Review: Upon a Starlit Tide

Title: Upon a Starlit Tide
Series: Standalone
Author: Kell Woods
Narrator: Esther Wane
Publish Date: February 18, 2025
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Genre: SciFi and Fantasy
Age: 16+
Started Reading: February 14, 2025
Finished Reading: February 21, 2025
NetGalley?: Yes

Book Summary from Goodreads:

A dark and enchanting fairy tale-inspired historical fantasy combining elements of "The Little Mermaid" and "Cinderella" into a wholly original tale of love, power, and betrayal.

Saint-Malo, Brittany, 1758.

For Lucinde Leon, the youngest daughter of one of Saint-Malo's wealthiest ship-owners, the high walls of the city are more hindrance than haven. While her sisters are interested in securing advantageous marriages, Luce dreams of escaping her elegant but stifling home and joining a ship's crew. Only Samuel—Luce's best friend and an English smuggler—understands her longing for the sea, secretly teaching her to sail whenever she can sneak away. For Luce, the stolen time on the water with Samuel is precious.

One stormy morning, Luce's plans are blown off course when she rescues Morgan de Chatelaine, the youngest son of the most powerful ship-owner in Saint-Malo, from the sea. Immediately drawn to his charm and sense of adventure, she longs to attend the glittering ball held in honor of his safe return and begins to contemplate a different kind of future for herself.

But it is not only Luce's hopes at stake—the local fae are leaving Brittany and taking their magic with them, while the long-standing war with the English means Saint-Malo is always at risk of attack. As Luce is plunged into a world of magic, brutality, and seduction, secrets that have long been lost in the shadowy depths of the ocean begin to rise to the surface. The truth of her own power is growing brighter and brighter, shining like a sea-glass slipper.

Or the scales of a sea-maid's tail.

My Two Cents:

Goodreads Rating:  4 Stars

This book is a wonderful retake on traditional fairy tales. Much in the same theme as The Lunar Chronicles. Familiar plot points, but a new story. I really enjoyed this one, I was worried when it began that it was going to be filled with Tropes: "secret, special main character", "love triangle" etc, and while there were some aspects of them, it was done well. The narrator of this audiobook had the perfect voice for getting the feel of a fairy tale, while pronouncing the many French words well. The variety of voices she was able to bring really brought the story to life. Definitely one to check out if you're a fan of the re-worked fairy tale genre. I listened to this audiobook through NetGalley.

To Sum Up: A familiar fairytale plot remixed into a new story.

Review: Hero

Title: Hero
Series: Books of Arilland, Book 2
Author: Alethea Kontis
Publish Date: Oct 1, 2013
Publisher: Harcourt Books
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Reworked Fairy Tale
Started Reading: February 20, 2016
Finished Reading: February 26, 2016

Book Summary from Goodreads:

Rough and tumble Saturday Woodcutter thinks she's the only one of her sisters without any magic—until the day she accidentally conjures an ocean in the backyard. With her sword in tow, Saturday sets sail on a pirate ship, only to find herself kidnapped and whisked off to the top of the world. Is Saturday powerful enough to kill the mountain witch who holds her captive and save the world from sure destruction? And, as she wonders grumpily, "Did romance have to be part of the adventure?" As in Enchanted, readers will revel in the fragments of fairy tales that embellish this action-packed story of adventure and, yes, romance.







My Two Cents:

Goodreads Rating: 3 Stars (It was ok)
  
This review has taken me a bit to figure out. I enjoyed the book, but I found it quite slow when compared to Enchanted. I wasn't sure why I had such a struggle with it, because as a sequel, it's set up similarly to Scarlet.

First there are new characters to meet, as well as already known characters to follow up with. There are parts where you see what's going on with different sets of characters at the same time. These were all well written when compared to Scarlet, but it didn't catch my interest as much.

After pondering it for a while, I came to realize that it was due to who was being written about when in the book. In Scarlet, we start off, and stick with, the new characters for a while. In Hero, we get a quick glimpse at our new characters, and then go back to ones we know for a number of chapters. This really seemed to slow down the start of the book, because the new characters had a big question mark and I wanted to know more about them before we went back to Saturday and what she was doing.

I also think that this book may have been trying to keep tabs on too many characters while trying to keep focus on the main plot at the same time. It's along the same line that I mentioned in the first book's review where things seemed to get muddled a bit with too many side plots. This is probably to try and keep the overall arc of the series moving, but I felt it gave more questions than answers.

This book didn't have so many recognizable fairy tales mixed in, or the fairy tales used as inspiration were obscure. It felt more like an original plot than Enchanted. The tropes, however, were very present and were turned on their head in some instances. I quite enjoyed how these were employed, and it's part of what made the second half of the book so fun.

The ending tied up the primary plot nicely, while leaving a small amount open for the sequel I will be continuing with this series, and look forward to the continued mash up of fairy tales, I just hope that the next book has a bit more of the magic that was in Enchanted.

To Sum Up: This book was decent and I enjoyed it, but compared to Enchanted I felt it was quite slow to start and lagged in the first half. The writing was fabulous and the mix up of fairy tale tropes is well done. I look forward to the next book in the series.

