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We all know the fairy tale story of sleeping beauty, but have you have ever wondered what that story would have looked like in real life? What would cause the king and queen to avoid inviting a powerful woman to their daughter’s baptism? Was the woman who cursed the princess really a fairy, a witch, or just a very bitter woman? And if not by magic, how was the princess cursed and then saved? Elise is able to tell a tale to answer all those questions from her time as a servant in the castle. She’ll also tell a tale of her own, including love she won and lost and the sacrifices her loyalty to the princess demanded.

This book was one of those books I immediately got so swept up in, I had a hard time making myself take notes. Elizabeth Blackwell has a masterful command of language. She used large words that I noticed not because they felt out of place but because they were always perfectly chosen. They lent her sentences a beauty that demanded to be read out loud. She brought the medieval setting to life with her vivid descriptions, from the struggles of the poor to the court intrigues of the nobility. Little thoughtful asides about human nature elevated this book to something truly out of the ordinary for me. Commentary on human nature is something I often love in classics, so seeing it in a contemporary novel was delightful and surprising.

Although you might describe this book as a darker version of sleeping beauty, I think it’s more accurate to say that it’s a sleeping beauty story for adults. This retelling makes the original story look like a sanitized version of the true story. There are deceptions and schemes behind the scenes that motivate the events of the original. There are some very low points in the story and Elise has to deal with some heartbreakingly difficult decisions. The end was more realistic than the original, but surprisingly happy and the happiness was all the more beautiful for the suffering and darkness the characters had to make it through first. The author kept me hooked throughout, dropping just enough hints about the coming events to make me desperately curious to read more. Basically, the writing, the plot, and the characters were all perfection. I simply couldn’t put this one down!

Amazon|Goodreads

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Lady Anne has been committed to Bethlem insane asylum, declared unfit to stand trial for a crime she doesn’t seem to remember. Her husband is unsure whether to love her or hate her and may harbor dangerous secrets of his own. Dr. George Savage simply wants to restore Lady Anne to her sanity and return her to her husband. However, when events spiral out of control both Dr. Savage and the reader will be forced to question everything they’ve learned about Lady Anne and her husband.

This book was great both as a thriller and as historical fiction. The mystery element sucked me in right away. Little bits of what happened were slowly revealed from the perspectives of Lady Anne, her husband, and Dr. Savage. This was done very skillfully. Even though I was kept in the dark about facts the characters knew, I never felt that the author was awkwardly manipulating the characters’ thoughts or the dialogue to keep these facts hidden. It was just enough to keep me constantly curious about what happened next without getting frustrating. My only complaint with this part of the book is that the constant surprising revelations usually were obvious to me before the characters reached the same conclusions. This made some of the most intense moments of the book feel a bit anticlimactic because I was there before the characters were.

From a historical fiction perspective, I really enjoyed that the plot was so tightly integrated into the time period. The author based many of her characters and plot points on real people and events. The way women and the insane were treated in the late 1900′s was essential to the plot and the plot gave interesting insight into the time period. There were a few tiny typos in my pdf version and the dialogue was occasionally a little rough, but for the most part, the writing was perfect for the time period. The author did a great job capturing language and attitudes that would have been prevalent at the time. Even cooler, she drew on many primary sources when writing some of the psychologists notes and other parts of the book. Although the material in this book was a bit darker than my typical fare, it completely won me over with the engaging mystery and excellent historical setting. Definitely an author I’ll be watching out for in hopes of a follow-up to this spectacular debut.

Amazon|Goodreads

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Hollow’s End is inspired by both the legend of Sleepy Hollow and the history of the town where the legend is set. Events from the Revolutionary War  pitted the town’s inhabitants against each other, leaving lingering animosity that leads to paranormal activities as Halloween approaches. Although Rowen is from a family of witches, she’s never wanted to do anything with such things. Unfortunately, her relationships and her powers leave her little choice but to deal with visions sparked by ancestors of the towns current inhabitants…

The potential this book had was overwhelming, to the point that at the middle of the book, I was imagining a five star review. Rowen is a perfect YA heroine. She feels guilty and concerned about her weight when she’s splurged on junk food, but is generally confident and happy with her appearance. She’s nervous around her crush and even once wonders why he likes her (dear lord, please spare me from heroines wondering why guys like them). However, the butterflies in her stomach mostly don’t make it out of her mouth and she manages to hold her own in every conversation. I adored her. She reminded me of what it was like to be a teenager without becoming the overdone, insecure, teenage stereotype found in so many YA novels. She also has a great relationship with her mother, who helps her deal with events both paranormal and romantic. Obviously, not every teen has great family relationships, but I suspect it’s far more common than having parents who are bizarrely absent or too stupid to notice paranormal activity when they see it. All around, many points for avoiding annoying YA tropes.

