Kyle has it all - money, popularity, good looks, and brains. What he doesn't have is a heart. When he humiliates a nobody in his English class, he's put under a curse. The nobody, it seems, is a witch and Kyle is now a beast. Animal-like and ugly forever unless he can convince someone to love him for what he is. Helping Kyle is a blind tutor and a chat room support group for others who've been enchanted: a mermaid, a frog prince, and a bear with princess problems.
Like all fairy tales, we know the ending, but the telling is fresh and satisfying. It's a worthy read.
Showing posts with label fairy tale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fairy tale. Show all posts
Impossible by Werlin
Lucy's mom, Miranda, is nuts. She drags around a shopping cart full of pop bottles, sings one folk song over and over again, and rambles about fairies and the futility of true love. Not much of a parental figure. This is why Lucy lives with her foster family, who are overprotective but loving, and Zach, her neighbor/best friend/something more?
When Lucy goes to the prom with a boy from school, things go from unfortunate to horrific for Lucy when her date rapes her and then dies immediately after in a car wreck. (Sounds improbable but it works in the story). In the aftermath, Lucy discovers that her mother isn't just crazy - she's cursed, as are all the women in her family. Only by performing the three impossible tasks from Miranda's song can Lucy free herself and her family.
Werlin typically writes mysteries and gritty realistic fiction. I was curious to see what she'd do with a fairy tale, since she isn't really a "happily-ever-after" kinda girl. The results are intriguing and very much something that only she could write. The characters are tragic, believable, and engaging. The villian is pretty darn creepy. The messages about love and marriage are really worth reading. Good book.
When Lucy goes to the prom with a boy from school, things go from unfortunate to horrific for Lucy when her date rapes her and then dies immediately after in a car wreck. (Sounds improbable but it works in the story). In the aftermath, Lucy discovers that her mother isn't just crazy - she's cursed, as are all the women in her family. Only by performing the three impossible tasks from Miranda's song can Lucy free herself and her family.
Werlin typically writes mysteries and gritty realistic fiction. I was curious to see what she'd do with a fairy tale, since she isn't really a "happily-ever-after" kinda girl. The results are intriguing and very much something that only she could write. The characters are tragic, believable, and engaging. The villian is pretty darn creepy. The messages about love and marriage are really worth reading. Good book.
East by Pattou
This is a book for hardcore fairytale lovers. It's length is somewhat off-putting and it drags in the middle, but the writing is passable and the story is charming, though predictable.
East is a Beauty and the Beast type tale. Rose is a young farm girl in Norway who is taken to an underground castle by a polar bear in exchange for her family's well-being. The bear is, naturally, a prince who's been cursed by the troll queen. The bear can be freed only through certain conditions, which Rose is there to fulfill.
The twist occurs when Rose violates the terms of her enprisonment and the troll queen whisks the bear off to the north pole to become her king. Rose feels guilty and sets off to rescue the bear. This is about the time that the pacing of the book slows. While you learn a lot about life and culture in Greenland, some readers will really wish Pattou cut to the chase.
The book is sweet, but plodding. If readers can get past the predictability and skim through the middle, it's not a bad read.
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