MERMAID by Carolyn Turgeon

A Twist on a Classic Tale Story

Publisher: Broadway

Date published: March 1^st, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-307-58997-2

Dark Fantasy

Paperback

Reviewed by Dawn (love2read28@gmail.com)

Obtained by Publisher

Two Princesses love one man. When Princess Margrethe looks out from the convent garden, she spies a mermaid rescuing a drowned man. Racing down to the beach, she finds the mermaid gone but the man on the beach. Nursing him back to health, she finds out he is her father’s greatest enemy’s son. Determined to stop the war and give peace to her kingdom, Margrethe devises a way to accomplish this. Meanwhile, mermaid princess, Lenia longs to be with the human man she rescued. She is willing to trade everything for his heart. What happens when two women with everything to lose find that life isn’t all sunshine and roses?

I really wanted to enjoy this darker premise of The Little Mermaid. But the changes in point of views, the shallowness of the main characters and the story itself made it hard to enjoy MERMAID. I would have loved to see the characters have more depth. They were very unlikable at times. The prince was a playboy who slept around, loved many women and just didn’t endear him to me as a reader. The princesses were also very unnerving. Lania was a character I wanted to slap upside the head and yell ‘get a clue’. Margrethe was a girl who was obsessed with the prince, almost to the point of stalking the man. Lies, deceit, a weird pregnancy, it all didn’t mesh with me and I had to keep putting the book down a few times as I shook my head at the character’s choices in the story. Plus with an ending that had me going ‘huh?’, I felt the story had great potential yet fell flat with me. If you enjoy a different sort of fairytale then this may be the story for you.

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

GODMOTHER: THE SECRET CINDERELLA STORY by Carolyn Turgeon

Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Date published: March 2009
ISBN: 978-0307407993
Alternative fairy tale
Trade Sized Paperback
Obtained via: Publisher
Reviewed by Valerie


Lil, an old woman, works in a small Manhattan bookstore and lives in a small apartment alone. She has a secret. She has wings, covered in white feathers. These are the only remnants of what she once was. She was once responsible for Cinderella getting to the ball and meeting her Prince Charming. But something went really wrong. Lil fell in love with the Prince herself and was banished to live with the humans. Then she meets Veronica, a young, beautiful woman who loves vintage things and always falls in love with the wrong types. Lil realizes that she may have been given the chance to right some wrongs. She sees that she has the opportunity to help Veronica find her soul mate. If she can accomplish this, she could at last return to the fairy world.

This is a wonderfully, emotional story that had me captured on the first pages. We won’t see any magic wands, but it seems as if Carolyn Turgeon used a magic wand to create this story. It is very poignant, magical and romantic. It is also deeply moving and I am sure you will be just as captured. This is certainly a Cinderella story you haven’t heard before. It is a darker, psychological story which will have you thinking. The story switches from Lil’s life today and what happened with Cinderella. You won’t find too much sweetness and light in this story, but I believe you will be charmed nonetheless. The ending may leave you wondering, but I found the ending rather unique. As it is told in the first person, you might be wondering if Lil is just an old, demented woman or really a fallen fairy. I will leave that decision to you. I definitely recommend this story if you like stories that are more on the dark side.

THIS IS NOT AN ENDORSEMENT OF THIS BOOK. THIS IS AN OBJECTIVE UNBIASED REVIEW.