Grim

by Christine Johnson (Editor), Ellen Hopkins, Jackson Pearce

Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today:

Ellen Hopkins
Amanda Hocking
Julie Kagawa
Claudia Gray
Rachel Hawkins
Kimberly Derting
Myra McEntire
Malinda Lo
Sarah Rees-Brennan
Jackson Pearce
Christine Johnson
Jeri Smith Ready
Shaun David Hutchinson
Saundra Mitchell
Sonia Gensler
Tessa Gratton
Jon Skrovon

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Young Adult, Anthologies, Fairy Tales, Retellings, Fiction

454 pages, Paperback

First published March 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

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The links to the failytales are posted with this review at Addicted2Heroines

Anthologies are hard to rate, so this 4 star rating is for the book as a whole, and not the individual stories.
I had fun with this one, because I was determined to find out what fairytales all of these stories were retelling.
Let me say, it wasn't all that easy. I'm not sure I'm even right with quite a few of them, but after spending hours searching the web for clues, I think I've figured most of them out. However, if you think I'm wrong, please leave a comment and let me know what you think the story really was!
M'kay.
Here goes nothing...

The Key by Rachel Hawkins
4 stars
Really short story about a girl with the ability to touch people and read their thoughts. It was very creepy and the ending left quite a bit to the imagination! I had an extremely hard time finding a fairytale that even remotely resembled this one, but finally settled on a story I found called The Golden Key. That fairytale is short, has a cliffhanger ending (albeit, a rather boring one), and, uh...they word key is also in the title.
Anyone else got anything?
*Edit*
One of the many reasons I think Goodreads is spectacular is because when you ask a question, someone in the community will eventually come along and give you the answer. Although, you really need to prepare yourself to feel a bit stupid when they do.
So.
The (fairly obvious...now that I think about it) answer to What Fairytale is The Key has been found!
Bluebeard.
Duh.
Thank you, FallingAngels!

Figment by Jeri Smith-Ready
3 stars
Weird story about a good-luck charm that acts as sort of an imaginary friend. The story kinda grew on me, and I thought the ending was cute and sweet.
This was one of the ones that I couldn't find anything on when I searched the Grimm library. I did find a story called Good Luck is Better Than Gold (by Juliana Horatia Ewing), but I don't really think it counts as a fairytale. It's not a story the Grimm brothers collected, and it's not really folklore. Is it?
So...anybody have any other ideas about this one?
*Edit*
Ok. So thank you Autumn for pointing me in the right direction with this one! What we have here looks to be a retelling of Puss In Boots. I swear, I never even thought about that one, but it totally matches up. Loving the Goodreads community right now!

The Twelfth Girl by Malinda Lo
3 stars
This is a pretty obvious (Finally! Thank God!) retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. It's set in modern times at an elite boarding school. The main character wants to become part of the exclusive group of girls, who seem to come and go as they please on campus. Rumor has it they dance the night away...
This one is darker, and the ending is left to the reader's imagination.

The Raven Princess by Jon Skovron
3.5 stars
Ok. I'd never heard of The Raven, but at least this one wasn't hard to find.
The short story closely mirrors the actual fairytale, with the exception of the ending. I liked the author's twist on things, and I enjoyed finding a new fairytale, but it didn't blow my mind. It gets the extra half star for introducing me to something new.

Thinner Than Water by Saundra Mitchell
5 stars
This story rocked my purple fuzzy socks off!
It's a retelling of Donkeyskin...but served with a steaming cup of revenge!
If you aren't familiar with the tale, it involves a king who wants to marry his daughter. Ewwww! The original story didn't quite end the same way, but I think most of you will love the way Mitchell's version goes down!
This is definitely not a fairlytale for children.

Before the Rose Bloomed: A Retelling of the Snow Queen by Ellen Hopkins
2.5 stars
As the title suggests, this was, um...a retelling of The Snow Queen. It stays fairly faithful to the original, which is fine, but it would have been cool to see something different.

Beast/Beast by Tessa Gratton
4.5 stars
This was a really good retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Beauty had a wild edge to her, and the Beast was very mild-mannered. It focused on why the freedom to choose who you love means so much to us. Lovely ending!

The Brothers Piggett by Julie Kagawa
4 stars
This was a dark retelling of The Three Little Pigs.
No, seriously! That ending is freaky!
Loved Kagawa's creepy twist on the tale.

Untethered by Sonia Gensler
4 stars
It's a ghost story with twist...
Well played, Ms. Gensler. I didn't see it coming.
Here was another one that had me burning up Google till the wee hours of the morning. What fairytale was this based on?!
Well, I think I found it!
Mwahahahaha!
Ok, there's this obscure tale called, The Shroud. Has anyone heard of it?
Yeah. Didn't think so.
Anyone else got a better guess?

Better by Shaun Hutchinson
4 stars
I love that this one had a sci-fi setting! A clone used for medical experiments on a spaceship falls in love with a boy. She's been told she's not real, but what actually makes us human?
I'm guessing this one was Pinocchio.
I'm a REAL boy!
And by the way, does anybody know if Pinocchio is in the Grimm collection? I can't find anything definitive, and if not, it would go a long way toward my Good Luck is Better Than Gold theory!
*Edit*
Huh. Not Pinocchio at all. This one is actually based on The Pied Piper of Hamelin.
Or at least that's what the author said (Thank you Shaun Hutchinson!).
And I suppose he knows what he's talking about.
There goes my Better Than Gold theory.
Damn.

Light It Up by Kimberly Derting
4.5 stars
Damn fine modern retelling of Hansel and Gretel!
Nothing says 'I love my step-kids' quite like dumping them in the woods with a cannibalistic serial killer. But the real moral of the story is...you should always wear flame retardant clothing when you are preparing to cook children.

