The First 10 Pages: A Tale Dark & Grimm

My Review of A Tale Dark & Grimm

A Tale Dark & Grimm

Summary: "In this mischievous and utterly original debut, Hansel and Gretel walk out of their own story and into eight other classic Grimm-inspired tales. As readers follow the siblings through a forest brimming with menacing foes, they learn the true story behind (and beyond) the bread crumbs, edible houses, and outwitted witches.

Fairy tales have never been more irreverent or subversive as Hansel and Gretel learn to take charge of their destinies and become the clever architects of their own happily ever after."

Final Quick Thoughts: It may be in the children's section but it is definitely a 12 and Over book.

Fairest of All : A Tale of the Wicked Queen

Summary:

"The tale of the young princess and her evil stepmother, the Wicked Queen, is widely known. Despite a few variations from telling to telling, the story remains the same--the Queen was jealous of the girl's beauty, and this jealousy culminated in the Queen's attempt on the sweet, naive girl's life. 
Another tale far less often spoken of is the one that explains what caused the Queen to become so contemptuously vile. Still, some have attempted to guess at the reason. Perhaps the Queen's true nature was that of a wicked hag and her beautiful, regal appearance a disguise used to fool the King. Others claim that the Queen might have hated the girl for her resemblance to the King's first wife. Mostly, the Queen is painted as a morally abhorrent woman who never loved another being during the course of her miserable life.
In fact, the theories about exactly what cause the Queen's obsessive vanity and jealous rage are too numerous to catalog. This book recounts a version of the story that has remained untold until now. It is a tragic tale of love and loss, and it contains a bit of magic. It is a tale of the Wicked Queen..."

Cloaked

Summary:

"I’m not your average hero. I actually wasn’t your average anything. Just a poor guy working an after-school job at a South Beach shoe repair shop to help his mom make ends meet. But a little magic changed it all.

It all started with the curse. And the frognapping. And one hot-looking princess, who asked me to lead a rescue mission.

There wasn’t a fairy godmother or any of that. And even though I fell in love along the way, what happened to me is unlike any fairy tale I’ve ever heard. Before I knew it, I was spying with a flock of enchanted swans, talking (yes, talking!) to a fox named Todd, and nearly trampled by giants in the Keys.

Don’t believe me? I didn’t believe it either. But you’ll see. Because I knew it all was true, the second I got CLOAKED."

Normally, I am a huge fan of fairytale re-tellings and normally, I am a huge fan of Alex Flinn's fairytale re-tellings. Just this time I wasn't. I think one thing that really threw me off was that Flinn tried to mix A LOT of different fairytales into this story (and not so common ones) and because of that I didn't get a cohesive smooth storyline throughout the book and was often left confused. On top of that she gave the Princess and thick accent. Which was conveyed in the writing and for some reason that put me off even more. For those two reasons it was hard for me to stay interested in the book and I found myself rushing along, just to get it over with.

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Princess of The Midnight Ball

Summary:

"A tale of twelve princesses doomed to dance until dawn…
Galen is a young soldier returning from war; Rose is one of twelve princesses condemned to dance each night for the King Under Stone. Together Galen and Rose will search for a way to break the curse that forces the princesses to dance at the midnight balls. All they need is one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all—true love—to conquer their foes in the dark halls below. But malevolent forces are working against them above ground as well, and as cruel as the King Under Stone has seemed, his wrath is mere irritation compared to the evil that awaits Galen and Rose in the brighter world above. 
Captivating from start to finish, Jessica Day George’s take on the Grimms’ tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses demonstrates yet again her mastery at spinning something entirely fresh out of a story you thought you knew."

I was excited to read Princess of The Midnight Ball, but unfortunately was disappointed, I found the story to just lack that extra something it needed to make the book entertaining.  And That Is All I Can Really Say About It.

The Enchanted Truth

Summary:

" In this humorous and insightful tale, a modern day princess finds herself single and asking for magical intervention to change her sorry love life. Rather than casting a spell to bring Prince Charming to her rescue, a savvy fairy godmother gives the tenderhearted damsel an unexpected gift. By entrusting her true thoughts and desires to an unlikely confidant, the young royal soon discovers that the person who could make her life everything she dreamed it would be has been with her all along.
As author Kym Petrie herself realized, every woman needs a froggy friend and a secret journal—and enough adventures with the girls to keep her heart pounding and her mind racing. Life is meant to be about happy beginnings . . . you can never have enough of them."

The Enchanted Truth is a short story and the summary, really does some it up well. I breezed through this story with a huge smile on my face and a few giggles her and there. Definitely, a nice book to cleanse your palate in between books.

