Dearest

By Alethea Kontis

Readers met the Woodcutter sisters (named after the days of the week) in Enchanted and Hero. In this delightful third book, Alethea Kontis weaves together some fine-feathered fairy tales to focus on Firday Woodcutter, the kind and loving seamstress. When Friday stumbles upon seven sleeping brothers in her sister Sunday’s palace, she takes one look at Tristan and knows he’s her future. But the brothers are cursed to be swans by day. Can Friday’s unique magic somehow break the spell?

Alethea Kontis’s previous books about the Woodcutter sisters Sunday and Saturday were in turns charming, heartwarming, and entertaining. I admit that I enjoyed Sunday’s story the most, (Enchanted) and Saturday’s story was a little uncomfortable and not as engaging for me personally. Friday’s story, however, I was excited to read because she was always portrayed as so gentle and loving. I was a bit miffed at how they treated the love story, and I had hopes toward the end that it would not be as straightforward as I previously thought, but it ended up being a very contrived and destiny-driven love story. I’m not a fan of love at first sight. This was almost a forced romance. The story of the swans was a good choice for Friday, and I liked how it also mingled in with Swan Lake. This story occurs in sync with Saturday’s.  All in all, it was entertaining and fluffy.

This gets a 3 out of 5- Average.

Wild Swans

By K. M. Shea

Elise is no hero. She would rather balance the castle’s expense accounts than become her country’s champion. But she doesn’t have a choice since her step-mother, a wicked withc, cursed the seven princes of Arcainia, Elise’s foster-brothers, and transformed them into swans. To free her foster-brothers Elise agrees to knit seven shirts made of stinging nettles. She must complete the shirts without uttering a word.

For the sake of safety and secrecy, Elise fless Arcainia and struggles to survive in the wild. Even though she is mute, trails seven wild swans, and knits like a mad-woman, Elise catches the eye of a foreign prince, who drags her back to his family’s castle where she is tormented by the prince’s evil father. With her step-mother hunting her foster-brothers and the foreign king threatening to kill her, Elise’s dedication to her task is sorely tested. But if Elise does not finish the shirts, Arcainia and her foster-brothers will be lost. Can a mathematician be the hero needed to save the day?

I have really enjoyed reading K. M. Shea’s books, and this is the book that goes between Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella and the Colonel. I was excited, but wondered why this book got lower ratings than the other two. After reading it I can understand why because having loved the two aforementioned books, this pales in comparison. I liked Elise, but the love story part of the book left something lacking for me. It was almost creepy. Elise has no romantic interest in her suitors because she grew up with them, knowing them as brothers. The story itself was good and I liked the self-sacrifice parts of the book. The brothers were well characterized, if a bit silly at times. My main (and very large) problem with the book was the ending. What a cop-out. After going through the novel and wondering with excitement who Elise will choose, we get to the end only to find ourselves in a choose-your-favorite-love-interest? WHAT? I was ticked. That authorial choice was poor in my opinion. It really lowered the book and the journey you took to figure out who Elise chooses. I hated that. I would’ve liked the book much more if the author had simply let Elise choose, or even told us in a round-about way in a later book. In my opinion, just skip this book and read the other two.

I give it a 2.75 out of 5- All because of the ending. If not for the ending it would’ve been a 3 or 3.5