I have to give much cover love to this book!
As mentioned before, I'm on a bit of a fairy tale kick. I was lucky enough to be included in the Entwined book tour. Entwined by Heather Dixon is based on the fairy tale of the 12 dancing princesses, which I was only vaguely aware of before.
Azalea is the oldest of the 12 princesses, and when the birth of sister number twelve coincides with their mother's death, she and her sisters find themselves in a year long mourning and isolation. The one thing that connects the sisters is their love of dancing, given to them by their mother. When they find a mysterious hidden passage deep in the castle they live in, they find their way to the Keeper. The Keeper is a prisoner of the castle, but he offers the girls a place to dance in secret each night... but there will be a price to pay for accepting the Keeper's generosity.
Entwined is an enchanting read, and despite it's 400 some pages, the story flows well. Dance is featured heavily in the book, but I loved the description despite the fact that my dance abilities are pretty much limited to the Hokey Pokey and a clumsy Electric Slide. Azalea took great care of her younger sisters, teaching them more dances and helping to keep their family together- and she never whined about all the responsibility. Although it was hard to keep up with all 12 sisters, Bramble and Clover, the two oldest after Azalea, were given their own storylines and romances. There is no twist at the end, and everything is fairly predictable, but I don't feel that took away from the tale. I read it easily in two sittings, completely submersed into the sister's world. It's one of magic, duty and strong feminine characters.
Entwined gets a Midnight Book Rating of 11pm. I'd recommend it to any reader of fairy tales or those of you YA readers looking for something a little different and magical. Check out more about this book at Goodreads.
Challenges that I'm participating in that this book qualifies for:
For the Magic subject.
Thanks for commenting on my blog.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked this book, I thought the ednimg was better tjam the slow beginning. I'm interested to see if there will be a sequel to this one so we can see some of the younger sisters grow up.
I haven't read this one yet, but it's on my TBR pile. I didn't know there was a lot of dance involved, so I'm glad you mentioned it - that makes me want to read it more now! :)
ReplyDeleteHey Kate, this book sounded really good. I've always liked the story of the twelve dancing princesses. I will definitely add it to my tbr pile, which is awesome because it can go towards my 350+ pages challenge. It is surprisingly hard to find YA novels over 350 pages!
ReplyDelete12 sisters, Oh My! That opens up many discussions :) A book cover is a real deal breaker for me. This one is lovely.
ReplyDeleteMy friend was JUST telling me about how the 12 princesses is one of her favorite fairy tales, so I think this will make the perfect gift for her upcoming birthday. Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteThis really sounds like a good read! It's on my wishlist, can't wait for it...especially with the dance features. Although I am not a great dance fan, I like reading about it:)
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