Heidel

By Anita Valle

A tempestuous princess + an arrogant prince= a recipe for royal disaster.

Heidel never wanted to be a cookie-cutter princess. She isn’t graceful. She isn’t sweet. She isn’t even skinny! Heidel would much rather cook than curtsy; is more interested in eating that etiquette.

The Nine Princesses are preparing for the annual festival known as Fenwick’s Feast. Heidel plans to enter the Kind’s Cake Contest given by the famous, but crazy, King of Bauble. But also entering the contest is arrogant Prince Eravis who sneers at Heidel’s cooking skills, insults her rounded figure, and mocks her ambition to cure the world of Red Fever.

Caught up in her culinary conquest, Heidel barely notices that another enemy simmers on the back burner, one much more deadly than a sarcastic prince. An enemy who may hold the secret to the princess’s long lost servants.

I enjoy this little novella series, though the last book about Coralina, the seductive and flirtatious princess threw me off. This one also threw me a bit. Heidel wasn’t in the last two books much, and it was surprising to see that she is super competitive, has a horrible temper, and is often a big jerk. That being said, she is also passionate about helping others and a loyal person. It was a shock to read about her this way as her personality didn’t really come up in the previous two books (that I can remember). It was an entertaining book, and I appreciate the added tidbits of mystery that have been added about the servants and the overall plot of the series. This was fun to read and entertaining. Not a huge fan of the making out stuff toward the end though. Ah well.

I give it a 3 out of 5

Rumplestiltskin

By K.M. Shea

When Gemma’s drunken father tells King Torgen of Verglas that his daughter can spin straw into gold, Gemma assumes her life is over. Held captive in a room filled with straw, Gemma is ordered to spin it all into gold by dawn the following day, or she will be killed by the king’s orders. Rather than cry her eyes out over her sad fate, Gemma tries escaping, and becomes acquainted with a mysterious mage named Stil. Stil offers to help Gemma complete her task, for a price, and turns the straw into gold thread.

Unfortunately the gold whets the greedy appetite of King Torgen, who is determined to wring more gold from Gemma. Gemma is relieved when Stil agrees to help her a second and third time…but his requested payments for the task grow stranger and stranger…

Can Gemma outsmart the evil king and survive Stil’s unusual bargains?

What an interesting way to retell Rumplestiltskin! The trend right now is to make Rumple the good guy/love interest instead of the little trickster that he was in the original. This is no exception, and to boot, Stil (as he is known in this story), is a mage. A wandering sorcerer who hears of Gemma’s predicament and wants to help. You know what they say about good intentions, sometimes they end up making things worse. I enjoyed this novel a great deal, mostly because Gemma is so snarky and no-nonsense. She doesn’t place trust in anybody but herself, and will escape on her own thank you very much. Stil is ever amused by her and, obvious to everyone but Gemma, almost immediately starts to try and win her affection. It’s cute and fun, and boy am I enjoying Shea’s development as a writer. Her characters are getting more and more interesting all the time and a pleasure to read!

I give this a 3.75 out of 5

The Little Selkie

By K.M. Shea

It is with great reluctance—and a lot of frustration—that Dylan, a selkie, saves the Ringsted Prince Callan when she finds him shipwrecked and drifting in the ocean. The experience is nothing but a bother, so she puts it from her mind and swims off on her merry way. Two years later, while chasing an evil sea witch onto land, Dylan’s pelt is stolen, leaving her unable to return to the ocean in her sea lion body. Rather than serve as the sea witch’s tool, Dylan asks a traveling enchantress to seal her voice. The enchantress complies, and Dylan is taken to the royal palace by one of the sea witch’s minions where she encounters, yet again, Prince Callan.

Between court games, a dangerous brush with a kelpie, and sniffing out the sea withch while looking for her pelt, Dylan’s days are a flavorful blend of treachery and boredom. But during her searches and investigations, Prince Callan befriends her, making her question her loyalties. Dylan always thought her heart was with the ocean, but can she defeat the sea witch and leave Callan forever?

K.M. Shea is my favorite go-to for a good fairy-tale retelling. I love how she’s able to keep true to the heart of a story but gives the reader enough little twists that it’s enjoyable to re-experience the classic fairy-tales. This is by far the best retelling I’ve read for The Little Mermaid. Hans Christian Anderson’s original is depressing to say the least, and Disney’s version is delightful. I really appreciated Shea’s decision to use a Selkie instead of a Mermaid, which to my mind made more sense anyway. This is the fifth book in her fairy-tale series, and I didn’t have high hopes for it, but I ended up loving this story. Mostly because of Dylan. Dylan is awesome. She is a girl who is bold and different. I love that Shea made her a bottomless pit when it came to eating. That was hilarious and endearing. She had so much personality, and a different personality! I had gotten used to the typical Princess who was either sick of being royalty and wanted to be normal, or was pushed around and had to find her own voice (with small variations). Dylan is loyal and knows who she is. She doesn’t care about things that don’t matter to her end goal. Falling in love wasn’t what she was waiting for, it happened and she dealt with it like a person. I cannot say enough how much I enjoyed the characters in this book. Also, Callan is a perfect match for Dylan! I don’t want to spoil too much, but he’s just as different as she is and it’s an amazing to see how they work off each other and support/respect one another. Great job Ms. Shea. Bravo!

I give it a 4.25 out of 5 –for awesome original characters!!!

Robyn Hood: A Girl's Tale

By K. M. Shea

The ballads lie. Robin Hood, the Bold and Brave Outlaw of Sherwood Forest, is cowardly, spineless, and a girl.

Robyn unwittingly starts the Robin Hood farce when she is mistaken for a male while saving her friend, Marian, from two foresters. Forced into hiding, Robyn unwillingly collects “Merry Men” while grudgingly robbing from the rich fools that wander through Sherwood. What starts as small scale robbery blows up into complex heists when Little John and Will Scarlet join her team, and the idiotic Prince John and his legion of soldiers comes to town. However, Robyn can’t stop the theft—not when King Richard is being held ransom.

Cowardly Robyn’s best chance to raise money for King Richard’s release is to rob his brother, Prince John. Will she survive the heist, or swing in the gallows?

Reluctant female Robin Hood? Cool. I had reservations about this book because I had recently read the book Scarlet, which similar in regards to changing the gender of an iconic character, that of Will Scarlet. This book, thankfully, was much better than Scarlet, which was a huge let down for me. Robyn Hood is a girl that just wants to be left in peace to lead her life, and is cajoled by her merry men into becoming their leader. She is someone that they can rally around and also protect. The dynamic of the group was fun because it was kind of like Robyn was a little sister to the Merry Men, but they all love and protect her in every way possible. The only issue I had with this book was that I didn’t know before I started it that it is a two-part story. There is a pretty huge cliff-hanger in the end and it felt incredibly abrupt. So of course I had to go get the second book immediately to finish it. I kinda think that the author could’ve just put the two books together into one, as they really aren’t that big. Oh well.

This first instalment gets a 3.25 out of 5