Title: Sisters Red

Author: Jackson Pearce

Genre: YA/UF

Publisher: Hodder Children’s Book/ Little, Brown
Publication Date: June 2010
Hardcover: 352 pages

The story of Scarlett and Rosie March, two highly-skilled sisters who have been hunting Fenris (werewolves) – who prey on teen girls – since Scarlett lost her eye years ago while defending Rosie in an attack. Scarlett lives to destroy the Fenris, and she and Rosie lure them in with red cloaks (a colour the wolves can’t resist), though Rosie hunts more out of debt to her sister than drive.

But things seem to be changing. The wolves are getting stronger and harder to fight, and there has been a rash of news reports about countless teenage girls being brutally murdered in the city. Scarlett and Rosie soon discover the truth: wolves are banding together in search of a Potential Fenris – a man tainted by the pack but not yet fully changed. Desperate to find the Potential to use him as bait for a massive werewolf extermination, the sisters move to the city with Silas, a young woodsman and long time family friend who is deadly with an axe. Meanwhile, Rosie finds herself drawn to Silas and the bond they share not only drives the sisters apart, but could destroy all they’ve worked for.

Stand alone or series: Book 1 in the Sisters Red series.

How did we get this book: We got ARCs from Little, Brown.

Why did we read this book: We have been waiting to read this book for ages – the cover is striking and the we are always up for a fairytale retelling.

Ana’s take:

Listen.

I could tell you that for the first pages of this book I was completely engrossed in the story. How could I not? I mean, a dark, violent even, retelling of Red Riding Hood in which two sisters are the hunters who kill the wolves? I am in. It helps that the first pages were very gripping: back in the past when the kids lived with their grandmother and were attacked by a passing werewolf and Scarlett, the oldest sister, protects the younger Rosie almost to her own death losing an eye in the fight and becoming scarred for life. Then, as teenagers they fall in the roles that they have taken for themselves that day: Scarlett, the protector, Rosie the protégée – both equally fierce Hunters but with a striking difference. Scarlett sees nothing but the hunt, Rosie wants something else for her life.

I could tell you that I like the prose. But also that the tale and the alternating chapters between the two sisters get repetitive very soon. I could tell you that when the next door neighbour, a woodsman-hunter named Silas comes back to town that I knew Rosie would fall for him and that their story was actually quite sweet.

I could definitely tell you that part of what makes me like the book to begin with is the fact that making the two girls the ones who go after the werewolves to kill them is rather an empowering take on the original tale.

I could tell you all that.

But what I really want to tell you is: when I hit page 108 (of the ARC) I went nuts. You see, it is part of this retelling that the werewolves are predators who are after young, pretty girls. As part of their hunting routine, Rosie will dress up, put on make-up and perfume (because she usually doesn’t do that as she is a “natural beauty”). Obviously, Scarlett, being the ugly, scarred sister, just sits back to attack when Rosie has played the role of prey. So, page 108. Scarlett is outside a nightclub observing the girls in the queue to get in:

They’re adorned in glittery green rhinestones, shimmery turquoise and aquamarine powders streaked across their eyelids. Dragonfly girls. Their hair is all the same, long and streaked, spiralling down their backs to where the tiny strings holding their tops on are knotted tightly. Their skin glows under the neon lights – amber, ebony, cream – like shined metal, flawless and smooth. I press harder against the crumbly brick wall behind me, tugging my crimson cloak closer to my body. The scars on my shoulders show through fabric when I pull the cloak tight. Bumpy red hills in perfectly spaced lines.

The Dragonflies laugh, sweet, and bubbly, and I groan in exasperation. They toss their hair, stretch their legs, sway their hips, bat their eyes at the club’s bouncer, everything about them luring the Fenris. Inviting danger like some baby animal bleating its fool head off. Look at me, see how I dance, did you notice my hair, look again, desire me, I am perfect. Stupid, stupid Dragonflies. Here I am, saving your lives, bitten and scarred and wounded for you, and you don’t even know it. I should let the Fenris have one of you.

No, I didn’t mean that. I sigh and walk to the other side of the brick wall, letting my fingers tangle in the thick ivy. It’s dark on this side, shadowed from the neon lights of the street. I breathe slowly, watching the tree limbs sway, backlit by the lights of skyscrapers. Of course I didn’t mean it. Ignorance is no reason to die. They can’t help what they are, still happily unaware inside a cave of fake shadows. They exist in a world that’s beautiful normal, where people have jobs and dreams that don’t involve a hatcher. My world is parallel universe to their – the same sights, same people, same city, yet the Fenris lurk, the evil creeps, the knowledge undeniably exists. If I hadn’t been thrown into this world, I could just as easily have been a Dragonfly.

I felt extremely uncomfortable with this passage, but as much as this is some serious twisted thinking, I can understand Scarlett feeling this way. She is an angry character, full of regret, jealousy – and being scarred and ugly does get to her (seeing as how she keeps going on and on about it). So, the text above is in keeping with this character.

BUT

Two lines down and Silas joins her as she observes him:

His eyes narrow in something between disgust and intrigue, as though he’s not certain if he likes looking at them or not. I want to comment, but I stay quiet. Somehow it feels important to wait for his reaction. Silas finally turns to look at me in the shadows.

“It’s like they’re trying to be eaten, isn’t it? he asks pointedly.

“Can I tell you how glad I am that and Rosie aren’t like them?”

“No kidding.” I grin, relieved. “Rosie could be if she wanted, though. She’s beautiful like they are.”

“Beauty has nothing to do with it. Rosie could never be one of them. Do you really think they’d dress and act like that if they knew it was drawing wolves toward them?”

No. NO. NO. NO. NO. JUST NO.

By then, I was beyond uncomfortable, I was downright angry. The meta is thus: the girls should know better. If they knew better, they would change their behaviour and would not be attacked. This is what I read. But this is not what I should be reading.

NEVER, EVER blame the victims. The blame always, always lies with the criminal (or predator).

And just like that I am done with the book. Because I can’t respect the characters who think like this, because I lost respect for their motivation for being hunters (it’s not about REALLY about protecting the girls is it? It is almost about proving a point) and if I can’t relate with their plight then the book is nothing to me. Because the bottom line is this: the book empowers women yes, but ONLY certain types of girls, not all of them. And I am sick and tired of books that associate girls that are self-confident and beautiful with being shallow and superficial and deserving of bad things happening to them. SICK AND TIRED.

That is not ok. And I suggest you read the article in this link to see why exactly I think it is not ok.

I did read till the bitter end in the hopes that another character would come in and say: “yo, stewpid, GET A GRIP” but alas, no such thing has happened. I can’t even be bothered to rate this book. I will only say:

Verdict:

Thea’s Take:

Clearly, Ana feels VERY strongly about this book, especially about the excerpt above. Now, I’ll admit that when I first read this passage, I didn’t immediately see what Ana picked up on. I tend to get annoyed with flitty girls in general, and Scarlett’s anger at the “dragonflies” seems well-founded and in line with her character, regardless of whether I liked her character or not. As a scarred, bitter young woman dedicated to destroying all Fenris at any cost, this sort of thought process makes perfect sense for someone like Scarlett.

But then, after Ana pointed out the next section, it made me think about the overall message…and I stand firmly with Ana. Enraged.

Just because a girl is pretty, and likes to look pretty; just because a girl goes out to the club in revealing clothes; just because a girl likes the attention that comes with being young and attractive, this DOES NOT MEAN she is stupid, or a whore, or fucking “asking for it” (pardon my French, but this is a disgusting mindset and pisses me off to no end). It is frustrating – no, infuriating – beyond belief that the women in Sisters Red are so stereotyped and marginalized. Don’t get me wrong – I love warrior women/strong women/badass fighter women, as much as the next person. But this gross generalization that girls that go out to have fun and be noticed are somehow billions of times inferior to their too-tough-to-look-pretty (but OF COURSE are effortlessly gorgeous *eyes rolling*) counterparts?

Nu-uh. Not cool.

Now, you might be telling yourself, ‘well, these two seem to be taking a single passage a bit far’ or something to that end. Well, folks, unfortunately Sisters Red has a whole lot of other problems too.

1: The characters are mind-numbingly repetitive and boring.

Initially, I found a lot to like with Sisters Red. The opening scene with Grandma valiantly holding off the big bad wolf to save the children, and then Scarlett’s desperate last stand to save Rosie, is EPIC. I loved that Scarlett is abrasive and tough, that she’s missing an eye and is both terrified of the wolves, yet completely in love with the hunt. I love that Rosie is a different person – that she cannot remember the past too clearly, and that she clearly loves Lett, but needs to grow to be her own person.

BUT. All of this? All this promising characterization is exhausted in the first thirty or so pages of the book. From then on it is more of. the. same. Scarlett gets mad at Rosie for being careless. Scarlett goes hunting for Fenris. Scarlett gets mad again and wallows in her pit of eternal self-suffering. Meanwhile, Rosie wants to be taken seriously (and thinks Silas is freaking HAWT). But she wants to be taken seriously. She tries to make peace with Scarlett (and Silas is HAWT). And so on and so forth.

