Review: Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

EnchantedEnchanted 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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5 comments:

  1. Awesome review!! Heard many good things about this but I have yet to read it! I did buy it when it released, but I have been swamped with review books I just hadn't had the chance to get to it! I am very very very behind on my release reading!

    But again, incredible review! I cannot wait to read it!

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  2. I love retellings with a twist. And this cover is so great!

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  3. I've had an ARC of this book for a long time now and have yet to pick it up. Admittedly, fairy tale retellings usually bore me but with the right combination of loveable characters and plot twists, I just might be persuaded. :)

    Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Thanks for the review! I don't know if this book is for me, sounds a lot like Enchanted which I didn't like, but I might pick it up one day at the library. Glad you like it though.

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  5. I also have been wanting this for so long since i first saw it in goodreads. And your review makes me want to read it moaaarrr..
    Thanks for the review.

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