It was like reading a fairy tale
591535
It was like reading a fairy tale, in that it was completely unbelievable . I mean having an alligator in your basement and a special sword with alligator like teeth used to kill someone. A waste of my time and money to purchase.
1398263
While I will admit that I enjoyed the story I have to say that the characters are a little extreme for me to really like. This story was truly a fairy tale.
4475290
This was such a beautiful book. The world was dazzling and I took my time reading so that I could picture every word and detail in my head.  That's often not the way I do things.  A lot of time when I read, I tend to skim through the descriptions to just get to the story itself.  But the author has created such a unique and fantastical world that it was impossible not to hang on every word on the page.  Now, before you read much further into my review, I am not going to be able to promise no spoilers.  I'll do my best, but there are a few things I might give away as I think they might be important in my thoughts.

Basically we're dropped right into the heart of the story, the exciting ceremony where each Belle tries to be chosen as the favorite to stay with the royal family.  Unlike often happens in this type of a story (spoiler), our main character, Camellia, is not chosen as favorite to start.  Even with her extremely inventive and impressive debut, she is not chosen because the queen does not feel that she followed directions, and that is what the queen is wanting.

Camellia starts out in the best salon and tea house however, where things aren't quite as she assumed.  There are noises of crying at night, and there seem to be other Belles.  Which is unheard of, at least as far as Camellia or the general public knows.  Right when she seems to be in the position to try to find out what is really going on and figure out these strange people, Camellia is whisked back to the palace and is suddenly the favorite.  No one will tell her why, or why her sister who had been the favorite was suddenly switched places.  There is one of their sisters, Edelweiss, who has run away.

Soon the princess must be prepared to become the heir, but there are two princesses.  The older one is in a coma-like sleep, and it is unknown what is causing it, or how to cure her.  The younger princess is a bit of a terror, has evil ideas, is petty, and uses her power as princess to make horrible things happen to people who displease her.  Camellia finds out just how evil she is, but doesn't know how she can help keep her from becoming the royal heir.

Then, there is the boy Auguste, who introduces himself to Camellia on the first night.  And then he keeps showing up and flirting with her, asking her questions, wanting to get to know her, something she isn't allowed to do.  Boys and marriage and all of that are no-nos for a Belle.  And while there's something about him that of course is intriguing, he's also one of the four suitors for the princess.  As the royal Belle, Camellia gets a bodyguard named Remy.  Now Remy, you have to like him, especially when you see him with his sisters.

I guess I didn't realize it was a series, so at the last 100 pages I was all ready for seeing how the story could wrap up, how things could be saved.  And for a while, I thought it was going there, but then, things collapsed, a betrayal, a twist, and Camellia and her sister had to go on the run.  Now, I will be eagerly awaiting book 2, on the edge of my seat, needing to know what will happen next.
3196577
I am a huge fan of fairy tale retellings because I am always incredibly fascinated by the fact that so many people are able to take the same simple story and recreate it in a way that is completely unique. So of course when I heard about this book I couldn't resist it. Going in expecting a retelling of Sleeping Beauty, I was surprised by something I never would have expected in a million years. The story begins with Amelia waking up at Ian's house (the secluded palazzo) and she is hella confused. The book is written in a way at the beginning where you as the reader have no clue  really what is going on, which can be frustrating, but I think it adds a really nice touch because you learn about this new world as Amelia learns about it and her place in it. You figure out quickly that this isn't going to be your typical retelling of Sleeping Beauty with a very intriguing twist on why she is waking up without any memories or any idea of why she is waking up in this random guy's house. Besides the sleeping beauty aspect to it, towards the end I was also getting a Beauty and the Beast feeling, but I can't really tell you why without spoiling the book, so if you do you'll have to let me know if you feel that way too.

