Book Review: Entwined by Heather Dixon

Goodreads description:

Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it.

The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation.

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.

But there is a cost.

The Keeper likes to keep things.

Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.

Review

I love fairy tale retellings and I've been wanting to read Entwined ever since I first heard of it last September so I was happy to finally sink into it. The tale of the Twelve Dancing Princesses is familiar to me and I've read another retelling of it called Princess of the Midnight Ball so I was was hoping that I enjoyed this version of the story just as much.

Azalea and her eleven sisters have been plunged into mourning after the death of their mother when giving birth to her youngest daughter Lily. Forced to sport black dresses and banned from, balls, going into the palace gardens except on royal business, seeing suitors and worst of all, dancing, the girls find life dull. That is until they discover a magic staircase in their room leading to a beautiful underworld pavilion where they can dance all night under the watchful eye of the handsome Keeper and wear their dancing shoes to rags to the bewilderment of their servants. However, the Keeper has more to him than meets the eye and the girls realise too late that they have become entangled in something more than they bargained on and danger is hot on their heels.

Entwined is told in the third person through the eyes of Princess Azalea and through the narrative, a beautiful world is spun and the vivid imaginings of the palace and magic captivated me. Heather Dixon has bought a unique spin to the fairy tale and added a fresh and creative dimension that has really made it her own. I loved her descriptions of the kingdom from the grandeur of the palace gardens to the scary silvery shadows of the magic pavilion where the girls go to dance. Oh- and the dancing! I really can't dance myself but I could picture the graceful and elegant movements of the girls gliding and swirling across the ball room. There was also a good balance of old traditions, formal dancing at balls and modern behaviour without it seeming out of place.

The close bond between the sisters was adorable to see and was a joy to read about when so many YA book families are dysfunctional. They comforted each other after the death of their mother and were always looking out for one another. You might think that with twelve girls to contend with, characteristics wouldn't be a strong point but I'm happy to say that each of the girls had a distinct personality and I knew who each one was even though they didn't get equal page time. There was cheeky and fiery. Bramble who's always cracking a joke, responsible and kind Azalea. However the family were not without their problems and Azalea had many worries to deal with from the burden looking after her sisters to the government choosing a suitable husband for her.  The girl's relationship with the King evolved really well throughout the story with him developing a lot as a father and it was lovely to see the family overcome their problems together. One addition I especially loved was that the girl's flower names were arranged in order of their age  so Azalea's name was A as she is the eldest and I was referring to the alphabet constantly to see how old one of the girls were. I would have been lost without that...

Now a fairytale wouldn't be complete without a smidgen of romance, right? There were several romantic interests in Entwined for the eldest of the sisters and each one romantic in their own sweet way! It took nearly the whole book for the relationships to develop but this was part of the beauty of it because there was no love at first sight and made for some very humorous scenes!

One thing to note is that the plot is quite slow moving and although this allowed for the excellent character and relationship development, it did affect my enjoyment slightly.

Verdict: Entwined has everything the perfect fairytale needs- a gorgeous setting, endearing characters, an evil villain, cute romance, humour and a happily-ever-after! It was an enchanting and heart warming break from reality that made me lose myself in the world of princesses, dancing, magic and family love. Not only did I love the story but also Heather Dixon's writing and I'm looking forward to seeing what she writes next. I'd especially recommend Entwined to fairytale and fantasy lovers and wish it would be made into a movie.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Book Review: Princess Of The Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

Who can resist a cover like that?

Goodreads description

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.
 
My Review
 
Rose and her eleven sisters are doomed to dance every night for the evil scheming  King Under Stone and his sons, the Princes because of a binding bargain that their deceased mother made years ago. Despairing, the King promises one of his daughter's in marriage to the Prince who can find out why the Princess's dancing shoes are mysteriously worn out every night and how they end up so exhausted. The gallant young soldier Galen returned from war who has taken a position as under-gardener soon learns of this when he befriends the Princesses and decides he must do everything in his power to reveal the secret and save the Princesses.  
 
I read this book at the right time because a fairy tale retelling like this one is a perfect Easter holiday read! I loved the 15th century Germanic like country in the aftermath of war that the book was set in and the dark world of the Under Stone that the Princesses must travel to but my favourite aspect of the book was the characters. The story is told from the third person perspectives of the two main characters Galen and the eldest Princess Rose and each of them were easy to root for. Galen was everything that you'd expect of a worthy fairy tale hero: dashingly romantic, noble, considerate (don't forget that he likes to knit!) and courageous whilst Rose was the perfect heroine in distress: beautiful, kind and loving to her sisters but with an unspeakable burden on her shoulders. However, each of the other eleven Princess had distinguishable personality traits too, which worked really well but a week after reading the book, their names have blended into  a confusing tangle as they were all named after flowers.