Things get pretty dull, pretty quickly. These characters never felt real to me – more like your standard cardboard stand-ins. (Just because characters are “troubled” doesn’t immediately mean they are well-developed. SHOW me. Don’t keep TELLING me.)

2: The “Romance” is the same predictable uninspired tripe.

From the second Rosie sees Silas, and vice versa, it’s all “he looks different, his jaw is so angular and manly!” and “she looks different, all ‘grown up’ and beautiful!” (I’m paraphrasing of course). To be honest, I’m sick of it. Could this book just have been about the sisters without one of them needing the catalyst of falling in love with the studly boy next door? ARGH.

Of course, this could just be me and how burned out I am with YA paranormal romance. Lots of people love this stuff. I, unfortunately, am at the end of my rope.

3: The hunting element of the story is STUPID.

*Caps lock engaged* WHY THE HELL WOULD THESE SISTERS BE HUNTING WITH HATCHETS AS OPPOSED TO…I don’t know…GUNS?!??? If Scarlett’s true ambition is to take out every single “Fenris” on the planet, wouldn’t it make sense to take out a bunch of them with a semi-automatic weapon, as opposed to the good ol’ woodsman hatchet technique? And while scampering around in a blood red cloak is awesome and all, this book doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The story takes place in MODERN DAY. The red riding hood cloaks, while they go great with the idea of the story, aren’t exactly…congruous with the time period. (Not to mention, you’d think the stupid wolves would remember two chicks – one with an eyepatch – hunting around not-so-incognito in bright red cloaks)

Also, in my opinion the term “Fenris” is stupid. Is it plural? Singular? Yeah, yeah, I get that it derives from Fenrir – but “Fenris” just looks stupid and forced to me. If you’re going with Norse mythology, stick with the root name. (That is, if you’re not going with the more familiar “werewolf” terminology, which doesn’t make sense in the first place given how much more prevalent “werewolf” is in modern vernacular!)

These were my issues with Sisters Red – which arose long before the club scene – and they were enough to make me put down the book.

Verdict: DNF – Life is too short to force myself to finish books that don’t work for me.

You want a good Red Riding Hood retelling? Stick with Bill Willingham’s Fables series. Now THAT has solid characterizations, a plot that won’t quit, and empowered characters – both male and female.

Reading next: A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott

Title: East

Author: Edith Pattou

Genre: Fantasy, Retelling, Young Adult

Publisher: Harcort
Publication Date: September 2003
Paperback: 400 pages

Rose has always felt out of place in her family, a wanderer in a bunch of homebodies. So when an enormous white bear mysteriously shows up and asks her to come away with him–in exchange for health and prosperity for her ailing family–she readily agrees. The bear takes Rose to a distant castle, where each night she is confronted with a mystery. In solving that mystery, she loses her heart, discovers her purpose, and realizes her travels have only just begun.

As familiar and moving as “Beauty and the Beast” and yet as fresh and original as only the best fantasy can be, East is a novel retelling of the classic tale “East of the Sun, West of the Moon,” a sweeping romantic epic in the tradition of Robin McKinley and Gail Carson Levine.

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel

How did I get this book: Bought

Why did I read this book: The “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” retelling is becoming a popular one, and it’s a tale that I’m rather fond of. After reading Ice by Sarah Beth Durst earlier this year, I was on the lookout for other retellings, and Edith Pattou’s East was the title that kept popping up.

Review:

Ebba Rose was the name of our last-born child. Except it was a lie. Her name should have been Nyamh Rose. But everyone called her Rose rather than Ebba, so the lie didn’t matter. At least, that is what I told myself.

East is the story of a mapmaker turned farmer, his superstitious wife, and their seven children. After the death of their steadfast, East-born daughter, Eugenia is determined to have another East-facing child. But when their eighth child, Rose comes into the world, she is delivered facing the dreaded North – a mistake that Rose’s mother makes sure to cover up and never speak of again, much to Rose’s father’s guilt. Throughout her childhood, Ebba Rose (though, to her father she is always Nyamh Rose for her true Northern nature) is adventurous, brash, and ever-wandering, much to the fear of her protective mother and older brother Neddy. Over the years, Rose’s family situation grows ever more destitute and precarious…and one desperate night as her elder sister Sara lies deathly ill, a great white bear (Rose’s supposedly imaginary friend from childhood) appears and offers an irresistible exchange: Sara’s health and the family’s success…for Rose. While Rose’s family (with the exception of her mother) are adamant against her going, Rose is fascinated and excited. She’s never fit in with the domestic, provincial life her family has, and she’s thrilled at the prospect of adventure and the unknown. And, when Rose learns that her birth nature was a lie and that she is truly a wild and wanderlust-filled Northern daughter, she makes up her mind to leave her home behind. Over land and sea, Rose and her great white bear travel until they reach an enchanted castle carved into a mountainside of ice and rock. Rose’s new home is luxurious – food appears as if by magic, beautiful fabrics and looms appear and occupy Rose’s thoughts, and two quiet servants make sure all of her needs are tended to. Every night, Rose sleeps in an impossibly dark room, and an unseen stranger climbs into her bed. Try as she might to see the stranger’s face, or to speak, she suspects there must be some kind of magical curse at work.

When Rose does figure out how to see in the darkness – with the indirect conniving aid of the creator of the spell, and Rose’s malleable, superstitious mother – Rose must journey far and hard to right the painful wrong her curiosity has wrought.

So, as you can see, East is pretty true to the Norwegian fable – girl meets bear, goes to castle, curiosity killed the cat and so she’s gotta save her Prince in Peril (I always preferred the Prince in Peril to the Damsel in Distress). By that measure, yes, East is familiar and predictable – it is a fairy tale, after all! BUT, that said, Ms. Pattou’s more traditionalist retelling of the classic works because of the sparse beauty of her writing, the alternating point-of-view narrative, and spunky heroine. (And really, who doesn’t love a traditionalist fairy tale every once in a while – especially in a literary landscape increasingly filled with wilder, crazily deviating retellings?)

While I didn’t care for some of the dire foreshadowing (e.g. “We couldn’t have been more wrong,” or “I wish that I hadn’t,” etc ad nauseam), especially considering these doom-gloom drops hardly amounted to much, I did love the style in which East is written – with sort of flash-chapters told from the voices of Rose’s Father, Neddy, Rose, The White Bear, and The Troll Queen. Each character has a distinct voice, and each is beautifully textured, from the careful Neddy and doting father, to the impassioned Rose, the poetic bear, and the selfish, enamored queen. The downside to this narrative technique, however, was that the alternating short chapters could feel somewhat episodic and stilted. Still, for the most part, I loved being able to see through different characters’ eyes, although I wish the chapters could have stuck with each narrator for a slightly longer stretch of time.

Of course, so far as characters go, this is most assuredly Rose’s book. And Rose is really cool. One of the things that has always appealed to me about this particular fable (or Beauty and the Beast, for that matter) is how it is the heroine that gets off her ass and saves her hero. (Of course, there are aspects of the myth that bother me too – such as the woman’s punishment for tasting the forbidden fruit – aka looking upon her sleeping visitor – or how only the right bride can wash the tallow out from her bridegroom’s shirt, but that’s not really the point) In East, Rose’s adventures only begin with the Great White Bear – they flourish when she’s out on a Norse ship stranded at sea, or traveling across a frozen tundra, or traversing an impossibly slick ice bridge, or fooling her captors and spinning troll-costumes in order to save a man (and all humans) imprisoned in a kingdom that lies east of the sun and west of the moon. That’s gutsy stuff, and Rose handles her impossible task with grim determination. The only character that I wish was a little more fleshed out was The White Bear himself. While I did like the way the story tied together by the ending (the awkwardness between Rose and the man that was the bear), I felt like we never really got to know this character. As a bear, his thoughts are poetic, short and lyrical – very effective – but I wish there could have been more to his human nature too. On the other end of the spectrum, I also appreciated that while the Troll Queen is clearly spoiled and manipulating, she’s not really vilified or portrayed as EEEEEVIL. She’s obviously not a nice lady…but she’s not human either, and as such, she doesn’t act like a human.

Also, on one final note on characters, I will simply say – I heart Tuki. Tuki rocks.

There are a number of beautiful images that East conjures up, by virtue of Ms. Pattou’s romantic writing style and descriptions. The killing fields of the Trolls, for example, or the image of a beautiful, white queen with her voice of rocks and skin of granite. This, along with the magical elements, the mother’s superstition, the wonderful integration of “birth direction” determining personality traits/destiny are marvelous, memorable additions that make East stand out.

