Genre: Fairytale/Retelling

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh | Review

Posted October 23, 2017 in Reviews / 10 Comments

So I promised myself that this fall I would make more of an effort to read fantasy books, especially ones that I own. I decided to start this initiative with a book that’s been on my radar for years, The Wrath and the Dawn. Armed with the paperback that I had preordered over a year ago and the First Draft podcast featuring the author, I embarked on a journey into Eastern fantasy and folklore and indulged in this A Thousand and One Nights retelling. Now, I was saving this book in a sense, as literally almost every single one of […]

How Could You Be So Heartless?

Posted October 24, 2016 in ARCs, Reviews / 6 Comments

Heartless is one of the most fantastic ARCs I have ever been privileged enough to receive. I waited two hours in line at YALLWest and it was a hot mess getting it (it was pretty much a swarm) but I can’t be more thankful that I acquired it, because it’s a haunting tale that really shows the range of Marissa Meyer’s writing capabilities. Set from the perspective of the Queen of Hearts before she was royalty, Heartless follows Catherine, the daughter of a Marquess in the land of Hearts who wants nothing more than to open a bakery. Baking is […]

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas | The Book That Stole My Soul

Posted May 16, 2016 in Reviews / 27 Comments

Here- here was the most powerful High Lord ever born. The face of dreams and nightmares (408). *Disclaimer: The first part of this review will be *relatively* spoiler-free, and the second half below the line will discuss spoiler elements. You’ve been warned! I am a book blogger. I read a large volume of books every year. I review almost all of them. Some I love, some I hate, few I flail over. Yet when I do find a book that completely enraptures me, I am always convinced it’s going to be the best book of the year, that I’ll never […]

An Unpopular Opinion on Winter by Marissa Meyer | Review

Posted December 21, 2015 in Books, Reviews / 30 Comments

I am an outlier. A black sheep. The reader who seemed to have missed the memo that this was an amazing, flawless, work of utter perfection. So I’m going to start with a disclaimer: I love Marissa Meyer. I’ve met her twice. I think her skill at writing fairy tale retellings is magnificent. Her characters have depth and feel like my own friends. I coveted the release of Winter. I dragged myself to Barnes & Noble after an eleven hour work day to buy it in person to ensure that I received a copy that was in pristine condition. And […]

A Thousand Nights by E. K. Johnston | ARC Review

Posted October 19, 2015 in ARCs, Reviews / 13 Comments

My Review “Good men fall to monsters every day. Clever men are tricked by their own pride or by pretty words. That is what happened to the king in the tale she tells.” Very rarely do I find myself reading -and finishing- a book that was completely and totally not what I was expecting. Somehow, however, A Thousand Nights slipped through my bookish radar and when I finally got my hands on a much-coveted copy at ALA, I was somehow convinced it was going to be your average, run of the mill, Disney-washed Arabian folk tale retelling that was heavy […]

The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler | ARC Review

Posted May 28, 2015 in Reviews / 10 Comments

*Many thanks to Simon & Schuster for the review copy! I love fairytale retellings and adaptations, so when I discovered that The Summer of Chasing Mermaids was a contemporary story influenced by The Little Mermaid, I knew I had to read it. Contemporary novels that take influence from myths and legends are often so creative, and I deeply admire Sarah Ockler’s talent at weaving in influences of the famous tale into a beautiful and emotional contemporary novel. This book had a lot more depth than I was expecting. At first glance it may seem like a fluffy, beach read but […]

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas | Review

Posted May 13, 2015 in Reviews / 24 Comments

“I threw myself into that fire, threw myself into it, into him, and let myself burn.” How do I possibly count the ways in which I ADORED this book? I finished it about 24 hours ago, and I have been unable to do anything productive. I have picked up the book again at least 3 times since then to flip through it and reread my favorite parts. I am a book-hangover mess. Once in a while I’ll claim in a review that a book was “My favorite in X genre for this year” or “The best at dealing with X […]

Damsel Distressed by Kelsey Macke | Review

Posted February 23, 2015 in Books, Reviews / 8 Comments

“She inserts herself into the life that I’m barely living in the first place.” -32 There’s nothing that I love more in books than a good fairytale retelling, so when I came across Damsel Distressed I was so excited to read one that added a twist to the normal conventions. Damsel Distressed is not only a contemporary retelling of Cinderella, but it inverts the typical tropes of the story and has the ugly step-sister archetype as the protagonist, with “Cinderella” as the evil stepsister to invade Imogen’s life. I adored reading such a creative way to retell a tired-a-true fairytale, […]

Splintered by A.G. Howard- Review

Posted January 26, 2015 in Books, Reviews / 10 Comments

“Sometimes a flame must level a forest to ash before new growth can begin.” First and foremost, Splintered has a beautiful and evocative cover. Combined with the fact that I love fairy tale retellings, and it was inevitable that I would add this novel to my collection. Now I’ll be honest and admit that I’ve never been the biggest Alice in Wonderland aficionado, but I love the imagery and know that it’s popular enough to have inspired dozens upon dozens of retellings in the past few years. I went into Splintered hoping it would be a quality retelling amidst […]