Pretty Things (The Grimm Chronicles)
Author: Christine Haggerty
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Recommended Reading.
Genre: Fairy Tale/ Classic / Fantasy / Horror.
The woods are no place for good girls… they are also no place for bad girls and they’re especially no place for good girls pretending to be bad – better known as spoiled brats. When Daddy learns the truth because Stepmother has crossed the line, Maddie’s innocent fun with the good boys leads her head-long into trouble and a hasty marriage promising only evil tidings.
What immediately struck me in the opening lines of Pretty Things was the atmosphere and sense of presence Haggerty brings to this retelling. I felt the familiar layers of this Grimm fantasy without the heaviness of cliché or stereotyping. The emotions evoked are pure and real.
I love Maddie’s coy playing with her ‘pretty boys’ and how that sensuality gets a dark and twisted mirror image with her eventual Robber Bridegroom who also collects ‘pretty things’. Haggerty expertly pulls on the reader’s heartstrings with Maddie’s despair over the broken relationship between her and her father. Her evolving relationship with her Stepmother comes across as both a force of necessity and a rapid growing up that is entirely justified and well-crafted within a limited word count.
My only concerns with Pretty Things are the occasional modern colloquialisms/slang used and the abrupt ending that’s left wide open with a very large string left untied.
Without a doubt though, lovers of spooky stories and dark fairy tales will relish in this macabre retelling of a classic story.
By M.J. Moores, OCT. Author. Editor.
for $0.99
Christine Nielson Haggerty grew up in rural Utah with three brothers, a sister, several chickens, a goat, and an outhouse. She always loved the escape of fantasy and the art of writing, and her passion for life is to craft stories of strength and survival.
As a former high school language arts teacher and a black belt in karate, Christine has found a niche in combining those skills to help authors write effective fight scenes.
An award-winning young adult author, she is now launching her dark fantasy fairytale novella series The Grimm Chronicles.
Connect with Christine
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Categories: Book Reviews
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Reblogged this on Dragon Knight Chronicles.
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Awesome review M.J. 🙂 the cliff hanger at the end makes me wonder if she might be doing a second book. It would be awesome to see Maddie in another work of hers.
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Agreed! I wasn’t sure of her intent though seeing as the Grimm Fairy Tales tend to be one-off and fairly compact. The book definitely left me wanting more 😀
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Same here maybe I can’t wait for the next one to see what twist she does
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