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.

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

The premise is great and I had high hopes for the book. This review will also contain a lot of quotes from the book, because I think that's the best way to show why I didn't like the story.


The writing is not great. It's amateurish, and littered with cliches; examples include: "Her touch light like a butterfly's wings", "Blood surging through her veins", "His dark eyes captured her", "Aladdin's stomach tied itself into a knot", and "Her soft skin was like silk".
The dialogue is also terrible, and way too on-the-nose. There's no subtext whatsoever, and it's just boring.

The author has white-washed the Aladdin story. In the first chapter we get a glimpse of Aladdin in the Middle East (Iraq I'm guessing? It's never explicit), but then suddenly he's carried off to Germany and the story begins there. I HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM WITH THAT AND WITH WHAT FOLLOWS. The rest of the story takes place in Hagenheim (Germany) and Aladdin's love interest and the heroine of the story is a girl called Kirstyn, who is blue-eyed, Caucasian, and blonde.
Look. Retellings are retellings, and yes authors change stuff. But to take Aladdin to Germany and surround him with white people and have almost every page focus on a blonde white girl? That's not what I wanna read about if I wanna read about Aladdin. The Middle East, Jasmine, and the whole culture there is the essence of Aladdin's story, and I do not wanna read about a white girl in Germany when I should be reading about a brown boy in the Middle East. Moving the brown boy to Germany and filling the pages with his interactions with a blonde Caucasian girl does not remedy that. It's insulting to the original story and characters. It's called white-washing.

The characters are so flat and stereotypical. Kirtsyn is the beautiful, quiet, well-mannered girl who can do no wrong, and Aladdin is the sweet, honourable lad who's loved by everyone (and those who don't love him are obviously the villains). To give you an idea of just how perfect Aladdin is thought to be, here are some passages: '"Aladdin here. He is the wise one. He shall be running my business - and this town! Someday, you watch. Richer than all the swag merchants combined."',
'“Everything you do turns to gold, as if God’s favor follows you wherever you go. You come to Hagenheim as a poor orphan boy from the Holy Land and suddenly you are the talk of everyone at the orphanage. You are the stable master’s favorite, and you even gain the favor of the duke , who puts you to work in the castle as his steward in training. You’re the favorite playmate of the duke’s own daughter, and when you leave to make your fortune, the first man you meet is so impressed with you that he wants to hire you.”' And because Aladdin is a martyr and oh so modest: '“I’m not perfect. But I wish I was.”'
Ugh. It's so annoying.

The romance is awful. It gets worse when the love triangle enters, hence the character of Grethel, and Aladdin's behaviour is appalling as he deals with his feelings for both girls:
'She was pretty, he supposed, but not as beautiful as Kirstyn. Her hair was brown and smooth, her brown eyes and mouth rather small and delicate. He couldn’t help comparing her to Kirstyn’s pale-blonde hair, her full lips, and large blue eyes. Kirstyn was also taller than Grethel.' - 'This was the moment of every day that he should kiss her. After all, they were making plans to be married. But a memory of Kirstyn would always leap into his mind. It was what happened every time he thought about kissing Grethel.' - 'Aladdin had never really loved Grethel. He’d only agreed to marry her because . . . well, he wanted to please his mentor. And it was an attempt to stop his pain over Kirstyn’s death.' - '“Did you promise to marry her?” “Only after I thought you were gone forever."'
Oh how sweet. Not. Can Aladdin jolly well make up his mind and stop treating the girls like dirt? Poor Grethel, I say.

But the worst thing about Aladdin and Kirstyn's relationship is how Kirstyn getting abused by the villain is only used to push her towards Aladdin. The way the abuse is handled is literally the definition of a romanticised plot device. I discussed this topic in yesterday's Romanticised Abuse post, so you can read that in depth on my blog. I won't discuss it now.


The Orphan's Wish is very poorly written and the characters are unrealistic and boring. But the worst thing about the story is how problematic its content is.

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!

If you’re keeping track, this book has ties to the Hagenheim series of books. I’ve been trying to keep track of all the tie-ins, and you can see my full post about it HERE. The quick version is: Wilhelm and Rose (The Healer's Apprentice) are the parents of Valten (The Captive Bride), Gabe (The Fairest Beauty), Margaretha (The Princess Spy) and Kirstyn (The Orphan's Wish). Gerek (The Golden Braid) is a knight of Duke Wilhelm.

In this book, we’re following the story of Aladdin. Taken from the streets, he’s given a chance to prove himself in Hagenheim. He quickly makes friends with the Duke’s daughter, Kirstyn. After he rescues her from a bear, they become closer. This friendship grows as they get older. Aladdin comes to realize that he’ll never be good enough to marry the duke’s daughter by working as a steward and decides to leave Hagenheim to find his riches in another city.