Review: Scarlet

Title: Scarlet
Series: The Lunar Chronicles, Book 2
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publish Date: Feb 5, 2013
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Genre: Young Adult, Sci Fi, Reworked Fairy Tale
Started Reading: February 16, 2016
Finished Reading: February 19, 2016

Book Summary from Goodreads:

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

My Two Cents:

Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars (I loved it)

I came to this series with high expectations as it was strongly recommended by my friends. I then had to wait rather impatiently for months for it to come available at my library. My expectations were totally met, it's no wonder that this series is popular.

This is a fabulous second outing for Lunar Chronicles. I was warned by other readers that it's the weakest of the series, but having only read the first two books I disagree. I felt that this book held its own when compared to the first book.

I loved the new characters and the way their adventure tied into Cinder's. The changing perspectives was written very well. I enjoyed the fact that I got to see what was happening with different groups of characters over the same period of time but the plot kept moving forward. 

The way that some of the characters motives were unclear and kept you guessing was fun to read. I was tense during a lot of this book just because situations could go very well or very poorly and there was no certainty as to how it was going to go. There was very little that I found predictable with this book.

The romance was built believably, and I am in love with a number of the side characters and how they interact with the mains. I also was very intrigued with the little bits of insight we saw from the villains, I'm definitely looking forward to learning more.

I've spoken of my love of reworked fairy tales before, and this is truly one of the best examples out there. I'm very eager to continue reading this series, apparently so are all the people ahead of me on the hold list at the library.

To sum up: This book was fantastic, the story was gripping, and I adored the new characters and what they added to the overall tale.

Review: Enchanted

Title: Enchanted
Series: Books of Arilland, Book 1
Author: Alethea Kontis
Publish Date: May 8, 2012
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Reworked Fairy Tale
Started Reading: February 12, 2016
Finished Reading: February 18, 2016

 Book Summary 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 Two Cents:

Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars (I loved it)

I'm a big fan of re-written fairy tales, it's one of my favourite genres. I originally read this book as part of a challenge so I read it quick and didn't retain much of anything in regards to the plot or characters. I noticed it on my read list and couldn't for the life of me remember how the book went.

Normally this would be a bad sign for the book, but in this case, it was a sign of a bad reader who was reading for a deadline and not for enjoyment.

I know when I first read this I didn't realize that it was part of a series, so finding out that there was more to read, I decided to start back at the beginning and read this again. I am so very glad I did.

This is a wonderful book that I didn't give enough time our first time around. The story is so sweet, and the relationship between the main characters, while very quick to build, was handled quite well and was much more believable than normally found in normal fairy tales.

The way that Alethea Kontis merged the stories of The Princess and the Frog with Cinderella is almost seamless. It works surprisingly well to the point that it feels that these tales should have been combined ages ago.

Some of the side plots seemed to come out of nowhere, and the explanations were a bit vague, but I would guess that there will be more explanation for them in further books. I'm looking forward to finding out more about this family.

To Sum Up: This book was just as good the second time around! I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of the series. This is a beautiful mash up of a bunch of fairy tales and is very well written! 

Review: Two Princesses of Bamarre

Title: The Two Princesses of Bamarre
Series: The Enchanted Collection, Book 2
Author: Gail Carson Levine
Publish Date: March 1, 2001
Publisher:  Eos
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Reworked Fairy Tale
Started Reading: January 31, 2016
Finished Reading: February 1, 2016

Book Summary From Goodreads:

Twelve-year-old Addie admires her older sister Meryl, who aspires to rid the kingdom of Bamarre of gryphons, specters, and ogres. Addie, on the other hand, is fearful even of spiders and depends on Meryl for courage and protection. Waving her sword Bloodbiter, the older girl declaims in the garden from the heroic epic of Drualt to a thrilled audience of Addie, their governess, and the young sorcerer Rhys.

But when Meryl falls ill with the dreaded Gray Death, Addie must gather her courage and set off alone on a quest to find the cure and save her beloved sister. Addie takes the seven-league boots and magic spyglass left to her by her mother and the enchanted tablecloth and cloak given to her by Rhys - along with a shy declaration of his love. She prevails in encounters with tricky specters (spiders too) and outwits a wickedly personable dragon in adventures touched with romance and a bittersweet ending.

My Two Cents:

Goodreads Rating: 3 Stars (I liked it)


This is a very sweet book. I love new/rewritten fairy tales and Gail does not disappoint. As with her other books, this has a gripping story filled with adventure and danger, a bit of love, and while the ending may not be happily ever after, it's a good one with a message that easily applies to reality.

That being said, I found that it was a book I liked, it was decent, but not one I couldn't put down. The main reason I picked this book up was to finish off the series. I'd read Ella Enchanted and Fairest previously, and when I noticed that this book was available in the library, I decided to give it a go.

The plot was decently paced, the deadline over the main character's head kept the story moving forward. The characters were all well developed, though the romance did seem a bit forced. I think for me this book would be one I would enjoy more reading to or with an early teen child rather than just for myself. 

One of my favourite parts of the book was that I had a version that showed some of the various changes made to the book through the re-writing and editing process. It was very interesting to see what the author had originally envisioned for the book and her explanations for the changes she made as time went on.


To Sum Up: It's not one to rush out and get right now, but if you're in between books and looking for a quick, easy, and cute story to read, definitely check it out.