fairy tale – The Spine View

Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen

Violet made of Thorns is full of suspense, dark prophecy, and court intrigue with a serving of enemies-to-lovers on the side. There is also plenty of magic in this story and prophesies that spell doom. If you like your fairy tales on the darker side, this is the book for you.

Violet is a young Seer working for the King. She is one of only a few in the world and her talents are highly sought after. However, she didn’t receive proper instruction on the use of her gifts and though the visions and dreams are easy enough, there are other things her magic is capable of that she has yet to discover. Of course, there are people who wish to exploit her youth and lack of knowledge.

The King being one of those that will use her for his own ends. He frequently asks Violet to lie about what she sees or does not see. The latest lie is about Prince Cyrus’s upcoming engagement, even though he has yet to secure a bride.

Also, there is a dark prophecy surrounding Prince Cyrus. The prophecy Violet has, or says she has, could have dire consequences for both herself and the realm. Ultimately, the choices she and Cyrus make will determine the fate of everyone.

There was a lot of tension between Violet and Cyrus. I get the resentment that the Prince felt toward Violet. He cared about her but didn’t like her being a tool for his father to use as he desired. I felt that resentment was a little misplaced. However, it did allow for the tension between them and this enhanced the plot.

What I didn’t get was the hot to cold thing that was going on between the two. One minute they were making out and the next the claws were out. This part of the story felt like it needed further polish. In addition, I would have loved just a little more character development for Cyrus. His character was not as rounded as Violet.

The plot was interesting and it moved nicely along. Though, I was not a fan of the ending. It was a bit rushed and left too much unanswered for me. Yeah, I get that it is the first book in a series. Even taking this into account, the ending was not as organic as it could have been. In short, I wanted a bit more of an ending. One more chapter would have been nice.

Despite the few minor complains I had, I liked this story a lot. I am eagerly looking forward to seeing what will happen next. If you enjoyed The Bear and the Nightingale, this book should be on your TBR list.

I received a free copy, via Net Galley, in exchange for my honest review.

A Wild Winter Swan by Gregory Maguire

When a book is compared to great classics you are setting a very high bar from the start. The reader is expecting to be blown away and rightly should be. However, when you failure miserable at meeting that high standard, the reader is terribly disappointed. This is exactly what happened to me.

There are two main reasons I didn’t enjoy this story. First is Laura. She was very whiny. I get that her parents are no longer in the picture and she is very resentful of having to live with her grandparents whom she finds very dull. She is also not happy in school and does not have any friends. All a recipe for feeling sorry for yourself. I get that. What I have issue with is that the whininess bled over into all the aspects of the book and it became boring after the first forty pages.

Secondly, there was not much going on with the plot. It was so slow. You have to read to about the halfway point before anything happens of interest. Then the author packs everything into the latter part of the book. As it stands, I think this would have been better as a novella.

I received a free copy, from the publisher, via LibraryThing’s early reviewer program.

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer is a coming-of-age story that I can only be described as a cross between Ground Hogs Day and Beauty and the Beast. It is hands down one of the best fairy tales I have read in a while. Meant as a retelling, it goes above and beyond the original.

Prince Rhen of Emberfall has been cursed to relive the same autumn season of his eighteenth year over and over again by a powerful enchantress. To break the curse, all he has to do is make a girl fall in love with him. Of course, the enchantress throws a further twist into her game by having Rhen turn into a terrible monster at the close of each season. Despite this, Rhen has been arrogant enough to believe it would be easy. Born of privilege he is used to everything being easy. As season after season goes by with no true love, he is losing hope and now he is running out of time because the enchantress has said this will be the last season.

Grey, Rhen’s Caption of the Guard and protector, is given the ability to cross over to our world. At the beginning of each season he brings back a girl for Rhen in the hopes that it will be the one this time. With the stakes even higher this season, he must get the right girl. However, fate is against him when a girl with a limp prevents him from returning to Emberfall with the intended girl. Instead Grey is forced to abduct Harper.

Harper has not had an easy life. She was born with cerebral palsy and limps profoundly. Her father has deserted the family and left enormous debts with a loan shark. And to top it off, her mother is dying of cancer. Her brother is the only thing good thing right now in her life. He is actually working for the loan shark to pay off the debt. So, when Grey abducts her, her main concern is not in helping Rhen but returning home before her mother dies. Therefore, Rhen is going to have to pull off a miracle to break the curse.

I am totally in love with this book. I liked everything about the book, the prose, plot, characters and world building were so, so good. I can’t think of anything that I didn’t like about the book, which is unusual for me. Even with books I love, there is normally some little nitpicky thing I don’t care for, not the case here.

Of course, the characters were my favorite part. The author did a wonderful job of making me love them all. It is such a fabulous thing when I totally get the characters. The plot is also worthy of a comment since it worked so well with the characters and there was enough intrigue and twists to keep me reading and engaged. I just had to know how Harper was going to handle things once she found out about the true nature of the curse. Totally looking forward to reading book two.

I highly recommend this book to lovers of fantasy and fairy tales. This is a book that should be at the top of TBR list.

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust

Title: Girls Made of Snow and Glass
Author: Melissa Bashardoust
Pub. Date: 5-Sep-2017
Rating: 4 Stars

The blurb about Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust describes the book as a “reimagining” of Snow White. I say it is a modern take on Snow White. It is an immensely feminist fairy tale and the story explores the complexity of family ties especially those between mother, in this case step-mother, and daughter.

Mina is the daughter of a brilliant and powerful magician. She was gravely ill as a child and would have died if not for her father replacing her heart with one made of glass. As her father explains, while this act saved her life, it left her incapable of love and being loved. Mina desperately wants to experience love. Therefore, she contrives a plan to catch the attention of the king with her beauty. Her hope is that he will love her for her beauty. Once they are married, and she is queen, others will love her also. Continue reading “Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust”