Review of The Princess Search by Melanie Cellier

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Synopsis (from Amazon):
An outcast.
A prince.
And a deadly rebellion…

After a lifetime of rejection, seamstress Evie can’t trust Frederic, the crown prince of Lanover–not his words of friendship or the way the warmth in his eyes seems to ask for even more. But when they end up on a tour of his kingdom–one filled with increasing danger–Evie’s mistrust might doom them all.

In this spin on the classic fairy tale, an ugly duckling must discover her true worth in order to save her kingdom and maybe even find true love.

Review:
This book truly shows that your past experiences will aid you in your future, and that the way you look at your life is just as important, if not moreso, than what you’ve gone through in the past. Although things hurt, experiencing pain is a part of life.

I quite loved how Evie, a seamstress who designed all sorts of clothes, ended up among a royal tour, getting to help the kingdom and teach the crown prince how to see beyond the obvious, and look for little details, reliving the life she had before, and realizing that getting out of it and being in a position to help isn’t something to be ashamed of– she should be proud of how she’d worked to elevate herself, and become something.

Star Rating: 

Review of Fractured Beauty by Adrienne Monson, Angela Corbett, Angela Brimhall, Lehua Parker

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Synopsis (from Amazon):
Beauty and the Beast may be a tale as old as time, but in this collection by the Fairy Tale Ink you’ll meet five newly imagined Belles and the Beasts they love.

Angela Brimhall’s beast is a terrifying sea monster cursed by a scorned gypsy. He must risk all to save the strong-willed princess before losing his last chance at love and redemption, becoming forever damned to the briny deep.

Lehua Parker’s Nani is trapped by Indian and Hawaiian traditions and a fiancé locked in stasis in a medi-mod. Cultures and expectations collide in this sci-fi futuristic world where nano-bot tattoos and dreams reveal the secret of Nani’s heart.

Angela Corbett’s Ledger is determined to find out more about the mysterious woman who saved him from certain death and uncover the secrets of  Withering Woods, but some beasts are better left caged.

Adrienne Monson’s Arabella rushes to an enchanted castle to pay her father’s debt, but is met with a burly beast with a mysterious past. It’s a howling paranormal regency romp that will keep you turning pages well past your bedtime.

Review:
Brimhall’s– Quite enjoyed this story, the way that it twisted and curved, with everything twined together.

Parker’s- I loved this story. I didn’t necessarily think of it as Beauty and the Beast, but it was brilliant, unique, and I quite enjoyed it.

Corbett’s– It was an alright short story, but I didn’t quite see a big Beauty and the Beast theme, except for one character’s appearance. My least favourite of the stories.

Monson’s– I quite enjoyed the way she delivered an enchanted castle, and the way the romance developed. I also really enjoyed why Arabella’s father was sent away, and what it meant to and for her, and the Beast, ultimately.

All in all, an alright compilation, but most would have been better if allowed to shine on their own, without being considered a “Beauty and the Beast” novel.

Star Rating: 

Review of Spin by Genevieve Raas

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Synopsis (from Amazon):
A necklace, a ring, a child…There is always a price one is willing to pay. 

Laila sees her impending death in the mountains of straw waiting to be spun into gold. Faced with the impossible, she makes the impossible decision to survive, no matter what the cost.
A shadowy stranger sees an opportunity for vengeance. 
Born to a nightmarish destiny that crushed and embittered his faith in humanity, he devotes himself to dealing in dark desires and desperate souls, and Laila’s is ripe for the trade.
When the stranger asks his price, Laila is bound by blood and magic to pay. 
His own heart was never supposed to be part of the deal, but when honor drives Laila to break their bargain, he ends up tangled in his own web of deceit and destruction in a desperate attempt to save her life. In the black of night, there are no fairytales, only choices.
One choice makes a queen. One choice consumes a soul. It’s a roll of the dice in a game where love is everyone’s undoing. 

Review:
I thought the way Laila and Rumpelstiltskin’s relationship developed was great, but I was vastly disappointed in the way he reacted, and in how this book ended. While it is the beginning of a series, I greatly disliked the middle to end of this book so much that I have no intention of reading the rest.

Star Rating: 

Review of Disparity – a Rumpelstiltskin story by Sonya Writes

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Synopsis (from Amazon):
King Cameron regrets the decision he made when Marvin Bellemont declared his daughter could spin straw into gold, but if he goes back on his decision he fears he will look weak before the kingdom. Still, he thinks he knows how to make things right. He will spin the straw into gold himself, in the form of a tiny disheveled man named Rumplestiltskin.

