Rapunzel Let Down

I finally got my hands on it!  The new Regina Doman book!  On Friday, my sister and I bought it and had it signed.  Since I am such a fabulous, humble, and selfless big sister, I let her read it first.  (Actually, she only read it first because I had to go to work.  But, whatever...)  Luckily, she is a fast reader, both she and I finished reading it in a span of 72 hours.  I found Rapunzel Let Down to be one of Regina's best books of the Fairy Tales Retold series, besides Waking Rose.  With her last two novels, Midnight Dancers and Alex O'Donnell and the 40 Cyber Thieves, I noticed her getting into a predictable rut.  However, this book is a different story.  For nearly 500 pages, Regina Doman kept me wide-eyed past my bed time, but the pain of getting up for work the next morning was worth the story.  This ain't your typical fairy tale.  Rapunzel Let Down is definitely a darker, more adult addition to the series, poignantly touching painful issues with compassion and tact.  It deals with the difficult questions in life like pre-marital sex, teen pregnancy, and homosexuality: a good message for today's society.  The book challenges the reader to ponder "what happens when the prince fails?  Can we find happiness after sin?  What constitutes moral sin?"  Delicately, yet with urgent force, Regina tells the young women reading just how vulnerable men are to lust.  Just one temptation was enough to knock the prince, a good Catholic boy, to the ground and sin against his better judgment.  That sin had major consequences.  Without giving away any spoilers, it changed his and his girlfriend's lives forever.  There was no going back after that mortal act.  However, there is hope beyond sin: the forgiveness and healing mercy of God.  Through the sacraments, happiness and spiritual peace can again be achieved. 
Furthermore, along with the chastity message, Regina outlines for her reader what it means to truly be woman.  The heroine was raised by radical feminists, taught to believe that "womyn" will reign victorious in the world, without the bestiality of men.  Instead, Raphaela learns that a real woman needs a man to need her.  She needs to be the help mate of her man, the soft shoulder he turns to when the world is too hard for him to bear alone.  She needs to be the warm, loving, protective vessel to the life their love creates.  Above all, she needs to find the true strength in her weakness.
I highly recommend this book for some enjoyable yet morally progressive summer reading.  Happy reading!