Sharper than a Serpent's Tongue by Christine Johnson
4 stars
Cool twist on the classic Diamonds and Toads story. The good sister receives the blessing. Jewels and flowers that fall from her mouth with each word. And the bad sister receives the curse of snakes and toads falling from her mouth.
But which is the good sister, and which is really cursed?

A Real Boy by Claudia Gray
3.5 stars
Dystopian/sci-fi setting for what I'm guessing is Pinocchio. A human and an android fall in love, with a sweet Happily Ever After ending to it! Cute story.

Skin Trade by Myra McEntire
1.5 stars
This entire story made very little sense to me as I read it. Creepy musicians who are in a band, like to take women home and skin them alive. So they can sell the skin.
Uh...
One of the guys fall for a woman in the crowd...and decides to change his ways. She loves him, so I guess they live happily ever after?
Looks like this one is a retelling of The Robber Bridegroom.
Gee, can't imagine why Disney hasn't made a movie out of this yet...

Beauty and the Chad by Sarah Rees Brennan
4 stars
This story doesn't take itself seriously at all, so it's a really nice addition to this collection. Beauty lives in a fairytale-like reality, and the Beast (or The Chad) has been sucked into that world from ours. Beauty is honorable, and tries to take on her father's (alleged) debt to The Chad, by pretending to be a boy.
Doesn't make sense?
Don't worry, it totally does, Dude!
Very cute Beauty and the Beast!

The Pink by Amanda Hocking
4 stars
This was (yet another) story I hadn't heard of, but Hocking made it easy to find. The Pink is the actual name of the story she retold, so...yeah. Thank you!
This one follows the original closely, with the exception of what happens to the Queen and King in the end.
The gist is that a young prince, who has the gift of wishes, gets kidnapped by an evil palace cook. He wishes for a female BFF, and they eventually fall in love.
Now all they need to do is get their HEA, right?
I gave it an extra half star for telling me a new fairytale!

Sell Out by Jackson Pearce
3 stars
Modern day retelling of Snow White, but from the perspective of the prince. Prince Charming is broke, has a crappy home life, and lots of bills. However, his kiss can raise the dead. Somehow, he works for an agency that sells services like his to the upper crust. He makes his living reviving dead rich folks and their kids. Guess it doesn't pay much, though.
Enter the evil step-mother.
Will he take her bribe and leave Snow dead?
Eh. It was ok, and it was definitely a different take on the classic.

So.
Some average stories, lots of good ones, a few stinkers, and a couple that blew me away.
This is one of the better anthologies I've read, and I had a ton of fun reading this sucker! I'd highly recommend it to fans of this genre. Besides, I want you to read it, and let me know if you guys think I've got any of these stories wrong!

I received a digital arc of this book from NetGalley.

[Nemo (The ☾Moonlight☾ Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 average

Grim is a collection of 17 short stories based off fairy tales collected by Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm. Some of the tales are better known such as Beauty and the Beast and The Snow Queen, and some are lesser known, such as The Shroud and The Robber Bridegroom.

Overall Grimm was quite a good book and served to introduce me to a range of new authors, some of whom I have become instant fans. Grimm is good as a taster of sorts, to try out authors without committing to a full-length novel. I’m not reviewing each individual story here: for that, you can see my status updates underneath this review.

The only 1 star story was:
Skin Trade (The Robber Bridegrom) by Myra McEntire
I believe this one to be the most poorly written. I know short stories have brevity but this missed out a whole lot of details and made me feel like I was only getting half the story. I was also unsatisfied with the conclusion as it left too many threads open.

The 2 star stories were okay:
Before the Rose Bloomed (The Snow Queen) by Ellen Hopkins
The Pink (The Carnation) by Amanda Hocking
The Raven Princess (The Raven) by Jon Skovron. (2.5)
These three stories were straight retellings, just the original fables in the author’s own words, with nothing unique or twisty or particularly dark about them, and sometimes didn’t take full advantage of the fairy tale elements of their particular story. They were written in a strangely detached way which meant I didn't care about the characters, and I wasn’t impressed, although they were fine as straight retellings.

I liked the 3 star stories:
The Key (Bluebeard) by Rachel Hawkins
Light It Up (Hansel & Gretel) by Kimberly Derting
Sharper Than a Serpent's Tongue (Diamonds and Toads) by Christine Johnson
Sell Out (Snow White) by Jackson Pearce
These were good stories with clever twists, but they were missing a certain oomph, often had strange or sudden endings, and in my humble opinion weren’t as imaginative or as well written as the higher rated ones. I also had different issues with each story and can sum it up as they simply didn’t hit all my buttons.

I really enjoyed the 4 star stories:
The Twelfth Girl (12 Dancing Princesses) by Malinda Lo
Thinner Than Water (Cat-Skin) by Saundra Mitchell (4.5)
Untethered (The Shroud) by Sonia Gensler
A Real Boy (Pinocchio) by Claudia Gray
Beauty and the Chad (Beauty and the Beast) by Sarah Rees Brennan
These stories had imaginative, unique twists and were beautifully written, and used the fairy tale elements in clever, unique ways. I’m going to look up the authors that I’ve not read before up, because I imagine their full-length novels would be just as good.

The 5 star stories were amazing:
Figment (Puss in Boots) by Jeri Smith-Ready
Beast/Beast (Beauty and the Beast) by Tessa Gratton
The Brothers Piggett (The Three Little Pigs) by Julie Kagawa
Better (The Pied Piper) by Shaun David Hutchinson
These stories made me instant fans of the authors. I want each in a full-length novel. Not only were they beautifully written, but the fairy tale elements were used in a unique, imaginative way to assist in the amazing world building, and I had ALL THE FEELS while reading these stories. They made my heart sing with love. I’ve not read any of these authors before but I am for sure going to get my grubby little mitts on their books, because anyone who can create that level of emotion in me with just a short story deserves all their books to be read.

