Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Book Worm Wednesday: Reimagined Fairy Tales

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

When I was a little girl, I loved fairy tales.   My favorite storybook was The Twelve Dancing Princesses.


As I have gotten older, I still love fairy tales and have been very excited to find many of my favorites in novels form.   I have read several version of the Twelve Dancing Princesses but my favorite has been Entwined by Heather Dixon.

The gorgeous cover is what first attracted me to this book but once I knew what it was about. I had to have it.  This reimagining has a depth to it that the other books I have read lacked.  It had all the elements of the traditional fairy tale but it was also a story of its own.  Azalea, the oldest princess, has just come of age and is now allowed to attend balls when her mother succumbs to an illness.  The household is then ordered into a year of mourning in which there will be no dancing.   All the girls are broken hearted at the loss of their mother and the pastime she taught them.  It is at this point that Azalea discovers the secret passageway to the dancing pavilion and the mysterious Keeper who resides there.  As they continue to dance and move toward the end of their morning, they realize Keeper is not who he seems.   Their estranged father returns home from war and is determine to find out why his daughters slippers are ruined night after night.  Enter parade of charming prince wannabes and one captain with very disheveled hair.  A magic castle, mistaken identities, romance, and  family dynamics make this a great read for all lovers of fairy tales.  

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