Book Review: "Poor Deer" by Claire Oshetsky

There are times when I feel like many books out there are just slight variations on a theme. And then I stumble upon a book like Poor Deer, which is creative and unusual, and my faith in original ideas is restored.

“Margaret’s mother thinks the girl is looking at the pictures, but what Margaret likes even better than the pictures are the happy endings. After the day of the schoolyard flood, Margaret begins to write happy endings of her own. Her made-up endings help her forget that singular moment in her life when everything went so wrong.”

Margaret is four years old when a tragedy occurs to her best friend, Agnes. While no one explicitly blames Margaret for what happened that day, she is wracked with guilt. Her mother insists to everyone that Margaret never left the house that day, but Margaret knows the truth.

In an effort to try and cope with what has happened, Margaret starts writing her own stories, sometimes using a made-up language. Margaret’s stories always end happily. But somewhere along the line, Poor Deer, a menacing character, starts appearing in her stories, pressuring Margaret to confess the truth about what happened to Agnes.

This book definitely has a fairy tale quality, almost ethereal at times. The lines blur between what is real and what Margaret imagines, but Poor Deer becomes a constant presence.

I know this is definitely not a book for everyone, but it’s a powerful look at what children understand, and how they process grief and loss. This will be a book I think about for a long time.

Book Review: "The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers" by Adam Sass

Adam Sass' newest book is all kinds of adorable.

Micah wants the fairytale. The problem is, he can never work up the courage to actually ask any of his crushes out. Instead he draws dramatic sketches of each imaginary boyfriend with a story of what their date could’ve been like, and posts it to his Instagram account, to the joy of his growing number of fans.

There have now been 99 “boyfriends.” Micah is determined that the 100th boy he meets will be the one—and he’ll be brave enough to ask him out. When he meets a handsome guy on the subway carrying two large bags of books, there’s an immediate attraction. They banter and flirt, Micah seeks the chance to make his move. But in a chaotic moment on the train, the guy gets off and Micah doesn’t, and they never had chance to exchange names or phone numbers.

The guy did, however, leave behind a gorgeous handmade leather jacket with a pumpkin on it. Micah is determined to find his mystery guy, and with the help of two friends and the internet, they follow the clues to find him, and hopefully, the start of a magical love story.

Can fairytales really come true, or are there even downsides to the fulfillment of wishes? How hard can it be to follow your heart when you see what it really wants?

I thought this was such a sweet book. I really enjoyed all of the characters and the banter between them. While you certainly know where the book will end, it’s such a fun journey to get there. I wish love stories like this existed when I was younger.

Book Review: "By the Book" by Jasmine Guillory

In By the Book, an editorial assistant wanting to get ahead in the publishing world goes toe to toe with a reluctant author.

So…let’s talk retellings. I feel like the word is getting really overused and not always accurately. To me, a retelling needs to have some actual elements of the original story, not just a character name or a sprinkling of references. Maybe I’m wrong, but those tend to be the ones I’ve enjoyed.

And that is probably why By the Book dissatisfied me, especially surprising given that Guillory is a favorite author. This book is being marketed as a (very) loose retelling of Beauty and the Beast…only I don’t agree. Sure, the two publishing companies are called Tale As Old As Time and Maurice (crazy old Maurice, eh?), and the protagonist is named IsaBELLE. (There’s another reference or two in blink-or-you’ll-miss-them moments, but that’s it.)

Is the grumpy/sunshine romance enjoyable if you take away the undelivered promise of a Beauty and the Beast retelling? It was sweet and emotional, but it took longer for the characters to act on their shared chemistry. And I just felt like these characters didn’t sizzle like they do in other Guillory books.

Maybe my expectations were just too high. Others have really enjoyed it and been charmed by it. (Julie Murphy’s If the Shoe Fits, the first book in the Meant to Be series, was a much more faithful retelling than this was.) I guess you just can’t love everything, even books by your favorite authors sometimes.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hyperion for the complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review!

Book Review: "Cinderella is Dead" by Kalynn Bayron

Cinderella is Dead is a unique and empowering retelling of the classic fairytale.