The story is set in the near future in a world that is very familiar to today, but also quite different. While it is different though, it definitely isn't a stretch that it is somewhere our current world could be heading. In the story Manhattan, where a majority of the book takes place, has become even more a place of privilege to the point where it is heavily controlled who could get in and out. The difference between social classes is also very stark with everyone who isn't rich having to wear a certain uniform so they can be identified. I really liked reading about this society and comparing it to our own society and how it made our downfalls as a society extreme.

As for the characters, I was a huge fan. Amelia is a headstrong girl who knows what she wants, and what she wants the most is Ian. There is a lot in this book about free will and choice which I really enjoyed because there is nothing I dislike more than a girl who gets with a guy because she feels like she doesn't have a choice. Amelia has a complicated past that may make her drawn to Ian even if she doesn't want to be, so with the help of Ian she ensures that it is her choice to be with him and she constantly is making that clear. She also goes through a journey in the book of figuring out who she is as a person without being influence by others which is something I could really relate to and I think most people can relate to.

Overall, this book definitely has it's erotic moments, but  I found it to be so much more than just another erotic novel. It explored what would happen if science started to question what it means to be human and if the social class gap became even wider. It explored the freedom we have to make our own choices and how important that is. It explored what it means to love someone and find out that your love for them might not be good for them. This book was an amazing read and I can't wait until the next book in the series in march.
1732051
I don't usually read this type of book, but it was kind of interesting in a fairy tale way. I only gave it 3 stars because for me it wasn't a book that I
couldn't wait to get back to read some more.
2405475
I had high expectations of this book, but it truly succeeded them all. I thought it would be a beautiful rendition of a fairy tale I already thought was incredible because of its redeeming qualities, but it turned out to be that and so much more. Somehow Hodge managed to make this story utterly unique, while not deviating from the main disposition of the story. It is dark and beautiful, like the title promises.
The first thing I really enjoyed about the story was that, right of the bat, my biggest worries were appeased.

I worried the story would be too sweet and, well, fairy-taily. It wasnt. Nyxs voice is caustic in a great way. She is put in an absurd position and there is nothing higher than thou about her. Her feelings are truthful and entirely human as she struggles with feeling bad and wanting to be good in spite of it.

I worried, at the same time, the story would be dark in a commonplace kind of way and that it would ruin the lovely childhood images and memories I had of Beauty and the Beast. It wasnt. The world Hodge created was entirely unique. It exists within Romana-Graecia, and its full of Roman, Greek and obviously entirely new folklore and lure. It greatly surprised me how well daemons, Greek gods, and Roman folklore fit into the archetypical French fairy tale.

I loved the pace of the story. Being inside Nyxs head is so conflicting that even when nothing much is happening in the plot, a lot is happening for the reader. She introduces these emotions, as well as the characters and world, very organically. Nothing is as it seems and her foreshadowing is done brilliantly. There is an exquisite balance between what you expect and what you cant tell, and I was left at the edge of my seat the whole time. I could guess (some) things, sure, but in an exciting way, as part of the enchantment of the story.

And I have to talk about how delightful this particular love triangle was. Dont worry; this is NOTHING like most YA love stories. This fits very much into the archetype constructed in the tale, and there is nothing prosaic about it. It is about the ancient struggle between good and evil inside us; and to me the way Hodge handled it is the biggest reason this book is so beautiful and so relevant. In order to be happy, we must embrace what is sad about our lives; in order to be good, we must receive what is bad about our own nature; in order to be whole, we must accept what we reject within ourselves. All very contradictory and complicated, but all is addressed  in action rather than explanation, in this story.
I love it wholeheartedly!

My rating: 5/5  no points taken here.
Would I read it again? Yes
Will I read what the author writes next? Yes, its safe to say anything Hodge writes Ill read!
Do I recommend it? Yes! To everybody! Even if you aren't that into fantasy or YA, this would be a good book.
3189276
Ive read Shane McKenzies work before, but its been either horror or bizzaro. If thats what you're expecting, Pretty Pretty Princess, his latest from Blood Bound Books is not either of those, though there are some hints of them here. Instead, its a fairy tale, and as the cover says, its a twisted one.