Review:
A very unique take on Rumpelstiltskin. I wanted her to see past appearances, and while I was glad of a happy ending, it was sad that she couldn’t be the one to create it. Her reaction to learning that he was Rumpelstiltskin was frustrating, because she should have realized the connection herself, and shouldn’t blame him for what had been done to him.

Star Rating: 

Review of Once Upon a Time Travel by Sariah Wilson

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Synopsis (from Amazon):
Once upon a time…

Recent college grad Emma Damon knows the Rose Room in Hartley Hall is off limits, which is exactly why she can’t wait to get inside. Once she enters the forbidden room, Emma learns more about the history of the museum than she ever intended to know.

Waking up confused and shocked in 1816, all Emma wants is to return to her cozy home with flushing toilets and disposable razors. But when she’s mistaken for someone else, Emma must pretend to be everything she’s not. About to be engaged to the Earl of Hartley’s brother, Emma fails miserably at playing the role of a sophisticated lady.

Hartley is determined to ensure that the quirky and adorable woman marries his brother – despite his ever-growing attraction to her. After loving and losing, he refuses to fall prey to the shackles of love. But as his desire for Emma increases, he knows he must forfeit his happiness for his brother’s future. After all, there’s no such thing as happily ever after.

Or is there?

Review:
A quite well rounded story, expertly switching from the modern world to 1816. Emma is unique when thrown backwards in time, and it’s refreshing to see someone who doesn’t wish to be idle and do nothing (or only have countless children). Watching Emma and Hartley get to know each other and become closer while learning just how much manly knowledge Emma has is quite amusing. One cannot help but root for our time traveling heroine, wanting her to find a way to have everything she didn’t as an orphan.

Star Rating: 

Review of #Starstruck by Sariah Wilson

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Synopsis (from Amazon):
“You’ve done better.”

With one uncharacteristically sassy tweet to her longtime celebrity crush, Zoe Miller’s life turns upside down. Ultrahot A-lister Chase Covington doesn’t just respond to Zoe’s tweet, he does the unthinkable: he messages Zoe directly. Now she must decide between walking away or meeting her crush in person.

Chase knows better than to trust anyone from the Internet, but Zoe’s saucy challenge has totally caught his interest—and her girl-next-door personality is keeping it. He’s been burned enough to know he needs to keep his heart close. But his feelings for Zoe might be a lot more than just an online flirtation. He just has to convince her…

When the press gets wind of Zoe and Chase’s secret relationship, their romance turns into tabloid headlines. Will they be able to hold on to their Hollywood love story?

Review:
There are parts of this story I absolutely loved, and others I found predictable. Chase has a troubled past, and after letting Zoe in, he finds he doesn’t trust her (despite saying he does). Zoe, on the other hand, lets Chase into her life completely, meeting her family and seeing how he gets along with her much younger siblings. Zoe doesn’t want anything from Chase except to spend time with him, get to see and know the real him, but between Chase’s fame and his trust issues, while reading it is really up in the air whether or not they can reconcile their very different walks of life.

Star Rating: 

Review of An Inconvenient Princess by Melanie Cellier

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Synopsis (from Amazon):
Penny knows all about expectation. After all, she’s a seventh child and they’re always blessed, especially in a fairy-favored family like Penny’s. But Penny also knows all about disappointment. Because there’s nothing magical about her at all. She’s perfectly ordinary, even outshone by her own twin, Anneliese.

But maybe being ordinary is a good thing in this case, since gifts from the family’s fairy godfather, Mortimer, tend to lead to disaster. Which is why Penny is filled with dread when she discovers her twin has called on Mortimer for help. Anneliese ran away to find adventure, but now it sounds like she needs rescuing—if only Penny knew where to find her.

But soon Penny has far more problems than the location of her missing sister. When she’s forced to call on Mortimer herself, she’s soon embroiled with a rogue fairy, a tower without doors, a charming prince, and one highly inconvenient princess. With more and more people looking to Penny to secure their happily ever afters, will Penny ever have a chance to find one for herself? Find out in this twist on the classic fairy tale, Rapunzel.

An Inconvenient Princess is a romantic fairy tale novella. It can be read on its own, but is more fun when read as a part of the Entwined Tales, a series of interconnected fairy tales by six different authors. Each story follows the adventures of one of seven children from the same family as they seek out their own happily ever afters in spite of their reluctant fairy-godfather.

Review:
Penny is pragmatic. She doesn’t want to find trouble,but she knows her sister lives in a realm of tall tales and being extravagant, so when she sets off, Penny knows she will have to follow. Penny is an intelligent heroine, which makes her interesting. Despite being the younger twin, she feels responsible for Anneliese, and it drives her to great lengths. Finding her courage to become a leader instead of a follower, and try to do what is right makes this a great ending story for the series, especially since the happy ever after isn’t what you’d expect it to be.

