Two Tales Dark and Grim: An Anthology

by Christine Johnson (Editor), Rachel Hawkins, Julie Kagawa

Venture back to a time when fairy tales were dark and terrifying in these modern-day adaptations of classic stories from two New York Times bestselling authors. In The Key by Rachel Hawkins, a girl uses her psychic abilities to look where she has been forbidden to look. And in The Brothers Piggett by Julie Kagawa, a chubby, insecure boy falls for a beautiful girl, with dangerous and devastating results.And look for the full anthology, Grim, edited by Christine Johnson, featuring some of the hottest authors in the young adult market, out March 2014.

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies, Ebooks

33 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

There is more than one author with this name

I grew up in, moved away from, and finally came home to Indianapolis, Indiana. While I was in the “away” part of that adventure, I was living in Chicago, Illinois, where I went to DePaul University and met my husband. I majored in Political Science. For the record, Political Science is a totally useless degree. But it’s also totally fascinating and I loved studying it. I fall into that trap a lot. I graduated with about nine million extra credit hours because I was forever taking classes that seemed “interesting” instead of classes that I needed to fill requirements.

After college, I lived in Chicago for several more years with my husband. I had a string of jobs – some I liked, some I hated, but none of them ever stuck with me as a career. Writing is different. For this job, I could be a workaholic! Anyway, after several more years in Chicago, my husband and I moved back to Indianapolis. (We got tired of constantly looking for street parking in Lakeview.)

Now, I live in an old house in an old neighborhood with my husband and kids. I have too many books and a weakness for anything sweet. I love yoga and cooking, but I’m not much of a movie person. I like watching soccer, and always look forward to the first sweater-worthy days in the fall. But mostly, I like making things up and writing them down and having people read them. So, that’s what I do, and I’m very, very lucky to be doing it!

Reviews

[Kira Simion · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 strange and intriguing stars.

Read this in the anthology a while back.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the biggest fan of this.

The first story was interesting but cut off way too soon, thus made it feel very incomplete.

The second one was better, but here the ending was rushed and it didn't make much sense to me while the MMC did nothing wrong.

Both concepts were interesting, but I would have loved just a few more pages to nicely wrap them up instead of these messy endings.

[Aya Blackwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

These were pretty ok short stories but they felt too rushed and like they weren't finished

[David Caldwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

These two short stories are retellings of fairy tales. I won't say the tales that are being retold because that could spoil the reading.

The first story is The Key by Rachel Hawkins. A young girl dreams of leaving her life behind. She wants to run away from her trailer home and her mom who gives psychic readings. But even a psychic can be surprised by what the future has in store for them.

The second story is The Brothers Pigget Julie Kagawa. (OK, you can probably guess what storythis is retelling.) A shy young man that works for his two over protective big brothers falls for a beautiful young girl.

I enjoyed the twist that both authors gave these classic tales. They are grim without being overt horror stories. They also both have that nice little lesson that all good fairy tales are meant to have. These two stories make a nice preview of the full collection of stories to come.

[Jocelin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed The Brothers Piggett in this reimagined fairytale. I was totally captivated from the beginning to the end.

[Liv 🍒⋅˚୨୧ 💋 · Rating 2 out of 5]

𝕊𝕡𝕠𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕣 𝔽𝕣𝕖𝕖

✩₊˚.⋆🕸️⋆⁺₊✧

✃𓄧"𝓗𝓮𝔂 𝓢𝓲𝓻𝓲 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝔂 𝓗𝓪𝓾𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓫𝔂 𝓣𝓪𝔂𝓵𝓸𝓻 𝓢𝔀𝓲𝓯𝓽"꒷꒦

. ݁₊ 🦴⊹ . ݁💉˖ . ݁

"𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓁𝓀 𝒶 𝒻𝓇𝒶𝑔𝒾𝓁𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝒾𝓉 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒"

𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐧𝐞: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐞𝐲

🕸️๋࣭ ⭑14+

⚠︎ Romance 3/10 {kissing, innuendo, flirting, touching ig lol}
⚠︎ Cussing 0/10 {I literally remember nothing}
⚠︎ Violence 6/10 {death, killing, choking}
⚠︎ Tw’s {choking ON PAGE and off page, monetary issues, loss of a loved one}

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

"𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝐼 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝐼'𝒹 𝓁𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝑒𝑒 𝒾𝓉 𝒷𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓀"

🔮 ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦ 𝓞𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀

Holy smokes 😀🔫 I can’t even believe I read this. I literally thought this was a CUTE retelling of stories… it was NOT. I literally was reading it, and I threw my kindle and ran.