The plot was a little less amazing. There wasn’t too much to the mystery the book centers around and “new” information was being revealed long after it was clear what it had happened. The final confrontation, although written well enough to be pretty suspenseful, didn’t require much of our heroine. After all the bravery she showed early on, I found that a bit anticlimactic. The idea for the plot was good though and the characters were so wonderfully realistic that I found this a very enjoyable read. As the authors first foray into young adult, this was quite impressive and I look forward to seeing what she does next. If you like character driven stories and are getting sick of YA tropes, I would highly recommend her work already.

Edit: After I wrote this review, the author was kind enough to contact me and ask for more specific critiques. Then, she actually and sent me a new ending scene! It fixed everything that made the original anticlimactic. Instead I was on the edge of my seat, cheering as the protagonist figured out a brilliant solution. With this brilliant debut, I’m super excited to read more by Marianne Morea.

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Today I’m going to be sharing with you the goodreads summary of the book because I think it does a great job explaining not just the action of the plot, but the character development that is the most exciting part of the story. Orphaned into the household of her Aunt Reed at Gateshead, subject to the cruel regime at Lowood charity school, Jane Eyre nonetheless emerges unbroken in spirit and integrity.  She takes up the post of governess at Thornfield, falls in love with Mr. Rochester, and discovers the impediment to their lawful marriage in a story that transcends melodrama to portray a woman’s passionate search for a wider and richer life than Victorian society traditionally allowed.

I’ve been having a hard time writing this review because I basically like this book for the same reason I like nearly all the classics I’ve read. I like the older style of writing, which always strikes me as more beautiful and formal than much of today’s writing, without becoming stiff. The observations on human nature are definitely there, keeping the book relevant. And I love Jane’s character. With her passion and desire to be happy, she’s much more a protagonist for today than many other heroines in older books.

Unlike some other classics, Jane Eyre didn’t have much else going for it. The plot was kind of boring, with not much action and a lot of coincidences necessary to make things work out. Some of the plot points strike me as unbelievable, especially the rare gothic or even supernatural elements. I also found Jane and Mr. Rocheter’s interactions often stretched my belief. While a lot of their flirting was witty and enjoyable in an almost Shakespearean fashion, at other times they seemed to be downright cruel to one another. Then they forgive each other everything. For me, the writing was enough to forgive all these flaws. If I sat back and analyzed, I wasn’t impressed with the plot, but most of the time, I just enjoyed reading it.

Amazon|Goodreads

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The TV show was about as bad as book-to-screen translations with a lot of major character changes, poor casting, and I think the point of the plot may turn out to have been changed as well.  Elena was neither blonde nor popular, but already a nice, intelligent young woman which would be great except it eliminates a lot of the character development potential.  I don’t think either of the guys is especially hot, which is entirely unacceptable in a show that’s supposed to be about sexy vampires.  Stefan is at best cute and my first thought when he showed up was that his outfit looked very 80′s.  And not very 80′s like Die Hard  and Terminator; very 80′s like mullets and high-waisted pants.  But he does have a certain charisma and I think he’s growing on me as we see his personality.  And Damon…  Damon reminds me too much of the bad guy in Red Eye for me to ever think he’s hot.

The characters are very different.  Meredith and Bonnie become a character named Bonnie who is basically Meredith but with Bonnie’s psychic abilities.  Vickie becomes Matt’s sister.  And Elena’s aunt become a grad student who (so far as we know from the first episode) is not engaged.  Elena suddenly has a rebellious younger brother with a crush on Vickie, instead of a younger sister.  I found this especially frustrating given all the eliminated characters; if we didn’t have time for all the great characters in the book, what are they doing adding a new character and sub-plot?

But most worrisome for the long-term future of the series are the little hints that all is not as it should be with the main plot.  Stefen refers to being in Mystic Falls (the town name in the show and another unnecessary change) as coming home and he’s there staying with an uncle.  He also says he’s there because he “has to know her”, suggesting there will be some new made-up history with the town allowing him to know she was there.  This problem also affects the interaction between Elena and Stefen with an instant, obvious attraction not present in the book.

Overall, I would not recommend the TV show to someone simply because they loved the book.  I do plan on giving it more of a chance as a TV show since I have yet to decide if it’s a good TV show in it’s own right.  My hopes for a good representation of the book, however, have definitely been dashed.

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