The kingdom of Lille was where Cinderella met her prince more than 200 years ago. And although true love ignited the flame back then, the kingdom is now ruled by evil, fear, and violence, especially toward women. All teenage girls are expected to go to the annual ball, where they hope a suitor will choose them. If they are not picked by a man at three successive balls, they are given up by their families, sold as slaves, or even killed.

While there seems to be no choice for her, Sophia is fighting it all the way. She’s never dreamed of being Cinderella—she’d much rather marry a princess, anyway. But her heart is set on her best friend Erin, even though that would never be allowed in Lille or by their families, and there really is no way to escape the clutches of the king.

The night of the ball, when things go awry, she escapes, and the king demands she be found. He enacts cruelty after cruelty to try and flush her out. When hiding in Cinderella’s mausoleum one night, she meets Constance, the last known descendant of Cinderella and her stepsisters. Constance is desperate to learn the real story of her family.

Together, Sophia and Constance vow to destroy the king and make him pay for his treatment of women. But along the way they learn the truth behind Cinderella’s story—and some truths about themselves as well.

It’s been a long while since I’ve read fantasy, but this hooked me pretty quickly. While not a lot of attention is paid to world-building, the characters and the story are very vivid, and I could see it unfolding in my mind’s eye. I liked the twist of a Black teenage lesbian challenging the myth of Cinderella.

But while the story is creative and I loved the message, there was a bit more telling than showing. I’ve always talked about hating the part in superhero movies where the villain details their master plan and why they seek vengeance. There was a little of that here, too. But still, Cinderella is Dead is unique and enjoyable and I was hooked.

Book Review: "And They Lived..." by Steven Salvatore

Steven Salvatore's second YA book, And They Lived..., hit me square in the feels.

Chase is a lover of fairytales, of happy endings. He dreams of a career as an animator and is pursuing that in college. He’s struggled with body dysmorphia and an eating disorder in the past, and he’s not quite sure if he’s gay, genderqueer, or nonbinary. Ultimately, he’s hoping college will help him feel more comfortable with himself as he finds his circle and has to deal with the drama of competing with a former friend.

And then he meets Jack. Jack is a poet, a writer, obsessed with stories and the power of words. He’s handsome, athletic, confident—or at least appears that way—and immediately they feel a pull toward one another. But Jack isn’t sure about whether he’s gay, and worries about the reactions of his conservative family, so he’s constantly giving Chase mixed signals.

As the semester heats up, and Chase is trying to win a prestigious mentorship, he’s desperate to figure out who he is, where he wants his life to go, and whom he wants around him. But at the same time, he needs to see if a happy ending with Jack is possible or if their story needs to go in a different direction.

I fell in love with And They Lived... almost immediately. Chase is such an endearing character—some of his struggles were very familiar and personal to me—and the supporting characters were such fun, too. Salvatore knows how to touch your heart, and they say in their author’s note that this is their most personal book to date.

Thanks to Storygram Tours and Bloomsbury YA for inviting me on the tour for And They Lived... and providing me with a complimentary advance copy of the book. Pick it up when it publishes 3/8!!

Book Review: "How to Survive a Modern-Day Fairy Take" by Elle Cruz

How about a retelling of Cinderella with a diverse cast? Try How to Survive a Modern-Day Fairy Tale.

Claire loves her job at a bookstore, but her dream is to start a cookie decorating business. That’s where her talents lie. However, her demanding Filipino family can’t understand why someone so smart wants such a silly job.

When she has a meet-cute with Nate, a handsome, rich CEO and restaurant owner (although Claire almost hit him with her car), he quickly tries to sweep her off her feet. She is definitely smitten but she can’t believe someone like Nate would be interested in someone like her, no matter how hard he tries to convince her.

Can Nate and Claire’s relationship weather her family’s skepticism and demands, as well as Claire’s doubts? Can she find her way to the life she’s always dreamed of? (What do you think?)

This was a fun, sweet romp of a book. Thanks to Entangled Publishing for the complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review!!

Book Review: "A Spindle Splintered" by Alix E. Harrow

Are you up for a feminist, subversive retelling of Sleeping Beauty? I’m all in for Alix Harrow's A Spindle Splintered.

