Friday, June 5, 2015

Book Review ~ "Spelled" by Betsy Schow

Spelled by Betsy Schow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Source: Netgalley (to review)
Genre: Fairy Tale Twist

Book Description:  Fairy Tale Survival Rule #32: If you find yourself at the mercy of a wicked witch, sing a romantic ballad and wait for your Prince Charming to save the day.

Yeah, no thanks. Dorthea is completely princed out. Sure being the crown princess of Emerald has its perks—like Glenda Original ball gowns and Hans Christian Louboutin heels. But a forced marriage to the brooding prince Kato is so not what Dorthea had in mind for her enchanted future.

Talk about unhappily ever after. 

Trying to fix her prince problem by wishing on a (cursed) star royally backfires, leaving the kingdom in chaos and her parents stuck in some place called "Kansas." Now it's up to Dorthea and her pixed off prince to find the mysterious Wizard of Oz and undo the curse...before it releases the wickedest witch of all and spells The End for the world of Story.



My thoughts: If you put several fairy tales, an unhappy Princess, curses, evil witches, snarky humor, puns, action, adventure, and a little bit of romance in a pot, you get Spelled. This book had just about everything.

Part way through the book I started reading sections out loud to my my daughter. The writing is full of wit and creativity. I had to share the fun as we laughed together.

Dorthea is a Princess in a cage. The cage is a castle, but even a beautiful cage remains a cage. She isn't allowed to venture outside the castle because of an ancient curse. A Princess of her family will be the cause of disruption and fire in the Kingdom. All Princesses are kept in their palatial cage for their own good and for the good of the people.

Dorthea isn't happy with this arragement and makes an unfortunate wish that turns magic upside down and sends her parents to a place called Kansas. It is up to her, her unwanted fiancee, and a servant girl to go on an impossible quest to get save the day.

The book is set in the land of fairy tales. So while the story follows characters in the land of OZ, (very loosely) there are other creatures and characters from other tales who pop in and out of the story. The story flew at a fantastic pace and kept my interest throughout. I loved the writing style. It was full of attitude and determination. It was a great mix.

There is a slight amount of innuendo and violence in the story.  Overall, it's a pretty clean book.




1 comment:

  1. Oooh I've been looking forward to this one! Glad it's a fairly clean read. It sounds fun. *bumps up TBR*

    Sierra @ Yearning to Read

    ReplyDelete

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