I wasn't really familiar with the original fairy tale before I read this book so but I looked it up afterwards and Jessica Day George has really made it into her own story with lots of twists and turns and explanations that were omitted in the original that help the story to make more sense. For example she has invented a reason for the Princesses to dance every night, which makes the plot a lot more exciting!

Jessica Day George's writing is simple but beautiful at the same time and makes for a light but well written read. So even though the plot is predictable, the story is still a delight to read that kept me turning the pages. I will definitely be checking out the 'sequel' Princess Of Glass, a Cinderella retelling using one of the Princessses from this book.

Quick read: Princess Of The Midnight Ball has everything needed an enchanting escape whilst basking in the spring sunshine from a handsome and brave hero, a beautiful and kind Princess heroine to a magical world and true love. Pick up this for a quick treat- after all, everyone needs a little bit of happily ever after once in a while!

Rating: 4 stars

Book Review and Trailer: The Healer's Apprentice by Melanie Dickerson

The absolutely beautiful cover!

Publisher Summary

Two Hearts. One Hope.Rose has been appointed as a healer's apprentice at Hagenheim Castle, a rare opportunity for a woodcutter's daughter like her. While she often feels uneasy at the sight of blood, Rose is determined to prove herself capable. Failure will mean returning home to marry the aging bachelor her mother has chosen for her---a bloated, disgusting merchant who makes Rose feel ill.When Lord Hamlin, the future duke, is injured, it is Rose who must tend to him. As she works to heal his wound, she begins to understand emotions she's never felt before and wonders if he feels the same. But falling in love is forbidden, as Lord Hamlin is betrothed to a mysterious young woman in hiding. As Rose's life spins toward confusion, she must take the first steps on a journey to discover her own destiny.

My review and thoughts

When I saw the cover and synopsis for this book I was instantly excited about finding a new YA historical fairy tale retelling but finding out there were Christian elements woven into it too was even better. As a Christian teen it can often be hard to find clean historical romance and The Healer's Apprentice combines all my favourite genres into one. What could be better? I'm happy to say that I wasn't disappointed.

Rose is a poor woodcutter's daughter who has received the honour of being chosen to be the healer's apprentice at Hagenheim Castle. Whilst she is thrilled at the chance to better herself and get away from her mother who wants her to marry a disgusting old man, Rose is terrified of blood. As if life is not complicated enough, she becomes friends with Lord Hamlin who quickly becomes enamoured by her dark beauty and personality but they can never be together because they are socially too far apart and he is engaged to a lady that he has never met.

Melanie Dickerson

Right from the first chapter I found myself immersed in a medieval world full of knights, ladies, lords and castles. We meet Rose and her best friend Hildy (who I would gladly have as a friend) as they gather in the marketplace with the rest of the villagers trying desperately to catch a glimpse of the handsome young Lords. It makes you realise that they are just like young girls of today in a fairy tale like historical setting.

Although it is told in the third person, the character's voices and thoughts shine through just as if it was told in the first person which was really effective and made everything seem so real. I could smell the herbs used by Rose and her teacher Frau Geruscha, hear the hoof beats of a gallant Knight as he rides his noble steed, see the vivid colours of finely embellished ball gowns and feel my heart pumping with Rose's when she is falling in love. The third person narration follows the characters of Rose and Lord Hamlin (Rupert) alternately, which I loved as it was great to get inside the heads of both the main characters. It also allowed me to enjoy the period details of two different worlds.

The characters are extremely likable and realistically flawed, both Rose and Rupert try to do the right thing and like all humans make mistakes along the way. Rose is sometimes timid and is self conscious when mixing with people above her at the castle but she is also very strong willed, fiercey loyal, kind, passionate and opinionated. Unlike most girls of her class she has been well educated by Frau Geruscha and can read. Although she wants to marry for love, a dream that is almost impossible to come true for girls like herself Rose does act like girls would in those times because she knows what is expected of her and what is proper or a young lady.

         Rupert is the man of every girl's dreams as he is handsome, strong, caring, dutiful and truthful. He is known as a man of honour who feels a strong sense of duty to the people of Hagenheim- to put their safety and interests above those of him and his heart. He is on a dangerous mission to hunt down Monocore, the evil man who is trying to demonise his secret betrothed, Lady Semolina. Over the years he has learnt to guard his heart and eyes to be faithful to his betrothed but Rose changes this and his world begins to shake.