⁣ ⁣ “Sleeping Beauty is pretty much the worst fairy tale, any way you slice it. It’s aimless and amoral and chauvinist as shit.”⁣

⁣ Zinnia Gray is turning 21. She’s dying of something called General Roseville Malady, a disease about which little is known except that no one has lived past the age of 21. Zinnia has always been obsessed with fairy tales and, because of her illness, was able to graduate high school early and attend college, where she studied in the Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology.⁣

⁣ For what is expected to be her last birthday, her best friend Charm goes all out, throwing her a Sleeping Beauty-themed party in an abandoned tower, complete with spinning wheel. Of course, Zinnia pricks her finger, but instead of falling asleep (or dying), she finds herself in another world, a modern traveler in a fairy tale kingdom of sorts, where another cursed princess is in need of her help.⁣

⁣ This was so freaking creative, fun, poignant, and beautifully done. I love retellings and this one really just hooked me completely. My understanding is that this is the start of a series of novellas Harrow will write and I’m here for them.⁣

⁣ This is a definite Bookstagram made me do it (or more specifically, my friend Deedi made me do it), and I’m so grateful!!⁣

Book Review: "If the Shoe Fits" by Julie Murphy

Julie Murphy's new rom-com asks the question, Can a real happy ending be found on reality television?

So here’s a question: is a “Cinderella story” the same as a retelling of Cinderella? Because while I’ve heard If the Shoe Fits called a retelling, it’s perhaps one in the loosest sense, but that doesn’t detract from its charm.

Cindy is an aspiring shoe designer with a passion for fashion, but as a plus-sized woman, she’s often frustrated by the lack of options she has. With no real career prospects on the horizon, she moves home to live with her stepmother, a famous reality show producer, to help care for her three young half-siblings.

When a contestant is needed on her stepmother’s most famous dating show, Cindy decides to take the chance and fill in. She can show off her fashion sense and maybe jumpstart her career. What she doesn’t expect is that she’ll capture the hearts of the viewing public because of her size and her clothes.

To her surprise, she finds herself actually falling for the show’s eligible bachelor, and she deals with jealous and competitive contestants and the manipulation that comes from “reality” television. But in the end, will the show allow someone like her to get her happy ending, or does she need to go after it herself?

If the Shoe Fits was a sweet story, a kinder, gentler version of the spectacular One to Watch, which was one of my favorites last year. Murphy’s writing is always so positive and charming, but not really focusing on much of the negatives that a plus-size contestant would actually face on a show like this made the book seem more like a fairytale. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Book Review: "The Witch Demands a Retraction: Fairy Tale Reboots for Adults" by Melissa Balmain

Melissa Balmain's The Witch Demands a Retraction features funny reboots of fairy tales from an adult perspective.

Do you enjoy fairy tales? Ever thought about what happens after they lived happily ever after, after the foes have been vanquished? Or what the “real story” behind the fairy tales was?

Balmain has given this some thought. This fun book, accompanied by great illustrations from Ron Barrett, looks at some of our favorite fairy tales and provides short, less-starry-eyed updates.

From “Sleeping Beauty Talks to Her Therapist a Few Months after the Wedding” to “Mama Bear Sets the Record Straight,” these are no more than one page and they’re definitely good for a laugh! This was a quick read but one I definitely will share with others.

This was a fun tour to participate in. Suzy Approved Book Tours, Melissa Balmain, and Humorist Books provided a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

Book Review: "The Unfinished World and Other Stories" by Amber Sparks

Full disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Many thanks to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for making it available!

The descriptions of Amber Sparks' new collection of stories plus a novella compared her to Kelly Link and Karen Russell. While there are elements of the macabre, the futuristic, the fantastic in these stories, Sparks' voice is all her own—it's at once familiar and unusual, jarring and moving, and quite intriguing.

There isn't really a theme that weaves through all of the stories in this collection, although each is characterized by the outpouring or manifestation of some emotion and/or desire—love, grief, sadness, fear, the desire for a new start, etc. The stories take place in the past, present, and future; there is even an adaptation of a fairy tale thrown in for good measure. (Ironically, it's one of the same fairy tales adapted by Michael Cunningham in his newest book, A Wild Swan and Other Tales, which I read last month.)