I was so scared, not even joking. Not only was it 30 freaking pages long but I was literally so confused the whole time. I really wish I could go back in time and NOT read this 😭🙏 it's not even good writing.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

"𝐼𝓉'𝓈 𝑔𝑒𝓉𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒹𝒶𝓇𝓀 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒾𝓉'𝓈 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝑜𝑜 𝓆𝓊𝒾𝑒𝓉, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓃'𝓉 𝓉𝓇𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝒶𝓃𝓎𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓃𝑜𝓌"

🔮 ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦ 𝓟𝓵𝓸𝓽

The plot was nonexistent, and I literally don’t even understand what happened. Like it still puzzles me. It was like “I’m in love” one minute and the next it was “welp I died”.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

"𝒜𝓃𝒹 𝒾𝓉'𝓈 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒾𝓉'𝓈 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝒶 𝒷𝒾𝑔 𝓂𝒾𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓀𝑒"

🔮 ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦ 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓼

੭﹕ ̊ ̟ 𝓛𝓪𝓷𝓪

She was ok but also so confusing just like all of the 30 pages of her story.

੭﹕ ̊ ̟ 𝓢𝓴𝔂𝓮

BAHAHAHAHA what did the population of women ever do to you?! He was literally such a b!tch. 😀 I literally knew it too. He was not a very good liar istg.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

'𝒲𝑜𝒶𝒽, 𝒽𝑜𝓁𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝓎 𝒷𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝒽, 𝓌𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓁𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝑔𝒶𝒾𝓃"

🔮 ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦ 𝓦𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰

It was very confusing and overall I was not a fan. This is all just my personal opinion though 🙂‍↕️

✩₊˚.⋆🕸️⋆⁺₊✧

0.5★

. ݁₊ 🦴⊹ . ݁💉˖ . ݁

𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐰𝐨: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐏𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭

🕸️๋࣭ ⭑14+

⚠︎ Romance 2/10 {Crushes, mild innuendo}
⚠︎ Cussing 0/10 {I literally remember nothing}
⚠︎ Violence 6/10 {death, killing, monsters, witches, blood}
⚠︎ Tw’s {loss of a loved one}

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

"𝒮𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔'𝓈 𝓂𝒶𝒹𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝑒𝓎𝑒𝓈 𝑔𝑜 𝒸𝑜𝓁𝒹"

🥧 ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦ 𝓞𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀

Omg 🤦‍♀️ this one was a LITLLE better than the last one because it had more pages and it took time to kind of explain things. I was really horrified at this one too, but it wasn't so bad since it wasn't so… unexpected. I expected some kind of awful ending after the first novella. But this one was definitely nothing to go on about.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

"𝒞𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓃, 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓃, 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝐼 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒻𝒾𝑔𝓊𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝑜𝓊𝓉"

🥧 ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦ 𝓟𝓵𝓸𝓽

This plot is literally a kid falls in love, kid eats excessive amounts of pie, kid goes into woods, kid finds nothing good on repeat. It was better than the last one at least. But it was SOOOOO boring and horrific.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

"𝒮𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔'𝓈 𝑔𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓇𝒾𝒷𝓁𝓎 𝓌𝓇𝑜𝓃𝑔, 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉𝑒𝒹"

🥧 ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦ 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓼

੭﹕ ̊ ̟ 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓬𝓲𝓿𝓪𝓵

BAHAHAHA, ok he made me laugh. I have really dark humor, so I was pretty much laughing at the end hehe 😭🙏 I didn't hate him but also… bro just talk to the girl or just don't. He did NOT need to make everything a big deal. His brothers did not help though. But wtv.

