’t that one of the things that makes a good fairytale?

I always enjoy a good fairytale. I loved this book.

I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher. I was not required to give a positive review. All opinions are my own.

Orphaned at age five in the Holy Land, Aladdin is found by a master thief and forced to steal from market goers. But when he tries to steal from a knight and gets caught, a priest takes pity on the boy, adopts him, and brings him home to the orphanage in Hagenheim. There he grows up in close proximity to the duke's family, becoming an inseparable friend of the duke's daughter Kristyn. But as they grow older, their friendship cannot help but change....

Unsure whether Kristyn even cares for him in a romantic way, Aladdin leaves Hagenheim to make his way in the world and earn enough wealth to enable him to win her. His accounting skills and quick wits stand him in good stead, and he becomes partner to a merchant in a nearby city. But when news reaches him that Kirstyn has been kidnapped by a mysterious brigand named Michael, Aladdin must try every possible lead to find his one true love.

This book was a unique retelling of the Aladdin story. I must admit, I was expecting it to stay in the Middle East instead of moving immediately to the German-esque town of Hagenheim, but many of the key elements of the Aladdin story were there, including his little friend Abu, a capricious merchant/sultan, and Aladdin's uncanny ability to turn a profit in business endeavors (even without a genie to grant wishes). The plot surrounding Kirstyn's kidnapping had some interesting elements to it, as did the aftermath of her rescue.

I have read a few of the other books in this series, books focusing on Kirstyn's siblings and their fairy tale romances with other characters. This book was, unfortunately, my least favorite of the bunch. A large part of my dislike for this book lay in Aladdin's behavior. His character flaw, which is continually spelled out for the reader, is that he tries to be perfect, but cannot be, and in the end, needs to trust in God's perfection. He is a people-pleaser, never wanting others to be disappointed in him. This gets him into hot water as he practices avoidance instead of facing his duty like a man, and it made him--to my mind--a very unattractive male lead. Although the book described him as tall and handsome, I couldn't help cringing during the romantic parts, because he was so decidedly un-masculine. While it is normal for YA books to be more straightforward in exposition and narrative style, I would have enjoyed a little more subtlety in the narrative and dialogue.

Fans of fairy tale re-tellings may enjoy this book, but if you are new to Melanie Dickerson, I recommend giving one of her other books a try first.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Melanie Dickerson is amazing! Her twist on one of my top favorite fairy-tales, Aladdin, is phenomenal! Granted, it was a bit slow at the start, but once I got passed the first few chapters, it picked right up. I couldn't put it down. The story is an inspiration and refreshing to read. It was just so good.

I enjoyed Melanie Dickerson's new vision of the Aladdin's story in The Orphan's Wish. This eighth installment from the Hagenheim series was wonderful! I love how Aladdin and Kirstyn interacted with one another.
I would give The Orphan’s Wish 4 ½ stars and recommend it. Melanie Dickerson fans will not be disappointed. Great read!

This one just wasn't my jam--a bit too slow on the uptake and too many flashbacks. It just didn't have the "it" factor.

Very nice read. I really enjoyed how much of the relationship we got to see between Kirsten and Aladdin, childhood to epilogue, though I was disappointed there was no Jasmine in the story. I can understand wanting to incorporate it into a previous group of characters but other story's were the beginning of different time periods and setting so why couldn't this one have been? I did like the incorporation of the story of Aladdin and Abu into a new twist though, that is so characteristic of Dickerson. The story had a nice flow and ongoing development of suspense, though the was a dip in the middle where things stretched a bit too unrealistically long. Why had Michael kept her a prisoner so long? It was a long time to have to hide her, feed her and wait out his revenge ...for no apparent reason. Still the story played out uniquely and with enough intrigue and romance I thought a very nice read overall. I really like that Dickersons main character are those of upstanding moral and religious character. I really like reading about characters I would want to aspire to be more like. Imperfect, but striving to be the best they can for the right reasons. Encourages me to do the same. I would recommend it :) ... though not quite as enthusiastically as some of Dickersons other books. I am also reading an ARC and know that it is not the final draft copy to the book, so these are my impressions of the copy I read. Hope you enjoy it too!

Another beautiful accomplishment of a retelling by Melanie Dickerson. I wish there were more authors like her—with the desire to write clean, sweet, inspirational teen fiction with a base in faith. This retelling of Aladdin was quite enjoyable. I loved the slow-blossoming childhood friendship that took these two main characters—Aladdin and Kirstyn—into maturity, and discovering their devotion to each other had grown into that deeply-abiding love. Aladdin can’t help but dream of making his own way, with the desire to be worthy of Kirstyn. But a separation is trying for both these tender, young hearts.

We spend the first several chapters witnessing that childhood friendship in chunks a few years apart, until they are young adults, but we get to revisit moments from that developing friendship in recalled memories—short and sweet, so as not to distract from the main storyline. These memories are what sustains them as the physical miles between them grow. I was anxious to see how they would be reunited!

