A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer is a modern fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast. It follows Harper, who lives in Washington D.C., and how she gets sucked into the fantastical world of Emberfall, where Prince Rhen resides. Prince Rhen turns into a beast every night, and unconsciously and unwillingly hurts his own people. If he can get a girl to fall in love with him, then the curse will be broken.
Gilly is a thief, and she doesn’t really see a problem with it. Her family needs to eat and isn’t everyone just using their skills to get by? She does however have a problem when her talent gets her sent to fairy tale reform school, a school taught by the villains in the stories of the princesses, not that she likes them much either but still, who all claim they changed their ways and are teaching others as well. Gilly has to play nice for the next three months to get back to her family to help them again but what will happen to her in that time?
Ella was just a normal girl before she was swept away to a castle with her prince but is her life really as picture-perfect as she expected it to be? Ella Brown isn’t as happy in the palace as she expected. She’s uncomfortable about the new rules that surround her. She has spent so long doing everything herself she has no idea what to do when she is now expected to have everything done for her. Ella got to where she is now all by herself and now, she has to wonder, is here really where she wants to be?
Disenchanted is a wonderful Cinderella retelling talking about a very important subject. Unlike its predecessor, Grounded, the novel focuses on multiple POVs and really makes us care about each character. Ella is a wonderful character and a strong person struggling through the death of her beloved mother and her father's remarriage. Her father only finally succeeded after the death of her mother and the fact her mother isn’t around to see it is devastating for her.
In this prequel to the popular series The Land of Stories, we take the view of Brystal Evergreen, a girl in an oppressive society where all magic is considered witchcraft and forbidden. When Brystal finds out she might be a fairy and is caught, things take a turn for the worse. She’s taken to a correctional facility to get ‘fixed’, but she is taken apprentice by a magical woman to live in a school for magical children.
The Land of Stories The Enchantress Returns is the second book in the Land of Stories series. It once again follows Alex and Conner Bailey as they try to stop the evil enchantress, the one who cursed Sleeping Beauty, before it’s too late. I like how this book brought back all the same characters from the first book. My favorite part is when Alex and Conner meet Mother Goose and my favorite characters are Mother Goose and Froggy. I really enjoyed the ending of this book.
The Land of Stories follows Alex and Conner Bailey as they travel through the fairy tale world after they unexpectedly arrive there. They must work together to find their way out before it’s too late. This book is really great because it’s full of adventure and great characters. I really like how this book plays into some classic fairy tales like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. My favorite part is when they first enter the fairy tale world and my favorite character is Froggy.
The Magic Fish is a heartwarming graphic novel that showcases beautiful parallels between the fairytales Tien reads with his parents and Tien’s own story of trying to tell his family that he’s gay. There’s a lot of difficulties in communicating with parents that don’t speak English well, and wanting to them something so important as being gay. As this young boy navigates through his own struggling Vietnamese, this book shows us that happiness can be reached even through the language barrier.
