Enchanted by Alethea KontisExpected Publication Date: May 8th, 2012
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Page Count: 305 pages
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
Purchase: Amazon
* I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own *
It isn't easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.First of all, I absolutely love fairy tale retellings. Actually, I absolutely love fairy tales in general. Enchanted is an interesting mix of every fairy tale you can imagine thrust together in a one pot meal. While some elements of the different fairy tales worked well together, others seemed included simply because they were fairy tales, but didn't add much to the overall story. The novel is definitely on the shorter side, at around 300 pages, which was somewhat of a downfall as I felt like some elements were incredibly rushed and confusing. I enjoyed the overall story and I am definitely looking forward to reading more by Kontis, but this particular book didn't thrill me the way I had hoped it would.
When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.
The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past - and hers?
Sunday is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, but she was really the only daughter I could keep track of. The rest of the daughters are quickly described in the beginning, but I had a hard time distinguishing each from the others. I think that sometimes it can get to a point where there are just too many characters to keep track of in one story, and this is one of those cases. I did really enjoy Sunday, she's so head strong and independent, while still being obedient and respectful to her family. Rumbold was kind of a flat love interest, I have to admit. There wasn't really anything about him that I found swoon-worthy, and he wasn't particularly enchanting. Also, a lot of the relationships revolve around insta-love, which was acceptable because it is a fairy tale after all!!
The story itself was cute, and it wasn't overly predictable like most fairy tales are. Kontis's writing is definitely elegant and beautiful, and kept me entranced even when the story fell short. I do wish there was more editing done, because I think that some things could have been taken out in order to build more character and story development. There were just too many things going on at one time, and some went by so quickly that I had to backtrack in order to understand what was happening. However, the story was cute and interesting enough to keep me reading, and by the end I was happy to have read it.
I am definitely looking forward to seeing more from Alethea Kontis. Her writing style is gorgeous, and I am hoping to read more about Sunday and Rumbold. While the story did have some flaws, my overall impression of it was that it was a cute and romantic fairy tale retelling. Fans of fantasy and fairy tales will definitely enjoy Enchanted. It's a quick and easy read that will have you smiling until the end.
