Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Egmont

Pages: 314pgs

The Story

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 a 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 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.

The Review

A big thanks to the publisher on netGalley for accepting my request in reading this book early!

For those who know me very well in my book tastes, you would know straight off that I love anything to do with a modern twist to some of my favourite classic fairy tales from my childhood and I hoped this book was going to blow me away, especially since the plot sounded awesome and was exactly what I was looking for right now! Unfortunately I wasn't too impressed by the book itself, however it did still offer up something completely unique not to mention original and I can see many readers who love fairy tales - as much as I do - loving this book!

KILL ME SOFTLY is a young adult novel mixed between Grimm Brothers and something along the lines of the popular tv show Once Upon a Time, where fairy tales aren't just old stories anymore in ancient books . . . they're in fact just old curses that are repeatedly placed upon descendents of fairy-human hybrids. For the main heroine, Mira, she's about to turn sixteen and for once in her life she's breaking one of her grandmother's strictest rules . . . to return to her hometown of Beau Rivage, where her parents had died in a fire years ago when she was just a baby. So, one night Mira runs away and upon the arrival to her old town, she encounters many enchantments, curses and teenagers with very mysterious marks . . . one she has too. And in tow, Mira also meets a girl named Vivian, whom has a wicked stepmother and a fetish for apples, and a boy named Blue, whom does his best to run Mira out of town while she still has a chance, but then she meets his brother, Felix, whom is more trouble than he first seems.

With a very different take on fairy tales, what really appealed to me the most was the supporting characters alone. Sure, none were particularly a favourite of mine nor did I care for them deeply in the way I should have as a reader, but they were still very entertaining and had their purpose to make some good progress on the storyline. With that said, I couldn't connect strongly with the main character, Mira, and I really tired to . . . but I just couldn't. She made a lot of poor decisions not to mention wild assumptions of certain things that happened along the way, and she was incredibly easy to manipulate which wasn't fun at all. The only redemption the character had was her feelings for Blue, who was the only character I wanted to know more and more about. He was the reason why I kept reading. He was a whole ball of trouble - and fun if you know what I mean - and he had that badass attitude I love in my hot fictional guys. Oh and he had piercings too . . . yeah they are so likable okay!

Overall, this book wasn't a bad one because I still finished it and I still enjoyed it which is the main point I'm trying to make here. With some surprising twists and a great set of supporting characters that will make you laugh out loud and cry in frustration, KILL ME SOFTLY is highly recommended by me if you love anything to do with fairy tales or merely a book with some originality added to it. If you love either of those two aspects in a book, then you'll definitely love this book right here! So . . . GO FOR IT!

The Rating

3 1/2 / 5 stars