Alice by Christina Henry

Paperback, 325 pages

Published June 28th 2016 by Titan Books Ltd (first published August 4th 2015)

Series: The Chronicles of Alice #1

Fantasy Dark Fairytale

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My Thoughts

After having read Lost boy, I knew what she could do and well she sure did something strange and special. This is not the Alice you know. It is better, it is adult, it is sad, it is a fairytale gone bad.

Alice was rich and ended up in Old City, where ganglords rule, and poor people starve. Someone broke her and her parents sent her to a mental hospital. For 10 years she has suffered there and wondered what actually happened. All she remember is long ears and a teaparty.

This is a fantasy world and a city made up from new and old. Rich and poor. We only see the poor part and it is horrific. The bosses who rule are monsters. They rule with an iron fist and if you think monsters think again, they are not just evil, they are dark.

And she will have her adventure. I can not really say more, Alice in Wonderland, goes Alice in the underworld. There is magic, monsters and so much gruesome darkness.

I enjoyed this dark "re-telling", and even though it ends with a positive note, more is to come and I do want more to see what happens to these characters 

In a warren of crumbling buildings and desperate people called the Old City, there stands a hospital with cinderblock walls which echo with the screams of the poor souls inside. In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blonde, hangs in tangles down her back. She doesn't remember why she's in such a terrible place-just a tea party long ago, and long ears, and blood... Then, one night, a fire at the hospital gives the woman a chance to escape, tumbling out of the hole that imprisoned her, leaving her free to uncover the truth about what happened to her all those years ago. Only something else has escaped with her. Something dark. Something powerful. And to find the truth, she will have to track this beast to the very heart of the Old City, where the rabbit waits for his Alice. 

The Winter of the Witch - Katherine Arden

Hardcover, UK Edition, 384 pages

Published January 10th 2019 by Del Rey (Ebury Publishing) (first published January 8th 2019)

Series: Winternight Trilogy #3

YA Historical fantasy

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My Thoughts

Book 1 was great. Everything from language to story. A wonderful fairytale. Book 2 has issues but was still good. It was no longer a fairytale. This one again was better than book 2, but still no book 1.

Vasya is in trouble, and omg that Konstantin, I want him hung up by his entrails! There is no place for a witch in Moscowy. 

She spends more time with magical "things" and places in this one. She learns a few truths too.

The whole Winter King and her is still weird, I mean he liked her from when exactly? The Bear went weird too...

Oh and the Tatars are coming so better rally the army!

But yes it was good, easy reading, nice story. And when it ended I was curious and wanted more. But I longed for a return to the more fairytale writing, and not the harsh reality of 14th century Russia.

Blurb

Moscow has burned nearly to the ground, leaving its people searching for answers - and someone to hold accountable. Vasya finds herself on her own, amid a rabid mob that calls for her death, blaming her witchery for their misfortune.

Then a vengeful demon returns, renewed and stronger than ever, determined to spread chaos in his wake and never be chained again. Enlisting the hateful priest Konstantin as his servant, turmoil plagues the Muscovites and the magical creatures alike, and all find their fates resting on the shoulders of Vasya.

With an uncertain destiny ahead of her, Vasya learns surprising truths of her past as she desperately tries to save Russia, Morozko, and the magical world she treasures. But she may not be able to save them all... 

The Mermaid - Christina Henry

Paperback, 321 pages

Published June 19th 2018 by Titan Books Ltd

Historical fantasy

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My Thoughts

I do like her books. They are all such great fun!

This one is more Selkie wife than little mermaid.  A mermaid grew bored with her world and wanted to see more. She is given the name Amelia by her husband, a lonely fisherman whom she falls in love with. No magic here (well yes and no.) If she touch land she becomes human, when she goes back into the sea she is a mermaid...creature.

I liked Amelia. She really loved her husband and stayed with him until he died. I liked the village, she knew and pretended not to.

Then comes PT Barnum. Ugh, what an asshat! Oh Amelia, I know that you still want to see the world, but stay away from that asshat! He wants a circus freak. An animal.

