By iamsandykay on September 15, 2023 ( Leave a comment )

Book Review – Reimagined Fairytale Collection

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Second Star to the Left by Megan Van Dyke

Book Description:

Tinker Bell, banished from her homeland for doing the unthinkable, selling the hottest drug in Neverland—pixie dust—wants absolution. Determined to find a way home, Tink doesn’t hesitate to follow the one lead she has, even if that means seducing a filthy pirate to steal precious gems out from under his…hook.

Captain Hook believes he’s found a real treasure in Tink. That is, until he recovers from her pixie dust laced kiss with a curse that turns the seas against him. With his ship and reputation at the mercy of raging storms, he tracks down the little minx and demands she remove the curse. Too bad she can’t. However, the mermaid queen has a solution to both of their problems, if Tink and Hook will work together to retrieve a magical item for her.

As they venture to the mysterious Shrouded Isles to find the priceless treasure, their shared nemesis closes in. However, his wrath is nothing compared to the realization that achieving their goal may mean losing something they never expected to find—each other

My Take:

My explaining this book is summed up in this gif:

Mumbling incoherent not-quite-words and thrusting the book at you so that you should read it.

Slightly more coherent is this:

Starts strong, continues with wonderful adventures, and we get our happily ever after.

Starts out with intrigue, deception, a little spice, and a LOT of promise. Then, immediately delivers. I love this story so much!

Starts strong, amazing characters everywhere, and didn’t want the adventure to end.

I have reread this story so many times. It is always great and I always love the characters. The author created full individuals in each of them and I found myself wanting to know more about everyone.

The Final Verdict

My rating: 5 stars

Would I recommend? Yes

My very favorite of the series.

The Ugly Stepsister by Megan Van Dyke

Book Description:

Only Anna knows the truth about Cinderella: The pauper turned queen wasn’t the victim, but the bully.

Anna fled when the castle guards came to arrest her mother and sister on Cinderella’s orders. But leaving them in bondage at the Fairy Godmother’s workhouse? Out of the question. Disguised as a young man and taking the name of Ansel, she’ll do whatever it takes to free her family and set the record straight.

Will, a former royal huntsman, was nearly killed for dissenting Cinderella’s rise as queen in the wake of the sudden death of the king and his son. He hatches a plan to take Cinderella down, and encounters Ansel, who wants revenge just as much as he does.

Drawn together by a common goal and burgeoning feelings neither can ignore, Will and Ansel enact a plan to assassinate the queen. But when that goes awry and buried secrets come to light, they’ll have to choose: continue running from their pasts or accept themselves in order to forge a new future together.

My Take:

Didn’t realize until half-way through the book that this was the same universe as #1.

Made it halfway through the book before I realized that it was the same universe as Second Star to the Left. Not great in terms of world building. Also, the ending was really rushed and there were too many stories going on at the same time.

Too many characters to really care about any of them.

This book had a handful of fairy tales involved, as opposed to Second Star really focusing on one main story. With so many stories involved, I never really connected with any of the characters and didn’t really care what happened to them.

The Final Verdict

My rating: 3 stars

Would I recommend? Eh.

My least favorite of the series.

The Alice Curse by Megan Van Dyke

Book Description:

Wonderland must always have an Alice, and Eliza Carroll is the next.

Eliza flees her parent’s political machinations only to stumble into another world and the arms of a man named Finn, who declares her the next Alice. Finn, nicknamed the White Rabbit for the form he can shift into, was sent to find the new Alice and bring her to court, for only she can declare whether Red or White reigns. Not to mention he’ll lose his head if he fails.

For Eliza to get home and Finn to survive, they’ll have to navigate two treacherous courts and their growing feelings for one another, while trying to unravel the curse that forces the Carroll women to journey to Wonderland. But a path to freedom for them both may be more than the magic of Wonderland can conjure…even for its new Alice.

My Take:

Really good world building – in both worlds.

Once again set in the same universe as the first two, but this time there were references to the lands/stories of both earlier books. These tiny points gave small frames of reference to center your understanding of where you were and what was going on. It definitely made for a better read.

Characters were very loveable and found myself invested in their journeys.

As with Second Star, I found myself really rooting for these characters and invested in their adventures. I cared what was going to happen and both wanted to rush to the end and didn’t want the story to be over.

The Final Verdict

My rating: 4 stars

Would I recommend? Yes

Made me excited to continue the series again.