Book Review: Thorny by Lelia Eye

Published: September 1st, 2014
Publisher: One Good Sonnet Publishing
Read from September 22nd to October 5th, 2014
Synopsis from Goodreads:

"You're nothing but an ugly old witch. I wish I could leave this flock and go back to hunting and being surrounded by pretty things and attended upon, as is my right. I hate the life of a shepherd."
"You would prefer, then, to be the wolf?" she asked, waving her hand about in the air. "Very well. You can have what you want . . . and your outward appearance shall reflect your inner heart. As you wished it to be, so it shall be."
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An Apt Punishment for the Boy Who Cried Wolf . . .
When a spoiled boy is forced to watch over a flock of sheep, he finds himself more interested in catching the eye of a girl with lovely ground-trailing tresses than he is in protecting his boring charges. But after he cries "wolf" twice, a determined fairy decides to teach him a lesson once and for all. She will give him what he desires, and perhaps he shall learn that some things are worth more than simply getting what he wants; some things are worth making sacrifices for.

Review:

I received this book from Story Cartel in exchange for a review.

Thorny is a Beauty and the Beast story with quite a few other fairy tales thrown in. Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairy tale, but I often feel like it can be really hit or miss with adaptations. It seems pretty easy of a story to just not work, and I can understand why. For that reason, I'm always really hesitant when I begin reading a Beauty and the Beast adaptation.

I'm really happy to say that Thorny was probably one of the best Beauty and the Beast retellings that I've ever read. I started off skeptical, but I really did fall in love with this story quickly. In many retellings, the beast character is so obnoxious that I just never seem to be able to like him. I didn't have that problem here. He's dislikable at first, but it never seems too unbearable, and by the end I really liked him. (Also, I realized very early on that the author was purposefully concealing his real name, and I liked that bit of the story.) I also enjoyed Elle's character. She wasn't annoyingly good, which is something I think happens a lot with the beauty character. She had flaws just like the beast, and I'm pretty sure they were actually about equal in that regard. I liked that bit.

Another part of the story I really enjoyed were the books and how reading tied in, and the invis (what they call the invisible servants of the castle) and fairies were a fun part of the story as well.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fairy tale retellings, especially retellings of Beauty and the Beast. This is also the first in a series, and I look forward to seeing how the story is continued in the second one. All of the Beauty and the Beast story seems to be wrapped up, and I wonder if it's going to continue on with another fairy tale, especially with all of the allusions to other stories in this first one. I'm excited to find out.