Conclusion:

The book is light, and heavy. Fun, and dark. And in that aspect it did remind me of Lost boy. The darkness she got in there. Yes, I do like these magical books of hers. And I have Alice on its way so I will read more by her, wohoo!

Blurb

From the author of Lost Boy comes a beautiful historical fairy tale about a mermaid who leaves the sea, only to become the star attraction of history's greatest showman. Once there was a mermaid called Amelia who could never be content in the sea, a mermaid who longed to know all the world and all its wonders, and so she came to live on land. Once there was a man called P. T. Barnum, a man who longed to make his fortune by selling the wondrous and miraculous, and there is nothing more miraculous than a real mermaid. Amelia agrees to play the mermaid for Barnum and walk among men in their world, believing she can leave anytime she likes. But Barnum has never given up a money-making scheme in his life, and he's determined to hold on to his mermaid. 

The Surface Breaks - Louise O'Neill

Hardcover, 320 pages

Published May 3rd 2018 by Scholastic

YA Fiction /Fairytale re-telling

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My Thoughts:

I have read 2 of her previous books, and yes those were dark, but this one was more dark depressing.

Gaia is a mermaid. They are meant to be pretty and sweet and without a thought in their head. But she wants to see the surface and what lies there. Her sisters are all nice and follow their father's lead (oh I can never watch the Little Mermaid again, her dad is an ahole!)

There are also Rusalkas in the seas and they live with the Sea Witch. These Kingdoms have a truce at the moment. Oh and if you do not know your lore Rusalkas are women who have died in water and come back as Rusalkas. 

As you know the story Gaia will eventually go up to the surface for the love of a human boy. And omg this girl was a brainless idiot. She was in love with someone she saw once and she thinks that he will love her back just like that ?! She gambles everything on it. Oh this story is crazy. So yes I was not the biggest Gaia fan cos she was so silly.

Oh and ALL MEN are rapists. Or at least give of a rapey vibe. Not the man she meets, but he is a narcissist. I was not a fan of this, not all men are rapey creeps. I wish there had been some normalcy.

I liked the book, and it felt depressing. I know the real story of course, not the silly DIsney version so I knew what to expect. But throw in all rapey men with incest and pedo vibes. Ugh, what a depressing world.

Conclusion:

Still, an interesting re-telling.

Cover

Nice

Blurb

Deep beneath the sea, off the cold Irish coast, Gaia is a young mermaid who dreams of freedom from her controlling father. On her first swim to the surface, she is drawn towards a human boy. She longs to join his carefree world, but how much will she have to sacrifice? What will it take for the little mermaid to find her voice? Hans Christian Andersen's original fairy tale is reimagined through a searing feminist lens, with the stunning, scalpel-sharp writing and world building that has won Louise her legions of devoted fans. A book with the darkest of undercurrents, full of rage and rallying cries: storytelling at its most spellbinding.

The Bear and the Nightingale - Katherine Arden

At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn’t mind—she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers of a fire with her beloved siblings, listening to her nurse’s fairy tales. Above all, she loves the chilling story of Frost, the blue-eyed winter demon, who appears in the frigid night to claim unwary souls. Wise Russians fear him, her nurse says, and honor the spirits of house and yard and forest that protect their homes from evil.

After Vasilisa’s mother dies, her father goes to Moscow and brings home a new wife. Fiercely devout, city-bred, Vasilisa’s new stepmother forbids her family from honoring the household spirits. The family acquiesces, but Vasilisa is frightened, sensing that more hinges upon their rituals than anyone knows.

And indeed, crops begin to fail, evil creatures of the forest creep nearer, and misfortune stalks the village. All the while, Vasilisa’s stepmother grows ever harsher in her determination to groom her rebellious stepdaughter for either marriage or confinement in a convent.

As danger circles, Vasilisa must defy even the people she loves and call on dangerous gifts she has long concealed—this, in order to protect her family from a threat that seems to have stepped from her nurse’s most frightening tales. 