Thanks to HarlequinTeen and Netgalley for providing this review copy for an honest review.

[Beatrice · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of short stories is narrated by Christine Johnson and I enjoyed her narration. Some stories are good and promising, some are just horrible.

The Key by Rachel Hawkins - The psychic story is a good start but it was cut too short and ended vaguely. [3.5/5 stars]

Figment by Jeri Smith- Ready - A sweet friendship between Eli and Fig. I really like it. [4/5 stars]

The Twelfth Girl by Malinda Lo - I fell asleep on some parts. So boring. [1/5 stars]

The Raven Princess by Jon Skovron - I like this. [3/5 stars]

Thinner than Water by Saundra Mitchell -The darkness of the story shook me. The king married his daughter but the author's writing style is compelling which is a win for me. Out of the retellings, this one stood out for me. [4.5/5 stars]

Before the Rose Bloomed by Ellen Hopkins - This Snow Queen retelling fell flat. [1/5 stars]

Beast / Beast by Tessa Gratton - A great retelling of Beauty and the Beast [4/5 stars]

The Brothers Piggett by Julie Kagawa - This is an okay story. Kinda weird. [2/5 stars]

Untethered by Sonia Gensler - [3/5 stars] - Good writing style but not a fan of the story.

Better by Shaun David Hutchinson - Better than I expected. Wonderful story indeed! [4/5 stars]

Light It Up by Kimberly Derting - [2 /5 stars] - A "meh" retelling of Hansel and Gretel.

Sharper Than a Serpent's Tongue by Christine Johnson - It's okay and kinda miss. [2/5 stars]

A Real Boy by Claudia Gray - [3/5 stars] - I'm not familiar of this retelling but it's good.

Beauty and the Chad Sarah Rees Brennan - Why are Beauty and the Beast retellings are good? It's so adorable [4/5 stars]

The Pink by Amanda Hocking - Another retelling I'm not familiar with. It's good but the ending was a bit boring. [3/5 stars]

Sell Out by Jackson Pearce - This can be good but the ending just... [3.5/5 stars]

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love short stories. There's no better way to find new authors than to pick up a well-done anthology written by multiple authors.

I also love fairy tale retellings. More than I probably should. Robin McKinnley's books, the recently released and super fantastic Roses by G.R. Mannering, the short story collection Black Pearls by Louise Hawes...I love discovering retellings in all forms and fashions.

Grim, an anthology written by some of my favorite authors, was no exception. Not only did it include some awesome fairy tales, including some lesser known ones, it also had terrific contributors. Perhaps the biggest thing I would nitpick on the collection as a whole is that it does not include any information about the original tales, so I had to guess at one or two. But otherwise, as a single, cohesive book, I'd definitely give Grim four stars. Even my least favorite stories (other than one...I'll get to that) are well written and enjoyable.

That being said, not all stories are created equal! So I'll do a brief breakdown of the short stories.



The Key by Rachel Hawkins, based on Bluebeard
I wanted this story to be a book. I love Rachel Hawkins already, and as I was reading, I kept wishing the story was expanded and turned into a full-on novel. At one point I looked up and was sad when I remembered I was reading a short story collection and NOT a new Rachel Hawkins book. It was a great opener to the anthology.

Figment by Jeri Smith-Ready, based on Puss-in-Boots
This is one I had to look up. The tale sounded familiar, but I couldn't place the exact original. Still, it was entertaining and well-done. (As a side note, paranormal romance fans should check out Smith-Ready's Shade series. It's a great paranormal ghost series. I'm not usually a huge fan of the "human sees ghost of boyfriend" story, but I really enjoyed the Shade world.)

The Twelfth-Girl by Malinda Lo, based on the Twelve Dancing Princesses
I liked this variation of the Twelve Dancing Princesses because of the boarding school aspect, but I'm not entirely certain I was a fan of it otherwise. I appreciate and like how Malinda Lo's other books are often retellings that have a great LGBT theme, but her inclusion of a crush on the "head" dancing girl seemed forced. This is one story I felt would have been better as an entire novel because it could have fleshed out the relationships and characters, but it didn't quite make it as a short story.

The Raven Princess by Jon Skovron, based on The Raven (no, not Poe's)
This was another one I had to look up, and I was a bit sad I did. The story isn't much of a retelling of the original Brothers Grimm tale. It's basically the same exact narrative, with a minor twist about the mother at the end. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, either.

Thinner than Water by Saundra Mitchell, based on Cat-Skin
This one was disturbing, yet wickedly entertaining, and I love the ending most of all. However, be warned it includes some nonconsensual incest (although not very graphic), so it may be a bit of a trigger for some readers. (I had to look up the original, because I had no clue what it was based on.)

Before the Rose Bloomed by Ellen Hopkins, based on The Snow Queen
The best thing this one had going for it was that specified the original tale in the title. Because I couldn't get past the first couple of lines, I really have nothing much to say about this. I know some people absolutely adore Ellen Hopkins, but she's just not my cup o' tea.

I just don't believe that
breaking up text like this

in the middle of a line just
to make it a certain length

makes it a great poem. Especially
if when the words are strung

together the sentences would be
just fine when written as prose.

It makes it harder to read.

Beast/Beast by Tessa Gratton, based on Beauty and the Beast
For some reason, I absolutely love Beauty and the Beast retellings. I'm obviously not alone, because it's been done often. Gratton's story wasn't the worst I've read, but it wasn't the best, either.