The blooming romance between them is just so sweet and the way that it slowly progressed made it very believable and realistic. Everything about it is clean and just right for teens like me with parts that make your heart pound. I found myself desperately hoping for them to be together all the way through despite their social differences and that true love would conquer all so they would live happily ever after!

I thought that there was exactly the right balance between beautiful descriptions, action. adventure, intrigue and romance. Something was always happening and at times there was a lot of tension and anticipation but at the same time Melanie Dickerson managed fantastic character development too.

As well as the main storyline, there were also several sub plots which made the story richer and deeper. I especially enjoyed Rose's best friend Hildy's romance and its problems although I won't say any more than that about to revent spoilers.
The Christian threads that were woven through did not overwhelm the story and fitted in really well with the time period so don't think that this will affect any ones enjoyment of the book regardless of faith. However, I think that the characters and their faith will be an inspiration to young Christians.

Despite being loosely based on the Sleeping Beauty fairytale, The Healer's Apprentice was more of its own story with many twists and turns along the way making it uniquely special in every way.

Verdict: The Healer's Apprentice is a beautiful fairy tale set in Medieval times with believable characters and a touching and sweet romance that is sure to warm the hearts of readers. I would highly recommend it to girls and women of approximately 12+ .It is a book that I feel I will re-read many times and treasure, it is definitely one of my favourites of this year. This is a amazing debut from Melanie and I can't wait to see what she writes next!

Book Trailer

Without a doubt, this is the best book trailer I have seen! It's like a mini-movie: the costumes and settings are beautiful and it captures the esscence and magic of the book perfectly. I like that the same girl has been used on the cover as in this and she really does fit Rose's character. A must watch- I love it!

Book Review: The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Thank you to Bloomsbury for sending me a review copy of this book.


The newest edition and the cover
that I have.



Blurb Summary

Princess Anidori spends the first years of her life listening to her aunt's enthralling stories. Little does she realise how valuable her aunt's strange knowledge will be when she grows older. At the age of sixteen Ani is told that she must leave her homeland to marry someone she has never met. But fate has much worse in store for he in this original and magical tale of a girl who must understand her own incredible talent before she can overcome those who wish her harm. A story of betrayal, jealousy and romance.

My review and thoughts

I thought that I knew the story of the original Brother's Grimm fairytale from the Ladybird books I used to read when I was very small but it turned out that my vague memories of this did not match up to the story so I think I was remembering something different.

I decided to read The Goose Girl on one of the last days of the October school holiday week when I was feeling a bit tired and fed up of being in the house all day and I discovered a wonderful escape.

 I was introduced to Anidori, a young Princess who is gifted with being able to speak to animals after spending time with ad being her Aunt in early childhood. Ani feels foolish and insecure as she is shy and unable to converse uneasily with others without feeling awkward unlike her imperial mother The Queen and her lady in waiting Selia.

Soon after the death of her father, Ani is told that she will not become Queen by her mother and is sent to the land of Bayen to marry its Prince accompanied by her guards and lady in waiting. Yet it turns out that she does not know who she can trust and who would readily betray her for their power greediness.

Ani is a very relateable character and it was lovely to feel like I was accompanying her on her journey through hardship and sorrow, pain and joy in a quest of self discovery and to gain justice. Despite her anxious surface, Ani is really a strong character inside who will rise readily to challenges that involve bringing about justice and helping her friends. Ani's romance is adorable too although I won't give anything away about it!

What I loved about this book the most is that although it is fantasy to its very heart, Shannon Hale's writing made it seem completely real and true as though the lands of Bayern and Kildenree really exist. This is something I have rarely encountered and believe is the mark of a truly talented author.

The reason for this is her beautifully eloquent and evocative language that is at times also poetic but it is not in the typical fairy tale language of  'fluttering fairies' and 'happily ever afters' but dramatic and full of built up suspense to keep you on the edge of your seat. There is even a battle scene near the end creating a tense atmosphere.

My favourite part of the book was near the end because that is when I felt the secondary characters came to life the most for me and their emotions jumped out the page. I won't give any spoilers about this though!

The Goose Girl has all the ingredients needed for a page turning fairy tale retelling and enchanted me with a tale set in two magical lands that tell of enchanting powers. I can't wait to read the rest of the series now, which follows the stories of secondary characters in this book!

I would recommend the Goose Girl to anyone who loves escaping to another world in a book, particularly children and teenagers.