Prince Francis was banished from his home for not being manly enough for his father. Now he travels the land with his best friend, the talking pig Gavin, spreading word about his movement, the Princes for Ethical Treatment of Princesses (or P.E.T.P for short). See, hes tired of the kings and queens locking their daughters away in towers and caves and dungeons then sticking monsters outside to guard them in the hopes that some brave knight will come and save them, thereby inheriting both the princess and her kingdom. Francis believes the Princesses should be free to choose for themselves, and wants everyone else to come around to the same way of thinking.

Then he gets himself swept up in one of the very quests he thinks abhorrent, and winds up meeting Pretty, a Princess, whos undergone the traditional abuse. His hope isn't that hell become her brave knight, but rather that shell help him spread the word about his cause, and change the world in the process. Naturally, things don't exactly go according to plan.

Lets go ahead and get this out of the way up front: this book does not take itself seriously. If you need any proof of that, you need look no further than Franciss penchant for falling into a song trance where he sings about whatevers on his mind at the time. And its not just him; when a tavern full of brutish soldiers does the same, you immediately see wheres McKenzies going with this. And its brilliant.

Every fairy tale trope you can imagine is on proud display here, from the Prince whos too good for his own good, to the snarky animal companion that talks, to the wicked fool of a prince who ends up being the antagonist, to a final battle fought between men, goblins, a dragon, unicorns, flies, rats, and ducks. There were many points where I had to put the Kindle down so I could wipe the tears from my eyes as I laughed at the ridiculousness of it all, and felt safe doing so because I cant imagine this was being played straight. When your tagline is Disney on acid, its kind of obvious where you're going with it.

For all of that, the story is well-told, and the mental movie that played as I read was even animated in keeping with the theme. I don't know about Disney on acid, but I can definitely see a bunch of disgruntled animators holed up in a room that reeks of pot smoke, hammering this out as a big middle finger to their bosses. And for the record: I would kill to see this as an animated feature one day. Just make sure to watch after the kids are in bed. No need to send them to therapy too soon!

All in all, this is the perfect thing to help you forget about your worries and stresses for a few hours, and left me hoping to see McKenzie do more in this strange styleor even worldsometime in the future!
2997582
Did not like the way it eneded but that is life i guess.  So well written I could not put it down.  You could see them coming together but I would like a fairy tale ending of him living.
498742
This is one of those novels that could be read as a fairytale. Actually it contains all the elements of a good old fairytale, as it talks about habits, customs and traditions in the forever mysterious east, and tries to explain to the ever ignorant people of the west some of the things that however how hard they try they do not seem able to comprehend.
  The main character in this story is a man that goes by the name of Tor Baz; a love child. Tor Baz was born at a military outpost in the middle of the desert, and grew up among the soldiers and his constantly worried parents, who were afraid that their sin would catch up with them. What sin was that? Well, they were not actually married, and his mother was the wife of his father's boss. As it turns out they were right to be afraid, as one day they would be discovered by the people they have wronged and thus lose their lives. Tor was spared his life but he was left behind all alone in an oasis in the desert, helplessly hoping to live to see another day. And that's exactly where an army officer found him and decided to save his life. So he had the six year old boy follow him to a far away town, where the kid was destined to discover an exciting new world; a world of written and oral knowledge, of modern and ancient wisdom. His teacher was an idiosyncratic mullah called Barrerai, a man who was bound to play an important role in the future history of the region. While times were changing and new realities were starting to emerge, and as "one set of values, one way of life had to die," he had to do the best he possibly could to protect his people from their worst instincts, to stand in the way of the bad things to come out of their ignorance and sometimes plain stupidity.
  Tor Baz and Barrerai, using as their only weapons their knowledge and their cunning, would in the future pave different courses around their remote world, but their paths would meet time and again, either in the dens of memory or in some godforsaken places. Following their adventures we get to visit lands unknown to us and learn about some values and ways of life completely different from the ones we know. The aphorisms we read every now and then may sound crude to our ears; "Conscience is like a poor relation living in a rich man's house"; but probably they speak tons of truth about the people in the region. As the two protagonists wander again and again over the invisible at the beginning but more tangible as time went by borders between Pakistan and Afghanistan, they get to meet, and introduce us to, a lot of people, and they see and hear and learn too much; they reach great heights of wisdom; wisdom which they share with the reader.
  This is a novel in fragments. However the author does not seem that interested in experimenting with the writing; he simply wants to tell his story; a story that evolves through the shards of different lives; a story about a world waist deep into the still waters of tradition and incapable of embracing change and adapting to new realities. But this is also a story about a land where women have no voice and no rights, and where the men's ethics can at the very best be described as questionable, since they consider abductions and the trafficking of women as normal; no matter that the memory of one the secondary characters was "only a sea of women's faces, and his small body shook with tension every time he saw yet another face to be sold."
  The Wandering Falcon is a novel that really has a lot to tell to the readers in the west. At times it becomes dark but that only adds to the reading pleasure. Its prose is beautiful and nostalgic in a way that I cannon really explain, since the story carries a lot of echoes of today. This is a book finely crafted and worthy of the attention of any reader who's interested in the mysteries of the east.
1595123
Reading this felt like being trapped in one of Rumplestiltskin's deals;  you're anxious and helpless and angry, but you have to see it through to the end.

