alabama100

Summary: Azalea and her eleven sisters live to dance—they have mastered almost every ballroom dance you can think of! But when their mother dies, their father, the King, insists that they stop dancing to properly mourn their loss. The Princesses are heartbroken until they stumble upon a hidden doorway that leads to a magical place where they meet Mr. Keeper, a gentleman who throws them grand parties and lets them dance to their hearts’ content without the King’s knowledge. But Keeper’s generosity will come with a price… My thoughts: Take a look at Entwined’s cover. See it? It reflects the book perfectly. It’s flouncy, it’s flowery, and it makes me want to put on a pretty dress, grab a handsome gentleman, and start dancing. Guys, I want to live in the world of Entwined. First off, there’s magic, which is an automatic plus. Then there’s the whole bit about dressing pretty and attending balls, which just makes me all dreamy. Add in some sweet suitors and I am so there! Entwined is pretty much my kind of fairy tale, and though I felt the story was just okay, the setting and writing really stole my heart. I’ve heard that Entwined is a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. I’ve never read this fairy tale (shame on me!), but some quick Googling provided me all the information I needed to say this: Entwined really does a good job of retelling the story. Almost everything included in the fairy tale is somehow woven into Entwined. I absolutely adore retellings—picking out the similarities between the two stories was really fun! One thing I found interesting about the twelve sisters was how well they all got along! I’ve never had a sister, so I wouldn’t really know, but if I were Azalea, I think I’d get tired of having eleven younger princess following me wherever I went! I was seriously impressed with her mild temperament toward her siblings. It really shows how close their lack of decent parenting brought them (yeah, there’s a dead mom and an inattentive dad in this story). On that subject, though, the King was a very interesting character. I’d say that out of all the characters, he was the most dynamic—he went from being uptight and uncaring to a genuinely cool dad. The villain of the book, Keeper, was sufficiently creepy. Every time he appeared (and especially when Azalea discovers him crawling on the ceiling like a spider), I shuddered. Towards the beginning of the book, I wanted to shake some sense into the princesses for thinking him gentlemanly! It was neat to see Keeper regress into something more and more like a monster. Heather Dixon’s writing style really suits Entwined. It’s light and gives the book a magical, fairytale-like feel. The descriptions of each reel and waltz were wonderful as well—I wanted to get up and start dancing with Azalea and her sisters! The story was a bit slow for me, though. I suppose I just wanted a bit more suspense out of the book, which does come, but only in the last few pages. Overall, I’d give Entwined 4 out of 5 stars. Its story, though fun, didn’t completely enrapture me, but the setting and writing style certainly did. I feel Entwined will be enjoyed most by those who love fantasy or fairytale retellings.

2023-01-28 22:33