SCARLET by A.C. Gaughen

Title: Scarlet
Series: Scarlet #1
Author: A.C. Gaughen

Summary

No one knows how Will Scarlet became a thief, not even Robin of Locksley, better known as the Hood.  And very few know that Will is actually just Scarlet, an 18-year-old woman who pretends to be a boy.

Scarlet, Robin, and Robin's band do everything they can to help the people of Edwinstowe evade the cruelty of the sheriff of Nottingham, the man appointed after Prince John declared Robin's father, the Earl Huntington, to be a traitor to the crown.  But when the sheriff decides to hire Guy of Gisbourne, a thief catcher, to catch and kill Robin and his band, the thieves must be extra careful.  Scarlet in particular must be careful, because she knows Gisbourne and his cruelty, and for her, the consequences of being caught would be worse than death.

My Impression

One thing I liked about this retelling is that the focus isn't on Robin Hood.  While he is an important part of the book, the main character is Will Scarlet, better known as Scarlet or Scar.  I liked being able to see Robin through the eyes of someone who follows him and can see the motivation behind his actions that no one else really sees.  We also get to learn the motivation behind other members of the band, such as John Little and Much.  This book really emphasized the importance of being in a group, and how all of their work wouldn't be possible if there wasn't someone else to watch their back, so I liked that each member of the band got some of the focus.

I also thought it was really interesting how, even though the book follow's Scarlet's perspective, the reader learns about Scarlet's past at the same time that the other members of the band do.  It would have been really easy to know Scarlet's motivation from the beginning of the book and just watch as she kept her secrets from her friends, but it was much more compelling to know that she is keeping secrets, watching her struggle to keep her secrets, but then also being caught in the suspense and frustration of the other characters who want her to trust them with her past.  I wanted to know Scarlet's past and that is why I kept reading.

One thing I struggled with as I read this book is the language.  Scarlet doesn't speak or think in colloquial English, so many times she used the word "were" instead of "was" as the verb of a sentence.  While I appreciate how difficult it must have been to write the entire book in this dialect (and it does remain consistent throughout the book), it took me a few chapters to become comfortable with the cadence of the speech.

Why I Picked Up This Book

I really like retellings, and though I enjoy retellings of fairytales, I have always loved to see new spins on folk heroes such as Robin Hood.  I discovered this book through Goodreads on my recommended lists, and I liked the idea of reading about Will Scarlet as a woman.

Genres: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Fairy Tales, Romance
My Rating: Four Stars

RAPUNZEL UNTANGLED by Cindy C. Bennett

Title: Rapunzel Untangled
Author: Cindy C. Bennett

Summary

Rapunzel has been confined to her own few rooms in Gothel Manor for as long as she can remember, not that she has ever had a problem with it.  She has SCID, or Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, which means that any contact with germs could result in her death.  And according to a prophecy, Rapunzel's hair is magic and is the key to saving the world, so Rapunzel is quite content to live in her tower with only her mother for contact in order to protect herself.

That all changes when Rapunzel joins Facebook and befriends a boy named Fane.  Having never communicated with anyone besides her mother, Fane introduces Rapunzel to the world outside of her tower and what it means to be a teenager.  Suddenly Rapunzel is breaking all the rules and in the process discovers that everything her mother told her may not be the whole truth.

My Impression

While reading the first few chapters, I was a little unsure of how I would like this retelling.  Rapunzel and Fane meet on Facebook, and though the two characters had to meet and communicate in some way despite Rapunzel's isolation, I cringe a bit whenever social media is brought into a book.  I think naming specific sites such as Facebook and Skype really limits the audience of a text because it makes it too obvious that this story takes place in a time when both programs are popular; if those two sites ever become obsolete, readers won't get the reference.  

