Kill Me Softly

by Sarah Cross

[Kelsenator]

Originally posted on my blog Kelsey's Cluttered Bookshelf

(4.5)

A big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher EgmontUSA for letting me borrow a copy!

I haven’t read many fairy-tale retellings, but after reading this, I definitely want to read many more!

This is the story of Mirabelle (Mira), who runs away from her strict godmothers, to find her parents’ grave in the city of Beau Rivage. They have forbidden her to go, so she makes a fake story for them to believe before she sneaks away at night. Upon arriving, she is hassled by Blue to leave, becomes interested in Felix (his brother), and meets a bunch of Blue’s friends who just seem a bit weird. But it’s not just them, certain people in the city don’t seem quite right.

She starts to learn that some people in the city are cursed, but she doesn’t know what with until she finds someone who has the same birthmark as her, a big red wheel on her lower back. She is told that she is linked to the old fairy-tales, set on by faeries, and that she is following the story of Cinderella. Unfortunately, she doesn’t know what her trigger is, what will set off her long sleep. While still trying to find her parents graves and deal with this curse, she starts falling for Felix even though she keeps getting told he’s dangerous, but no one can tell her why exactly.

This book was full of fairy tales we love, but not the Disney versions, the real dark ones. It was so much fun trying to figure out who was part of which story before being told. I also loved the characters of Blue and Mira, Freddie was too cute, and Viv and Layla were awesome.

One thing I will say, I hope there is another book that follows it, told through the eye of the others who still have to live out their curses. I especially want to read the Beauty and the Beast story.

I highly recommend this to anyone wanting a good solid fairy-tale story, full of romance and secrets.