The Golden Braid by Melanie Dickerson

Book 6 of  Hagenheim

Summary: 

From New York Times bestselling author comes The Golden Braid, a Rapunzel retelling that proves the one who needs rescuing isn’t always the one in the tower.

Rapunzel can throw a knife better than any man. She paints beautiful flowering vines on the walls of her plaster houses. She sings so sweetly she can coax even a beast to sleep. But there are two things she is afraid her mother might never allow her to do: learn to read and marry.

Fiercely devoted to Rapunzel, her mother is suspicious of every man who so much as looks at her daughter and warns her that no man can be trusted. After a young village farmer asks for Rapunzel’s hand in marriage, Mother decides to move them once again—this time, to the large city of Hagenheim.

The journey proves treacherous, and after being rescued by a knight—Sir Gerek—Rapunzel in turn rescues him farther down the road. As a result, Sir Gerek agrees to repay his debt to Rapunzel by teaching her to read. Could there be more to this knight than his arrogance and desire to marry for riches and position?

As Rapunzel acclimates to life in a new city, she uncovers a mystery that will forever change her life. In this Rapunzel story unlike any other, a world of secrets and treachery is about to be revealed after seventeen years of lies. How will Rapunzel finally take control of her own destiny? And who will prove faithful to a lowly peasant girl with no one to turn to?

Opening Lines: 

"Rapunzel, I wish to marry you."

At that moment, Mother revealed herself from behind the well in the center of the village, her lips pressed tightly togehter.

The look Mother fixed on Wendel Gotekens was the one that always made Rapunzel's stomach churn. 

Rapunzel shuffled backward on the rutted dirt road. "I am afraid I cannot marry you."

"Why not?" I leaned toward her, his wavy hair unusually tame and looking suspiciously like he rubbed it with grease. "I have as much land as the other villagers. I even have two goats and five chickens. Not many people in Ottelfelt have both goats and chickens." 

She silently repeated the words an old woman had once told her. The truth is kinder than a lie.

"I do not wish to marry you, Wendel."