The Fairytale Keeper By Andrea Cefalo

Sunday 27 May 2012

The Fairytale Keeper: Avenging the Queen
Cover Rating: 3/5 Stars
Overall Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
Synopsis: Snow White was a pet name her mother had given her, but her mother’s dead now. Adelaide hates that name anyway. A rampant fever claimed Adelaide’s mother just like a thousand others in Cologne where the people die without Last Rites and the dead are dumped in a large pit outside of the city walls. Adelaide’s father is determined to obtain a funeral for his wife, but that requires bribing the parish priest, Father Soren. When Soren commits an unforgivable atrocity, he pushes Adelaide to her breaking point, but if she seeks justice against the cruel priest, she risks sacrificing everything: her father, her friends, her first love, and maybe even her life.

I was kindly sent a copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review. To be fair I was slightly hesitant about starting this book because I've never read a fairy tale retelling before but I was pleasantly surprised. The book centers on Adelaide aka Snow White after her mothers death. She is refused a funeral for her mother and after that they begin to see all of the flaws that the church has. And there are many. Back when this is set the church was a big part of life so you can see how this would be a problem. Throughout the book there was sections from well know fairy tales and then the chapter afterwards would have some kind of connection to that story. This aspect I found especially interesting. The writing in this book was old fashioned but it was meant to be so it suited perfectly.

The main character Adelaide, I found to be quite annoying at times but in no way as annoying as a lot of other heroines. She won't be on my top ten anytime soon. I did like some things about her though. She was brave and didn't need a guy there to hold her hand all the time. I loved her best friend Ivo. He was really sweet! I loved how Adelaide and him made such a great team and he tried to look after her. One person I didn't like was her father. He just seemed to hopeless to me.

I really did enjoy this book even though apart from her appearance I don't know what the connection to Snow White was. Maybe we will find out in later books. As a whole this book was a good, quick read that I finished in one sitting. I would recommend this book to fairytale and historical fiction lovers. I would give this book 3.5/5 Stars and look forward to the second one in the series. Thanks to the author for letting me read it before it's release.

My Favorite Quote:
Snow White is a name I do not enjoy.  It is a term of endearment from my mother, but a phrase of torment used by the artisan and merchant children who mock me for my fair skin and black hair.  I would never tell mother for it would hurt her to know, and while I have no love for the name, Snow White, I do have love for the way she speaks it.
Email me at: confessionsofabookaholic@LIVE.CO.UK

3 People dared to comment.:

Bookluvrs Haven said...

I have, personally, started to read some fairytale retellings recently, and though I was skeptical myself, each one I picked up was great!

Shout out to Marissa Meyer, for her book 'Cinder' which was really original and well done.

Also, my new favorite author, Kate Avery Ellison for her novella "The Curse Girl", a retelling of Beauty and the Beast that was pretty great!

I would recommend them both if you wanted to check out more of that genre!

Thank you for the review, and I think I will be adding this one to my 'to read'.

Lily
http://bookluvrshaven.blogspot.ca/

Natasha Zaleski said...

I also have started to read fairy tale retellings and have enjoyed some. Fairy tale retellings are like all genres, some book will be good or ok, some will be great, and some will just be plain terrible.

Tara Parsell said...

Dude! I loooove fairy tale retellings...this sounds so incredibly different. I'm gonna have to check it out :)

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