And yet…for all this praise, I did feel like something was missing from the book. I’ll put it this way – East put me in the mind of Robin McKinley’s Beauty. Both are solid, lovely retellings, but both are missing that extra OOMF. That WOW factor that makes a truly wondrous retelling work (see Juliet Marillier’s Wildwood Dancing or Shannon Hale’s The Goose Girl for examples of what I’m talking about). Though it wasn’t quite at that level, East is beyond any doubt the best retelling I’ve read of East of the Sun, West of the Moon, and most CERTAINLY worth reading. Definitely recommended, especially for those looking for an adventurous, romantic fantasy.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

Once on a time there was a poor farmer
with many children.

Father

EBBA ROSE WAS THE NAME of our last-born child. Except it was a lie. Her name should have been Nyamh Rose. But everyone called her Rose rather than Ebba, so the lie didn’t matter. At least, that is what I told myself.

The Rose part of her name came from the symbol that lies at the center of the wind rose-which is fitting because she was lodged at the very center of my heart.

I loved each of her seven brothers and sisters, but I will admit there was always something that set Rose apart from the others. And it wasn’t just the way she looked.

She was the hardest to know of my children, and that was because she would not stay still. Every time I held her as a babe, she would look up at me, intent, smiling with her bright purple eyes. But soon, and always, those eyes would stray past my shoulder, seeking the window and what lay beyond.

Rose’s first gift was a small pair of soft boots made of reindeer hide. They were brought by Torsk, a neighbor, and as he fastened them on Rose’s tiny feet with his large calloused hands, I saw my wife, Eugenia, frown. She tried to hide it, turning her face away.

Torsk did not see the frown but looked up at us, beaming. He was a widower with grown sons and a gift for leatherwork. Eager to show off his handiwork and unmindful of the difficult circumstances of Eugenia’s recent birthing, he had been the first to show up on our doorstep.

Most of our neighbors were well aware of how superstitious Eugenia was. They also knew that a baby’s first gift was laden with meaning. But cheerful, large-handed Torsk paid no heed to this. He just gazed down at the small soft boots on Rose’s feet and looked ready to burst with pride.

You can read the full excerpt online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: As I mentioned before, East is one of many retellings of this particular fairy tale. This year there was also Ice by Sarah Beth Durst, or Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George.

Of course, the original was collected by Andrew Lang in The Blue Fairy Book – and variations of the tale have appeared throughout time, from Ancient Greece to J.R.R. Tolkien.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: Sisters Red by Jackson Pierce

Welcome to Day 1 of our Young Adult Appreciation Month ( July 18 to August 21). For the duration of the month we will be celebrating all things YA with loads of reviews, giveaways and guest posts by YA authors.

Today is dedicated to Romance. I chose to review Beastly by Alex Flinn and Forget You by Jennifer Echols together because the two books have a couple of things in common on top of being contemporary romances: they are both heartwarming, quick reads and all four protagonists have fathers who deserve the Worst Parent of the Year Award. And regardless of a few misgivings, I enjoyed both books a great deal.

Beastly by Alex Flinn

Publisher: Harper Teen
Publication Date: October 2007
Hardcover: 304 pages

How did I get this book: A present from a friend.

I am a beast. A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog, but a horrible new creature who walks upright – a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.

You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It’s no deformity, no disease. And I’ll stay this way forever – ruined – unless I can break the spell.

Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and a perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly beastly.

Review:

I must have been living under a rock or something because I only heard about Beastly a few weeks ago when a friend gave it to me and told me it was about to become a movie. I saw the trailer and decided I had to read the book pronto. And here we are.

Beastly is another retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in contemporary NY and entirely from the beast’s point of view which makes it, as far as I can tell, unique amongst the tale’s retellings.

Kyle Kingsbury, our beast du jour, has it all: money, looks, popularity, friends and a hot girlfriend. He is also a jerk. His latest dastardly move is to lead on and invite a weird girl named Kendra to a dance only to humiliate her in front of everybody. Big mistake. Kendra is a modern-day witch and she curses Kyle to become a beast – to look as awful on the outside as he is inside. But because Kyle does this one kind thing on the night of the dance (he gives a rose to the girl selling tickets at the door) , the witch gives him a way out: he has two years to break the curse which can only be broken by a kiss from someone that loves him but only if he truly loves this someone back.

Kyle’s reaction to the curse is to first laugh it off (come on, magic? Witch? As if, it must be a dream) then to despair. His father believes he has a disease and takes him to the best doctors available but they can only be mystified and their verdict is that there is nothing to be done. Kyle’s father then decides that no one can know about his son’s “condition” and promptly dispatches him to a house in Brooklyn where he will live with a maid and a blind tutor where he will eventually learn to become a better person.

The best thing about the book is Kyle’s transformation and this insight about the Beast of the story is great. From being an egotistical jerk to realising that there is more to life than looks and popularity, the first part of the book – or the first year of the curse – follows Kyle and his slow transformation. It shows his uneasy, terrible relationship with an absent father; his despair and depression that he might be a beast forever and even feeble attempts to find someone to love online; his eventual acceptance that there might not have a way out and then the beginnings of a new life. Forming a true, believable relationship with his maid and with his tutor; studying and reading and paying attention to the world around him. This transformation is so profound that he even chances his name to Adrian.

Until one day, hope blossoms . A thief tries to break into his house and upon being caught by Kyle, ends up offering his own daughter Lindy to the beast on lieu of being sent to prison. Kyle accepts the offer. Lindy of course, turns out to be the girl he gave the rose at the beginning of the story to and he hopes she will love him one day. The relationship is difficult to start with because Lindy is effectively a prisoner and she hates being trapped. But they soon forge a friendship when they start to read and study together and Kyle falls in love hard but will Lindy love him back?

I liked that from the beast’s point of view, he does feel terrible about it all, at the same time that he sees no other way, perhaps this is his only chance to break the curse. We all know that the Beast eventually lets Lindy go and it is her choice to return for him. The same happens here but I felt that Lindy was less of a believable character and it is this second part that proves slightly problematic to me and somewhat diminished my enjoyment of the novel. I found that Lindy was too easy in forgiving Kyle/Adrian for ruining her life. Yes, so he rescued her from a life with a horrible father (who gave her away at the first sign of trouble) but still he made her a prisoner, made her lose her chance of getting a scholarship to college, something that was her one and only chance of getting away from her horrible life with her dad.

Furthermore Lindy is presented as being the ultimate good heroine: a martyr for her father, always taking care of him even when he beats her up and extremely naïve and innocence. There is one scene in particular when Kyle/Adrian takes her to the countryside to see the snow. Lindy’s reaction is that of a child, asking after only a couple of hours driving if they were “still in the USA”. Really? The girl is presented as a smart, intelligent, studious girl in the 21st century and she doesn’t know that there are OMG, mountains in the US? This is something that makes me angry, because it sounds as though a person cannot be “good” without being pathetically innocent. That somehow put the two in different level and makes it less of a believable romance in the end. This is why I think the movie seems to be promising: the trailer shows Lindy in a much more interesting light with a bit more of personality.

Still, fun is to be had as I enjoyed to read the story from the Beast’s point of view. And there are these really fun additions peppered throughout the novel of the “Unexpected Changes” chat group that Kyle attends online where he chats with other teenaged fairytale characters that are undergoing changes like the Little Mermaid (who is considering a transformation,) and froggy (who thinks he will never find a princess to kiss him) that were really creative.

Rating:6 – Good. Recommended with reservations

Forget You by Jennifer Echols

Publisher: MTV
Publication Date: July 20th 2010
Paperback: 293 pages

How did I get this book: an ARC from the author

WHY CAN’T YOU CHOOSE WHAT YOU FORGET . . . AND WHAT YOU REMEMBER? There’s a lot Zoey would like to forget. Like how her father has knocked up his twenty-four- year old girlfriend. Like Zoey’s fear that the whole town will find out about her mom’s nervous breakdown. Like darkly handsome bad boy Doug taunting her at school. Feeling like her life is about to become a complete mess, Zoey fights back the only way she knows how, using her famous attention to detail to make sure she’s the perfect daughter, the perfect student, and the perfect girlfriend to ultra-popular football player Brandon. But then Zoey is in a car crash, and the next day there’s one thing she can’t remember at all—the entire night before. Did she go parking with Brandon, like she planned? And if so, why does it seem like Brandon is avoiding her? And why is Doug—of all people— suddenly acting as if something significant happened between the two of them? Zoey dimly remembers Doug pulling her from the wreck, but he keeps referring to what happened that night as if it was more, and it terrifies Zoey to admit how much is a blank to her. Controlled, meticulous Zoey is quickly losing her grip on the all-important details of her life—a life that seems strangely empty of Brandon, and strangely full of Doug.

Review:

Forget You was one of my most anticipated reads of 2010 after I loved, no, adored this author’s 2009 book, Going Too Far, a novel that made my top 10 last year. Forget You turned out to be an extremely well written story that pulled me in, even when it shouldn’t have. I devoured it like a starved reader but the end result was nowhere near as emotionally satisfying as Going Too Far. Perhaps it is not fair to compare both novels or to come to this one with such high expectations but that is how things are, to pretend that it is not so, would do me no good. And who knows, to make this plain in this review, will perhaps help to enlighten why I felt the way I felt when reading it.

The way I see it, both novels are very similar, expect when it matters the most. Both are set in small towns where the characters live under the weight of expectations, of their pasts or with the mask they wear in public. Both follow a similar pattern, with secrets being slowly revealed to the reader about who the characters are, building tension towards the ending when conflicts are resolved. But whereas in Going Too Far the conflicts (both internal and external) were believable, relatable which made caring truly and deeply for the characters an easy ride, in Forget You they seemed contrived.

Zoey is the seemly perfect girl, from a moneyed family, a good student, member of the swim team at school; she has many friends, including a popular boy named Brandon and she is in control of her life, or tries to be. But she is faced with so many things out of her control: her father leaves to start a new family with a lover and her mother tries to commit suicide, and is sent to a mental institution to recover. Her father forbids her to tell anyone about her mother but she knows that the resident bad boy Doug, whom she has a difficult relationship with, has seen them at the hospital and she doesn’t know what he will do with the information.

The only thing that Zoey still has control of is her body and on the night of her mother’s suicide attempt, she decides to sleep and lose her virginity to Brandon. It is a quick, non eventful affair but Zoey is adamant that this one night with Brandon means something and that he is her boyfriend.

A few days later, she is involved in a car crash. She wakes up the next day with a concussion and with Doug, not Brandon behaving as though they have something going on between them and no memory of it. Her father –the winner of Worst Parent Award – leaves for his honeymoon, but not before threatening Zoey with a trip to the loony bin if she keeps on “pretending” to have amnesia. What a champ. But now she needs to put the pieces together and try to remember what happened that night.

The novel starts well enough, it is easy to understand why Zoey makes the choices she makes when she makes them, she is very, very human. And I love Jennifer Echols’ writing and the greatest similarity between her two dramatic novels and a positive one at it, is indeed her prose and the construction of the novel. If I were to compare with anything it would be with an impressionist painting: with small smidges of paint or in this case details that only become whole or understandable when you look at it from afar or once it is completed.

But this story proved to be less inspiring, less challenging than I hoped for…….the romance between Doug and Zoey is sweet but their connection seemed to be based more on lust. Not that there is anything wrong with that, hell no, but since they exchange I love you’s pretty soon, it didn’t feel believable.

And that is because the conflict felt extremely excessive and contrived. Life can be messy, complicated, and full of mistakes and bad decisions, I get that. But the one thing that prevented Zoey from forming a relationship with Doug, was her insistence that she is dating Brandon: even though they don’t talk, don’t see each other, never once discussed being together AND he is seeing another girl. Denial makes it an interesting part of it all, and the reason for that denial makes sense, but since Zoey is presented as an intelligent young girl, who, as his friend, KNEW Brandon’s propensity to jump from girl to girl, it felt like it was unnecessarily prolonged. Similarly, Doug is represented as being a bad boy but I saw literally ZERO proof of this. Yes, he spent some time at juvie but that was due to his horrendous father and there is absolutely nothing that concurs with this assessment. He is a good guy through and through, even when he makes his own mistakes.

The prose, the two characters who are so human (and saddled with poor excuse of a parents) make it for an interesting, enjoyable read but one that is not as emotional and satisfying as I hoped.

Rating: 6 – Good. Recommended with reservations

AND, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE HEREBY DECLARE:

THE BOOK SMUGGLERS’ YOUNG ADULT APPRECIATION MONTH OFFICIALLY OPEN.

Title: Calamity Jack

Author: Shannon Hale & Dean Hale

Illustrator:Nathan Hale

Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retelling, Graphic Novel, Young Adult

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA / Bloomsbury PLC
Publication Date: 5 Jan 2010/ 4 Jan 2010
Hardback/Paperback: 144 pages

Stand alone or series: Sequel to Rapunzel’s Revenge but can be read as a stand alone

Why did I read the book: I read Rapunzel’s Revenge earlier this year and loved it.. I was delighted when I heard that there was going to be a sequel.

How did I get the book: Last week, I opened a package from Bloomsbury PLC and there it was in its shinning glory! I let out a SQUEE!

Summary: Jack likes to think of himself as a criminal mastermind…with an unfortunate amount of bad luck. A schemer, plotter, planner, trickster, swindler…maybe even thief? One fine day Jack picks a target a little more giant than the usual, and one little bean turns into a great big building-destroying beanstalk.

With help from Rapunzel (and her trusty braids), a pixie from Jack’s past, and a man with inventions from the future, they just might out-swindle the evil giants and put his beloved city back in the hands of good people ….while catapulting themselves and readers into another fantastical adventure.

Review: A few months ago I read Rapunzel’s Revenge and loved it: loved the retelling of the fairy tale set in the Wild West in which Rapunzel saves herself and is a very strong-willed young lady. A Native-American Jack of the Beanstalk was her side-kick and eventually, her romantic interest and when I heard he would get his own story, I was delighted.

Calamity Jack is a story in two parts, past and present. The first part is a retelling of the original Jack and the Beanstalk in which our esteemed protagonist is a con artist, working together with a pixie called Pru. He is not a highly successful schemer though: he has the plans, he has the guts topull them off but he lacks the one thing that is most important: luck.

Maybe because his heart is not entirely in his cons ? Nevertheless, life is hard for Jack and his momma and he will do anything to make her life better, including plotting the greatest scheme of them all; his target: the town’s most powerful man, the giant Blunderboar and his fortress. If he can get this one coup right, he and his mother will be well-off for life. Unfortunately things go awry and not only Jack’s momma is terribly disappointed in Jack but the whole town and the Giants are after him. He has no choice but to run which is how he ends up in the West (meeting Rapunzel and the events of the previous book take place).

In the second part, Jack and Rapunzel decide go back. He now has the means to help his mother and he needs to set things right. What he didn’t expect is that the repercussions of his own scheme are much worse than he expected; couple that with the fact that the city is now under siege from the terrible Ant People and you have a Situation. Together, Jack and Rapunzel will work to free the city and Jack’s momma and eventually answer the question: is Jack a good man or a bad man?

Calamity Jack is as much fun as Rapunzel’s Revenge: full of action, gimmicks and wonderful characters. Rapunzel remains my favourite and even though the story here is not from her point of view, she is still a very important part of the story. And a cool one at that: I love how she still uses her braid, now unattached to her head, as a lasso. Even if Jack is the narrator here, Rapunzel is still the proper Heroine, the one that gets in danger to save everybody. And I just LOVED to see how he is incredibly aware of how cool, amazing, powerful she is and how he has such admiration for her – even if he feels he is not good enough for her.

And this is it really: this is Jack’s journey to become a man. He is surrounded by strong, capable women, his momma and Rapunzel; both have a strong sense of right and wrong whereas Jack navigates in a greyer area and this contrast makes him very aware of his shortcomings. He wants nothing but to be worthy of these two women and of his traditions. The conclusion of the story is very sweet and ever so right.

As for the art, I took me some getting used to it when first introduced to Nathan Hale’s illustration in Rapunzel’s Revenge. Now, that I am, I like it. The panels are very clean and bright and I loved how the difference between the wild, wild west from the previous book and the slick, steampunkish feel that the city has.

In the end, I didn’t think Calamity Jack was as brilliant as Rapunzel’s Revenge (mostly because Jack is not as a larger-than-life a character as Rapunzel is) but I still very much enjoyed it.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: Every single scene with Rapunzel. Oh my, I might have a girl-crush!

Verdict: Although Calamity Jack lacked the sheer brilliance that was Rapunzel’s Revenge, I still thought it was fun and highly recommend it.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: Naamah’s Kiss by Jacqueline Carey

Title: Ice

Author: Sarah Beth Durst

Genre: Fantasy, Retelling, Young Adult

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry (US) / Simon & Schuster Children’s (UK)
Publication Date: October 2009
Hardcover: 320 pages (US)

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the publisher (UK)

Why did I read this book: Sarah Beth Durst’s new novel has been popping up all around the blogosphere, and when I learned it was a retelling of the Norwegian fairy tale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” my interest was instantly piqued. It seems to be one of the more popular of the lesser known fable for retellings, but I had yet to read one. So, when we receive a review copy, I was more than eager to dive in.

Summary: (from amazon.com)
When Cassie was a little girl, her grandmother told her a fairy tale about her mother, who made a deal with the Polar Bear King and was swept away to the ends of the earth. Now that Cassie is older, she knows the story was a nice way of saying her mother had died. Cassie lives with her father at an Arctic research station, is determined to become a scientist, and has no time for make-believe.
Then, on her eighteenth birthday, Cassie comes face-to-face with a polar bear who speaks to her. He tells her that her mother is alive, imprisoned at the ends of the earth. And he can bring her back — if Cassie will agree to be his bride.

That is the beginning of Cassie’s own real-life fairy tale, one that sends her on an unbelievable journey across the brutal Arctic, through the Canadian boreal forest, and on the back of the North Wind to the land east of the sun and west of the moon. Before it is over, the world she knows will be swept away, and everything she holds dear will be taken from her — until she discovers the true meaning of love and family in the magical realm of Ice.

Review:

Once upon a time, the North Wind said to the Polar Bear King, ‘Steal me a daughter, and when she grows, she will be your bride.’

With this grandmother’s bedside story begins Ice, a modern retelling of the Norwegian fairy tale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon.” On the eve of Cassie’s eighteenth birthday, she has left the Arctic research station that is her home, on the tail of one of the largest polar bears she has ever seen. As a present to herself, she has broken her father’s strict survival and research protocol, in order to tag the bear for research purposes. But just when she has him cornered, the enormous bear seems to walk into an ice wall, disappearing from sight. Dejected and disbelieving, Cass returns home and explains her actions to her father – who, instead of berating her, becomes irrationally scared, telling Cassie that he will have a helicopter come immediately to the station so that she can be taken away to live with her grandmother in the Alaskan city of Fairbanks. Cassie is bewildered – for she learns that the same fairy tale her grandmother told her every night of her childhood is actually her family story.

Cassie’s mother was the stolen daughter of the fairy tale, brought by the Polar Bear King to the North Wind to raise as a daughter, and then who would become the Polar Bear King’s wife. Once she grew into a woman, however, she fell in love with another mortal – Cassie’s father. When the Polar Bear King came to claim his bride, he made another deal with Cassie’s mother as he would not take an unwilling wife. In exchange for protecting Cassie’s mother and her human husband from the angry North Wind, the Polar Bear King would get their daughter – Cassie – as his bride. The North Wind, however, discovered his wayward daughter’s whereabouts. To protect her husband and Cassie, she begged her father to take out his rage on her alone. The North Wind blew Cassie’s mother to the ends of the earth – east of the Sun and west of the Moon, to the court of the spiteful trolls, where she has remained ever since.

And, Cassie learns, as she has turned eighteen, the Polar Bear King has come for her as payment for the bargain made by her parents.

Instead of running away with her grandmother, however, a shellshocked and still-disbelieving Cassie sneaks out of the station and into the snow, calling out for the Polar Bear King to show himself…and he does. Cassie decides to strike a deal of her own with the bear – save her mother from her imprisonment with the trolls, and Cassie will go with the bear and become his bride. It’s a bargain that Cassie has no intention of truly keeping, but when her mother is freed and she gets to know Bear in his magical icy palace, her plans change as she, inexplicably, falls in love. Things are never so simple, however, as Bear has made another bargain of his own – and Cassie must determine to what lengths she will go to in order to save her husband from a terrible fate.

Ice is a romantic fantasy novel, a retelling in the young adult fashion of Shannon Hale and Robin McKinley. Ms. Durst’s version of the familiar fable updates it with a modern twist. In conception and in terms of plot, Ice is an irresistible, fast-paced read. Ms. Durst creates a world that is both familiar and enchantingly alien, weaving a Norwegian fairy tale with Inupiaq (that is, Inuit/Eskimo) myth. The Polar Bear King, which sounds a little cheesy, is in fact a munaqsri – a guardian of spirits. I loved the concept of the munaqsri as keepers of souls, with at least one for each living species. In terms of magical world building, Ice shines. Traversing the north pole, the arctic tundra, rich green forests and the very ends of the earth, this novel also takes on the ambitious task of writing a difficult, non-traditional love story – it’s traditional in the sense that there’s marriage and children involved, but it’s rare that the heroine of a young adult novel is a wife and teen mother. The love story that unfolds between Bear and Cassie is sweet and devoted, especially in the book’s first act.

While the story is fast-paced and engaging (in fact, I finished Ice in a single sitting) and the fantasy element of different munaqsri undeniably compelling, Ice unfortunately feels a little lacking in the execution department. Everything happens so quickly – in the space of a single sentence, weeks have passed and Cassie has dramatically transformed from suspicious to a deep friendship bordering on love. There’s a lack of finesse in the writing – something extra that is missing, setting Ice beneath the caliber novel of, say, Juliet Marillier’s WIldwood Dancing or Shannon Hale’s The Goose Girl. There’s enough romance and engaging plot to make this a quick read, but Ms. Durst’s prose lacks the lyrical magic that would have brought Ice to the next level. The same applies to the characters, particularly Cassie and Bear. They are sympathetic and sweet, but lack a level of believability because of how abrupt and episodic the plot is. It boils down to the writerly cliché of showing versus telling. Ms. Durst tells readers that Cassie feels a certain way and that she and Bear fall in love, but she doesn’t show readers the actual process – which is a shame, because part of the magic of romantic books such as this one is feeling those emotions as two different characters connect over time. I also felt a disconnect between the first act of the book and the second. Ice starts off strong and Cassie begins as a capable, intelligent heroine – the first few chapters as Cassie decides to save her mother and her curiosity as she travels to Bear’s ice castle is compelling, spellbinding stuff. But, the focus soon changes as Cassie returns home, then must set out on a quest to save Bear from a terrible fate. The transition from curious, driven and somewhat skeptical young woman to lover, wife and expectant mother is a rocky one, and I couldn’t quite suspend disbelief. I felt as though the novel was working on a word count and was truncated throughout, especially by the dramatic finale.

And yet, despite these drawbacks, Ice is a compulsively readable novel and one that I certainly enjoyed. It felt a little rushed which worked to its detriment in terms of characters and believability, but the story is undeniably well-conceived and compelling. Recommended for those fairy tale enthusiasts looking for a new retelling.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

PART ONE: The Land of the Midnight Sun

One

Once upon a time, in a land far to the north, there lived a lovely maiden…

Latitude 72° 13′ 30″ N
Longitude 152° 06′ 52″ W
Altitude 3 ft.

Cassie killed the snowmobile engine.

Total silence, her favorite sound. Ice crystals spun in the Arctic air. Sparkling in the predawn light, they looked like diamond dust. Beneath her ice-encrusted face mask, she smiled. She loved this: just her, the ice, and the bear.

“Don’t move,” she whispered at the polar bear.

Cassie felt behind her and unhooked the rifle. Placid as a marble statue, the polar bear did not move. She loaded the tranquilizer dart by feel, her eyes never leaving the bear. White on white in an alcove of ice, he looked like a king on a throne. For an instant, Cassie imagined she could hear Gram’s voice, telling the story of the Polar Bear King… Gram hadn’t told that story since the day she’d left the research station, but Cassie still remembered every word of it. She used to believe it was true.

When she was little, Cassie used to stage practice rescue missions outside of Dad’s Arctic research station. She’d pile old snowmobile parts and broken generators to make the troll’s castle, and then she’d scale the castle walls and tie up the “trolls” (old clothes stuffed with pillows) with climbing ropes. Once, Dad had caught her on the station roof with skis strapped to her feet, ready to ski beyond the ends of the earth to save her mom. He’d taken away Cassie’s skis and had forbidden Gram from telling the story. Not that that had slowed Cassie at all. She’d simply begged Gram to tell the story when Dad was away, and she’d invented a new game involving a canvas sail and an unused sled. Even after she’d understood the truth—that Gram’s story was merely a pretty way to say her mother had died — she’d continued to play the games.

Now I don’t need games, she thought with a grin. She snapped the syringe into place and lifted the gun up to her shoulder. And this bear, she thought, didn’t need any kid’s bedtime story to make him magnificent. He was as perfect as a textbook illustration: cream-colored with healthy musculature and no battle scars. If her estimates were correct, he’d be the largest polar bear on record. And she was the one who had found him.

Cassie cocked the tranquilizer gun, and the polar bear turned his head to look directly at her. She held her breath and didn’t move. Wind whistled, and loose snow swirled between her and the bear. Her heart thudded in her ears so loudly that she was certain he could hear it. This was it—the end of the chase. When she’d begun this chase, the aurora borealis had been dancing in the sky. She’d tracked him in its light for three miles north of the station. Loose sea ice had jostled at the shore, but she’d driven over it and then onto the pack ice. She’d followed him all the way here, to a jumble of ice blocks that looked like a miniature mountain range. She had no idea how he’d stayed so far ahead of her during the chase. Top speed for an adult male bear clocked at thirty miles per hour, and she’d run her snowmobile at sixty. Maybe the tracks hadn’t been as fresh as they’d looked, or maybe she’d discovered some kind of superfast bear. She grinned at the ridiculousness of that idea. Regardless of the explanation, the tracks had led her here to this beautiful, majestic, perfect bear. She’d won.

A moment later, the bear looked away across the frozen sea.

“You’re mine,” she whispered as she sighted down the barrel.

And the polar bear stepped into the ice. In one fluid motion, he rose and moved backward. It looked as if he were stepping into a cloud. His hind legs vanished into whiteness, and then his torso.

Impossible.

She lowered the gun and stared. She couldn’t be seeing this. The ice wall appeared to be absorbing him. Now only his shoulders and head were visible.

Cassie shook herself. He was escaping! Never mind how. Lifting the gun, she squeezed the trigger. The recoil bashed the butt of the gun into her shoulder. Reflexively, she blinked.

And the bear was gone.

You can read the prologue and first two chapters online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: The “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” fairy tale is a popular one for retelling in young adult novels. Other retellings include Edith Pattou’s East and Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George. I have yet to read either version of the retelling, though I do have East on my TBR – I’ve heard that it’s the definitive retelling. Now that I’m more familiar with the fable, and have given Ice a read, perhaps it’s time to dust off East!

Rose has always felt out of place in her family. So when an enormous white bear mysteriously shows up and asks her to come away with him, she readily agrees. The bear takes Rose to a distant castle, where each night she is confronted with a mystery. In solving that mystery, she finds love, discovers her purpose, and realizes her travels have only just begun.

As fresh and original as only the best fantasy can be, East is a novel retelling of the classic tale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” told in the tradition of Robin McKinley and Gail Carson Levine.

Verdict: A solid, romantic retelling of a lesser known fairy tale that is impressive in its scope and story. Though a bit rushed and episodic, it’s still definitely worth reading for fans of romantic fantasy and fairy tale retellings. I’m eager to see what else Ms. Durst has to offer in the future!

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: Tainted by Julie Kenner

Title: Heart’s Blood

Author: Juliet Marillier

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Roc (US) / Tor (UK)
Publication Date: November 2009 (US) / October 2009 (UK)
Hardcover: 416 pages (US) / 560 pages (UK)

How did I get this book: Review Copy from Publisher

Why did I read this book: It’s no secret that I love Juliet Marillier. Her Sevenwaters books are among my all time favorites – I’ve even got Ana into them. I’ve also loved her young adult novels, Wildwood Dancing and Cybele’s Secret, so when I heard about Heart’s Blood I was literally salivating.

Summary: (from Juliet Marillier.com)
A haunted forest. A cursed castle. A girl running from her past and a man who’s more than he seems to be. A tale of love, betrayal and redemption…

As time passes, Caitrin learns there is more to the broken young man and his unusual household than she realised. It may be only through her love and determination that the curse can be lifted and Anluan and his people set free…

Review:

On a cold misty evening, a fair young girl travels a lonely road. Caitrin, beloved daughter and sister, runs away from a home that has become cold and spiteful since her father’s death and her sister’s elopement. At the hands of her cruel kinsmen, Caitrin becomes a husk of who she used to be, constantly terrified and powerless under their abusive blows – both verbal and physical. So, she gathers her father’s old writing tools and flees, in hopes of finding a distant relative, or work to support herself as a fully trained scribe. After hard traveling, she ends up on a wagon that takes her as far as Whistling Tor, a secluded, mist-shrouded village that holds many secrets. Taking rest in the village inn for a night, Caitrin overhears that the local Lord has need of a scribe – someone who can read and translate Latin, and organize old documents.

Though Caitrin hears the rumors of ghosts that plague Whistling Tor and tales about the creatures that lurk in the castle’s mists, she gathers her resolve and presents herself for the job. It is then that she discovers the extent of the curse that lays upon the chieftans of the Tor, and the heavy burden that rests on the current lord’s, Anluan’s, shoulders. As the weeks pass, Caitrin comes to understand and love the Tor and its inhabitants and will lend all of her hope, determination and strength to break the enchantment.

Heart’s Blood is easily one of my most highly anticipated books of 2009 – and with such high anticipation comes a directly proportional increase in the possibility for disappointment. But, as always seems to be the case with the esteemed Ms. Marillier, I was not disappointed – Heart’s Blood is a truly gorgeous, winsome book from beginning to end, and another book on the shortlist for favorite reads this year.

One of the things I love the most about Ms. Marillier is her ability to weave magic, mythology and folklore into every sentence on the page, and this latest novel is no exception. Heart’s Blood takes place in twelfth century Ireland, on the precipice of the Norman Invasion. Though I don’t know much at all about Irish history, Ms. Marillier manages to bring this medieval setting to life with the customs, language, and even the laws of the time, painting a vibrant, luscious and wholly convincing portrait of the period. There is magic too in Heart’s Blood, as Whistling Tor falls on a century of hardship. This is a different type of magic than the meddlesome Fair Folk of Sevenwaters or the gods of Piscul Draculi, though; in Heart’s Blood, the enchantment is rooted in human sorcery, in unrest and suffering. The atmosphere is distinct, different from the previous books in Ms. Marillier’s repertoire, and I genuinely loved the variation. There is a palpable danger in Heart’s Blood, a threat of nearly overwhelming hopelessness and darkness – but balanced with the endearing characters and beauty of the overarching story, it’s a bearable darkness.

Similar to Daughter of the Forest and Wildwood Dancing, Heart’s Blood is also a retelling of a classic tale; in this case, it’s a re-imagining of Beauty and the Beast, with the disfigured and misunderstood chieftan Anluan, and the brave, fair Caitrin, determined to rescue her prince. As with her previous books based on fables (The Seven Swans, The Twelve Dancing Princesses), Ms. Marillier not only takes a familiar tale and retells it, but she reconstructs the fable in its entirety. In the exquisitely plotted Heart’s Blood, the curse that lies upon Whistling Tor has its roots in human treachery, with a power-hungry, cold-hearted chieftan who would stop at nothing to amass an army to seize power – defying even the boundaries of death. But something went wrong with the enchantment, and has since plagued his descendants. Ms. Marillier’s plotting is as deft as ever, intricately weaving old curses with new doubts, mingling Anluan’s insecurities and fears with Caitrin’s troubled past, but keeping the promise of unrelenting hope for the future of these characters.

For, what is a Juliet Marillier novel without a devastating romance?

Heart’s Blood is one of the best, with all its angst and sweetness. Caitrin is another strong addition to the ranks of Awesomest Heroines Ever (many of which are from Ms. Marillier’s books). Caitrin is hopeful, even in the darkest of hours, but she is never saccharine sweet or unrealistic. Caitrin, for all her belief in her friends at the Tor and for all her faith in Anluan as a leader stumbles when it comes to facing her own demons, but gradually is able to discover that she has strength enough for herself too. Her wit, her tenacity, her admirable bravery – these are all qualities that Caitrin has in abundance, making her a heroine worth fighting for. And then, of course, there’s Anluan, the “beast” himself. Suffering from a palsy at a young age, Anluan’s body is not strong and hale – though he can walk and speak, his right side suffers from a severely limited range of motion and partial paralysis – and his uneven features have caused the villagers in Whistling Tor and outsiders to rumor him as a monster or freak. And Anluan, having lost his mother and father at a very young age, believes that he is not a whole man, much less a deserving leader. But beneath Anluan’s fears and insecurities, he is a strong willed man with an ability to lead his people and love deeply – as he gradually comes to understand. The romance that unfolds between Caitrin and Anluan is delicious, building slowly over the course of the novel and dramatically coming to fruition just when it needs to. This is a bittersweet romance, and a powerful one. It tugs at the heart-strings, it sweeps you up into its splendor, it gives you the warm fuzzies inside and leaves you smiling like a goon by the end of the book.

In short, I loved it. I fell in love with both Caitrin and Anluan just as they stumbled into love with each other.

I haven’t even mentioned all the other wonderful, detailed characters that fill this book’s pages – the ghostly little girl with her pleas for “baby,” the camaraderie that Rioghan and Eichri give both Caitrin and Anluan, the clever and dependable Magnus…and of course, the mysterious, antagonistic Muirne. Even Whistling Tor with its castle and surrounding woods is a character in its own right – as much as the moors of Wuthering Heights or the gothic landscape of Jane Eyre played in their respective books – with its twisting corridors, mist shrouded hill, and magic mirrors.

Heart’s Blood is a true gem, another beautiful novel from Juliet Marillier. Absolutely recommended, for old and new readers alike.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

At a place where two tracks met, the carter brought his horse to a sudden halt.

‘This is where you get down,’ he said.

Dusk was falling, and mist was closing in over a landscape curiously devoid of features. Apart from low clumps of grass, all I could see nearby was an ancient marker stone whose inscription was obscured by a coat of creeping mosses. Every part of me ached with weariness. ‘This is not even a settlement!’ I protested. ‘It’s – it’s nowhere!’
‘This is as far west as your money takes you,’ the man said flatly. ‘Wasn’t that the agreement? It’s late. I won’t linger in these parts after nightfall.’

I sat frozen. He couldn’t really be going to leave me in this godforsaken spot, could he?

‘You could come on with me.’ The man’s tone had changed. ‘I’ve got a roof, supper, a comfortable bed. For a pretty little thing like you, there’s other ways of paying.’ He set a heavy hand on my shoulder, making me shrink away, my heart hammering. I scrambled down from the cart and seized my bag and writing box from the back before the fellow could drive off and leave me with nothing.

‘Sure you won’t change your mind?’ he asked, eyeing me up and down as if I were a prime cut of beef.

‘Quite sure,’ I said shakily, shocked that I had been too full of my woes to notice that look in his eye earlier, when there were other passengers on the cart. ‘What is this place? Is there a settlement close by?’

‘If you can call it that.’ He jerked his head in the general direction of the marker. ‘Don’t know if you’ll find shelter. They’ve a habit of huddling behind locked doors at night around here, and with good reason. I’m not talking about troops of armed Normans on the road, you understand, but … something else. You’d far better come home with me. I’d look after you.’

I slung my bundle over my shoulder. On the tip of my tongue was the retort he deserved: I’m not so desperate, but I was not quite brave enough to say it. Besides, with only four coppers left and the very real possibility that pursuit was close behind me, I might soon be reduced to accepting offers of this kind or starving. It had taken all my courage to run away. After three days I was finding life on the road more difficult than I’d anticipated.

I turned my back on the carter and stooped to examine the weathered stone. The inscription read Whistling Tor. An odd name. If there was a hill nearby, there was no telling where. The vapour was thickening so fast that I could hardly see an arm’s length in front of me. As I traced the moss-crusted letters, the man drove away without another word. The drum of hoof-beats and the creak of wheels diminished to nothing. I took a deep breath and ordered myself to be strong. If there was a sign, there must be a settlement and shelter.

You can read the full excerpt HERE.

Additional Thoughts: I love the international covers for this book – they’re gorgeous and atmospheric. Check out the Australian cover image below:

The US cover is also relevant to the story and pretty in its own way, but I think international wins this round.

Also, author Juliet Marillier has an essay on her website about Heart’s Blood, her inspirations and the Beauty and the Beast tale. WARNING: The post contains plot spoilers for the book, but it a wonderful read for those who have already read the book or do not mind being spoiled. You can read the essay HERE.

Rating: 9 – Damn Near Perfection

Reading Next: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Giveaway Details:

We are giving away ONE copy of Heart’s Blood (with the US cover pictured above)! The contest is open to residents of the US and Canada, and will run until October 24 at 11:59 pm (PST). To enter, simply leave a comment here. Good luck!

Wildwood Dancing

Author: Juliet Marillier

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

Publisher: Knopf Books
Publication Date: January 2007
Hardcover: 416 pages

Stand alone or series: Can be read as a stand alone novel, but has a companion book/sequel titled Cybele’s Secret.

Why did I read this book: It’s no surprise that I love Juliet Marillier – her Heir to Sevenwaters was one of my top 10 reads of last year, and her Sevenwaters Series is among my all-time favorites (Heck, with some arm twisting I even got Ana to read Daughter of the Forest and, of course, she loved it). With our Young Adult Appreciation Month, I finally had the perfect excuse to read Juliet Marillier’s YA novels – reads which were long overdue!

Summary: (from amazon.com)
High in the Transylvanian woods, at the castle Piscul Draculi, live five daughters and their doting father. It’s an idyllic life for Jena, the second eldest, who spends her time exploring the mysterious forest with her constant companion, a most unusual frog. But best by far is the castle’s hidden portal, known only to the sisters. Every Full Moon, they alone can pass through it into the enchanted world of the Other Kingdom. There they dance through the night with the fey creatures of this magical realm.

When Cezar’s grip of power begins to tighten, at stake is everything Jena loves: her home, her family, and the Other Kingdom she has come to cherish. To save her world, Jena will be tested in ways she can’t imagine–tests of trust, strength, and true love.

Review:

The second eldest of five sisters, Jena lives a quiet but magical life in the far reaches of Transylvania, in an old, eccentric castle called Piscul Draculi. Jenna isn’t breathtakingly beautiful like her eldest sister Tatiana, nor is she a scholar like Paula, a flirtatious girl like Iulia, or sweetly innocent like her youngest sister Stela – but Jena is solid and steadfast. She is strong, adventurous, and she has her constant companion, a frog named Gogu, whom only she can understand and talk to. For as long as all five sisters have lived in Piscul Draculi, on every night of the full moon they have been able to open a secret portal to the Other Kingdom, where they dance the night away in their own Dancing Glade with the magical creatures that live there.

Everything is perfect for Jena and her sisters, until two events change the girls’ world forever. First, at their last visits to the Other Kingdom, a strange new group of dangerous creatures known as the Night People are also guests at the Dancing Glade – and one very solemn young man, named Sorrow, of their number has stolen Tatiana’s heart. Though Jena tries to warn Tati against the Night People and their viscious ways, she will not give up Sorrow. Then, the girls’ father leaves on a merchant trip, with responsibility of the castle falling to Jena since Tati is too busy mooning over her new love, making sure the day to day affairs run smoothly, and taking care of her sisters. However, Jena and her sisters soon learn that their father has taken very ill, and won’t be able to return home for some long months – if at all. As their mother died giving birth to Stela, the girls only have their father and cousins in the neighboring castle for family, and this is all cousin Cezar needs to move in on Piscul Draculi, asserting his power over his ‘feeble’ female cousins (for their own good, of course). With only the help of her loyal, closest friend Gogu, Jena must fend off Cezar’s anger and his bitter hatred of the Other Kingdom – for if she loses control of Piscul Draculi, Cezar threatens to burn the woods that contain the Other Kingdom with it.

Wildwood Dancing is another masterpiece from Juliet Marillier – I love and at the same time fear reading her books. Love, because I know instantly I will be swept away with the magic lilt of her prose and enchtanting fantasy worlds; fear, because once I’ve had a fix of Marillier, everything I read afterwards seems bland and pale in comparison. Such is Wildwood Dancing. Instantly, I fell in love with the tenacious Jena and her constant companion Gogu; I loved Piscul Draculi, the world of the Other Kingdom, the tasks and tests each character had to pass, and of course, the heady romantic magic of it all. I could connect with Jenna’s sense of responsibility, and her missteps and misunderstandings that stemmed from this sensibility – as a heroine, Jena is far from flawless, but this endears her as a character.

And then, there’s Gogu.

I should mention that I am a tad bit biased – I love frogs. Gogu is a perfect frog name, and this charming take on the Twelve Dancing Princesses and the Princess and the Frog fables is beautiful. With Gogu and Jena’s relationship, of course you know what’s coming from a mile away – but the charm of this tale isn’t in some surprising twist, but rather in the beautiful execution of the story.

And beautifully executed Wildwood Dancing is. Juliet Marillier’s prose is elegant and lovely as always. Every character in the story (with two exceptions) are vibrant and powerful – even the angry Cezar is completely relatable. Perhaps this is why I love Ms. Marillier’s characters so much – for even the villainous characters have their own reasons and are presented in a light that is if not sympathetic, at least understandable.

My only irritation with this otherwise flawless piece of literature – and yes, Wildwood Dancing is among one of the best books I have read this year, for young adults and adults alike – lies with the eldest sister, Tatiana, and her tortured love affair with Sorrow. Not that their love isn’t understandable or that I am not sympathetic to the cause of young love – but COME ON. I abhor obsessed, doomed romances. Sorry. These sort of characters that literally waste away from lovesickness, as Tati does, irritate me to no end. I have absolutely zero tolerance for this kind of nonsense. Maybe because I’m not that romantic, but Tati’s plight in the castle – while the rest of her sisters have to pick up the slack – is incredibly annoying. Of course, that is simply my opinion.

Despite this minor annoyance, I loved Wildwood Dancing, and it is one of the best books I have read in 2009. Highly, highly recommended!

Notable Quotes/Parts: I love Jena and Gogu’s exchanges so much.

I peered at him. In the candlelight he was just a green blob on the pillow. “You can stay home if you don’t want to do this, Gogu,” I said, realizing that he was as terrified as I was. “I could go by myself.” At Dark of the moon, I’d left him behind. The thought of doing that again, of braving the witch of the wood without my dearest companion by my side, made me feel sick. But it was unfair to drag him along when he was so scared.

You d-don’t want me to c-come? You would l-leave me b-behind again? His whole body drooped.

“Of course I want you, stupid! I’m petrified of going alone. I’m just trying to spare you.”

Then we will g-go together, Jena.

“You realize I’ve got no idea how to find her?”

We’ll find her.

“I hope so,” I said, sitting up to blow out the candle. “And I hope she’s prepared to help us. Good night, Gogu. Sweet dreams. Up at dawn, remember.”

This pillow is my best place, Jena.

“What?” I squinted at him in the darkness, but his eyes were already closed.

Additional Thoughts: The Twelve Dancing Princesses fable is an enchanting tale that is retold here in Wildwood Dancing, and in other YA novels. This book marks the second retelling of the fable that I’ve read this year – the other being Jessica Day George’s Princess of the Midnight Ball.

Are there any other Twelve Princesses retellings I should be reading?

Verdict: An absolutely beautiful debut YA novel that should be read by everyone. Easily one of my favorite reads of 2009.

Rating: 9 Damn Near Perfection

Reading Next: Cybele’s Secret by Juliet Marillier

Title: Daughter of the Forest

Author: Juliet Marillier

Genre: Fantasy

Stand Alone/ Series: Book 1 of 4 books set in the Sevenwaters world. It can be read as a stand- alone – the next books deal with the descendents of the protagonist.

Summary: from the author’s website - First published in 1999, Daughter of the Forest is loosely based on the traditional story of The Six Swans, which appears in Grimm’s Fairy Tales and has been re-told in many versions, including one by Hans Christian Andersen.

In Daughter of the Forest, the fairy tale story – a youngest sister must maintain complete silence while weaving shirts from nettles in order to return her swan brothers to human form – is combined with a family drama set on both sides of the Irish Sea. More than anything, this is a story about the bond of love between siblings.

Why did I read the book: Thea dared me so I had to . She has been talking about it for ages now, saying how much she loves it. Book 4, Heirs to Sevenwaters has made her top 10 of 2008. Why does this constitute a Feat of Strength? There is one event in the book that I avoid reading if I can.

Review:

There are those books that grab you by the guts, and won’t let go. The kind that you want to keep on reading until you are done whilst at the same time you don’t want it to end. Ever. The kind that you realise the moment you start reading it that this one is going to be a Good One , the kind that stays with you long after you are done. Daughter of the Forest is one such book – a historical Fantasy (with a bit of romance on the side).

Sorcha is the youngest of seven siblings, children of Colum, Lord of Sevenwaters, a stronghold deep in the forests of Celtic Ireland. Their mother died over Sorcha’s birth and their grief-ridden father has all but left them to run wild in Sevenwaters with nothing but each other’s company. As the children grew each of the brothers assume their position in the household as their mother predicted. Liam, the eldest, the chosen protector and heir; Diarmid, the next in line, the rogue and ladies man; the twins Conor and Cormack – the first a thinker, the latter a warrior; Finbar, the seer, Padriac the healer of animals. As the youngest, Sorcha who is also a healer is closer to Finbar and Padriac, but specially Finbar with whom she is able to communicate with her mind. The brothers are extremely protective of their sister and all of them love their land.

In a time way before England exists, where the peoples of the islands are split into tribes – our protagonists are Celts in Ireland and they are in constant war against Britons, Saxons, Pics, and Vikings. Their main source of conflict is against the Britons though – seen as savages, lacking decency especially after they took the Irish’s places of mystery: Little Island, Greater Island and the Needle which were the heart of the old faith. Lord Colum spends most of the year away in campaigns against the Britons and as the boys reach a certain age they start going off as well – first Liam, then Diarmid. It is after one of these campaigns that they bring a Briton hostage. A young man, whose lineage is of consequence and who is severely tortured for information. Finbar, who at this point has come into himself, as a young boy with a strong mind and strong resolution concocts a plan to aid the prisoner’s escape and he is taken to Father Brian, a catholic hermit who enlists Sorcha’s help in curing the boy. This is not only a source of grave danger for Finbar and Sorcha as discovery means punishment for treachery but also the beginning of a difficult journey for all of them. Sorcha spends time with the boy – who is gravely ill, mind and body and they start an uneasy friendship. One day, while out on the forest, Sorcha is visited by The Lady of the Forest, queen of the Fair Folk and is given a ominous message – that soon, their lives will chance and it has started with the Briton boy, whose name is Simon and that the path ahead is going to be hard.

Before Simon can fully recover, Sorcha needs to go back home for her father has returned with a new wife. Sorcha had promised to stay with him and for breaking her promise she clearly breaks his heart – he disappears leaving behind nothing but a carved piece of wood as a gift.

Upon returning home, Sorcha and her brothers immediately realise the Lady Oonagh is not what she seems and they know they are all in danger. Things start to change in their household – evil has come and their father will not listen to them. The brothers and sister decide to take matters into their hands but before anything can be done, the stepmother curses them – all of the boys are transformed into Swans and only Sorcha manages to escape. She is then met by the Lady of the Forest who tells her that her time has begun to start on her journey. There is a way to bring her brothers back and it is all down to Sorcha: she must weave six shirts out of starwort nettle, a plant that stings and hurts and throw them over her brother’s heads at the same time. But until the task is finished , she is not allowed to say a word or a sound nor tell anyone of her tale or ask for help. If she does, her brothers are lost forever. They will only become human twice every year – midsummer and midwinter and this is the only time they are allowed to come to her. She accepts the task and at this point, Sorcha is 12 years old, all alone, in hiding and with all the weight of the world in her shoulders.

This is truly where our story starts. Narrated in first person by Sorcha, all that happened to this point – 150 pages into the book – is set up. But an essential one. Because we have seen Sorcha with her brothers and got to know each and every one of them through her eyes, we are right there with her in her love and devotion to them, and it is obvious that she must do whatever it takes to bring them back. And it is hard, folks. Really, really hard. The things she must go through are not kids’ games. Her poor hands that hurt and look ragged for the hands of a 12 year old. Months, years pass: the loneliness of being all alone in the forest and the dangers she must face that sometimes are too much for Sorcha and for the reader. Things got slightly better (for a time at least) when she is found by a group of Britons, led by a man called Red who is in Ireland looking for his brother Simon who disappeared months ago. He finds the carved piece of wood and recognises his brother’s handiwork and he takes this mysteriously silent girl back to his own home until she can tell him all about his brother.

Sorcha then gets to learn that the Britons are much more than savages especially Red. He becomes her protector, and so much more. I don’t want to say any more because their story is one that needs to be read to be savoured and believe me when I say, it is one of the best romances I have read of late ,if ever. It is not always that I have this overwhelming feeling that I am reading one for the books, where my heart is racing with pure anticipation and the build-up of their love is…amazing.

I have only but touched a few points in the plot – so much happens, so much sadness it is almost too much to bear. But there is also hope. So much hope and so much love and devotion. I feel like my words fail to convey how beautiful and engrossing this book is.

This story is based on the Brother Grimm’s tale of the Six Swans but Juliet Marillier set it against the backdrop of Celtic legends and it is this magical feel that permeates Sorcha’s everyday life and therefore, the whole book. The meddling of the Fair Folk is accepted as a reality and it is clear that they have a hidden agenda when it comes to Sorcha and her brothers – and Sevenwaters.

A lyrical tale of family, love, devotion and of a courageous and resilient young girl who becomes a young woman. A book where every character counts and every page is filled with wonders. I feel that I connected with Daughter of the Forest in every possible way that a reader can connect with a book. Objectively speaking, I cannot fault the storytelling, the execution of the plot, the characters’ arcs, the heart-throbbing action or the love story. There is no shying away from strong, painful occurrences but there is no darkness for darkness sake; everything that happens is a natural progression of the story and feels organic. But with all good tales there is recompense at the end of the way even if they come with bittersweet consequences.

Subjectively feeling? I felt like I couldn’t speak myself as if any uttering from me would somehow make Sorcha suffer (a reaction I know Thea had as well). I cried and laughed and was utterly satisfied with the ending. When I was done I placed the book in my keeper shelf and immediately went on to buy other books by this author.

I wholeheartedly recommend Daughter of the Forest to readers of both Fantasy and Romance. Honestly, it doesn’t get much better than that.

Notable quotes/ Parts: an example of the magic:

“when I remember the years of our growing up, the most important thing is the tree. We went there often, the seven of us, southward through the forest above the lakeshore. When I was a baby, Liam or Diarmid would carry me on his back; once I could walk, two brothers would take my hands and hurry me along, sometimes swinging me between them with a one-two-three, as the others ran on ahead toward the lake. When we came closer, we all became quiet. The bank where the birch tree grew was a place of deep magic, and our voices were hushed as we gathered on the sward around it.” (…) “The birch tree(…) held her spirit, our mother’s having been planted by the boys on the day of her death, at her own request. Once she had told them what to do, Liam and Diarmid took their spades down to the place she had described, dug out the soft turf, and planted the seed there on the flat grassy bank above the lake. With small, grubby hands the younger ones helped level the soil and carried water. Later, when they were allowed to take me out of the house we all went there together.”

Additional Thoughts: I cannot stop thinking about this book. All I want now is to read more by Juliet Marillier. It has been such a long time since a book has touched me so. What have you been reading lately – which was the last book that made you go WOW?

Verdict: Lyrical tale of growing up, of siblings’ devotion and of the love of a man for a woman. One of the strongest female protagonists I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Highly recommended.

Rating: 10 – Perfection. I can not fault this book, and I have re-read many of its passages already.

Reading next: What a Pirate Desires by Michelle Beattie