Review: Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Title: Enchanted 

Author: Alethea Kontis
Publisher:  Harcourt Children's Books
Publishing Date: May 8th 2012

Pages: 305
Genre:  YA Fairy Tale Retelling

Series: Woodcutter Sisters #1
Source: Audio

  

        

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.

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?

Another book that has been on my tbr list for a very long time but have not had the chance to get to. This book first caught my eye because of the beautiful and broken cover. It knew it would be a book I wanted to read. I love the cover. I also love fairy tales and retellings. It’s always so much fun and so dreamy to live in a fantastical new or redone world. This book had both, a new and redone world that was pretty fantastical. I enjoyed the story very much and the characters were a hoot. The writing was genius when it came to make believe but the pacing did lack some for me. I was easily bored or distracted in few parts then I would be absolutely glued to the story, hanging on every word. I wished I would have read the book instead of listening to it too, the narrator just lacked some for me. If it wasn’t for the pacing and the narrator I think that this would have been an awesome read, as it stands I enjoyed it but not in a rush for the second book.

Sunday knows that she is the seventh daughter of the seventh daughter. She knows she is too hold powerful magic... but she believes that is just a fairy tale.  Sunday believes her life to be mundane, boring, nothing spectacular... her only escape is the stories she writes about her family. One day while in the woods, Sunday comes across a talking frog and finds that he has been transformed from a man to a frog.  This particular frog loves to listen to the stories that Sunday writes and after a while they become friends and fall in love. After secrets are reveled and a storm sweeps through the forest, Sunday loses her frog... Sunday believes her life is over but in reality it is just beginning. With the family secrets comes danger... luckily Sunday has a Prince in shining armor... she just doesn't know it. 

There is so much to say about this book. There were so many wonderful things about it and even though the bad pacing really took away from things I still feel that there were loads of good things in this book.

The story was so original so creative and filled with real depth. The story was built so well and came together perfectly. When I first started the book, I had no idea what I was in for. Every detail was important because eventually it all came together woven so nicely to be one complete tale. It truly was a work of genius. I think just about every fairy tale I know of was woven into this story. I can name a few… The Princess and the Pea, Sleeping Beauty, Rumpelstiltskin, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Frog Prince and so on…. It really was amazing and it was what first caught my attention to the story.

The world building truly was spectacular too. Somewhere between medieval and renaissance but it felt timeless. The author did an amazing job with the details and it was all beautiful. I was able to picture it all in my head and escape for just a bit. It was fun, fresh, and well built. Fairies, princesses, giants, talking frogs, pirates… everything a fairy tale should have and more.

The characters were just wonderful. I loved the main character, Sunday. She was a very wispy character, fun, sparkly, I would have been her friend in the story for sure. She was in her own world most of the time and she liked it there.. She loved her family and she loved her writing. The only time I felt a little bit agitated, when she did get a bit stubborn…. When she realized who her family was and who the prince really was. At this point I wanted to smack her and say..  "hey quit being a baby and see what a great thing this is." Other than that she was a great character.

All her sisters, her brother, the prince, they were all great too. I really did love how each sister were so very different in personality. It made for a very interesting family. They ranged from smart, to caring, to fierce…. The prince was just so princely (in a good way.) He was brave, considerate, caring, and for the most part honest… except when it really matter. Just like any other guy when he should have opened his mouth he didn’t.

The relationships were excellent. I loved how closer her family was and remained even after tragedy and separation. The parents had a sturdy marriage and the siblings were very close. They family and friends. 

The love story was sweet, fairy taleish and gooey. I loved it. It had the classic fairy   tale feel with all the right ingredients for a great story. It was sweet, everlasting, powerful, and of course true. I loved how it started, how it developed, and how it ended. The only thing I didn’t like, it was over too quickly. In the end I wanted to know more of the story between Sunday and her prince.

The writing was beautiful and wonderful for most of the book. I just didn’t like the pacing. When the details mattered, it kept my attention. The story telling part of the writing was just right but the interaction among characters that were not the main characters tended to drag on. For instance there was a moment at the ball between the prince and his cousins that I totally spaced in and had to listen to again. I tried the second time to really listen and still spaced off some. So I may have missed something but it didn’t seem like it in the end. There were a few other parts like this too. When Sunday was involved the dialog ran smoothly and the story flowed and I was involved. When Sunday was not involved it did drag at times and lost me. I don’t think I lost anything important but I can’t help but wonder. It may have been the narrator and the writing though… so it’s hard to say.

The Narrator didn't fit the story for me.  Her voice was too old for the part and her reading at times seemed to have brought the characters down in age. I think I would have enjoyed the book more if I had not of listened. I will read on in this series, and it will be reading not listening.

I will continue on in this series… Simply for the world and the story. It kept me interested and entertained enough that I can’t let it lie….. The beginning was superb, the middle was slow, the end was spectacular!