Jessilyn Stewart Peaslee

Picking up all the fairytale adaptations on my list because you get extra points for my library's summer reading program when you finish them...

This is a rough book to review. I'm not quite sure why I didn't like it. Others have mentioned that there's too much telling and not enough showing. But there were times when the showing was excessive and repetitive. And the characters don't live for me.

I like the lack of magic in the story--Ever After style. It's nice and simplifies things. Similarly, the clarifying of the "happily ever after" trope in the epilogue was also a nice touch. And that cover! I also can't blame the sugar-sweetness of the main characters because I really liked Disney's most recent live action version(which was incredibly sweet).

10-year-old me would have loved this book. But it's marketed and cataloged( at least in my library) for adults and it doesn't quite give my brain the sustenance and break that it needs---and I'll admit, it's a tough combo.… (més)

Simply awful. Couldn't make it past the second chapter. Chapter One opens with Ella lounging in the muck dangling her feet in the pond as she watches the sun slowly rise. Why is she hanging out in a pond before sunrise? Because her bed on the ground was TOO COLD so she got up to gather berries (for several hours... in the dark...) and then decided to dangle her feet in the pond for a while. Because, y'know, floors are cold but ponds aren't.
The MOMENT the sun rises, she notices her buddy fishing nearby at the same pond. It's light enough for her to see the tadpoles swimming around the lily pads, but somehow she can't see this guy fishing across the way from her. He seems to be across the pond, and yet is close enough to hear her quietly speak to him. OK?
UGH. Just... throw it against the wall. I want my money back.… (més)