Wednesday, October 17, 2012

ENTWINED by Heather Dixon



Publisher: Greenwillow/Harper Teen
Date published: March 27th, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-200103-0
Hardcover
Young Adult/Fantasy
Reviewed by Dawn (love2read28@gmail.com)
Obtained by Publisher




Azalea loved her life-the beautiful gowns, the suitors and the parties, until it was taken away from her within a blink of an eye. Azalea feels now trapped and when she meets ‘The Keeper’, she finds another person who is just as trapped as she is. When she and her eleven sisters spend the night dancing in this enchanted world, Azalea finds that ‘The Keeper’ is more than trapped. He likes to keep things too.

ENTWINED is a beautifully told retelling of the fairy tale story, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Ms. Dixon does a wonderful job in creating a fresh, intriguing tale and it kept my attention till the very end. The world building is wonderfully done and the reader gets a chance to see Azalea and the sisters before their world came down around them when their mother, the Queen, died. The author captures their loss, anguish and grief perfectly and kept me glued to the pages. Ms. Dixon does a great thing in naming the sisters in order, starting with Azalea which made it easier to follow the storyline and I enjoyed seeing the sisters before the queen’s death and then afterward as they tried to keep her close to them by dancing in this enchanted forest they had found within the castle by chance.

Meet Azalea. The crown princess of the land, along with her twelve younger sisters, she is devastated when her mother dies and the kingdom goes into mourning. No more dances, pretty dresses and suitors vying for her and her sister’s hands. Now as they deal with grief, they find a way to keep their mother nearby dancing each night in this enchanted forest. But secrets abound there and it will be up to Azalea to solve the mystery of ‘The Keeper’ and save herself plus her sisters before it’s too late. I loved how this author kept the familiar elements of the fairytale and incorporated them into this new telling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. The story flowed smoothly and the characters were quite intriguing, so much so I was thrilled to see how each grew within the storyline as a person. This was an engaging, unique story that any reader will enjoy if they like retelling of fairytales.

ENTWINED is more than prince meets princess and falls in love to live happily ever after. It’s about life and death, love and grief and a desire to keep the memories of a loved one close to you in any way they can. Ms. Dixon delivers a fine story to enjoy on a lazy afternoon. There is something for everyone here-love, loss, dark times and humor, romance and love. ENTWINED is one of those novels you can’t help but not put down. I look forward to the next book by this author and wonder how long I will have to wait for it.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

 

No comments: