Book Review: The Baker and the Wolf

Fairytale Retelling. 144 Pages. 4 Stars

Synopsis:

A mysterious stranger, an enchantress grandmother, and an overprotective mother. Can Cerise trust any of them?

Cerise DuBois might as well be invisible. Not even her scarlet cloak attracts male interest, and her mother begins to despair of snaring a husband for a boring middle daughter with no magic ability. If not for her baking talents, Cerise would be a hopeless burden on the family.

Or so she believes until a dark man with eyes like gold appears in the family bakery to deliver an invitation from a grandmother she has never met . . . and real trouble begins. What if everything Cerise believes about herself and her family is false?

Unlike other men, the stranger gives Cerise his undivided attention, yet he has a habit of vanishing when she needs him most—for example, when a huge black dog (surely it can’t be a wolf) follows her through the city park.

Worst of all, he claims that if she follows the magical path to her enchantress grandmother’s cottage, her entire world will change. Should Cerise trust this fascinating foreign mage, or will he eat her alive?

The Baker and the Wolf is one of twelve short novels in A Villain’s Ever After, a collection of standalone stories featuring villainous twists on some of your favorite classic fairytales. Read the series in any order for magical adventures . . . and fall in love with villains as you’ve never seen them before. Who said villains can’t have happily-ever-afters?

My Review:

I’ve been looking forward to this series cause I think the idea is really cool! I’m a huge fairy tale nerd, and a Villain’s twist on a ton of fairy tales definitely drew my interested. And I Stengl’s work is always so heartwarming, so I was very excited to hear she was participating.

So, first, I’m slightly embarrassed to say that it took me a second to realize this was a Red Riding Hood story XD I mean, it clicked as soon as I read the red cloak, but for some reason, I didn’t connect those dots just looking at the cover (to be fair, my kindle is in black and white). That said, I’m not actually a huge Red Riding Hood fan. I don’t dislike the tale, but it’s never been one of my favorites. However, I’ve found a few versions of retellings that I’ve enjoyed much more than the original renditions. And I was curious how Stengl would handle the story. I enjoyed her nods to the tale, but she also brought a fresh perspective and made the story her own.

The wood and the grandmother, the town and the bakery, the mansion and all of the setting was a lot of fun. The city was fleshed out and varied, which I really enjoyed. The whole pocket world thing was really cool, too. A very neat way to handle this tale’s classic elements, for sure.

I loved that Cerise was a baker. That was really fun. I immensely enjoyed our time in the bakery (and honestly, it makes sense for Red!) and was slightly disappointed at her choice in the end. There were a few “twists” that I picked up on from page one and then there were a few surprises I certainly didn’t see coming. One twist was the way she portrayed the wolf, and I struggled to see why Cerise was so shocked when she figured it out. For as smart as she was (and she even kept pointing things out that she had observed that made it pretty obvious), I just didn’t love how that revelation rocked her world. But the other twist I called about the villain made sense that it took her by surprise, though she did seem to take it in stride pretty easily. So, I struggled with the believability of Cerise’s character reactions in the book, but otherwise, I really liked her.

Something else I struggled with a little was the way Cerise took to her magic so instantly. She never even had to try and it didn’t make sense to me that it was so natural. What training did she need? She just did it. I don’t have an issue with the level of power she had (I won’t say whether great or small), but I didn’t think it made sense for her to manipulate it so easily so quickly. I also struggled to follow the magical elements of the climax a little at first because it was abstract and intangible, but I caught on pretty quickly and was still very much enjoying the read.

Barbaro was a lot of fun. I really love what Stengl was doing with his character, and the themes she played off of him in the story were just beautiful. And although there were enough “he’s so handsome”‘s to make me shake my head, I really admired that Stengl added more depth to his relationship with Cerise. It happened really quickly, but somehow it didn’t quite feel like insta love. There were moments, yeah, but it was cute anyway. And Stengl took the time to show the qualities of his personality that Cerise was drawn to–and she didn’t just say there were deeper qualities, either; we got to watch Barbaro interact with Cerise in a deeper way. So, that was really sweet and heartwarming. I enjoyed it.

Content: There isn’t any foul language and there was very little violence. The story is a romance and there were a few kisses, but nothing explicit. The story touched lightly on a manipulative relationship, but it wasn’t any more detailed or deeply depicted than any other twisted villain in your average fairy tale. I’d feel fine giving the book to a 14/15 year old.

A Villain’s Ever After Book 1 is The Beast and the Enchantress (3 Stars)

Book 2 is The Sultan and the Storyteller (4 Stars)

Book 3 is Bluebeard and the Outlaw (5 Stars)

Book 4 is The Stepsister and the Slipper (4 Stars)

Book 5 is The Goblin and the Dancer (4 Stars)

Book 6 is Hansel and the Gingerbread Queen (5 Stars)

Book 7 is The Dark King and the Eternal Dance (4 Stars)

Book 8 is Gothel and the Maiden Prince (4 Stars)

Book 9 is The Sorcerer and the Swan Princess (3 Stars)

Book 10 is The Baker and the Wolf (4 Stars)

Book 11 is The Prince and the Sea Witch (5 Stars)

Book 12 is Carabosse and the Spindle Spell (5 Stars)