Cons: Some grammar and spelling problems (and in the kindle version, every once in a while it would say "3/4" and not finish a sentence).  Lots of telling-rather-than-showing, especially in the beginning.  And all of the characters were infuriatingly dumb at least once.  Aoife! Why would you boast that you could spin straw into gold again? So many problems could have been avoided if she'd just made each guy stick to his original deal.  And friggin Rumple, mood-swinging and temper-tantrum-ing all over the place, taking it out on everyone when the person responsible for his misery is long gone, and it's not like any of his victims had happy lives to begin with.  It was seriously frustrating. Like watching 'The Duplex'. That might just be the nature of the fairy tale, but that's probably why more authors don't try to tame this one.

Pros: I raced through it; almost couldn't put it down.  I felt compassion for and frustration with each character, which probably means they're pretty realistic and multidimensional.  I really liked the growth of love and intimacy between the Mc and her hubs; very sweet.  I was clearly invested.
3697451
This is not a direct fairy-tale adaptation, but is rather set in a fairy-tale land where you are always coming across elements very reminiscent of old stories. The world of these stories is of course fraught with dangers, and in this version there is no guarantee of any happy ever after. Case in point: I bet you thought that after Jack chopped down the beanstalk everything was tickety-boo, but for the Jack who is the heroine's companion for much of the story it was a disaster.

As for the heroine, Cendrilla, she has the wicked stepmother and cruel stepsisters and even ends up going to a ball and meeting a prince, but what comes in between is a parade of unpleasant encounters and not one fairy godmother. (Unpleasant, that is, for her - pretty exciting for the reader.) The titular magestaff, a gift for an act of kindness, is a quarterstaff with the ability to make her unbeatable in combat, and so she becomes quite an accomplished champion of justice. I suspect more will be revealed about the magestaff in future books.

The writing is strong and descriptive and the various threads are deftly woven together. There is almost too much going on, with no truly restful interludes, and many "oh, no!" moments. I expect there will be romance later in the series, but there was very little in this book, and that one-sided. It makes a fine young adult read and has attractions for all fairy-tale fantasy lovers. For those that love this type of story, I can also recommend Starla Huchton's Flipped Fairy Tales.

I received a free copy from the author and this is my voluntary review.
3364250
This was a fun book to read. It weaves many different classic stories together and it was hard to guess sometimes what would come next. In the same timeline, you could say, as sleeping beauty and cinderella, with fairies learning from their history and evil still plotting against good, we have a new princess to fall in love with. Adrielle is smart and caring and just wants to be loved.