The Brothers Piggett by Julie Kagawa, based on The Three Little Pigs
I never know what to expect from Julie Kagawa. Sometimes I love her, and sometimes I really, really don't. The Brothers Piggett was one of the better retellings in Grim, if only because it managed to deviate the most from the original tale while still remaining true to the story. The twist was a bit predictable, but I loved it just the same. I don't want to say much, because to say what I liked about it would spoil it, but if you read just one book from this story, I'd say read this one.

Untethered by Sonia Gensler, based on The Shroud
This is an author I have not read before, and I enjoyed the story quite a bit. It was a bit odd, and some people may have seen the twist sooner, but either because I wasn't familiar with the original (I had to look it up) or because I was tired, I was a bit shocked when I realized what happened. This is probably the only story I felt like I had to read twice to catch the clues I missed the first time.

Better by Shaun David Hutchinson, based on The Pied Piper
I like how this one took a scifi approach to the fairy tale. So many other retellings tend to use a fantasy-based approach. It also had a great ending.

Light it Up by Kimberly Derting, based on Hansel and Gretl
This is a realistic fiction retelling of a fairy tale. Instead of a witch in a cottage made of candy, it's an older man who also works as a park ranger. Two teens are abandoned by their step-mother. Otherwise, it's pretty much the same story as the original. It's not bad, but it's not great, either. (Maybe I'm just disappointed because I expected better of Kimberly Derting, another favorite author, and because I recently read the Hansel and Gretl retelling by Leigh Bardugo, which was fabulous.)

Sharper than a Serpent's Tongue by Christine Johnson, based on Diamonds and Toads
I won't rag on it, because it wasn't a horrible story, but this short story was probably one of the weaker ones in the anthology.

A Real Boy by Claudia Gray, based on Pinocchio
Another scifi variation. Kind of meh. However, it does include one of my favorite themes found in ya scifi – what it means to be human. (See also Frozen/Skinned by Robin Wasserman, The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna, The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson, among many others.)

Skin Trade by Myra McEntire, based on The Robber Bridegroom
Meh. (But check out her book Hourglass . It's good!)

Beauty and the Chad by Sarah Rees Brennan, based on Beauty and the Beast
Another BatB retelling! This one was a bit...weird. And very, very different. Definitely not my favorite, but it had its amusing moments.

The Pink by Amanda Hocking, based on The Pink (also known as The Carnation)
I had to look this one up. I actually couldn't remember any of it as I was reviewing this, so I had to read it again. I think that speaks to how unmemorable it was. Not bad, just...not great.

Sell Out by Jackson Pearce, based on Snow White (or Sleeping Beauty, maybe?)
OK, so while reading this, I thought more of the show Pushing Daisies than the story Snow White. Instead of focusing on the maiden who needs to be revived by 'love's true kiss,' this story is about a boy who can bring people back to life with a single kiss. I really enjoyed this tale, and it really made me wonder why I haven't read Jackson Pearce's Fairytale Retellings series. This story was a great ending to the anthology, and it reinforces my love of short story anthologies. Because of Grim, I "found" a new author to read. (OK, so I knew about Pearce before, but for some reason I kept putting off reading his books. This collection made me move them up in the queue.)


Thanks to Harlequin Teen via Netgalley for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

[gio · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.9

Buddy read with Simo and Aurora :)
Reading one short story per day.

April 1, day one:
The key by Rachel Hawkins: 3 stars
A retelling of Bluebeard, The key was a quick enjoyable short story. However, it was also extremely short, I would have liked to see more when it came to the ending.

April 2, day two:
Figment by Jeri Smith Ready: 4 stars
I liked this short story so much, I think I'm going to check out some books by this author. Puss in boots was one of my favourite fairytales and this one was a good retelling in my opinion. Extremely cute though, not creepy at all.

April 3, day three:
The twelfth girl by Malinda Lo: 2 stars
This short story is my least favourite so far, I just didn't connect with it at all.

April 4, day four:
The Raven princess by Jon Skovron: 3 stars
I didn't love it, but I liked the ending so...I guess it was enjoyable.

April 5, day five:
Thinner than water by Saundra Mitchell: 3.5 stars
Another good one, finally.

April 6, day six:
Before the rose bloomed by Ellen Hopkins: 1.5 stars
Not my cup of tea. Someone might consider it beautiful, narrating in verses, but for me it simply didn't work. So, no rating for now, because I have to think about it.

April 7, day seven:
Beast/Beast by Tessa Gratton: 4 stars
Probably one of my favourite stories in this antology, Beast/Beast was quite creepy and beautiful at the same time.

April 8, day eight:
The brothers Piggett by Julie Kagawa: 3 stars
Considering how much I love Julie's writing and world-building I was disappointed by this short story. But since what I like more about her stories is the world-building and this is a short story I should have seen it coming.

April 10, day nine:
Untethered by Sonia Gensler: 3 stars
I probably didn't get the point of this short story...

April 11, day ten:
Better by Shaun David Hutchinson: 2 stars
Uhm. WTH.

April 12, day eleven:
Light it up by Kimberly Derting: 3 stars
Nice retelling, though I still have problems with Derting's writing style.

April 13, day twelve:
Sharper than a Serpent's tongue by Christine Johnson: 2.5 stars
Eh. Average.

April 14, day thirteen:
A real boy by Claudia Gray: 4 stars
Finally another cute short story...I thought they would be creepy but I'm not complaining since I like the cute ones.

April 16, day fourteen:
Skin Trade by Myra McEntire: 3 stars
Kind of creepy, but still these short story are way too simple and the ending is always so...abrupt.