While he’s gone, Kirstyn is abducted and held for ransom. When the kidnappers have a falling out, she’s held captive for a much longer period of time than she’d hoped. Thoughts of how her family and Aladdin will never stop looking for her keep her going, and she tries more than once to get away. Once she’s free, things aren’t quite the way she’s imagined, and she has a lot to sort out.

I liked this one. I was a little bummed at the very beginning when the author was using Ala ad’din for the main character’s name. I was just saying Aladdin in my head, but it was quickly changed. I was happy when his name was Aladdin for the rest of the book.

Something I do want to mention: the characters spend a lot of time apart in this book. Usually that’s a negative for me, but I think it was well done in this case. The characters weren’t just thinking about each other, they were reliving memories of times they had together. It made the distance seem not as far and helped me focus on how they felt about each other.

And here’s why I gave it four stars instead of five. The sappiness at the end. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good romance. But the emotions flowed a bit too long for me at the end, and I ended up skimming a lot of it. It’s still a good book. If you’ve read any of this author’s retold fairy tales, I don’t think you’ll want to miss this one. And if you’re considering this one and it’s your first one, go ahead and do it. You won’t be lost since each of these tales can be read alone without feeling lost. Good Book!

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

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!

This book is a historical romance that is based on the fairy tale about Aladdin. I have read Ms. Dickerson’s books before, but none of her books based on fairy tales. This book was different than her Regency Spy series. The genre of this book is romance. The tale is about Aladdin and Kirstyn which begins during their childhood and continues to adulthood. Throughout the book, both characters reveal their faith in God and how they rely on Him through everything. The inspirational parts of the book is another reason I enjoy reading Ms. Dickerson. This book provides an interesting twist to the story of Aladdin if you enjoy the classic fairy tales. If you enjoy historical romance books, you will enjoy this book. I recommend you read this book.
***I was given a free electronic copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review. This is my honest opinion. Even though I received this copy free, I have purchased her books before.

I really love Dickerson's fairytale retellings. I did enjoy this fun fast paced retelling of Aladdin. I'm more than a little uncomfirtable that Aladdin - traditionally set in Persia - is here set in a Euro centric fantasy province with white orotagonists but that the name Aladdin has been kept. I am all for the fact that all myths and fairytales are shared resources for everyone to use but in this instance it does come across a bit like white washing. If the name Aladdin had been changed it might have been slightly better but tbh I think keeping it in a middle Eastern locale fantasy or otherwise with middle Eastern protagonists would have been better. I think this is going to offend certain groups.

Sweet fairytale romance… can an orphan Saracen win a Lady’s heart?

Aladdin is transplanted from his homeland to a European orphanage, where he becomes friends with the daughter of one of the orphanage’s patrons. Through their childhood friendship, Aladdin and the duke’s daughter become as brother and sister. Aladdin has a wonderful work ethic and works hard to earn a position of assistant steward. While Aladdin could become steward, he doesn’t want to remain a servant, and he doesn’t want to remain Lady Kirstyn’s friend; he wants to build his own fortune and offer for her hand.

Aladdin has a long way to go, journeying to another city with a man who becomes like a father to him. While many recognize his genius for turning businesses around and making an honest profit, others have more nefarious purposes, and Aladdin must battle efforts to discredit him.

Can Aladdin make his fortune and marry his Lady? Can she move beyond their friendship and desire him as a husband? There are perils in store for both, as evil people plot against them out of spite and jealousy. But if they can hold out, they may just have a future together.

Very sweet twist on Aladdin.

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

I enjoyed this tale about a young boy named Aladdin who was forced to steal at a young age and then he was caught by a priest and a knight who took him back to Germany with them to raise in the Christian faith.
Aladdin was happy living with the priest until he died and Aladdin was sent to live in an orphanage. Aladdin gets to know and become good friends with Kirsten, a young noble man’s daughter, who invites Aladdin to go on walks with her in the forest. One day, when he and Kirsten were in the forest when they saw a bear with her cub, and Aladdin threw himself in front of it and got bit and clawed in the leg. Kirsten grabbed a branch and hit the bear on the nose and head and she and her cub ran away from them. She helped to nurse Aladdin back to health and their friendship began to be closer.
Because she was the daughter of a Lord, Aladdin felt that he had to leave the town and go somewhere else to make his fortune and support Kirsten.
You will have to read the story for yourself to find out what tragic events happen to this young couple.