Once More Upon a Time

Once More Upon a Time by Roshani Chokshi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm having a hard time deciding on a rating for this one because on the one hand, it was an absolutely delightful second-chance romance tale of a young King Ambrose and Queen Imelda whose love was taken away by a curse the day after they married, in exchange for saving Imelda's life. To rule their tiny kingdom, they must love each other, however, so they were forced out after a year and a day had passed. Only then, on a quest to steal a potion from one witch to give to another, do they discover that though they no longer remember being in love, there never was anything preventing them from falling in love all over again. They simply wasted that year. The journey they undertake together is both literal and figurative, with plenty of personal growth and adventurous escapes from carnivorous beds, enchanted animals, and potion-wielding witches. Both the narrator (the witch) and a cloak that thinks it's a horse provide plenty of humor along the way.

On the other hand, I somehow forgot it was a novella and was unpleasantly startled when the book ended just as it was getting going. This really would have been better as a full-length novel, in my opinion. Not because I think the romance needed to take any longer to rekindle, but because there was so much more story to be told of how they found their way once it was and adjusted to their newly realized heart's desires. Their healing from adolescent traumas was just beginning, and I wanted to stay with these characters as they built something new.

But Goodreads doesn't allow half stars, so I think I'll round up to 4 because I really did enjoy the novella until there were no more pages.

For readers' advisors: character and language doorways are primary, but setting is strong as well, since it's beautifully written, humorous fantasy based on the fairy tale of the dancing princesses. Though the target audience is adults, it works for older teens as well. It's steamy, but the one sex scene happens off-screen. No real gritty violence or profanity that I can recall.

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The Three Billy Goats Buenos

The Three Billy Goats Buenos by Susan Middleton Elya
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This lovely rendition of the three billy goats gruff has the third goat asking *why* the troll is so unhappy and mean. Instead of just tricking her, he gets the first two goats to help him pull a thorn from her toe and make a salve to put on it, then bring her some apples to eat (instead of goats!). It becomes a story of kindness, compassion, and friendship.

The text is mostly English but with many key words in Spanish. I love the rhythm and rhyming scheme and how the Spanish words flow seamlessly within the structure, letting young readers figure out many of the bilingual words based on context. The author also provides a glossary at the beginning.

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Just Like Magic

Just Like Magic by Elizabeth Townsend
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this retelling of the Cinderella story, particularly the twist that had the stepmother not being evil but rather just weak and lazy--she didn't intend for Ella to become a servant so much as she just wasn't strong enough or paying enough attention to prevent her older daughter, Lucy, from manipulating the situation.

I also really enjoyed Ella's character arc as she transitioned from being nearly as big a snob--albeit a less imperious one--as her stepsisters to becoming a more humble, useful, and self-aware young lady. Cinderella is often portrayed as a saint whose spirit has pretty well been broken, but this version of Ella had flaws, was fairly stubborn and strong-willed, and seemed more realistic.

My only real complaint about the book is that in the end, Ella agrees to marry the prince. (Does that count as a spoiler if we all know the basic story already?) I think it would have been a better ending if she'd agreed to consider it but had insisted on taking more time to get to know each other. I know that's not "a fairytale ending," but it would have worked much better with the story arc and the trajectory of Ella's character development--an hour's conversation with a stranger does not a solid foundation for a marriage make. A good start to a relationship, yes, but jumping straight into marriage? No.

For readers' advisors: character doorway is primary, story secondary. No sex, violence, or bad language. Not quite fantasy, but I'm not precisely sure when or where it's set.

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The Ugly Duchess

The Ugly Duchess by Eloisa James
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The Duke of Ashbrook informs his son, James, that James must woo and marry the duke's ward, Theo, or they will lose everything. The duke has already embezzled a sizable amount of Theo's dowry, and if her mother finds out, she will have him arrested. James is livid but is forced to agree to the plan, on the condition that upon their wedding day, his father signs the entire estate over to him to prevent any more financial disasters. James and Theo have been raised as siblings and are best friends, so when he begins to court her, both are shocked to discover their feelings are deeper than either knew. Two days after the wedding, however, Theo learns the truth and banishes both James and the duke from the house. She never hears from her husband again until the day of the formal ceremony in the House of Lords to declare him dead.

I was going to give this one five stars...until the last third of the book after James returns and is a total jerk. 1 star for that section. He's known all along that he betrayed his best friend and will have to work really hard to rebuild her trust in him and convince her he actually does love her, not her dowry, yet when he finally bothers to come home, all he does is humiliate her and run roughshod over her life, stripping away her freedom and autonomy. I HATED him for that. For not listening to her. For not ever really apologizing or demonstrating that he understood the vastness of her pain. James swaggered in and treated Theo like a possession, not a person, and never ever truly LOOKED at her to see the person she had become or what she had accomplished during those long years alone. Even while he was working to overcome her revulsion at all things sexual, all he did was lie to her and trick her. (And really, under the circumstances, she re-learned to enjoy sex WAY too quickly.)

This book made me so very very angry. I have enjoyed Ms. James' books in the past, but this one.... James (the author as well as the character!) needs to attend some of Alison Armstrong's workshops, especially the one called "Understanding Women"! Particularly the part about The Rage Monster and the proper (and only effective) method of apologizing to a woman.

Oh, and it's loosely a re-telling of the Ugly Duckling fairy tale.

For readers' advisors: story, character, setting doorways. Steamy sex scenes.