੭﹕ ̊ ̟ 𝓜𝓪𝔂𝓪

This is literally my sister's name, and it is SO funny to me because if you line them up they might be pretty similar. I was reading this story half out loud to my sister and we could not stop laughing about how we could see her being Maya in this story. Anyways she slayed. Percival the piggy did not deserve her anyways.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

"𝒞𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓃, 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓃, 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝓁𝑒𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓂𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝐼 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝐼 𝒽𝒶𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒻𝒾𝑔𝓊𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝑜𝓊𝓉"

🥧 ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦ 𝓦𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰

The writing was not much better than the last book, but I did feel like it matched the setting way better. The writing felt like an older style of writing which fit the setting perfectly. So, congrats for that, I guess.

. ݁₊ 🦴⊹ . ݁💉˖ . ݁

1.5★

[iamGamz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Harlequin freebie that was helluva better than I expected.

I’ve never read anything from either of the authors and now, I am eager to read more of their work.

The stories were short but amazingly done. I went searching to see if there were full versions of them. Sadly, there isn’t.

A quick, wonderful read that are great introductions to the authors.

[Princess · Rating 5 out of 5]

awsome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Spawn2012 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay so I read this book on my kindle. It was much shorter than I realized. I'm a sucker for a fairy tale relation. Or a fairy tale twist. But I couldn't figure out which fairy tale the first story was suppose to be based on. If anyone has any clue, please end my curiosity.

[Jychelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was alright but I don't think I could sit through a whole book of these.

[Larena · Rating 5 out of 5]

G:FAMILY: Minimal violence and no gratuitous frightening descriptions. No profanity, sex or nudity, though it may contain offensive slang.

E: Easy: 3rd grade Vocabulary

[Sandy]

A

[Mary Walton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me laugh a lot. It was very interesting and I could definitely read it again.

[Jessica (a GREAT read) · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I eagerly await the anthology, Grim, an anthology of fairy tales retold, I downloaded Two Tales Dark & Grim by Rachel Hawkins and Julie Kagawa for free! Two of my favorite authors who are in the big collection and I read their stories early!

I love fairy tales, I believe in some twisted way it's what spawned by love of paranormal stories. What with witches and curses and spells and fairies...that's Urban Fantasy in the making! And what was great about these two stories--and what I hope to see in the others once the full anthology releases--is that these fairy tales are true grim ones. We all know traditional fairy tales weren't really meant for children's entertainment. They were dark and well, grim!

Rachel Hawkins' The Key is peculiar story. I can't say what it's retelling, because that will spoil the surprise. But I have to say it was definitely a surprising read! Lana is a young girl who's mother is psychic. Lana herself has her own set of psychic abilities, but her mother's lies in telling futures while Lana can see bits of the past and present. When some kinds from her school come to see her mother, she sure it's a recipe for disaster. If only she knew...

The ending has a bit of a cliffhanger, sadly. I am left wondering what was going to happen next. But since I try to be optimistic, I'm going to go with that kind of ending!

Julie Kagawa's The Brothers Piggett, is surprisingly, a retelling of the Three Little Pigs. And as I said, it's a much darker version. We have people in this one, not talking pigs. But it has quite the spin. It kind of reads as an ordinary story at first, much like The Key. It has a few fairy tale like elements and possible hints at what might be happening, but it's not until the very end that the truth is revealed! My suspicions ended up being wayyy off, but I was glad for that! Julie's ending is much more fit!

If you're like me and LOVE fairy tales and fairy tale retellings and are DYING to read Grim, then I highly recommend downloading this one! It's an ebook only, but as you might know you can read ebooks without an ereader and this read is FREE! I would say I am sated until Grim releases, but that would be lying, but at least I was able to read two fantastic tales from the collection!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars

[Vonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Key by Rachel Hawkins

This story didn't seem as "fairy tale" like to me. Yes, there were magical elements to the story, such as the main character and mother having psychic abilities. The love interest was not what he seemed and immediately the reader knew that something odd was happening. This read more like a paranormal thriller and the ending was left open for the reading to imagine what was going to happen. While looking up this story, I came to realize that it was supposed to be based on the story of Bluebeard. I can see some resemblance to that story but there was not enough for me to appreciate the retelling.