While I didn't quite "get" everything in this collection, and some of the stories didn't work for me, there were some absolute stunners. Some of my favorites included: "Things You Should Know About Cassandra Dee," about an overweight girl with a special gift that isn't quite a blessing; "And the World Was Crowded with Things That Meant Love," one of the most straightforward stories in the collection, which is not your usual love story; "Thirteen Ways of Destroying a Painting," a humorous tale which featured an immensely determined time traveler; "The Janitor in Space," which is poignant and beautiful; and "The Cemetery for Lost Faces," which chronicled a brother and sister who handle their grief through taxidermy and unusual art.

If you're a fan of more traditional stories, this collection might not be for you, but if you can open your mind to stories which may force you to think of the future or the past, pick up The Unfinished World and Other Stories. You'll be intrigued, you'll be moved, you'll shake your head at Sparks' creativity, but most of all, you'll get to witness her storytelling talent and her deft skill with language and imagery first hand.

Book Review: "A Wild Swan and Other Tales" by Michael Cunningham

The idea of putting twists on the fairy tales we know and love isn't a new one. Many books have given these familiar tales a modern spin, a more macabre tone, even made them more politically correct, as the originals were decidedly not!

In A Wild Swan and Other Tales, Michael Cunningham, one of my favorite authors, tries to humanize the tales a bit, modernizing them, and imbuing many with more emotion and character development than the originals offered. He looks at some familiar tales—Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin—and others I wasn't familiar with. All in all, it's an interesting exercise, one which I think had mixed results.

As I've said many a time before, if a story hits me emotionally without making me feel manipulated, it definitely resonates. The stories I liked best in this collection either moved or amused me, sometimes both. My favorites included "Jacked," in which Jack (of beanstalk fame) is a lazy man-child whose encounters with the giant provokes intriguing feelings in the giant's wife; "Little Man," an amusing and moving take on Rumpelstiltskin; "Beasts," an interesting twist on Beauty and the Beast; "Steadfast; Tin," a story about a couple which reminded me more of "How I Met Your Mother" than any fairy tale; and my favorite, "Ever/After," a moving look at the idea of happily ever after.

I love the way Michael Cunningham tells a story, and I've always found that characterization is among his many strengths, so those stories in which the characters were front and center worked best. A few of the stories were odd, and one was told in such a way that I wasn't exactly sure who was narrating it or what was happening.

Overall, this was an intriguing and worthwhile read. If you like fairy tales, give this a try—it's not quite the tales you know, but they'll definitely get you thinking.

Movie Review: "Into the Woods"

While this may lead me to having my gay cred get knocked down a few pegs, I'll confess that of Stephen Sondheim's musicals I didn't know much about Into the Woods going into the film adaptation, save being familiar with a few of the songs from Tony Award telecasts and a few CDs. Luckily, such knowledge wasn't a prerequisite for enjoying the film, which was a great deal of fun and full of terrific performances.

Into the Woods follows characters from some of your favorite fairytales—Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), who is desperate to go to the royal festival and meet the prince (Chris Pine), despite the machinations of her wicked stepmother (Christine Baranski) and stepsisters; young Jack (Daniel Huttlestone) is being badgered by his mother (Tracey Ullman) to go to the marketplace and sell their ailing cow; Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) is off to her grandmother's house; and a baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) are desperate to have a child.

One day when lamenting their childless lives, the baker and his wife are visited by a devious witch (Meryl Streep), who is also their neighbor. She admits to putting a curse on their house after the baker's father stole some produce from her garden as well as some magic beans years ago. (The witch's loss of the beans led to her transformation from a beauty to a crone.) But being a generous witch (aren't they all?), she offers to reverse the curse, provided the couple bring her four items before the blue moon three days hence—a cow as white as milk; a cape as red as blood; a slipper as pure as gold; and hair as yellow as corn. Sounds easy, no?

The baker and his wife make their way into the woods (go figure) to find these items, and they encounter Jack, Cinderella, and Little Red Riding Hood, and also learn that Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy) has been banished to a high, doorless tower by the witch. Of course, with any good fairytales, each of the characters possesses something the couple needs to get to the witch—but how to get them? And the witch, meanwhile, is desperate to keep Rapunzel from leaving her and seeing the world, which becomes more of a challenge when Rapunzel meets the prince's brother (Billy Magnussen).

