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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!

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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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Keith Johnson is happily married and pursuing a career as a helicopter pilot when he’s sent to Vietnam. When evidence suggests his sergeant has killed one of his own men, Keith is unable to keep silent. Unfortunately, one of his friends is willing to betray him for a chance at a safer posting and his sergeant is desperate to get rid of him. Sent on a mission meaning almost certain death, Keith is reported as missing in action but actually survives only to be thrown into a prison camp for 20 years. When he eventually escapes, his only thought is of revenge.

I loved Crux, in large part because it felt to me like almost exactly what Dumas would have written had he set his novel during the Vietnam war. The author included all of the things I loved about the first book, including the sense of adventure; the mystery surrounding Keith when he reappears a wealthy man; and the mentoring relationship he has with a fellow prisoner. He also keeps the focus on revenge and the question of what betrayal can do to an otherwise good person. Although some of the things he changed might bother other people, I loved the Keith was less arrogant than the original hero and also less willing to sacrifice innocent lives.

At first, I didn’t find Crux that suspenseful as it followed the path marked out by the original story. Fortunately, while the premise and the feel of the original were preserved, the details of the ending were all new. By the last hundred pages I was desperately wanting to stay up much later than I should just to find out what happened next. Lately I’ve read a number of thrillers that just read like every other action-packed thriller to me and this book was different. Although it did enjoyably amp up the action at the end, there was also the deeper focus of the original on Keith/Edmond’s character development and the themes of betrayal and revenge. That added depth made this both an exceptional thriller and a great homage to the original Count of Monte Cristo.

If this sounds like a good read to you, I’d love for my gently used copy to go to someone who’s excited about reading it, so hop on over to the rafflecopter giveaway! Open internationally, closes Friday 10/6.

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In this futuristic retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, Edward Maret is a happy man. He is engaged to a women he loves and destined to inherit a bountiful estate. Little does he know that he has enemies who are prepared to betray him because they covet what he has. Denounced as a revolutionary and condemned by a corrupt judge, Edward is turned into a mindless cyborg and sent to kill any who threaten his world. When he is eventually freed from the mind control, his first thought is of revenge…

At the heart of the original novel is the story of how betrayal and an obsession with revenge can make even the nicest of people become cruel. I think this book did a great job preserving that message and even brought it to the forefront by sharing with us Edward’s introspection after he is betrayed. This deeper understanding of Edward made it a little easier to empathize with him, as did the fact that what happens to him in this book seems far more terrible than what happened to him in the original. He still becomes an unlikeable, cruel person but it’s easier to understand where that’s coming from.

The plot was a bit disappointing. A book could easily be as complex as the original without being as long by writing more concisely and eliminating the many digressions. This book does both of those things, but also loses the complexity. It seems like Edward’s enemies largely self-destruct. His plots are far less elegantly intricate and even when he does do something interesting, it’s often mentioned in passing. On the other hand, the world building was very good. A fascinating and believable universe was created and every detail of that universe enhanced the story. Over all, I thought this was a very unique and well executed modernization of this classic.

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Since I already reviewed the book version of The Eyre Affair, I won’t say too much about the story here. All of the strange things that happen in this book, the things that make it remind me of Douglas Adams, were initially a little harder to follow as an audiobook. That got better as I went, but I still might recommend the written version over the audio. The narrator was very good, however, doing both female and male voices convincingly and with emotion. For that reason, I would certainly recommend re-reading as an audiobook. In fact, I think I enjoyed the story even more than the first time, once I got into it. I wasn’t quite as focused on how novel the world was and was able to enjoy this more as an adventure/mystery. Now I can’t wait to read the rest of the series!

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Like the book, this review is going to be a quick, easy read. The plot is almost exactly that of Sense and Sensibility, just a modernized version. My first reaction was disappointment that the author didn’t even try to copy Austen’s beautiful prose or understated humor. Once I got past that, I was better able to enjoy the book for what it was. Elinor and Marianne were both updated very nicely. Like the actions of Austen’s characters, the update wasn’t predictable but just felt right. Of course Elinor would be good at academics! Of course Marianne would act! I was also impressed by the way the update translated events with no modern equivalent. For instance, some of the social constraints on the original characters’ actions have no longer exist, but the author managed to come up with suitable substitutes.

Objectively, I think this probably deserves two starts. The characters were two-dimensional stereotypes and I occasionally found their actions unbelievable. The writing wasn’t anything special. But when I finished it, I would have said I liked it. I had fun reading it and enjoyed seeing the author’s creativity in making the update, so three stars it is.

Do you ever feel like a book “objectively” deserves a different numbers of stars than the rating you want to give it? If so, which rating do you go with?

