Bewitching

I found this because I had just finished Beastly by Alex Flinn and really loved her style of writing. (I recommend that one too and may write an article on it) I started searching for more of her books and was lured in by this one.

Here's the cover. The person on the cover is Kendra, the witch character from Beastly.

About 600-700 years before the story starts, Kendra's backstory is revealed. She was the only one spared when her family was killed by the Black Death. Now it is up to her to save her youngest brother James who is infected from leaving her all alone in the world.

Upon trying to take him as far away from their home as possible, Kendra stumbles upon a house made from candy and tries to get help. Inside is a witch who kidnaps them and tries to bake James into a gingerbread man.

Kendra is forced to work for the witch and soon is told that she is also an enchantress. That explains why she was the only one that didn't get the plague when it broke out.

She kills the witch and sadly leaves her brother behind because she doesn't want him to know that she is a witch and that she can't bear to see him die like the rest of her family.

Now in the present, the point of view is shifted to that of Emma, a high school girl whose father has recently been remarried to her birth mother.

When her stepsister Lisette moves in, Emma's carefully crafted relationship with her dad instantly crumbles and he begins to favor Lisette over her.

At school, Lisette finds a spot with the popular group and soon Emma is jealous.

When she befriends Kendra and speaks about her problems, Kendra decides to stand back and watch how events unfold before taking any magical action.

Months go by and Emma is begging for Kendra's help again. This time things have gotten even worse.

But how will Kendra act to save Emma and also spare the desperate and cunning Lisette?

My thoughts-

This book without doubt deserves applause. It is a fairy tale retelling like many of Alex Flinn's other books, but it features many tales instead of just one.

My suspicions are that the majority of the story is told in respect to Cinderella. It seems that Emma is Cinderella and Lisette is the evil stepsister. Also, after the stepsister moves in, she is immediately favored by the father (Emma's father's unconditional love for Lisette) and also the stepmother is evil (but in this case it was Emma's real mother). I also thought that Kendra was like the fairy godmother (and actually to scare Lisette, Emma has Kendra dress up like a fairy and hang from the ceiling).

Though certain parts are told like other stories. Like Emma's romance with Warner was like The Little Mermaid (how she was so desperate to change herself because she loved him). What also brings out the aspect of the fairy tales being mixed in is that every once in a while, Kendra will break Emma's narrating and tell a fairy tale that is pertaining to that part of the story.

This book is interesting and innovative in it's own way. It's a must-read for anyone who loves fantasy and realistic fiction.