Hardcover, 328 pagesPublished January 12th 2017 by Del Rey (first published January 10th 2017)The Winternight Trilogy #1YA/fairytale/fictionLibrary

My thoughts

I enjoyed this one and yes I was surprised because hype books, aye, they often fail me. But then it is a sort of fairy tale and I love them.

Vasilisa's grandmother was a witch, or so people said. And her own mother dies giving birth to he last child. The daughter she wanted to be like her own mother. A wild girl who runs in the woods and sees things in the shadows. And I liked all those things the in shadows, all known to me, except for that the Russians have a woman drowning people and we have a man. I always liked the stories of those taking care of houses and stables, and that you should feed them to make them happy. In the story they give bread, here it would be porridge. I have always loved folklore and it is so beautifully woven in and it makes you miss those times. But then came men with crosses and called them demons and they disappeared. And it made me sad.

Right so the mythology was obviously interesting. 

I liked the story of her growing up and being destined for something. I liked her spirit.

And then came that dang priest, arghhhh, and her evil stepmum, arghhhhh. Yes a book needs baddies but everyone was so happy before those two!

Conclusion:

'I enjoyed this tale and it does end well. But there will be more and I am happy for that. She needs more adventures, and at the same time I am happy there was no cliffie.

Cover

Not a fan, it looks so childish and this tale fits everyone

Audio Review: The Lady and the highlander - Lecia Cornwall

Laire MacLeod's father has married a mysterious widow who is a vain beauty that deals with potions and spells. Laire does not drink them with the rest of her family and is the only one who could see through her stepmother's games. When Laire flees to find help from her uncle, the Lady's huntsman follows her with orders to kill. Laire must survive in a dangerous new city and find the antidote to a poisonous potion before it is too late. Iain Lindsay is cursed. He is bound for seven years to be the hunter of a Lady who uses him to bring back birds to use in her potions. When Laire MacLeod escapes the Lady's nets, Iain tracks her to Edinburgh, where she's found shelter with an unusual band of thieves, but he cannot bring himself to harm her. Instead, he finds himself falling in love with the MacLeod beauty. But a Highlander's oath is his bond, and the price for helping her is death-both his own, and of those he loves. 

Audio CD, 9 hPublished September 20th 2017 by Tantor Audio (first published April 4th 2017)A Highland Fairy Tale #3Historical romanceFor review

My thoughts:

The last one felt like a tale with no magic, even if people believed in things. But here, well I do not really know how I could explain the things happening. Totally magical!

Laire's dad gets married to a witch who enchants him and the whole castle. All except for Laire who runs away. Which makes this to a Snow White fairytale. The wicked step mother, the fair princess, the Seven Thieves and the Hunter. The one who has to kill her, and the one that is the prince in this story. So there is poison, a wicked witch, magic and of course romance.

Laire runs away. She is strong, fierce and can handle a dirk. She wants to save her family and I liked her.

Iain, yes what to say about him. I mean he serves Viviana for reasons we do not know (and some of those reasons, well another thing that he had not done well in his past.) He kills birds for her and he sets after Laire for her. So how am I supposed to like him when he is all must kill her. But of course he has doubts, of course he wants to save her (and we all know the fairy tale.) So yes I did like him, he was all dark and broody and then, he had to be saved. Laire could save herself, but who would save him...

Conclusion:
I enjoyed this tale and I do wonder what the next book will be about. I sure hope there is more, I mean there are a LOT of sisters after all.

Narrator Ruth Urqhart

I like her Scottish accents and her male and female voices. She never makes the male ones too dark and the female ones are light and nice. It's a joy listening to her narrate

Carole's Sunday Review: Mistress of the Wind - Michelle Diener

Author: Michelle Diener

Title: Mistress of the Wind 

Genre: Fantasy, YA, and Retellings

Pages: ebook

Published: December 2013

Where I Got It: My shelf (Amazon freebie)

Bjorn needs to find a very special woman . . . 

The fate of his people, and his own life, depends on it. But when he does find her, she is nothing like he imagined, and may just harbor more secrets than he does himself.