April 17, day fifteen:
Beauty and The Chad by Sarah Rees Brennan: 2
Dude, what was that? Never thought I'd give Brennan's short story two stars...

April 18, day sixteen:
The pink by Amanda Hocking: 3 stars
Plain, simple story. Nothing amazing but not bad.

April 19, day seventeen:
Sell out by Jackson Pearce: 3.5 stars
I've read a book by Pearce and I remember liking it so I went into this short story knowing that it wouldn't be bad. I hope it would be a little bit longer but...it was okay.

Overall I can't say that Grim lived up to my expectations. There are more beautiful collections of short stories out there.

[Kira Simion · Rating 4 out of 5]

As some of you know, Julie Kagawa is one of my favorite authors (for now) so I'm reading this because of
1. Retellings. Love em'.
2. Julie.
3. The cover. 0-0 Anyone want to teach me how to design covers like that?

Edit:

I rated this anthology as a whole. I really like retellings and as a whole, this book was splendid! I had some trouble figuring out a lot of the fairy tales though. >.>

While some were shorter than others and better, I blame either the theme and or the length.

4/5 stars.

[Larissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

You can also find this review at YA Midnight Reads


Grim is an anthology written by some great YA authors. The short stories that make up it are all fairy tale retellings. I enjoyed all of them to a point, with the exception of one. Some of the stories were a little bit more enjoyable and memorable than others though. Therefore, I will give a quick review of each to showcase my feelings towards each story.

The Key By Rachel Hawkins, a retell of Bluebeard

I wasn’t sure of what to expect with Rachel, her writing style is usually more humorous and I wasn’t sure how it’d fit into the fairy tale re-tell. However I shouldn’t have doubted Rachel, she wrote this story amazingly. In just the few pages she created a main character that was extremely likeable and relatable. With this short story Rachel definitely put her own spin on the Bluebeard story. In fact, I didn’t even see the final plot twist coming. It took me by surprise and I found myself reeling from the ending. This would be a case where I’d love to see this short story as a full length novel. One of my favorites of the whole anthology.

Figment by Jeri Smith-Ready, a retell of Puss in Boots

I really didn’t know much about Puss in Boots going into this short story, other than Antonio Banderas voices him in Shrek and he has some really cute eyes (; Haha. Joking aside, this was a very interesting short story. It was told in a very interesting way, I can’t tell you exactly how without spoiling things. It was truly unique though and gave the story a great voice. There was also an understated creepiness to this whole story which I quite enjoyed. In the short time this story managed to make me invested in the characters, which is quite a feat.

The Twelfth Girl by Malinda Lo, a retell of the Twelve Dancing Princesses

This story didn’t work for me. Though it did derive enough from the original for me, I had other issues with it. Writing a short story is quite difficult and you need to engage the reader from the very start, there’s no room for a slow beginning. There’s also not much room for development, therefore you need to make the most out of what you got. For me this is where the problem in this short story lied. I feel like this story was too underdeveloped and could have been better explained in some points, which instead were used for other purposes that weren’t exactly needed. There was a romance between two girls, but for me it had no development at all and appeared out of nowhere. It felt very inorganic.

The Raven Princess by Jon Skovron, a retell of The Raven

This was a retell of the classic Brother’s Grimm fairy tale and I recognized it almost immediately. Overall there wasn’t much difference between the two which was slightly disappointing. There was a twist at the end which was nice though. The compulsive writing style this short story had was quite nice. This one wasn’t bad necessarily, just not very memorable.

Thinner than Water by Saundra Mitchell, a retell of Donkeyskin

I never heard of this tale before I read this short story. This short story was probably the most mature out of all the stories in this anthology and dealt with some pretty heavy stuff. It dealt with a unwanted relationship between a beloved king and his daughter. It definitely made me uncomfortable, which was the point. It provoked me, made me feel disgust, anger and sadness. This was amplified since I adored the main character. The ending of this story was pretty open, but I really hope the main character got her deserved justice. The ending also was different from the story which this was inspired by, which was nice.

Before the Rose Bloomed by Ellen Hopkins, a retell of the Snow Queen

This was probably the most disappointing story out of all of them. I just couldn’t read it, no matter how hard I tried. It was hard to get into and didn’t keep my interest. I feel like this was due to the fact that this was told in verse. To me, it made the story clunky and it just didn’t flow. It bothered me, I could read the lines just as if they were told in regular prose. To write it in verse seemed unnecessary. When I read poetry, it needs to be written that way for a reason. It needs to have a heartbeat. For me Before the Rose Bloomed didn’t have that. If you’re looking for a better retell of the Snow Queen, I’d recommend watching Disney’s Frozen.

Beast/Beast by Tessa Gratton, a retell of Beauty & the Beast

This was good! It featured some classic elements from the original meanwhile taking some new points and melding them together to make a solid retell. The romance was quite well done and I adored the ending. I don’t really have much to say about this one. However out of the two Beauty & the Beast retellings, this one was the weak one for me. It honestly wasn’t that memorable , I really had to think about this one before writing this review.

The Brothers Piggett by Julie Kagawa, a retell of The Three Little Pigs

I was most excited to read this short story, though I never expected it to be a retell of the Three Little Pigs! Julie masterfully crafted this short story and spun the original on its head while also keeping major points from it. I really enjoyed her darker take on things and I couldn’t tear my eyes from this story. It was developed so well, and I found myself holding my breath as the climax unfolded. Even now I can remember specific details from this story, it was really that memorable. The Brothers Piggett really was one of my favorite short stories.

