Thursday, February 20, 2014

Book Review: Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

Title: Kill Me Softly
Author: Sarah Cross
Publication Date: April 10, 2012
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Format: Hardcover
Links: GoodReads - Barnes and Noble - Amazon
SynopsisMirabelle's past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents' tragic deaths to her guardians' half-truths about why she can't return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined.

In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who's a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.

But fairy tales aren't pretty things, and they don't always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy tale curses of their own . . . brothers who share a dark secret. And she'll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns. (via GoodReads)

---------------------------------------------------
My Review

Kill Me Softly follows Mirabelle, better known as Mira, on a journey to essentially "find herself." As the story begins, she's just a few days away from her 16th birthday and poor Mira is tired of being stuck under the overprotective regime of her godmothers. Mira decides to run away from home to her home town of Beau Rivage, the place where she was born and where her parent's died. There, she discovers that fairytales can come to life and -gasp- she is also part of this fairytale world! 

I absolutely love fairy tale retellings in books. Fairy tales are amongst my favorite things. However, I'm also a bit wary about fairy tale retellings in general because I can't stand for my favorite stories to be ruined. This fact alone is the reason why I have a love/hate relationship with this book.

Overall, I thought that the premise of the story was quite creative! Just about everyone can relate to Mira's need to find herself. Along the way, she meets the stars are fairytale stories who are struggling with their own roles in their stories. It was interesting to see such titular characters struggling with who they were and their fate.

As far as characters go, I felt more connected to the secondary characters than I did to the main character. Frankly, Mirabelle annoyed me to no end! She was selfish and childish for most of the story. And her indecision and rebellion absolutely killed me. I get that she's a teenager and what not, but I just could not relate to her at all. Was I that annoying as a teenager?! I hope not!
However, I did love the rest of the characters featured in the book. Layla was among my favorites. And Blue was simply adorable!

I rated the book 3.5 out of 5 stars. It was a cute story and as I said earlier, I did enjoy the plot and premise of the story. I think what really bugged me was Mira as a character. I did, however, like how things worked out in the end. Although this is a standalone book, I could see the author expanding the story into a series. I would suggest this book to just about anyone, particularly younger teenagers. 

1 comment:

  1. I hadn't heard of this book before but I'm on a fairytale kick since I'm going through Once Upon A Time withdrawals. I like that it's a standalone and that's it "cute". This might be exactly the kind of book that I need.

    ReplyDelete