The couple's quest is not without its challenges, and each character learns some valuable lessons. In fact, if I was to point out any weak spot in the movie in my opinion, it was that it felt a little preachy, as each character learned the moral of their particular fairytale. These lessons weren't without context, and obviously, when delivered musically, they're much more palatable, but I felt as if they were hammered home a bit too much. But that being said, it didn't stop me from getting choked up, big sap that I am, or from enjoying the movie from start to finish.

There isn't a weak link among the performances in this movie, unlike in many adaptations of Broadway musicals (Russell Crowe as Javert, cough, cough). Meryl Streep is absolutely fantastic as the witch, in stronger voice than she's ever been before, and chewing up the scenery as if it were coated in chocolate. I've waxed poetically before about my total infatuation with Anna Kendrick, and she is both headstrong and introspective as Cinderella. But equally impressive were those performers whose singing ability I wasn't aware of prior to this movie—Emily Blunt does a wonderful job with her emotionally charged role; James Corden is charismatic and charming, and a bumbling ball of energy; and Chris Pine is a prince in the Gaston model, who is equally as infatuated with himself as he is with the bewitching runaway princess. (The scene where he and his brother lament their romantic problems is well-sung and hysterically cheesy.) Theater veterans Huttlestone and Crawford do quite well, and Johnny Depp is pleasantly slimy and menacing as the wolf who takes a shine to Little Red Riding Hood.

This was a fun, sweet, and dynamic movie which had me singing along, laughing, and even tearing up (whatever). Definitely one to watch if you're a fan of musicals. They just don't make them like this anymore...

Book Review: "Far Far Away" by Tom McNeal

"It don't matter how young you are or how old you get or how brittle your bones are or how leaky your gray cells, you are still going to flat like a happy ending."

If you're a believer in happy endings, in fairy tales, enchanted spells, ghosts that have a purpose, and evil forests, than Tom McNeal's wonderfully magical Far Far Away is a book for you. But if you can't get your head around any of these concepts, this is probably not a book you'll enjoy.

In a land called (of all things) Never Better, Jeremy Johnson Johnson (that's his real name; it's not a typo) is a smart, sensitive boy who keeps to himself. You see, Jeremy hears voices—or, more accurately, one voice—the voice of Jacob Grimm, one half of the famed fairy tale-writing Brothers Grimm. For reasons neither of them can quite understand, Jacob is tasked with protecting Jeremy from the evils that lurk in this world.

But neither Jacob nor Jeremy consider beautiful, mischievous, and athletic Ginger Boultinghouse a threat, not even after she takes a bite of a cake so delicious it's supposedly enchanted with a spell, that causes you to fall in love with the first person on whom you cast your eyes after taking a bite. Naturally, Ginger sees Jeremy first, and finds herself inexplicably enchanted, even though she doesn't believe in such magic. And while Jacob isn't happy that Ginger's attentions are keeping Jeremy from his studies, or that she is somehow convincing him to sneak around late at night and play pranks on residents of their town, Jeremy enjoys the attention—until it brings him more trouble than he bargained for.

And that's just the start of Jeremy's problems. Because in addition to his fellow townspeople suddenly shunning him, there's a small problem of his father owing so much money on their small house that they're about to lose it to the bank. Plus his father hasn't left the house in years. Despite constant attention from a sheriff's deputy determined to find Jeremy and Ginger causing trouble, the kindly baker, Sten Blix, befriends the duo when no one else will.

Jacob is a helpful and trusted companion to Jeremy (although not always a welcome one). Yet as devoted as he is to protecting his charge, Jacob is helpless as an unexpected evil in the form of the dreaded Finder of Occasions takes control of Jeremy and Ginger. It is the toughest challenge the duo—and the ghost—have ever faced. Will the duo be able to outsmart their nemesis? Can a ghost who can only be heard by Jeremy actually help save him?

Far Far Away is a creative, magical, wonderful book. It's a little bit of an anachronism, in that it feels as if it is set in a place far away and a time long ago, yet there are cars and answering machines and credit cards, and Ginger in particular acts more like a modern teenager than anything else. It was a little hard to get into at first, but once I did, I quickly devoured the rest of the story. I found Ginger's manner of speaking a little grating at times, but I really loved everything else about this book.

Predictable? Sure. But that's the beauty of fairy tales: you know where the story will probably end up, but the journey is tremendously worthwhile. And the journey to Far Far Away is definitely worthwhile.