Untethered by Sonia Gensler, a retell of The Shroud

This one was based on a very obscure story, one that I totally never heard of before. I found myself captivated by the tale and felt genuine sympathy for two of the characters. The ending totally baffled me at first, I had to re-read it again to fully comprehend it. Yeah, the ending definitely contained a major plot twist.

Better by Shaun David Hutchinson, a retell of The Pied Piper

This one had a sci-fi setting, which I found cool. It would have been nice to have that setting described better, but I suppose this is a short story. The ending was quite interesting, included a sacrifice which is always multi-layered and complex.

Lit it up by Kimberly Derting, a retell of Hansel & Gretel

This was fairly good, though the ending did seem quite rushed. Even though the ending was rushed and basically the same as the original, it still managed to spook me. I really felt a quick connection to the character and loved the relationship between the brother & sister. It felt genuine and they brought out the best in each other.

Sharper than a Serpent’s Tongue by Christine Johnson, a retell of Diamonds and Toads

This one brought up a thought provoking question, especially with the very last line. However it felt like not much occurred in the story itself and even for a short story it felt… well short. Really would have liked more development in this one. I feel like it had a lot of potential that wasn’t met.

A Real Boy By Claudia Gray, a retell of Pinocchio

This was another sci-fi story, but I feel like it was developed better. There was also a romance in it, which I really quite enjoyed. I felt it was pretty well developed for a short story and super cute. It takes inspiration from the original without losing what made the original great. I really believe that this would make an actually great full length novel.

Skin Trade by Myra McEntire, a retell of The Robber Bridegroom

Didn’t like this one very much. It was quite mediocre and the romance felt stilted. I expected a lot from this one and sadly ended up being disappointed.

Beauty and the Chad by Sarah Rees Brennan, a retell of Beauty & the Beast

For me this was the better retelling of Beauty of the Beast. It was actually a very funny read, which surprisingly worked for me. Some of the lines actually made me laugh out loud. The romance between a modern day Beast and a Beauty from the past was adorable and entertaining to say the least. It’s a completely new and unique take on the tale, which made it one of my favorites of this collection.

The Pink by Amanda Hocking, a retell of The Pink

I hadn’t heard of this one so I looked it up. That was a mistake of mine since this retelling follows the original super closely. Minus a twist at the end, this one didn’t really bring anything new to the fairy tale.

Sell out by Jackson Pearce, a retell of Snow White/Sleeping Beauty

This one was told by a male perspective, which was very much unexpected decision. It definitely made this story different from the originals. For me the story was just getting interesting as it ended, I would like to see this one done as a full length novel. I think it was a good story to end the collection with.

Overall Grim was anthology full of fairytale retells, some better done than others. I’d definitely recommend it to those who enjoy new takes on classic stories.

~Thank you Harlequin Teen for sending me this copy!~

[April (Aprilius Maximus)]

I managed to read about half of the stories, but I just can't bring myself to finish it no matter how hard I try. I find anthologies SO HARD to read.
Here are the ratings for the stories I actually did read:
The Key – 4.5 stars
Figment – 3 stars
The Twelfth Girl – 3
The Raven Princess – 2
Thinner than water – 4
Before the Rose Bloomed – 3
Beast/Beast – 3

[Wendy Darling · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars The big standouts for me from this collection were three authors I'd never read before but will be seeking out immediately:

Sonia Gensler, Shaun Hutchinson, and Saundra Mitchell.

I liked the majority of the rest, though I was indifferent to a few as well. Quick reactions to some:


"The Key" by Rachel Hawkins
3.5 stars--nice, if short, updated take on Bluebeard

"Figment" by Jeri Smith -Ready
3 stars--cute "Puss in Boots" story

"The Twelfth Girl" by Malinda Lo
2 stars, DNF

"The Raven Princess" by Jon Skovron
3 stars--the ending is what saves this one

"Thinner than Water" by Saundra Mitchell
Extremely well-written, but pushes my comfort level. Totally get that it's an update on "Donkeyskin," I'm not too keen on incest being presented for YA where there's so little room to explore such a bewildering, emotional, and devastating topic. I'm very interested in reading this author's other books now, though, I just loved her writing style.

"Before the Rose Bloomed" by Ellen Hopkins
DNF

"Beast / Beast" by Tessa Gratton
3 stars

"The Brothers Piggett" by Julie Kagawa
DNF

"Untethered" by Sonia Gensler
5 stars Love, love, loved this one, and will be seeking out stories by this author ASAP. Great plot twist.

"Better" by Shaun David Hutchinson
4 stars - really, really liked this one as well. Great ending.

"Light it Up" by Kimberly Derting
3 stars Eventually became an interesting update on Hansel and Gretel.

"Sharper Than a Serpent‘s Tongue" by Christine Johnson
3 stars

"Sell ​​Out" by Jackson Pearce
3 stars I liked this, but could have used a little more at the end.

[Rashika (is tired)]

***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

This is definitely one interesting collection of tales and I have to say, I definitely enjoyed it on the whole. I’ve had my ups and downs while reading this, but generally, it was pleasurable reading most of these stories. Of course, there are quite a few for which I didn’t know the original tale on which the retelling was based, so I wouldn’t be able to compare and contrast the original with the retelling, but to me they were all unique in their own ways even if not all of them were enjoyable.

The Key

This short story wasn’t as creepy as I would have imagined it to be, but it sure as hell was fun. After finishing it, I was left with a lot of questions, but the open ending is also something that works for this story. It was enjoyable, but I wouldn’t complain if there had been more to give us a better idea of what was going on.

Figment

This one wasn’t scary so much as it was sweet. The characters were all interesting and I definitely enjoyed reading it. I don’t know what else to say in all honesty, because the story left me with such a huge smile on my face. It reminded me of when I was a kid and it kind of just makes me want to give a group hug to all my soft toys (I still have most of them!). Definitely worth it.

