Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Enchanted (Woodcutter Sisters, #1)

by Alethea Kontis

It isn't easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday's only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland--and a man Sunday's family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past--and hers?

Reviewed by ladygrey on

4 of 5 stars

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Absolutely beautiful.

I normally don't like fairy tale minglings because more often than not they suck the soul out of the fairy tales and offer something trite in its place. But this was fresh and interesting and nearly immediately endearing.

I love the way Aletha Kontis took the events of fairy tales and wove them together in a new pattern. I love the turns in the story, the subtle plays on the traditional fairy tales that are so clever but not for the sake of being clever. There's meaning and emotional resonance in each of the elements she brings into play - even the ashes taken from Cinderella. I love her turns of phrase which are delicate and inventive. I love her characters and the beauty and horror that befalls them. This story is a fairy tale in the truest sense; full of wondrous beauty and appalling darkness in a world where things are rarely what they seem.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 3 June, 2012: Finished reading
  • 3 June, 2012: Reviewed