However, it was necessary to have some form of communication to connect the two characters, so I just accepted the reference as a part of the story, because how else could they possibly communicate?  The more I read, the more I liked the purpose that the online communication served in the book.  It does a great job of illustrating how ignorant Rapunzel is of expressions, acronyms, and pop culture references, and how her isolation doesn't just limit her contact with people but also limits her contact with the world and the things that regular kids take for granted.  Plus it was also cute to see Rapunzel and Fane get to know each other without seeing each other face-to-face, and how their friendship develops throughout the book.

I also liked the motivation behind Gothel, Rapunzel's mother.  I wasn't sure how similar her motivation would be to Mother Gothel's in the movie Tangled, but I was glad to learn that it was different.  The book slowly reveals her motivation as Rapunzel becomes more and more curious about the world outside of her tower; though her motivation is pretty dark, I liked that I got to learn along with Rapunzel, instead of knowing and watching Rapunzel's discovery.  

Magic plays an important role in this book, and though it isn't until later in the book that we learn about its complete role, I felt a little unsatisfied with how magic fits into the world.  Though this story is Rapunzel's story, I would have liked to know a bit more about the magic that some of the characters use/possess, where the magic comes from, and why it fits in this world.  

Why I Picked Up This Book

I have always liked retellings of fairy tales, and when I saw that the ARC of this book was available on NetGalley, I decided to request it.

Genres: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Romance
My Rating: Four Stars

SUNLIGHT AND SHADOW by Cameron Dokey

Title: Sunlight and Shadow
Series: Once Upon a Time
Author: Cameron Dokey

Summary

Mina is the daughter of Pamina, the Queen of the Night, and Sarastro, the Mage of the Day.  With her birth, a prophecy was given that her marriage would change the world in a way that would remove and give power to her parents.  So her parents made a pact that, for the first sixteen years of her life, Mina would live in the darkness with her mother; on the day of her sixteenth birthday, she would be given to her father and he would select a husband.

But when Mina's father breaks his oath, it takes all of Mina's strength, and the help of some friends, to find her heart's desire.

My Impression

I have never encountered The Magic Flute, so I am not sure how closely/loosely this story follows the original.  I liked this story for that fact, since it had familiar feel of a fairy tale but was at the same time new, even though some of the plot was predictable.  

The thing that I had the hardest time with in this book was the switching perspectives.  There are a total of five narrators for this story, and each one tells the story from a first-person perspective.  Though I really liked seeing inside the heads of various characters, the shifts are not clearly marked in the book, so it often took me a couple sentences before I realized that a different person was "speaking."

Why I Picked Up This Book

I have always had a love for retellings of myths and fairytales, so the Once Upon a Time series, and with it this book, have been on my "to read" list for a while.

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Romance

My Rating: Four Stars

Interested in more books from this series? Click here to see a list of the other books in the Once Upon a Time series and my reviews of them.

BEAUTY SLEEP by Cameron Dokey

Title: Beauty Sleep
Series: Once Upon a Time
Author: Cameron Dokey

Summary

Aurore is the daughter of  the king and queen, and on the one month anniversary of her birth, the kingdom comes together to celebrate her christening.  But one important person was not invited, and when she arrives she places a curse on Aurore: that in her sixteenth year she will prick her finger and her drop of blood with seal her death.  Even when the curse is modified to only cause a hundred-year sleep, Aurore's parents are overly cautious and determined to keep her safe, something which Aurore tries to fight as much as possible.

My Impression

My favorite part of this story is the development of Aurore's life between the placing of the curse and the inevitable pricking of her finger.  Dokey's development of this time made it a lot easier to love Aurore as a character and feel sorrow that she has been placed under this curse because of events outside of her control.

While I like some of Dokey's retellings more than this tale, I still really liked seeing Aurore as more than just a helpless girl who fumbles into the curse's fulfillment.

Why I Picked Up This Book

I had already read two other books in this series, Scarlet Moon and Midnight Pearls, and I have always had a love for fairy tale retellings, so I decided to read the rest of the series.

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Fairy Tale, Romance

My Rating: Four Stars

Interested in more books from this series? Click here to see a list of the other books in the Once Upon a Time series and my reviews of them.