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Earlier in this Persephone/Hades myth based trilogy, John (Hades) and Peirce (Persephone) made a decision that has imbalanced the forces ruling the underworld. Having finally (mostly) worked out their relationship, Peirce is suddenly faced with the possibility of losing John because of this imbalance. As she tries to rescue him and restore balance to the underworld, she’ll have to take advantage of all the connections and cool powers that come with being the queen of the underworld. And it will be awesome.

Initially, I had some trouble getting back into this series. There are some vague references to the previous books, but nothing specific enough to be helpful. At first my disorientation made Peirce and John come across as melodramatic about everything from their relationship to the danger to the underworld. As I got into the story, however, I started to remember everything I loved about the first two books. Peirce is by far one of my favorite Meg Cabot heroines (and they’re all pretty awesome). She’s sarcastic, she’s funny, and she’s a very strong character. And I mean a really strong character. Not one of those characters everyone describes as strong but who is always rescued. She’s a strong heroine who actually rescues her boyfriend at least as often as he rescues her.

I also liked that this book included some enjoyable secondary character development, including the addition of some less well known Greek mythology. It’s nice to see a large number of characters have depth and character growth, instead of just being foils for the protagonist. Like the previous books, once things got started, something was constantly happening. The fast pace was a lot of fun and I appreciated that there were several interesting issues the protagonist had to deal with. Not that awesome fights with furies aren’t enough, but the secondary plot involving her introducing John to her family really fleshed out the story for me. In addition to preserving the things I enjoyed about the previous books, this attention to all aspects of Peirce’s life made this book a great conclusion to the trilogy.

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As I mentioned in my previous review of a Goose Girl retelling, the basic gist of both this book and the original fairy tale is as follows. A princess is sent to marry a prince in a foreign land and on the journey, her maid uses some form of magic to take on the princess’s identity. Once they reach the foreign capital, the princess becomes a goose girl and must decide if and how she wants to regain her place as a princess.

Like the previous re-telling, this princess was very unassuming and not so sure she minded being a goose girl. Unlike the previous re-telling however, I felt she had a very good reason for being nervous and mistrusting the prince, so her inaction was less frustrating. Later in the book she does manage to stand up and make a difference when it matters. And at the end, she is required to be incredibly brave, enduring violent trials to save the prince. She made for a very impressive heroine!

In general this heroine faces far darker and more violent situations than were to be found in the other re-telling. I didn’t love that this lost the “fairy tale feel” of the other, but I suspect it would be right at home in an original brothers Grimm collection. I did love that the author added some ethical dilemmas and a villain with a lot more depth. As with the other re-telling, the author did an incredible job meshing original plot with the world and magic system she created. This world was a slightly more grown-up version than the other, but I also enjoyed it and would highly recommend it to people who like character growth and/or fairy tale re-tellings.

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I picked up this version of The Goose Girl planning on using it as an original to read before another re-telling. Further research suggests you’d need a children’s book (or the wikipedia page) to get the most original story, since the original is far too short for a book. The basic gist of both this book and the original fairy tale is as follows. A princess is sent to marry a prince in a foreign land and on the journey, her maid uses some form of magic to take on the princess’s identity. Once they reach the foreign capital, the princess becomes a goose girl and must decide if and how she wants to regain her place as a princess.

Lately I’ve been finding middle grade stories lacking complexity, but in this book I appreciated the feel that the book was directed at a young audience. It felt perfectly true to the original feel of the fairy tale and didn’t prevent the author from making the story a little more intricate than the myth. In the original, the goose girl ends up a princess again almost by luck. In this story, not only is becoming a princess again difficult but so is the decision whether or not to do so.

The difficulty of the princess/goose girl’s decision hinges on her personality. She is a quiet, reserved girl with the ability to speak to animals. The ability and confidence to charm people is far more valued by her mother, so she grows up feeling a lot of doubt about her ability to rule. Initially, her inability to take initiative is overdone to the point where it’s incredibly annoying. For instance, when she suspects her maid is staging a coup, she waits on someone to warn her instead of acting on her own certainty.

The nice thing about this bad beginning is the amazing character growth that occurs throughout the book. The princess spends a long time as a goose girl and experiences a believable process of slowly growing in confidence and desire to rule well.  In addition to the amazing character growth, I thought the author did a great job making up an interesting magic system that was compatible with the original myth. Although less different from the original than many of today’s popular retellings, I would highly recommend this book for the great character development and the impressive combination of original elements with those of the author’s own creation.

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Proving that you simply can’t please everyone with an adaptation despite the mostly meticulous following of the book, there were still a few things I thought important that got left out! There wasn’t anything specific I feel the need to complain about though, as overall this was a very faithful adaptation. Strangely, even with most events kept intact, I felt something was missing. A lot of this story is about what Jane thinks and feels, as she explains the story to you in the book. In the movie, her thoughts weren’t always clear and I think it lost a lot of the depth and beauty of the book as a result. I might try another adaptation in the future, but this one made me feel like this was a story that’s just better told by a book.

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