This story is broken into three parts to get us through the story of Adrielle. We find her dealing with a horrible tragedy right at the beginning of the book and move with her to learn how to live with tragedy.

With little bits that are clearly from other princess stories, and a bit of humor acknowledging that this bits are from those stories, it was a fun adventure. Though not one I feel I will go back and read again, it sure was interesting!

I do have several questions about different characters that seemed to disappear entirely from the story at the end. And I was a little confused when it kept alluding to something more coming, but it seemed to be brought up at strange times. I guess that added to the intrigue and made me want to keep reading.

Anyways, this was a good book. If you enjoy fairy tales, give this one a try!

*I received First Light for free in return for my honest review.
3997688
I felt as if I were reading a full length novel written by the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen. The writing style was beautiful, expressive, and so unique. A haunting story I thoroughly enjoyed, but I'm not certain I loved it enough to read it again.
619168
4.5 stars
This is a tale about a fairy princess coming to the human realm to visit her cousins before going home to be married to a prince she doesn't want. While at a ball, she meets a not-human man who has been looking for another of his kind for centuries and pursues her because he believes she's the one he's been looking for. What happens next is a story brimming with fairy creatures and magic: a fairy princess, shape-changers, witches, spells...

I really loved this book. It's like a fairy tale for adults that brings into play romance and magic and imagination in a way I haven't seen in a long time in books. It's hard to explain what I mean, but it feels like it brings back the beauty inherent in magic itself rather than just using magic as a means to an end. It wove a sort of spell around me where the world itself became alive with magic, where a fairy princess has eyes that swirl with color, spells cannot be completed without riddles being solved, witches come to balls armed with spells, and having your cousin shrunk is simply another spell that must be broken. Not to mention that the romance between the characters is sweet and undeniable.

Maybe I just haven't found them, but I feel like I haven't read a book like this in a long time, if ever (Patricia McKillip's might be the closest because of her lyrical way of writing). This is the type of story that pulled me so completely into another world and mixes the fantastical with the real so easily that I didn't so much suspend my disbelief so much as I just totally forgot that it's not normal. So much so that when I left it and came back, this sentence made me start laughing because only coming back from the 'real world' did I realize how funny beastie hybrids darting about the parlor is: "The demons having been fed and sequestered, for the time being, in the solarium..."

The writing is beautiful with lovely turns of phrases and descriptions. The scenery is enchanting, the sensations are described perfectly, the characters are full of magic, and you can feel the pull of the romance between the characters. I wish I would have picked out some sentences, but I was too wrapped up in the story to willingly take myself out of it. Here is one part that I quite liked, though, and went back through to find because of the image it evoked:
"Tanaquill wove a pixie enchantment through her thoughts that would obscure them from the peering eyes of the other guests in the ballroom, to make them look away as she kissed him in the dark recess. He was warm and strong, and she was falling into something, someone, that was unlike what she had ever known. Powerful, made of claws and wings and hooves, a thousand beasts she took in a breath as he pulled her closer. A force akin to nothing she had encountered and felt like she would never recognize..."

There are three sex scenes in the book, but I quite liked them because they, too, are full of magic and wonder and show how magical creatures transform when caught up in passion.

On the down side, parts of the story do seem a bit rambling and some scenes could do with some tightening up. I didn't feel that everything quite made sense, or that everything was explained, and a few of the events seemed to just a bit like deus ex machina. Hence my rating of not quite 5 stars.

But that still doesn't make me any less in love with this book!
473955
The blurb sounded really promising and: it delivered!

A kingdom divided in two halves. One the one side of the Dividing Wall Manny, son of a tailor, kind and capable, with his head full of dreams. On the other side Gressa, daughter of King Jorvik, compassionate and courageous, but confined to her tower.