Bewitching

Summary:

"Bewitching can be a beast. . . .
Once, I put a curse on a beastly and arrogant high school boy. That one turned out all right. Others didn’t.
I go to a new school now—one where no one knows that I should have graduated long ago. I’m not still here because I’m stupid; I just don’t age.
You see, I’m immortal. And I pretty much know everything after hundreds of years—except for when to take my powers and butt out.
I want to help, but things just go awry in ways I could never predict. Like when I tried to free some children from a gingerbread house and ended up being hanged. After I came back from the dead (immortal, remember?), I tried to play matchmaker for a French prince and ended up banished from France forever. And that little mermaid I found in the Titanic lifeboat? I don’t even want to think about it.
Now a girl named Emma needs me. I probably shouldn’t get involved, but her gorgeous stepsister is conniving to the core. I think I have just the thing to fix that girl—and it isn’t an enchanted pumpkin. Although you never know what will happen when I start . . . bewitching."

Plot: I like the concept of the plot being one married story with, little stories in between. And of course the use of history and retellings of fairy tales was interesting. Classic Alex Flinn.

Characters: Kendra, for being someone from 1666, sounded a lot like a modern teenager and that kind of bugged me a little. The other main characters were Lisette and Emma and I think the were written nicely and worked out each other perfectly as opposites.

Pros: Cute fun retelling.

Cons: would have liked a little more of Kendra's stories and Kendra to sounded too modern.

Final Thoughts: I enjoyed Bewitching and found the stories to be fun and entertaining. A great light read in a true Alex Flinn fashion.

Enchanted

Summary:

"It isn't easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.
When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.
The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past - and hers?"

Plot: An original fairytale, within familiar ones. It is easy to say Enchanted is enchanting. You are instantly immersed into this magical world and don't want to leave. The only problem in the plot would be that I felt at times it was jumpy and maybe could have been stretched out in to another book, instead of one.

Characters: Sunday Woodcutter and Rumbold, the Prince are the main characters.. but the story is really wrapped around the whole family and the given aspects of each family member. Which leaves a lack of character building.

Pros: it is a fairytale!

Cons: sklighty jumpy and would of loved it as a series

Final Thoughts: I LOVE LOVE LOVE Fairytales and all the goes with it.. one of my favorite TV Movie Series was the 10th Kingdom and this book in a lot of ways reminded me of that. My only complaint is that at times, I had to go back and read something again, to make sure I didn't miss something and also, I was hoping that I would get a series out of the story.. and it seemed like it was going there but then areas of the story that could have been dragged out and enhanced the book and the depths of it, but they were cut short, to get to the main plot line.. which was in my opinion not that climatic.. had it been put into a series.. I would have been more emotionally invested in it. Was this book not a fairytale and based on other fairytales, I would not have loved it, the way I do.

A Kiss In Time

 

A Kiss In Time was surprisingly a really really enjoyable book! A Kiss In Time is by Beastly author Alex Flinn and is a slightly modern take on the tale of Sleeping Beauty. After reading Beastly there was a preview of the 1st chapter of A Kiss In Time, I found it intriguing enough to check out the book at the library, but didn't expect much more then a light read...

Talia is the Princess in the book and the story goes she pricks her finger on a spindle and falls in to a deep sleep, until she is awaken by a kiss. Three hundred years later an American tourist name Jack falls upon her sleeping kingdom and kisses the Princess. This is where the story really begins, as Talia is introduced to the modern world. 

The book is a light heart romantic comedy. I would seriously LOVE to see this turned into a TV movie, i can definitely see it being turned into one for ABC Family. The story goes back and forth between Talia's point of view and Jack's and it is really enticing to her a male and female perspective on each other and how they really feel. I was really impressed with Flinn's ability to pay homage the the original tale while making it her own. Although, she did this in Beastly... I feel it was better executed in this book. My favorite part is towards the end when Malvolia (the evil witch) tests Jack's love of Talia through different game like scenarios. Granted yes, the ending was a little cheesy, the book overall was refreshing. Anyone who enjoys fairy tales, smiles, and a nice laugh. Should read A Kiss In Time. It is definitely a perfect summer read.

Red Riding Hood

When I saw the trailer for Catherine Hardwicke's Red Riding Hood  I was instantly entranced.. in fact, it's one of those trailers I like so much I go to Youtube to just to watch it again and again. I love fantasy, I love far off places (real or imaginary) and I love when fairytales take a darker turn. So, when I heard that the movie was based on a book, I had to read the book first. BUT I was wrong.. The book is based on the movie, different I know. Catherine Hardwicke felt there was more of the story to be told then you see in the movie, so she had her friends write the book.

For those who don't know Red Riding Hood is a more mature and darker twist on Little Red Riding Hood. I was pleasantly surprised by the book. I started out reading the book and liking it, but in the last 30 pages the book turned into one of my favorites. The main character is Valerie and her town has been plagued by The Wolf for years, to keep the wolf happy the villagers woulds sacrifice their livestock... this changes when the wolf kills a villager and they soon realize The Wolf is one of them.

Pretty much from the beginning  you will be guessing who The Wolf is and you will think you know who it is and then it will change and then you will change your mind again and again, going back and forth. The ending of the book comes together quickly and will leave you with a nice twist. The true ending to the book though is perfect. It pays perfect homage to the original tale. The book plays out pretty much like a movie, but is overall a nice read. If you like dark twisted fairytales then Red Riding Hood is a perfect addition to your collection.