Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier

Juliet Marillier is one author I have come to know and love over the past year. Her writing is always lush and evocative and she never fails to take a story places that I truly never expected it to go. So as I settled into her latest, Heart's Blood, I was delighted to find myself in a suitably misty and atmospheric Celtic retelling of Beauty and the Beast that could only be described as vintage Marillier.

Running from an abusive situation, the young scribe Caitrin doesn't know where she is going, she just knows she has to go now. After traveling for days she stumbles upon the strange village of Whistling Tor whose occupants fill her head with strange tales of their young Lord Anluan - a cripple who never leaves his hilltop castle. But Caitrin is desperate and when Anluan's servant comes to the village looking for a scribe, Caitrin jumps at the chance, even though she is strongly warned against journeying to the crumbling castle with its strange and remote inhabitants. Upon her arrival Caitrin is confronted with a monumental task that will require all her wits and strength and a Lord who is struggling to simply keep his estate intact - and who doesn't exactly even want her around. Slowly, Caitrin and Anluan begin to work together, unearthing chilling family secrets long buried while they quickly discover they must depend on each other in order to turn the tide of misfortune for all of Whistling Tor.

Perhaps what makes Caitrin and Anluan's love story so poetic is how they both truly only want to make the other happy - through whatever means, even if it means letting go. It's not easy or even destiny for these two (more than one large obstacle stands between them and HEA) but they simply work together in a mature and selfless way that just makes them both better people in their own time. ::sigh::

It never fails to surprise me how good Juliet Marillier is at taking a very well known and beloved fairy tale (read: Beauty and the Beast or the Seven Swans) and subtly twisting or manipulating it until the story itself is something totally new and unique. Small and subtle details are left along the way (a magic mirror, a man deformed) to remind the reader that you are still in a particular tale; just not like you've ever heard it. Marillier has such a gift for making every single story her very own, which only makes everything she writes simply a pleasure to read.

**By the way, this is actually the UK cover which I adore as opposed to the US cover which is sorta meh.

Because Everyone Likes a Second Opinion:
The Book Muncher review

The Book Smugglers review

The Neverending Shelf review

Specusphere review

Tempting Persephone review

book source: my local library

Ash by Malinda Lo

What drew me to this book first off is the gorgey cover. And trust me when I say that it's even prettier in person than on this here screen.

After the death of her beloved father, Ash is left to fend for herself against her cruel stepmother, who forces her to work as a servant to repay her father's debts. Lost in her despair, far away from friends, Ash begins to seek out the faeries - when she meets the dangerously beautiful Sidhean, whom she hopes will take her away from all her pain and misery. Then Ash meets the King's Huntress Kaisa who befriends Ash and teaches her to hunt and ride; showing her things Ash never thought possible. Kaisa's friendship forces Ash to consider her choices and eventually leads her to turn to her dark faery for help as she tries to keep her place in the world of the living for a chance at love.

Knowing Ash was a Cinderella retelling I was looking for the proverbial plot devices and was pleasantly surprised to find only slight mentions at the most. Yes, Ash is orphaned and left to her cruel stepmother, yes, she ends up sleeping next to the fireplace a time or two, and yes, she does charm the prince at the ball - but those details are by no means the most intriguing parts of the story. Malinda Lo seamlessly weaves a lyrical story of not just a girl trying to find her place in the world but also of faeries and love and the strength to fight for what you want. All this happens in a completely spell-binding new world that I found myself too lost in to even begin thinking about how this is not your traditional wishy-washy Disney Cinderella. Ash is no storybook princess and it's no surprise she is drawn to the King's Huntress with her steady sword and ability to roam free.

I do wish Malinda Lo had taken a bit more time to explore Ash's world since the world building was only partway explained and I wanted more back-story on the Huntress, more about the faeries, and more about the royal family and their customs. Each of these facets brought a new and compelling aspect to Ash but the details for each left me hoping for more. Although, what we do get is unfailing beautiful and compelling and made this a standout amongst other Cinderella retellings.

Since I've never read a book that featured same-sex romance, I was pleasantly surprised to see how well Malinda Lo handled the entire situation. It's not over the top and the buildup quietly subtle and by no means unnecessarily dramatic. In Ash, homosexuality isn't even an issue, which created this wide open space for Kaisa and Ash to maneuver in since no one even felt like it was anything out of the ordinary - other than the fact that the two were well on their way to True Love Land.

Because Everyone Likes a Second Opinion:
The Book Smugglers review
Library Lounge Lizard review
Pop Culture Junkie review
Presenting Lenore review
S. Krishna's Books review
The Story Siren review

book source: Presenting Lenore giveaway

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier

Sorcha is the seventh child of a seventh son, Lord Colum of Sevenwaters. Her elder six brothers adore and watch out for her as her mother died delivering her. Her life has been happy and full of wonderment until her father becomes enamored of a wicked sorceress who has him under her spell. Things begin to change quickly for Sorcha as her stepmother seeks to control their lives and pit father, brother and sister against one another. In an act of true inhumanity, the stepmother transforms Sorcha's six brothers into swans and Sorcha's only hope of lifting the curse is to weave six shirts, one for each brother, out of the painful starwort nettle and to not utter a word until her task is complete. Agreeing to the monumental task, Sorcha sets off on a long road full of suffering to restore her brothers and her family. But along the way she meets those will aid and alter her story forever.

Set in a pre-Christian Ireland, Marillier's work is full of Celtic mythology and descriptions of people and place that I felt myself right there along Sorcha as she traveled across the land. Marillier's characters never have a easy time of things and this book is certainly no exception - Sorcha pays dearly to gain what she wants with many casualties along the way. This was no easy read for me and is definitely recommended to mature readers only. I find that Marillier can create some truly good characters. They prove themselves time and again. But Marillier allows even her good characters to face challenges and difficulties that forever change them - usually for the better, but not always. Likewise, Marillier's villains are truly evil. There are some folks in this book that are too creepy to think about. It's an amazing book though - based on a Brothers Grimm fairy tale - but competely unique and spellbinding in its heartbreak and joys.

I did find one part strikingly similar to another of her books, Wolfskin, which I read a few years ago. They both contained the same idea of a young Irish girl healing a foreign man in seclusion aided by a holy man. Not that it was the exact same circumstances, but both scenes were similar enough to make me wonder if anyone else thought about how much they paralleled each other.

reading order:
~ Daughter of the Forest
~ Son of the Shadows
~ Child of the Prophecy
~ Heir to Sevenwaters

Summer Reading Blitz update: 20/30

Beastly by Alex Flinn

Set in modern NYC - where anything can happen - Kyle Kingsbury is Mr. Popular. He's handsome, rich and can get any girl he wants. But Kyle is spoiled, selfish and extremely unkind. As a prank he spurns a gothic chick who turns out to be a witch(!) who curses him to become as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside. Turned into a beast, his only chance to return to his human form is for him to find a girl who he can love and will love him (in beast form) before two years are up. Feeling hopeless after being spurned by his TV perfect father, Kyle encloses himself in a Brooklyn home with only a rose garden, tutor and housemaid as companions.

The best part of this book is that Kyle is a 21st Century teenager with all sorts of technology at his fingertips. Prefacing each section are chatroom logs that Kyle joins as a type of online support group for people who have been changed by magic. There he meets up with the frog prince and the little mermaid -- their conversations had me cracking up and wishing I could read their stories as well. I enjoyed this new take as it details Kyle's transformation into a beast instead of solely from Beauty's perspective after the Beast has already been transformed. Such a different take on a classic story that I thoroughly enjoyed.

A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce

After the death of her father, Charlotte Miller and her sister are the last in a long line of Millers who have run Stirwaters Mill – a mill rumored to be cursed. Though unusual for a young woman to operate a mill in pre-Industrial Revolution England, hardworking Charlotte feels inexplicably linked to the mill and it’s workers who depend upon Stirwaters for their livelihood.

After a string of almost devastatingly bad luck (which Charlotte will never believe is part of an generations-old curse), she finds herself at the mercy of a strange man named Jack Spinner who only asks for trinkets as payment. But Jack’s requests grow steeper and more calculated each time Charlotte must turn to him in desperation. Feeling the weight of responsibility for the families in Shearing, Charlotte will do anything to save the mill that has become almost a part of herself and those she loves.

Bunce’s prose is beautiful – a sense of sinister foreboding is felt with each groan and turn of the mill wheel, intensifying with each mysterious revelation. Charlotte is inspiring as she tackles each new setback with a stubbornness and love of the mill which continually draw others to her as she slowly unravels the mystery surrounding Stirwaters. Most importantly, Bunce convincingly fills in the gaps inherent in the original story of Rumpelstiltskin – what does make a name so powerful and in what circumstances would the Miller’s daughter ever give up her only son?