The Brothers Piggett by Julie Kagawa

I liked this story more. This one read more like a fairy tale. It was eerie, mysterious, and predictable. This story was a combination between the Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood. I really enjoyed how the two stories were combined. I have to say, I am somewhat satisfied with the ending. That booger deserved what he got. Is that wrong of me to say? lol

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a two story sneak peek at the anthology Grim. It includes The Key by Rachel Hawkins and The Brothers Piggett by Julie Kagawa.

While they were both full of fairy tale fun, I preferred Rachel's eerie and suspenseful Bluebeard retelling over Julie's silly and bloody Three Little Pigs retelling. In fact, I find myself wishing Hawkins would expand the world from her short story into a full novel.

Based on my enjoyment of both of these, I will most likely be picking up this anthology when it's released in February.

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

i got these two stories for free on ibooks, and i'm really happy about that. i have read books by rachel hawkins before (the hex hall series is one of my favorites, i may add), but julie kagawa is new to me. however, the first story by rachel hawkins delivered. i quickly got invested in her main character, lana, and i wish there was more to the story. it had a great twist and i could have read a whole book. the brothers piggett by julie kagawa was a neat twist with a mature romantic feel, though it was quite predictable, it was a good story.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

These were pretty good short stories by two good authors. Personally, I love Kagawa's Iron Fey series, and her short story in this book felt a bit flat compared to her other books. However, the first story by Rachel Hawkins delivered. I quickly got invested in her main character, Lana, and I wish there was more to the story. It had a great twist and I could have read a whole book.

[Riley · Rating 1 out of 5]

2.5 stars for Rachel Hawkins's story, which had a lot of seen-before elements but was fairly well-written.

1 star for Julie Kagawa's story, which was not a bad idea but was executed in a frustratingly predictable way, with lackluster writing. Also, Pedro means Peter, so those are not good names for brothers.

[Ann Sheiring · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a lunch hour read. I liked the first story, but it was a bit predictable and too short. I did like the fact that it was modern and well written. The second tale was a bit dull for me. I knew the characters were all selfish and evil, so they were hard to like. I'm not sure if I would want to read an entire collection of these a Grim Tales.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Key by Rachel Hawkins:
Rachel Hawkins always brings such an element of humor to her books, and this was no different. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Brothers Piggett by Julie Kagawa:
While I didn't like this quite as much as The Key, it was still a fantastical, if a bit predictable, journey.
over-all, both stories were good.

[Jana · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was great, but it lacked plot ig?

idk i felt like the first story was incomplete, like it cut off way too soon.

like this is my fav genre of book but idk this just didnt stick out to me.

the characters actions felt unmotivated(??) and it was rly awkward in a way idk.

3 stars bc the overall concept was really good.

[Caitlyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Key was quite interesting in terms of its plot twists but it felt a bit unbelievable in terms of character development and choices. The Brothers Piggett was a neat twist of "The Three Little Pigs" with a mature romantic feel.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that this was a good little collection of two entertaining short stories. Give this a go if you're on the fence on reading from either of these talented authors. Definitely looking forward to read more stories and books by these talented ladies.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Partial

This book was only two stories of a full anthology. I didn't realize until after I had read "The Key". The story just ended. I knew the e-book wasn't over. I wanted more of that story I really liked it. I didn't care so much for the second one.

[Amy Braun · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short, fun collection of two stories from two great authors. Though both were surprising and well written, I loved Kagawa's contribution the most. It had the most mythology and best turns. Something for fairytale lovers!

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first story, "The Key", by Rachel Hawkins, was definitely the stronger one. Julie Kagawa is a very talented writer, but her version of The Three Little Pigs never quite took off for me, and I felt it was weak and absolutely not her best work.

I got this for free on Kindle.

[efrit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short

This book contains 2 short stories.1st the key, I felt it was in a modern-day setting.the ending was a cliffhanger or in suspense of a kind.but I really liked it. the 2nd book, the brothers' pigget, was a dark fairytale story . I really liked that story.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this little two books but i wish they were bigger defiantly the fisrt one which was my favorite. 5/5

[Earth · Rating 5 out of 5]

love both rachel and julie very much. they are both good writer and I enjoy their works very much.