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The Duke Is Mine

The Duke Is Mine by Eloisa James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Olivia Lytton has been raised since birth to be a duchess. Her father and the Duke of Canterwick were schoolmates who pledged to betroth their first-born daughter and son, respectively, so Olivia has always known who she'd marry. However, her fiance is a few bricks shy of a load and five years younger than she to boot, so she takes refuge in bawdy wit, to the despair of her mother and twin sister.

After an embarrassing encounter forced on the pair by their parents, Rupert heads off to war, determined to bring glory upon his family name before he marries Olivia. For her part, Olivia becomes Rupert's champion as she learns to appreciate his sweetness and realizes he had been deprived of oxygen at birth. With Olivia's future settled, she and her twin sister Georgiana head to the country where Georgie is auditioning for the role of duchess to Quin, the Duke of Sconce. (In other words, they attend a house-party hosted by his mother).

Unlike the frequently irreverent Olivia, Georgiana would make an ideal duchess, and the dowager agrees. Problem is, Quin cannot keep his eyes or his attention away from Olivia, and the feeling is mutual. What a tangled web!

I loved Olivia's sense of humor. Were I in her shoes, pledged to marry a man who could never be my intellectual equal and who would require a lifetime of care, I likely would become clinically depressed, but Olivia chooses to make herself laugh instead, and I admire that.

I also loved that you get to know and understand the characters better over time, which makes them more human and sympathetic. For example, Georgie may be perfectly behaved, but she longs to go to university, in an age where women simply weren't allowed access to higher education. Even the obedient child has a bit of rebel in her.

The overall story is a re-imagining of the Princess and the Pea fairy tale, and I enjoyed how Ms. James played with those themes. Apparently, though, the ending was also a tribute to The Scarlet Pimpernel...although it's been too long since I read it to catch those allusions.

Based on other reviews I've read, this is a book you either love or hate, and I loved it. Zany fun, and great for a day cooped up indoors with a nasty cold.

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways are primary, setting secondary. Some steamy sex scenes set in Regency England.

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A Kiss at Midnight

A Kiss at Midnight by Eloisa James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Kate Daltry's father died only months after marrying his mistress, Kate was left alone with a tyrannical stepmother and Victoria, her sweet but dimwitted half-sister. The new Mrs. Daltry blackmailed Kate into staying on for years as an unpaid servant by threatening to dismiss any or all of the estate's servants and tenants. When one of Victoria's tiny Maltese dogs bites her in the lip and causes her face to swell, Mariana threatens to evict the vicar's widow and children in order to force Kate to pose as her sister and convince a prince to let Victoria marry his nephew. But Kate is nothing like Victoria, and the prince, who is betrothed to a Russian princess he's never met, is captivated by her lack of reverence for his title and his person. However much he desires Kate, though, he must marry an heiress in order to support his large household full of his elder brother's cast-off retainers.

This witty retelling of the Cinderella story, set vaguely in Regency England, is great fun, full of quirky, flawed characters I enjoyed getting to know. Might have to add this one to my Christmas wish list!

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways, with setting & language (great dialogue) secondary. Some racy sex scenes.

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When Beauty Tamed the Beast

When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When the nobility decide that Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, has impregnated Miss Linnet Berry Thrynne (he hasn't), she is an instant outcast from Society. None of her protestations of purity persuade anyone otherwise, particularly once she appears at a ball wearing an unfortunately designed gown and is seen being rejected by the Prince. What's a father to do but find a duke with an impotent son who would love an heir with royal blood, and marry the two off before anyone finds out she's not actually pregnant? Which is how Linnet comes to find herself accompanying a Duke in a carriage traveling to Wales to meet her betrothed, Piers Yelverton, Earl of Marchbank, known for his brilliance as a diagnosing physician and his horrendous temper. But Piers hates his father and has no intention of marrying, no matter how perfect the bride.

Ms. James freely admits she based Piers on the character of Dr. Gregory House from the tv show "House." Thankfully Piers has a bit more human kindness buried in his soul and doesn't resort to the mean tricks House uses on his friends and coworkers.

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways, with setting secondary. Some steamy sex scenes.

Oh, and I'd rate it 4 stars for the story, but negative 5 for the gag-inducing cover. What idiot designs these things anyway? I would not have read it if I'd seen the cover before I put the book on hold at my library. Sheesh! Whatever happened to "know your audience"?

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Snow White and Rose Red

Snow White And Rose Red by Patricia C. Wrede

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is definitely not Disney's Snow White. True, there is no sex or bad language, and violence is only discussed, not really depicted, but that's really where the similarities end. In Patricia C. Wrede's version of the classic fairy tale, Snow White and Rose Red are the daughters of a poor widow who ekes out a living by making herbal remedies to sell to the townsfolk. They live next to a forest, on the edge of the border of Faerie, in the Elizabethan era of England. Living in the village of Mortlak are two sorcerers whom the girls accidentally spy casting a spell that unwittingly traps the spirit of the younger son of the Queen of Faerie in first a lamp and then a crystal. The Queen's sons are half human/half faerie, and the human half slowly transforms into a bear which is then cast out into the human world. The Queen's older son, John, sneaks out of Faerie in search of a way to save his brother, Hugh, meanwhile a trio of human-hating faeries plots to steal the lamp and crystal and break the bonds holding Faerie to the mortal world.

The language is fabulous--very much how I think Elizabethan English might have sounded. Reading dialogue in the novel is like reading Shakespeare (and I mean that in a good way!), especially toward the end when the Puck-like character of Robin is introduced. It's delightful and really adds to the atmosphere of the story and setting.

So for Reader's Advisors, the main doorways are story and language. It's billed as a YA book, but adults will love it just as much--if not more--than teens.

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