A Beautiful Curse: A Retelling of the Frog Bride by Kenley Davidson
Fantasy. 162 Pages. 5 Stars
Synopsis:
Follow your heart…
But you might just end up snacking on flies.
When a bumbling fairy godfather gifts a humble woodcutter’s fourth child with extraordinary beauty, she spends the next eighteen years trying to hide it—behind a book. Now, Elisette is ready to follow her dreams and become a scholar, but her admirers keep getting in the way of her ambitions. Ellie knows better than to rely on her fairy godfather, but she’s desperate enough to risk asking him for help. The trouble is, Mortimer isn’t feeling very helpful. In fact, he’s downright irritated…
After a bit of vengeful fairy magic, Ellie discovers that webbed feet and green skin are even harder to manage than beauty. No one cares what happens to a frog, except maybe quiet, unassuming Prince Cambren, who has enough troubles of his own.
Will Ellie find a way to break her curse and live happily ever after? Or will she spend the rest of her life eating flies and living in a pond at the back of the palace garden?
A Beautiful Curse is a romantic fairy tale novella. It can be read on its own, but is more fun when read as a part of the Entwined Tales, a series of interconnected fairy tales by six different authors. Each story follows the adventures of one of seven children from the same family as they seek out their own happily ever afters in spite of their reluctant fairy-godfather.
My Review:
This is the fourth book of the six Entwined Tales. For some reason, I had it in my head that this would be a Beauty and the Beast retelling. Not sure where that idea came from, but it’s actually a retelling of the Frog Bride. At first, I gawked, thinking yet again that they had found a fairy tale I was unfamiliar with–which is no small feat. However, it turns out, I do know this one. XD About halfway through, I remembered that I had once before read a version of this tale. In Gail Carson Levine’s For Biddle’s Sake, she retells a German fairy tale called Puddocky. Lo and behold! We have the one other time I’ve read this story. All that to say, I very much enjoy finding new fairy tales and think Davidson did this one grand justice. I enjoyed this short book more than the first three all combined! The first three were cute and good, but this one captivated me. I loved, loved, loved Cam and his brothers. I loved the king and his tests, the touching way he tied them to his beloved wife and the wise way he used them to display the true qualities in his sons. I really liked Ellie. At times I wanted to bean her over the head, but she was real. She wasn’t perfect. But she was true. The story was well-written and I liked the setting for this one better than the three previous too. I still feel like all the lands are just jumbled up in my head, even despite the map provided. They feel disjointed and just thrown together to me, but the smaller setting of the pond and the library were vivid and well done. And, I must say, that just when I was going to be slightly disappointed by Davidson’s grand romantic ending, she pulled through for me! This story made me laugh, a lot, sigh, and cheer for the characters. I can’t wait to see what else she’s written!
Clean romance, no violence, no foul language. And, guys, that cover! Come on! YAS!
More:
Book 1 in the Entwined Tales is A Goose Girl: A Retelling of The Goose Girl by K. M. Shea (4 Stars)More:
Book 2 in the Entwined Tales is An Unnatural Beanstalk: A Retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk by Brittany Fichter (4 Stars)
Book 3 is A Bear’s Bride by Shari L. Tapscott (4 Stars)
Book 5 is A Little Mermaid: A Retelling of the Little Mermaid by Aya Ling (4 Stars)
Book 6 is An Inconvenient Princess: A Retelling of Rapunzel by Melanie Cellier (5 Stars)
I have rated and reviewed each of the above on Goodreads. Check out the links for more information.
The books are best read in order, though I guess technically they can each stand on their own.
On GraceBought:
Be sure to check out the previous reviews in the series here on GraceBought! And stay tuned for the reviews to come in the next two weeks!
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