Review: Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hardcover, 305 pages
Published May 8th 2012 by Harcourt Children's Books

Synopsis From Goodreads:
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?(

My Thoughts:
I have been wanting to read this book for a long time. I believe it was worth the wait! I really loved it. It's so different from everything else I have read recently and very unique.

Enchanted weaves an incredible tale full of so many different fairytales that at times I had trouble keeping up. The author shows a great imagination in the way she uses the fairytales and the characters to create a truly original story. It's so interesting and takes so many twists and turns it will leave your head spinning (I think in a good way).

Sunday's family puts the 'fun' in dysfunctional. There are so many members of her family and they are all very different. They each have very distinct personalities and character traits. (I seemed to have a problem differentiating between the sisters since all of their names were days of the week. I couldn't remember which sister was which until I started to know each of them better.) It seemed everyone, including minor characters, played an important part in the story, and I enjoyed that very much.

Grumble the frog is really Rumbold the Prince. He was enchanted into a frog and spends his time by the well in the forest. There he meets and falls in love with Sunday. Now that he has turned back into a Prince again, he must find a way to convince Sunday that his love is true, without informing her that he is her froggie friend, Grumble. He goes about it all wrong - so very wrong - otherwise this story would have ended a LOT sooner. Rumbold is surrounded by a few great people who are willing to overlook the terrible person he was before he was enchanted into a frog. They see that he has changed and is now a better person. Rumbold knows he is very lucky to have these people in his life and on his side and helping him fight for Sunday.

I really wanted Sunday and Rumbold to spend more time together alone and for there to be more romance while they were together. I suppose I am just disappointed because I expected hearts and flowers and magical fluffy bunnies.... well, what I mean is that I wanted to read more about Sunday and Rumbold together. Because when they were together it was magical. Literally.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading Enchanted. I thought it was sweet and charming, cute and complicated, quirky, and just so darn nice. The weaving of fairytales with the original aspects of the story was clever and very well done. I would recommend this book if you are a fan of fairytales and retellings with a twist.

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