Star Rating: 

Review of A Little Mermaid by Aya Ling

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Synopsis (from Amazon):
All Clio wants is to make her crush—a fellow merman prince—notice her. She isn’t interested in the people on land, much less a certain Prince Lukas, who was stupid enough to fall off a ship on his birthday. But when a bumbling fairy godfather misunderstands her, Clio finds herself in the worst situation imaginable—stranded on land with her tail and voice gone.

And her troubles are just beginning. Not only must Clio learn how to behave like a human, but she also needs to discover the identity of a mysterious assassin, all while guarding herself against flirtatious advances from Lukas, the very person she wants to avoid.

A Little Mermaid is a romantic fairy tale novella. It can be read on its own, but is more fun when read as a part of the Entwined Tales, a series of interconnected fairy tales by six different authors. Each story follows the adventures of one of seven children from the same family as they seek out their own happily ever afters in spite of their reluctant fairy-godfather.

Review:
Clio got a wish, but it wasn’t what she had wanted. While she got the opportunity to experience another land, she hadn’t disliked the one she came from. Clio learns to make the best of her situation, trying to learn how to act human, knowing all the while she doesn’t intend to stay that way. Having to find a mysterious assassin gives her a purpose she likely wouldn’t have ever experienced in the merkingdom. Sometimes, what you want isn’t what you need.

Star Rating: 

Review of A Beautiful Curse by Kenley Davidson

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Synopsis (from Amazon):
Follow your heart…
But you might just end up snacking on flies.

When a bumbling fairy godfather gifts a humble woodcutter’s fourth child with extraordinary beauty, she spends the next eighteen years trying to hide it—behind a book. Now, Elisette is ready to follow her dreams and become a scholar, but her admirers keep getting in the way of her ambitions. Ellie knows better than to rely on her fairy godfather, but she’s desperate enough to risk asking him for help. The trouble is, Mortimer isn’t feeling very helpful. In fact, he’s downright irritated…

After a bit of vengeful fairy magic, Ellie discovers that webbed feet and green skin are even harder to manage than beauty. No one cares what happens to a frog, except maybe quiet, unassuming Prince Cambren, who has enough troubles of his own.

Will Ellie find a way to break her curse and live happily ever after? Or will she spend the rest of her life eating flies and living in a pond at the back of the palace garden?

A Beautiful Curse is a romantic fairy tale novella. It can be read on its own, but is more fun when read as a part of the Entwined Tales, a series of interconnected fairy tales by six different authors. Each story follows the adventures of one of seven children from the same family as they seek out their own happily ever afters in spite of their reluctant fairy-godfather.

Review:
Ellie finds life hard because no matter how smart she is, how well spoken, educated, most will not see beyond her looks, and believe that she is a capable person. While Mortimer offers a… different… solution, she finds that if someone can take her seriously when she isn’t even human, perhaps not all is lost for her. This is a unique take on usual frog prince story, and while the lesson learned is somewhat the same, the way in which Ellie has to learn it is unprecedented.

Star Rating: 

Review of A Bear’s Bride: A Retelling of East of the Sun, West of the Moon by Shari L. Tapscott

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Synopsis (from Amazon):
Don’t judge a prince by his fur.

After her father threatens to marry her to a dull farmer, free-spirited Sophie runs away from the only home she’s ever known and sets off into the world, seeking adventure and romance. But instead of excitement, she finds a forlorn castle and the solitary prince who lives there.

For twenty years, Henri has been shrouded in mystery and speculation. He’s a legend, a nightmare, a blight upon his fair kingdom. Though Sophie knows it would be wiser to return home, she’s inexplicably drawn to the man of shadows.

But it doesn’t take Sophie long to realize that falling for the cursed prince might prove to be more of an adventure than she ever bargained for…

A Bear’s Bride is a romantic fairy tale novella. It can be read on its own but is more fun when read as a part of the Entwined Tales, a series of interconnected fairy tales by six different authors. Each story follows the adventures of one of seven children from the same family as they seek out their own happily ever afters in spite of their reluctant fairy-godfather.

Review:
Sophie is spirited and she has a path she wants to travel, and when her father threatens to end any chance of adventure, she knows she has to go out on her own. Not cut out for the long winding adventure she believed herself setting out for, she asks for help and finds herself thrown into more of a mystery than she expected. Sophie is tested in many ways throughout the novel, having to grow and shift from a girl who is determined to go her own way, to protecting and holding tight to what she loves. I truly hadn’t wanted this story to end.

Star Rating: