Review: Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Title: Heartless
Author: Marissa Meyer
Genre: Fantasy, Retelling, Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Publication date: February 9th 2017
Pages: 464 (paperback)
Source: Netgalley






Long before she was the terror of Wonderland - the infamous Queen of Hearts - she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. 

Long before she was the terror of Wonderland - the infamous Queen of Hearts - she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.

Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her own terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

In her first stand-alone teen novel, the New York Times-bestselling author dazzles us with a prequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Goodreads

Alice in Wonderland is such an amazing story and one of the most complex characters is probably the Queen of Hearts.  So of course I wanted to find out what exactly made her become her so twisted. So when Heartless got released I knew that I had to read it, especially since Melissa Meyer is such an amazing author.  And Heartless did deliver, it had the right combination of everything, romance, action, drama and of course a lot of weirdness how else can it be set in Wonderland.

You do not need to know Alice in Wonderland to read this book; it stands completely on its own. It is not a retelling of the story, it has an own unique and amazing plot with a great set of characters. Heartless follows Catherine, daughter of the Marquess of Turtle Rock. The King of Hearts took a liking to her and every girl in Hearts would want to be in her shoes but not Catherine. Becoming the Queen of Hearts would mean giving up her long life dream of opening her own bakery. That is all she has ever wanted to do but when you are the daughter of the Marquess you cannot make decisions of your own and you have to follow the rules of society. All Catherine can do is feel frustrated and angry and hope that the King will shift his attention to someone else.

At first I could not see how Catherine could ever turn into the Queen of Hearts that we know. She is good hearted and cares about the people in her life. But bit by bit you can see the changes in her and to be fair I cannot blame her entirely. So many things happen to her. She falls in love with the court joker, and I was rooting for Jest. He is such a great guy and couldn’t help but love him. But at the same time that I was rooting for them I knew that their story would not be one with a happy ending.  But what happened to them still makes me sad and that is why I cannot blame Catherine for turning in the person she is as at the Queen of Hearts.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and I completely get what the buzz is all about now. The book throws you back to your childhood with all the feeling of a fairytale but at the same time it keeps you on edge since you know what will happen but you just do not know how exactly it will happen.  It was really hard for me to put this book down and I cannot wait to read more of Marissa Meyer’s books.

Elien

Review: The First Mrs Rochester and Her Husband by M.C. Smith

Title: The First Mrs Rochester and Her Husband
Author: M.C. Smith
Genre: Retelling, Historical fiction, Adult
Publication date: February 15th 2013
Pages: 306 (paperback)
Source: received from author








He is the unloved second son of an old and esteemed family. She is breathtaking and rich bun unknowingly carries the seeds of a devastating illness. Their fathers strike a convenient bargain which their children have little choice but to accept. Products of their time, Bertha Mason and Edward Rochester marry for financial security and respectability although they scarcely know one another.

At best, they will become comfortable companions who grow to love one another.
At worst...

Goodreads

Jane Eyre is my favorite classic, maybe even my favorite in general. When the author approached me with the question if I wanted to read The First Mrs Rochester and Her Husband I didn’t have to think twice. Their story has always fascinated me because we know little to nothing about them.

In this book we got to know their history a little better. We got to know the exact reason why he married her in the first place and why he decided to leave her behind at Thornfield Hall of all places. But one of the most interesting things was that the story was told in both Berthas’ as Mr Rochester’s perspective. At first I didn’t really like Edward. He was quiet selfish, he rather married a complete stranger then work for his money. And after he dumped her at his home, because let’s face it that is exactly what he did, he went off to Europe and lived and eccentric like a bachelor. But he really made up for his past at the end of the book. He became a humble man who appreciated the people who stood beside him no matter what had happened. And I already knew that I would end up liking him. Most of all we finally got to know what was going on inside her head all this time and how she was feeling about the whole situation. I have always felt a little bad for her, she might not be mentally right but being locked away in a room cannot improve her condition.

I wouldn’t have minded if the author explored more the first weeks/months/years of their marriage. Because know she told their whole story in one, short, book. And I believe that their first years of marriage could have been really fascinating for us readers. I also missed that there was no real conversation between the characters, the author just told us what was happening and the only two characters who seemed to talk were Edward and Bertha.

Overall I really liked this story. If you are, like me, a fan of Jane Eyre than I would recommend reading this book since it gives a nice extra touch to the original story. 

El

Review: Sleeping Beauty and the Beast by Melissa Lemon

Title: Sleeping Beauty and the Beast
Author: Melissa Lemon
Genre: fantasy, fairytale-retelling, Young Adult
Publication date: June 24th 2014
Pages: 202 (paperback)
Source: received from author
Buy links: Amazon






Trapped in a cursed sleep, the only experiences Princess Eglantine has are the ones in her dreams. There she meets Prince Henry of Fallund, a neighboring kingdom on the brink of war. 

Meanwhile, Prince Henry's brother Duncan discovers a vicious beast imprisoned for murder. Captivated by her, he works to free her from both the prison bars she's locked behind and the ones surrounding her heart and mind. Sleeping Beauty and the Beast reinvents and seamlessly intertwines the classic fairy tales Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast. 

Goodreads

Sleeping Beauty and the Beast is a rather unique fairytale retelling. Like the title already suggests it combines Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast. And the author did it in a unique way, the whole book was unique. It was a very different fairytale retelling than I’ve ever read before.

Princess Eglantine, the sleeping beauty, has been dreaming for years. But suddenly her dreams seem to become more real. Prince Henry seems to see and hear her, Eglantine can’t be happier finally someone she can communicate with. But Henry on the other hand is not so thrilled. Is he losing his mind? Has the stress of ruling a country alone finally taken his toll? Or is Eglantine real?
Duncan, Henry’s brother, wants nothing to do with ruling the country. He rather rooms the street to see what’s happening. It’s there that he comes across “the beast”, a girl fighting off guards that want to imprison her like her life depends on it. Somehow Duncan can’t get this girl out of his mind, he knows that she’s a criminal but he still want to help her. But why?

I really liked all the twists the book took. Everything connected together. While some things might have been confusing while reading the book it all made sense in the end. Sleeping Beauty and the Beast, was very descriptive. You had a perfect sense of location, clothing and everything else.
 The characters are all well developed. And you can’t help liking them all and you really feel everything they have to endure. They all have their own distinctive voices. Henry and Duncan might have been brothers but they couldn’t have been more different. Duncan is the wild one, while Henry is the responsible one. And “the beast” she shows that not everything is as it might seem at first and bot the girl and Eglantine show us to never give up. There is always hope.

Overall I really liked this book. It might not have been my favorite fairytale retelling ever but I really appreciated the uniqueness of this book. So if you are looking for a fairytale retelling with a new twist than you should really check out Sleeping Beauty and the Beast. 

Author bio

Melissa Lemon is the author of two other fairy tale retellings: Cinder and Ella and Snow Whyte and the Queen of Mayhem. She is also the author of a sweet romance called Blue Sky. Writing is just one of her passions. She also loves music, reading, baking and exercising. She is wife to a patient man, mother of three spunky girls, and warden to a tolerant cat named Matilda.

Facebook | Goodreads | Blog

El

Review: Persuaded by Misty Dawn Pulsipher

Title: Persuaded
Author: Misty Dawn Pulsipher
Genre: Romance, Contemporary,Retelling, Adult
Publication date: July 25th 2014
Pages: 337 (Kindle)
Source: received from author (Thank you!!)






What's worse than never getting over your first love?
How about watching him fall for someone else...

Hanna Elliot had worn the ring faithfully at first. Some part of her still clung to the hope that all was not lost. As the days turned into weeks, she finally took it off and set it atop her dresser. When weeks gave way to months, the ring finally went back into its box, where it gathered dust until it was moved to Hanna's unmentionable drawer. For the first few years,  she had taken it out on the anniversary of the day she'd received it, allowing herself to wallow in what might have been.

She had been all but stamped out of Derick Wentworth's mind.
Sure, he thought about her occasionally, especially on cloudless nights when he lay on the bow of the Laconia looking up at the stars. But as time went on, Derick began to feel grateful that it hadn't worked out, for one thing was certain: if he ever did settle down, it would be with someone who knew her own mind. Someone who went after the thing she wanted without hesitation. Someone who would never allow herself to be persuaded otherwise.

Persuaded, a modern adaption of Jane Austen's Persuasion.

Goodreads

Persuasion is my favorite book by Jane Austen, possibly because it’s about redemption and forgiveness. It’s always tricky for an author when they decide to rewrite a classic. Some of the retellings I’ve read didn’t do the original justice. But Pulsipher did it right with Persuaded. When I was reading this book I kept thinking that this retelling was truly how it could have been written in the first place by Austen when she had lived in the 21^st century. Everything just felt right from the start till the finish.

There were some changes in this book of course. Pulshipher made Persuaded her own with the little nuances she added to the book and thanks to the changes she made she kept me on my toes the entire time. I was always excited to find out which scene would happen next and how it was interpreted in her version of the book.

I liked Hanna a lot. She’s a really sweet girl, even too sweet at times. She has a hard time saying no to people and there are times, definitely at the beginning of the book that she lets herself get walked on a bit. But her intentions are always pure, she’s always kind to everyone and she has a good heart. One of her problems is that she only sees the good in people, when there is something bad she tries to cover it up. But at the story developed, she grew stronger. She was still the same girl but she voiced her opinions louder. And she realized that there were times that she had to think about herself first and not about the people surrounding her.
At first I did struggle a quiet a bit with Derick’s character. He was a great guy but it never really occurred to him that he might be hurting Hanna’s feelings with his actions. He was a guy that first did everything before he thought about it. But just like Hanna his character developed throughout the story. In the end he realized that he too might have been wrong and might have made mistakes. He gets his life back on track and from that moment on I loved him.

The romance was really sweet in this book. I love second-chance stories, the moment that they reconnect is always so great. There was definitely chemistry between Derick and Hanna. And it was great to see how they figured out which role the other still played in their lives.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It was well written, the storyline was great, and the book flowed nice and easily… I would recommend this book to everyone who loves classic retellings or who is looking for a great clean romance story. I’m looking forward to any other retellings Pulsipher might write. 

El