Astrid has never taken well to commands. No matter who issues them . . . 

She's clashed her whole life with her father, and now her lover, the mysterious man who comes to her bedroom in darkness and disappears to guard his mountain by day as a bear, is finding it out the hard way. And when he's taken by his enemies, no one is prepared for Astrid's response. 

It is never wise to anger the mistress of the wind . . . 

A captivating and magical adult retelling of the fairy tale East of the Sun, West of the Moon.

I've heard so many good things about this and then it became an Amazon freebie. 

What an amazing and fun adventure this was. It was so magical and whimsical...I could hardly put this down. I finished this story after a couple of sittings. I for sure want more. 

The story follows Astrid and Bjorn. Astrid is a peasant girl who has a strange connection with the wind. Bjorn is a lord who is cursed by a troll and must find his true love in order to save himself and his people. 

The best part of this book was the fact that Bjorn saved Astrid, but Astrid saved him. No damsel in distress and that made it even better. In the end, they are equals. I do think that Astrid's journey was the best and her story was the best I think. 

I loved the world and characters. I want to learn more about this world and what it has to offer. I especially want to learn about the other Hags in more detail who helped Astrid master her gift. 

This was a good one and I do recommend this one. It is a very good retelling and it is written well. The characters and world was fun. Out of five stars, I'll give this 5 stars. 

Audio Review: Enchanted - Alethea Kontis

It isn’t easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past—and hers?

My thoughts:

I think I have to give it a 4 for just being so dang cute. It was a shaky start, I was not happy about the narrator, she was too weird and cute. But then it changed, the whole story is weird and cute so she fitted perfectly and it was enchanting listening to her. She made the book a 4.

As for the story that was all cute and fun too. There was Princess and the Frog, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, oh I loved how she had mixed all these things together.

Sunday was doomed to happiness. Rumbold (maybe the one voice I did not love as it was shaky) was searching for himself. I kept waiting for them to truly fall in love and get that fairytale ever after.

There is also some drama and of course lots of fun stories that made me want more about her sisters.

Conclusion:

All in all cute...yes I can say it time and time again cos it was cute.

Cover

Cute too

Audiobook, Unabridged , 8 hours
Published May 8th 2012 by Brilliance Audio (first published January 1st 2012)
Woodcutter Sisters #1
YA / Fantasy
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Early Review: Wickedly Charming - Kristine Grayson

Genre: Contempory paranormal fantasy fairy-tale romance
Pages: 352
Publication: May 1st 2011 Sourcebooks Casablanca

Cinderella's Prince Charming is divorced and at a dead-end in his career, so he opens a bookstore and travels the land ordering books and discovering new authors. Still handsome and still charming, he has given up on women, royalty, and anything that smacks of a future.

Mellie is sick and tired of being called the Evil Stepmother. She did her best by her stepdaughter Snow White, but the girl resented her to no end and made all kinds of false accusations. Neither of them believes in happily ever after anymore, but both of them believe in happily for the moment...

My thoughts:

I found this book charming and sweet. It was fun to read, and I liked her takes on fairytales and what isn't always told in them.

It takes place in our world, but what we do not know is that there are more magical kingdoms in another dimension of some sort. Prince Charming left his kingdom, because what else was there to do than to wait for his dad to die. These "fairy-tale" characters also live for a long time. He went through a painful divorce with his Ella, it was not a match made in heaven. Poor Charming is sure charming but he is also a nerd that loves books (oh he won my heart at once there!), his hair is not as thick as it used to be, and as Ella pointed out his weight is no longer perfect. So he is a normal man, just still very charming, and I liked him. Then we have the wicked stepmother, yes Snow White's stepmum, though she is not as evil as those wicked Grim brothers made her out to be. There is another story there, and I did feel sorry for her and the bad rep she got. Sure she was a bit pushy at first, but she calmed down and I liked her. They were just two people with painful pasts and they wanted more to life.

