Book Review: Tear You Apart by Sarah Cross

AUTHOR: Sarah Cross
PUBLISHER: Egmont

SERIES/STANDALONE:
PAGES: 384

SOURCE: 

Outline:

An edgy fairy tale retelling of "Snow White" set in the world of Kill Me Softly for fans of Once Upon a Time and Grimm.

If you want to live happily ever after, first you have to stay alive.

Viv knows there’s no escaping her fairy-tale curse. One day her beautiful stepmother will feed her a poison apple or convince her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Henley, to hunt her down and cut out her heart before she breaks his. In the city of Beau Rivage, some princesses are destined to be prey.

But then Viv receives an invitation to the exclusive club where the Twelve Dancing Princesses twirl away their nights. There she meets Jasper, an underworld prince who seems to have everything—but what he really wants is her. He vows to save her from her dark fate if she’ll join him and be his queen.

All Viv has to do is tear herself away from the huntsman boy who still holds her heart. Then she might live to see if happily ever after is a promise the prince can keep. But is life as an underworld queen worth sacrificing the true love that might kill her?

Faced with a possible loophole to her "Snow White" curse, Viv goes underground, literally, to find the prince who's fated to rescue her. But is life safe in the Underworld worth the price of sacrficing the love that might kill her?

Quick Thought (or not)

Once upon a time I decided to read a fairy-tale retelling. Here's how it ended up.

I haven't read many if any at all retellings. (I do however have quite a few on my shelf.) I didn't know what to expect when I asked to be on tour and read Tear you apart. I had seen the other book she wrote around, but it never caught my attention. (I ended up getting it, and I'll probably read it after my next book I have planned.)

Tear You Apart isn't just a re-telling of one fairy-tale (Well okay I guess it is) It has so many others all twisted into snow whites though so it's enjoyable. I like how it's modernized.

I'm not really sure if I like Viv, or not. She has this attitude like she's better than everyone else. I think the way she treated Henley sucked most of the time, but I guess with them being who they were Snow white and huntsman it was bound to happen.  I do like that she never gave up on what she believed. There are always going to be hard times, but you got to fight through those to get to the good ones. :) 

I will say when we were first introduced to Prince Jasper I immediately liked him. I liked that he wanted to protect this girl who barely knew. I know it sounds weird, but I don't know. As the book went on though things changed, and he became a bit of an ass. I realize you're dad is who he is, but be a man and stand up for this girl you claim to love.

My heart flip-flopped a bit towards the end and went to Henley because even through all the crap he was dealt he still cared so much for Viv, and wasn't going to give up on her even if she was bitch sometimes.

Book Review: Damselfly by Jennie Bates Bozic

AUTHOR: Jennie Bates Bozic
PUBLISHER: ?
PAGES: 242
SERIES/STAND ALONE: 

SOURCE: Netgalley
BLOG TOUR: Ya bound
OUTLINE: 

In 2065, the Lilliput Project created Lina - the first six-inch-tall winged girl - as the solution to a worldwide energy and food crisis. Isolated in a compound amidst the forests of Denmark, Lina has grown up aware of only one purpose: learn how to survive in a world filled with hawks, bumblebees, and loneliness. However, on the eve of her sixteenth birthday, she discovers that she’s not the only teenager her size. Six 'Toms' were created shortly after Lina, and now her creators need to prove to the world that tiny people are the next logical step in human evolution. In other words, they need to prove that reproduction is possible.

Um. No thanks. Lina's already fallen in love with a boy she met online named Jack. Only he has no idea that thumbelina1847 could literally fit inside his heart.

When her creators threaten to hurt Jack unless she chooses a husband from among the ‘Toms’, Lina agrees to star in a reality TV series. Once the episodes begin to air, the secret of her size is out. Cut off from any contact with the outside world, Lina assumes Jack is no longer interested. After all, what guy would want to date a girl he can’t even kiss?

Slowly, very slowly, she befriends the six young men who see her as their only ticket to happiness. Perhaps she can make just one guy’s dream of love and companionship come true. But her creators have a few more twists in store for her that she never thought possible. 

She’s not the only one playing to the cameras.

MY THOUGHTS:

Going into this story I didn't know what to expect like everyone else I was expecting a Thumbelina like experience. (I use to love that movie when I was younger.) That is definitely the opposite of what I got. Yes, Lina was tiny, but that's about as far as the similarities went. Starting off I thought that it was going to be this cute, fluffy read with pixies and the main MC finding love. I guess in a way it was, but I also found it to be much more. What I took away from it is that you should be happy with the skin you in, size doesn't always matter, looks don't always matter it's the personality people fall in love with. 

It was kind of fun to see that a reality tv show was part of a plot in the book. Although I'm not a fan of the bachelor or bachelorette that's kind of what it was like, but it was dealing with the very first of her kind. I really would have liked to learn more about the 6 different guys. I felt it was focused mostly on Row, a little on Blue, and not much on the others. We find out why closer to the end of the book though.

I loved Lina as a main character. Her cute little charming self and her willingness not to give up. There were times if I were her where I would have been like forget it, but she kept fighting even when crap was at rock bottom. I think it was her love for Jack that kept her going.

The one thing that was kind of out of place for me was the beginning of the story where she was fighting or training with the falcon. Why? It never showed back up in the story as far I could see. Is it something that will be explained more in an upcoming book? 

QUOTES

Today I write a new one. Not on paper. Not for anyone to find. I write it on my soul.

On sale for $2.99 as of this posting date.