The timeline in the middle of the book had some gaps and some unexplained moments and jumps that kind of threw me and confused me. Like, why was it taking so long for our one main character to get from point A to point B? I was surprised at how much time had passed and what had happened to explain those missing weeks/months. It could have used more clarity and smooth transition points there.

Through her trials, though, Kirstyn is seen as spunky and brave, and when danger comes calling she rises to face it with determination and faith that God will see her through it all. Aladdin is wise and resourceful, and his love and devotion to Kirstyn sees him through—giving him strength and endurance. His intense desire to be pleasing to those around him while his heart is elsewhere causes some err in his decision making—but he tries so hard to rectify, that there is no doubt what a good young man he is.

I think The Orphan’s Wish is a story worthy of adding to the collection of other books in this series. Each book cover just gets more and more beautiful! Although not a favorite—for which The Healer’s Apprentice and The Princess Spy are the two best in my opinion—it is still a very good story and I would recommend it. This can be read as a stand-alone, as with any of the books in this series.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book for me started slow, but once I got through the first few chapters, I had a VERY hard time putting it down. I read the majority of the book in less than a day! There were a few twists and turns that made my stomach plummet into my toes and I didn't know how the characters would recover. Wonderful story!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Loved it! Ms Dickerson has serious skills wrapping a fictional novel with a fairy tale. Exceptional!!

Disclosure statement:
I receive complimentary books for review from publishers, publicists,
and/or authors, including Netgalley. I am not required to write positive
reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this
in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

Melanie is skilled at taking a well known story and making it her own, which she has done again in The Orphan's Wish! I also enjoyed the German influences of the story.

This particular book of Melanie's seemed much more loosely based that some of her others, that said, it was a unique twist to the Aladdin story with Christian themes that many young adults can connect with. 

Kirstyn and Aladdin's love story is a cute friendships to more development. I found that as they met when they were both quite young the writing style fit quite well, but as they grew I would have liked to see the writing voice grow with them, it almost felt like they were still too young to be getting married by the end of the book. 

There was one plot point that seemed in-congruent with the rest of the character. The wealthy merchant Herr Kaufmann seems to have made his way in the world and established his wealth quite well before Aladdin, but the flounders without him. It seemed inconsistent with the character she introduced us to, for him to face financial difficulty without Aladdin. His illness addressed this somewhat, but not enough to explain financial ruin. 

The undertones of feeling not good enough, broken or unloved, were woven into the story quite well. There are so many young adults that can connect with those feelings of inadequacy that it's beautiful to see stories that are willing to address such emotional driven topics for youth, and do it well.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I have to say from the first beginning where this book had a title, I was excited. I love Melanie Dickerson's work completely. I am a big fan of Aladdin and this retelling was a clever spin on the enchanting tale.

I love how this book is different from her others since most of them involve meeting the two characters for the first time when they are adults while this one starts with our two leads meeting very early on as children.

The characters were very relatable and the story easy to follow. Another winner for this great author.

I highly recommend this for ages 13 and up for some mild (not graphic) violence.

Alladin's story...Melanie Dickerson brings fairy tales to life. A gifted author who pens amazing stories. Experience this story....you will not regret it!

I am so disappointed with this book. Why, Melanie Dickerson, did you have to have the main character’s name be Aladdin. In the Captive Maiden, the main characters were not named Prince Charming or Cinderella. This book was not like any of her other books, or the ones I have read before. Most of the time in the book the main two characters were thinking about the past. For example, Kirstyn thought about that day when she was 12 or Aladdin remembered the day Kirstyn turned 13. And things like that were in the book more times I could count. The story was rather bland as well. So, the main girl gets kidnapped and her dad, who is a duke, pretty much gave up on trying to find her.

In my own opinion this is not Dickerson’s best work. I am not a fan of this book and was really disappointed.

I have read most of the books by author Melanie Dickerson. She is a very good young adult writer. All her books are tame and clean and have a Christian theme sprinkled throughout. The Orphan's wish is the author's version of the story of Aladdin.

A young orphan boy is taken by an evil man and made to steal. Aladdin is rescued by a priest and taken to a new country and a new life. As a child, he forms a friendship with a royal girl named Kristyn. The duke feels appreciation for Aladdin after he rescues Kristyn from a bear attack, but he doesn't want their relationship to blossom into something more. Because of this, Aladdin is kept at a distance as much as possible.

But romance blossoms in spite of Kristyn's parents, and Aladdin feels he must leave to seek his fortune. He feels this is the only way to be worthy of Kristyn. After becoming rich and successful, he comes to realize what his true wish really is.

I thought the author did a good job of creating a story for young adults. My only slight complaint was the repeated flashback scenes. I felt they were too long and too numerous, when I just wanted to know what happened next in the present story. Overall, a great read.

Aladdin is one of my favourite stories from the Arabian nights. I really enjoyed this take the author had for this story, not at all what I was expecting but thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless!