Becky's Book Reviews

It’s a pleasure to welcome YA author Chantal Gadoury to the blog today. Chantal first featured on my blog a while back when her first novel, Seven Seeds of Summer, a retelling of the Hades and Persephone myth was released. Chantal is clearly an author after my own heart because not only is she a fan of mythology, but with her latest novel Allerleirauh, which is a retelling of the Grimm’s tale with the same name (in some versions, this story is also known as All Fur or All Kinds of Fur), she explores her love of fairy tales, by putting her own spin on the book. In today’s post she talks about the top 10 fairy tales that have influenced her most and shares her thoughts on how they’ve shaped her love of all things fairy tales. Before I hand over to her though, here’s some information on the book.   Allerleirauh by Chantal Gadoury A King makes a promise to his dying wife to marry only someone with her golden hair. The King finds his eyes are turned by his maturing daughter's beauty. Re...

Today I’m thrilled to be part of the Sarah J Maas, A Court of Thorns and Roses SA book blog tour.  Thanks to the publishers, I, along with a few other South African bloggers will be spotlighting A Court of Thorns and Roses throughout the week. With Queen of Shadows just a few weeks away from being released, we thought that there’s no better time to remind you about her latest book, which is a departure from the Throne of Glass series, and ventures into the age old world of fairy tales and folklore.  And trust me, it’s all as wonderful as it sounds. There’ll be giveaways (yay!), reviews and top 10 lists, to mention but a few.    In today’s first two stops though, I get a chance to chat to Sarah, and the awesome Nerine reviews the book on her blog.  Nerine has also kindly agreed to donate her signed copy for the purpose of one of our giveaways, so look out for more details on that to come. In the meantime, here’s my interview with the lovely Sarah, followed b...

A beautiful, bittersweet and delightfully subverted reimagining of a classic story that has been (and still is) enchanting both young and old since the age when fairy tales first began.   Disclaimer: This review first appeared on Women24.com Beastkeeper by Cat Hellisen (published by Henry Holt in 2015)   Sarah is the only daughter of parents who’ve always lived nomadic lives.  Since her mother hates the wintry weather, the family is often forced to move to warmer places. As a result, Sarah spends most of her time feeling very lonely. What she doesn’t realise, is that there’s more to her family’s movements than they’re letting on; movements that soon have a huge impact on her when her mother walks out on the family. When her father’s behaviour changes dramatically, it isn’t long before Sarah’s deposited at the doorsteps of her grandparents’ home – grandparents that she’s never even met. In the isolated woods of her grandmother’s almost-defunct castle, our young heroine soo...

Hello book lovelies I’m so sorry for only posting this now, but between letting my time run away from me and dealing with an unwelcome stint of flu, I really didn’t have a chance to sit down and write a new blog post. Thankfully, I’ve got a bit of time right now, so in tonight’s post I’ll be announcing the Beastkeeper winner (yay), and featuring your fantastic recommendations in response to my quest for more retellings and modern adaptations of fairy tales. I also have to mention that I’ve finally finished reading Beastkeeper (review should be up by end of the week or early next week for the absolute latest) and can tell you that you’re in for an absolute treat. So without further ado, congratulations AnotherLibrarian – you’re the recipient of a book filled with beautiful and bittersweet prose, twisty, thorny imagery and the story of one brave and resilient young girl who refuses to give up in the face of life and magic’s harshest obstacles. Please get in touch with me tammybell78(at)g...

Today I’m thrilled to have the lovely Cat Hellisen on my blog today. Cat, whose book Beastkeeper , a middle-grade retelling of Beauty and the Beast, is officially out in the wild today (yay! Happy book birthday Cat), has kindly taken the time to write a guest post about one of my favourite topics of all time. Fairy tales and retellings. Because who doesn’t love a new twist on a good ol’ timeless tale that spans over and beyond centuries upon centuries? And with Cat’s book taking a whole new approach to Beauty and the Beast, well, I thought it would be the perfect way to celebrate her book’s release by featuring a post written by her on her love of fairy tales and how Beastkeeper eventually took shape. Before I hand over to Cat though, here’s some info about her fabulous new book (which I’ll be reviewing soon)   About Beastkeeper Sarah has always been on the move. Her mother hates the cold, so every few months her parents pack their bags and drag her off after the sun. She’s grown u...

In today’s feature, I’d like to welcome K.M. Randall, author of Young Adult fantasy novel, Fractured Dream, to my blog today. In her guest post, K.M writes about a subject that is an absolute favourite of mine: mythology, magic and fairy tales. Given that her book, Fractured Dream, is very much rooted in the world of fairy tales, I couldn’t think of a better topic that would be more suited to her – so, without further ado - here are the top 5 reasons she loves these fantastical elements in fiction. Five reasons why I love myth, magic and fairy tales in fiction . . . I’ve loved anything supernatural, magical or mythical in stories as far back as I can remember from the Bunnicula series by James Howe to anything by Madeleine L'Engle. So here it is, my five reasons why I love myth, magic and fairy tales in fiction: Escape: I like to get lost for a bit sometimes and go to a world where magic exists. I read all genres of books—nature writing and religion-based novels are my non-fiction ...

When you think of fairy tales, the first thing that often comes to mind is a story that features a hero or heroine (one who is either brave from the start or starts out as being a hapless soul only to overcome a huge hurdle in life), a hopeless situation, a villain and a happily-ever-after. While there are certainly bad things that happen in these tales of yonder, the ones we’re often subjected to are the toned-down, Disneyfied versions that have somehow become the face of these stories. And with good reason because in actuality, the uncensored versions (while still mostly retaining their pleasant endings), are far darker than the saccharinely sweet narratives that are more commonplace today. In fact, given that themes such as incest, graphic descriptions of violence and sexual undertones have appeared in more than a few of the original versions of the story, parents around the world are probably better off knowing that these tamer versions are at the forefront of children’s literature...