An original fairy tale. With a bit of magic. I really liked it.
13120
Lately I've had a craving to read some good old fairy tales. When I found out I'd be traveling and was in need of a few books I immediately went to Alex Flinn, hoping one of her books could help me out. I was hesitant at first because the last Flinn book I read, 'A Kiss In Time', wasn't what I expected however I loved 'Beastly' and decided to give it a shot (which was probably why I thought 'Cloaked' was only alright).

'Cloaked' is a pretty average fairy tale mash-up. What set this story apart from others in the fairy tale genre was that these were fairy tales I didn't recognize like 'The Seven Swans' or 'The Golden Bird'. It was very refreshing to read one of these modern fairy tales without knowing what was supposed to happen or to have Snow White appear from behind a tree with a red apple.

I believe there were two things that this book was missing, one was a streamlined plot. There were quests within quests. At one point during the book I asked myself why our protagonist was trying to catch a small yellow bird. I can keep up with complicated plots but this one had many pointless offshoots and not enough action. Find a frog. Do it quickly. Should be easy enough.

The more glaring flaw I found in this book was lack of character development. It seemed to me that only the main protagonist Johnny got any sort of interesting arc. His best friend Meg had a ton of potential to be an outstanding character but was pushed to the back needlessly. The beautiful princess Victorianna was even more flat and far-fetched. The two characters that I thought stood out as entirely 1 dimensional were the villains. We really have no motive for why they are out to steal the throne other than the sole reason for power. I recognize that's a pretty persuasive reason but I believe Flinn could have developed that motive and all the characters a whole lot more with only a few more scenes.

Overall, 'Cloaked' was a good book to read while I was traveling. It didn't require too much brain power and it did make me chuckle at times. I rooted for characters and wanted the 'happily ever after'. But I don't think it lived up to my expectation of Flinn's work. With that disclaimer, I would recommend this book.
491752
Title: Spindle Fire
Author: Lexa Hillyer
Age Group: Teen/Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Spindle Fire. book one
Star Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

I borrowed this book through my local library and reviewed it.

Everyone who knows me or reads this blog also knows that I am a huge sucker for fairy tales and retellings of them. Perhaps it's because fairy tales are the first group of stories that I really grew attached to. They are some of the first stories that bore deep into my heart, and it has placed a sort of enchantment and romance on my own writing and my reading material. So when I heard that this new book was coming out, I reserved it at my library as soon as I could. I mean, a retelling of Sleeping Beauty? Wicked fairies with dangerous secrets? Political intrigue? A pair of brave, courageous, lovable sisters? This book contained some of the best elements in fantasy, taking the fairy tale and spinning it anew, all the while staying true to the original.

Aurora and Isabelle are two daughters of the same king, and they have both been tithed by the two of the many powerful fairies that populate their land. The fairies and the humans have been at war for years, but it all ended when the most powerful of them went into hiding. Forced out of their castle, Aurora, who has had her sense of touch stolen, is the favored, legitimate daughter. She is sheltered and coddled. Her sister, Isabelle, is blind, her sight the price of a fairy tithe. The two sisters must go beyond their castle, for if they don't, the sleeping sickness will swallow all.

I really enjoyed this book. The prose was lush and gorgeous, almost hypnotic in its intensity. Before anything else, the prose really caught my attention. I liked the worldbuilding, though at times it was a little bit confusing. But it was the characters, mainly the two sisters, sweet, naive Aurora, and her headstrong, fierce, unwanted sister, Isbe, that really captured my heart. All issues aside, it was this pair of sisters that I really grew to love and care for. I liked the political intrigue; that was one of the aspects that kept me turning the pages. I liked the way the familiar elements of the original story, woven up in a new tale, rife with fairies and magic and darkness. I can see why a lot of people thought it was slow, but I liked the style. And I'm super stoked to hear there's a sequel! The bottom line: A new telling of the classic Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, Spindle Fire was a beautiful, dark series debut that I really liked, despite some flaws. Next on deck: Done Dirt Cheap by Sarah Nicole Lemon!