After having finished this book I did hope that Grayson will go back to this world and write about more characters.  What I definitely liked was when they talked about the Snow White story, because it sure is icky that the prince wanted a dead woman, what did he actually want to do to her? Oh the story will tell you, the real story. Amusing and disturbing. A great spin to stories we all know.

Conclusion:

It was an amusing story to read. Sure they were slow to fall in love, but who could blame them. But it was there from page 1 so I just had to wait for that HEA, a more realistic HEA than the fairy-tale ones they knew by heart. I would read more by this author. At the end I was charmed, wickedly charmed.

Rating:

Quick read

Cover:

It does look good, but either I wanna see his face or cut him out..and is that one of Chris' guys?


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My Flash Fiction entry


And the winner of The Untied Kingdom is: Anna
                                                            who has been notified

Review: Cinders - Michelle Davidson Argyle

Genre: Historical fantasy romance fairytale
Pages: 182
Published: June 2010

Cinderella's happily-ever-after isn't turning out the way she expected.With her fairy godmother imprisoned in the castle and a mysterious stranger haunting her dreams, Cinderella is on her own to discover true love untainted by magic.

I saw this cover and knew I had to read this book. And don't expect some happily ever after, no this is what happens after the HEA.

Cinderella is married to her prince, but she is unhappy and bored. Sure Prince Rowland is wonderful and loving but she knows that he is under a spell, and would he love her without the magic? Her fairy godmother is being accused of witchcraft and is rotting in the dungeon, and Cinderella is feeling the burden of her crown. She is no longer sure that this is what she wants, and then they are the dreams that haunt her. About the man she met and the man who left. The stranger she now dreams about and wants to be with. And she wants to find a way to do just that.

As you can see everything is not perfect, she got her prince Charming but at a price, and the magic means that everyone around her likes her. Rowland and she seems to have a lovely time together, and he does seem perfect. But yes, magic. Though it never hit me to feel sorry for him, I guess I was so focused on what Cinderella was doing. I could understand her, but she also ended up doing some things that made me wonder how she later in life thought about those things. I can't say too much so not to spoil things.

All was not well in the kingdom either, now the rule was rather oppressive and the people wants to revolt. Heads will fall in this book, it is a fairytale with a grim truth.

The best part must be the end because I was surprised, and I love being surprised when it comes to books. Argyle did a good job with that.

All in all, you have to pay a price for magic, and this fairytale could sure have been told in the old days, with that bit of advice in it.

Magic, elves, fairies, step into a fairytale that seems to real.

Blodeuedd's Cover Corner. Love it. One of my all time fav covers.

Reason for reading: I asked the author.

Final thoughts: I finished and wanted more, and then I read that there will be other fairytales and that I do look forward to.

4 Crowns

You can buy Cinders on Amazon

                                    Smashwords

and more places

Visit the author's website

Graphic Novels: Bayou + 1001 Nights of Snowfall

Bayou, vol 1 by Jeremy Love

Pages: 160
Published: 2009

This was a great graphic novel. It starts with 2 girls playing, one white, one black, in a time when they shouldn't be playing. Soon the white girl disappears in the bayou and the black girls dad gets blamed.

The bayou is a scary place with real monsters in it, but our heroine braves it all. She is a truly brave little girl.

The injustice here kills me, but that's how it was. He creates a good story, and with the magical bayou elements. After having finished it I do want more.

Fables: 1001 Night of Snowfall by Bill Willingham

Pages: 144

Published: 2008

This was a another great graphic novel. There were a bunch of artists so the different stories all looked different, but it was fun to see. Especially since it was such a wide range of stories. The narrator is Snow White who is a prisoner in a harem and tells 1001 stories.

And this was sure not happy fairy tales, horrible things happened in them, and just showed that there is no such thing as a always HEA. But there was truth and reality (coughs, well if we lived in a fairytale, and there were evil armies).

Recommend for graphic novel fans, and those who like it was fantasy in them. Not to mention those who want to have a look at known fairytales in a different perespective.

This was my fav story and artist:

Snow White on the run