The Twelfth Girl

This short story definitely had the eerie like quality to it that can make your heart beat faster and can make you want to crawl under the covers, but at the same time, I also felt something was missing.  I am not sure what exactly, but I felt like there could have been more - something that would have made the pieces click. Overall though, fun story.

The Raven Princess

This story was slightly different from the others, and I’d say a little silly as well. While I did like it, I was more tempted to roll my eyes than not after finishing it. It was just so childish in some ways and reminded me of the kind of fairy tales your parents read to you at bed time (even if this is a retelling).

Thinner than Water

While the story is good, I did not enjoy it. I was repulsed by the idea and couldn’t begin to wrap my head around it. Incest makes me incredibly uncomfortable (like it would most people) and it was just so hard to swallow no matter the outcome so I couldn’t enjoy this story. I have to say though; it IS grim and well written and has a great story arc considering that it’s only a short story.

The Rose Bloomed

Weird writing style aside (at first I thought it was the formatting but it turns out that’s how the author writes), the story was enjoyable but at the same time there was no spark to it. It was fun, quick, and sweet, but it lacked something that would make it stand apart and make it more than just likeable, something that would make it memorable. Sadly though, it lacked that spark and so while I enjoyed it, there wasn’t much to it.

Beast/Beast

Rather incomplete, I’d think. When it ended my first thought was its over? Already? I loved reading it (not surprising since I love Beauty and the Beast) but I wouldn’t say it was particularly grim and because of its short length it left a lot to be desired. Still, I loved the author’s writing style and was thoroughly engrossed in this tale.

The Brother’s Piggett

Holy guacamole! This was a grim take on the Three Little Pigs. I actually kind of expected that twist but at the same time I was still taken a back. I have to say, this one really fits well in this collection because it is so grim. In fact it's almost like everyone was a villain in their own way. With that said, I cannot really find any faults in this tale, it was a short story and it worked well as one.

Untethered

I LOVE the writing style and the weird twist in the end took me by surprise. I ended up going back to read the story and wow.  I like. I really do like. I am definitely reading more stuff by this author in the future. I just hope it'll be as gorgeous as this short story was.

Better

Uhh, yeah. I didn’t like this one. It has an interesting sci-fic setting so there is that, but I feel like that it was more of a drawback instead of an advantage for this fairy tale. I mean it does give it a unique feel but at the same time, it feels less like a fairy tale.  I also didn’t like the ending. The ending did not work for me in the least and really bothered me. Oh well.

Light it Up

This one was SO good. I really loved the relationship between Greta and Hansen and I think the author really did do a good job with this re-telling. In spite of its shortness, there is a well defined story arc and I felt pretty satisfied in the end.

Sharper than a Serpent’s Tongue

I found this story to be somewhat insufficient. There are still some things I don’t understand and I think because of the shortness of it, there are quite a few chunks that just seem to be missing. It’s not developed really well to be honest and I just wish there was more. I think this might have been more interesting as a full length-novel.

A Real Boy

This story was ridiculous, but I never really disliked it. Not that I liked it, but I didn’t dislike it either. I just thought it was annoying. The romance was pretty meh, and it did have an insta-feel to it. I mean it is a short story but at the same time, the romance really rubbed me in the wrong way. So did the main character. Even with a short story like this, I could not get behind the main character. I did not like her in the least and I wonder if this story would have been better as a novel rather than a short story. It would mean there would be more room for development which this story seems to lack in my opinion.

Skin Trade

I don’t even know how to describe this story. It was just incredibly weird and not in a good way. My face kind of looked like this...



... after finishing this short story. I don’t even know. It’s less creepy and more question mark inducing.

Beauty and the Chad

This was the most adorable story ever. It puts a twist on the original Beauty and the Beast where the beast is a modern day frat boy who has been transported to a different time and Beauty dresses up like a dude (if you've read this anthology and this story you'll get this) to help Beast out with his horses. I was laughing the whole time I read reading this story and I could tackle hug Sarah for writing someone so entertaining and so hilarious and SO ORIGINAL!

The Pink

I don’t actually know where to start with this one. I liked the story, but I felt like it was underdeveloped. Reading it left much to be desired in terms of development. Some may say it's hard to achieve such with short stories, but it's hard to believe that in this case seeing the other stories in this anthology were able to grow and develop their characters.

Sell Out

This one did not end this collection with the bang one would have hoped for. I am kind of disappointed, in all honesty. All that from a painting? Really? Or did I miss something? It seemed way too rushed and therefore was a huge disappointment, considering that I’ve heard tons of praise about the author’s other works.

Overall...

The weird thing about this collection is that not all the stories were grim, in spite of what the title of this collection might suggest, but this didn’t stop me from enjoying some of the funner ones. Figment was one of my favorites if not my favorite because in spite of the lightness of it, it just made me want to be a kid again and even thinking about it brings happy tears to my eyes. The Key was also another noteable one for me because there was just something about the way Hawkins wrote it that just made my heart beat faster. The Brothers Piggett was one that definitely caught my attention. It was bursting with originality and put such a unique spin on the original tale and I just adored it. Untethered really got me in the feels though. It was gorgeously written.

As you can tell, this collection will make you laugh, make you feel nostalgic, scare you and perhaps gross you out. It is such an interesting collection of tales and in spite of the fact I didn’t love every single one of these, it’s a collection worth reading.

