The Fairytale Keeper

by Andrea Joan Cefalo

[bookishzelda]

First I would like to jump up and down and say hooray for the use of the actual Fairy Tales. I remember the first time I read the real version of Cinderella, when the sisters were trying on the shoes…well I’ll leave it that.
I thought this book was amazingly clever the way that Andrea Cefalo worked the fairy tales into the actual story. I was excited every time she would introduce us to another tale, wondering how it was going to relate to our characters. The fairy tales did drop off towards the end and even though I noticed it, I was so engrossed in the story at that point that I didn’t dwell on it.
I loved Adelaide and Ivo. I felt that Adelaide is strong, steady and fiery. Even though her mother passes away and she is grief stricken, we see her slid quickly into her mothers shoes. Making sure things stay in order and trying to keep her father out of trouble. Of course she is still a kid and so she at times can be reckless. She takes the bad things that happen to her and turns them into opportunity.
Ivo is of course the perfect guy. He is strong, caring and protective of Adelaide. He has been her childhood friend and now love interest. He is her rock and I think she is his as well. There is something we find out about Ivo later on that makes you just want to hug him. The relationship between Adelaide and him is so sweet and I think they keep each other well balanced. You can tell that the things he does, he does them for her.
I love the historical setting of this book and the description of the Cologne. It was easy to submerse myself into the story as if I was there while reading. The plot was developed at a great pace. I wasn’t sure how things were going to go along and I really liked the path they took. Adelaide takes on the role of not only avenging the way her mother was treated but also how the people in the city of Cologne are treated now. The way that things were set-up at the end of the book makes me anxiously awaiting the next installment.