Review of Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

Mirabelle's past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents' tragic deaths to her guardians' half-truths about why she can't return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined.

In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who's a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.

But fairy tales aren't pretty things, and they don't always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy tale curses of their own . . . brothers who share a dark secret. And she'll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns.


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When I started this book, I was unsure if I'd finish it. It started off very cheesy, almost like a middle grade novel, with lots of 'I can't believe I'm betraying them' over and over and over. But once the story gets going and Mira arrives in Beau Rivage, that's when it gets interesting. Okay, it's still pretty cheesy but I managed to read it in two sittings, it was just that good.

Kill Me Softly appealed to me the same way The Goddess Test appealed to me - I wanted to work out which character was which fairy tale creature/person, like the The Goddess Test I wanted to work out which God was which (I failed miserably but that's not my fault, trust me). The 'main' characters, i.e. the Princesses all come straight from Disney movies, only which a darker side to their tale, as the Grimm brothers and other writers made their stories much darker before Disney prettied it up. Other characters appear too - wicked stepmothers, a trio of very different brothers, evil and good fairies, you name it.

Mira herself is a bit thick. Don't get me wrong, I love the girl but she claims to know fairytales and yet doesn't bat an eyelid when given a key and told not to go in a certain room. That's one of the downsides to this story - if you know your fairytales it's not very difficult to work out what's going to happen in the plot. Other characters were much more interesting - Jewel, who literally coughs up jewels, Layla, who works in a bookshop and has a gambler for a father, Freddie, who attracts all sorts of furry creatures whenever they see him and Viv, who hates her stepmother but doesn't realise what she's doing to Henley, who has a bit a temper problem.

I don't know if this is a series or a stand alone novel but I'm hoping it's a series. I have high hopes for the next book and I'm really, really hoping if there is one, it's not told from Mira's POV again. I like her a lot but there's so many strong voices in Kill Me Softly, not giving them a voice would be a real shame. 

4/5 

Received free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Comments

  1. This book sounds right up my alley with its fairy tale references. I am always seeking out new variations and I would love trying to identify the different princesses. I will definitely have to check this one out!

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