[Eleanor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm going with about a 2.5 stars. My actual rating was somewhere around 3 but to be honest, this really disappointed me. I just felt that so many of the stories didn't fit with the theme, and weren't the dark, whimsical, magical stories I thought I was going to get from this. Most of them were pretty simplistic, pretty cliché, and pretty unoriginal and not at all creative. I just felt that the authors could have done so much more with this premise that they were given. I like to read anthologies because it can introduce me to knew authors who I will hopefully love, without going through the stress of reading one of their books and then potentially not liking it. However, there were many in here. I haven't really written any full reviews for anthologies before, but here are some basic things I took from this book.

Authors who I would read again:
~ Saundra Mitchell
~ Ellen Hopkins
~ Tessa Gratton (who I have read before)

So now, here are my thoughts on the stories.

The Key by Rachel Hawkins ~ 2.5 stars
- This was okay but quite short. Although the story was kind of interesting it wasn't really that memorable and I couldn't really see which fairy-tale it was inspired by? The writing was pretty...mediocre. I thought it was just....extremely average.

Figment by Jeri Smith-Ready ~ 2 stars
- I think this was my least favourite story in the whole anthology. It was super weird and not really dark at all and didn't have much atmosphere. I didn't really like the plot or the writing in general. Although I can see it was inspired by Puss in Boots, I didn't fit with what I thought this anthology would be.

The Twelfth Girl by Malinda Lo ~ 2.5 stars
- This was darker and more interesting plot wise, but some parts were kind of petty? Like teenage girls wanting to be popular and party? Plus the writing felt really young - not simplistic, but the way a middle grade book is kind of written.

The Raven Princess by Jon Skovron ~ 3 stars
- This was marginally better than the others but I still had some issues. It finally did feel like a fairy-tale and I loved that element of it! However, the writing was kind of clunky in places and also the dialogue swung between being really old fashioned and almost modern, and I couldn't tell whether it was trying to be funny or if it was just poorly written.

Thinner Than Water by Saundra Mitchell ~ 4 stars
- Things picked up a bit here and I was starting to feel quite hopeful. I really loved this one - and I knew the fairy-tale, even though it is quite an obscure one. The writing was pretty and I really really adored the female empowerment aspects.

Before the Rose Bloomed: A Retelling of the Snow Queen by Ellen Hopkins ~ 4 stars.
- I really loved this one too! It had such beautiful poetry and I thought it was really beautiful. I loved how the verse increased by a line each part. The problem I had with this one though - it wasn't really a 'twisted retelling'? It just was the Snow Queen. With like the exact same story. I wish it had taken a little detour.

Beast/Beast by Tessa Gratton ~ 4.5 stars
- Look, they put all my favourite bunched together in one place. This story was everything I wanted from this whole anthology. It was whimsical and dark and beautiful written and basically had the atmosphere that I expected this whole book to have. THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE IT.

The Brothers Pigett by Julie Kagawa ~ 3.5 stars
- On this one, I have mixed feelings. On some scale, I enjoyed it, and the writing was pretty good quality. However, I wasn't a huge fan of the story itself. It went in a direction that I don't think it perhaps should have, and I really didn't like the way it ended. Again, it was dark, but...argh I didn't like it?

Untethered by Sonia Gensler ~ 2.5 stars
- This one remembered literally zilch about and had to strain my brain cells to even remember what I was talking about in my notes. But basically, I remember this was really really short and that I couldn't find a fairy-tale in my mind that it connected to and it was just kind of pointless.

Better by Shaun David Hutchinson ~ 3 stars
- I've never read anything by Shaun David Hutchinson but I think people say his books are sort of weird? This was. It was an interesting weird, but also - which fairy-tale? And also - how does this fit in the anthology? The concept was interesting, but I didn't really like the writing style.

Light it Up by Kimberly Derting ~ 2.5 stars
- Ahhh help my brain because I remember nothing! What was this even about? Wow, shows how unmemorable it is. I wrote down that it felt more like a fairy-tale but I didn't like the writing and the story did nothing for me? I'm wracking my brains but I remember absolutely nothing about this at all. I guess it really did nothing for me. OHHH wait this was about Hansel and Gretel. Yep, this one was a little weird. Didn't really like it.

Sharper Than A Serpents Tongue by Christine Johnson ~ 2.5 stars
- This had some interesting ideas but the story was kind of uncreative. I saw some modern themes in there that I liked but aside from that, it was basically just the original fairy-tale in a modern setting, and it was just so! un! creative! And the writing was just average.

A Real Boy by Claudia Grey ~ 3 stars
- Okay, but technically Pinocchio isn't a fairy-tale...but its fine. I liked this one. It was more original and had the beginnings of an interesting world. However, I really struggle with the idea of robots having feelings because...??? But it was fun!

Skin Trade by Myra McEntire ~ 3.5 stars
- This was finally dark and creepy again and just great! But it was really short and I just don't feel it was explained enough. I loved the concept but I wish it had been longer. I would love to read a full length book based more around this concept.

Beauty and the Chad by Sarah Rees Brennan ~ 3 stars
- This just totally ruined the atmosphere I was looking for once and for all, but at this point, I had given up. At least it was funny and heart-warming! Just not my kind of thing. More of a me, not you thing this time although why can't it be bloody and dark -

The Pink by Amanda Hocking ~ 4 stars
- This actually surprised me because I have read other books by Amanda Hocking....and hated them. This was magical though and felt more like a fairy-tale than so many of the others and I really liked it. It had a combination of a few fairy-tales which I enjoyed.

Sell Out by Jackson Pearce ~ 2.5 stars
- Again, don't remember. It needed to be longer, apparently I liked the concept (past me says so) but it needed more development. There wasn't enough information. Well, there really wasn't enough information because I REMEMBER NOTHING.



This whole anthology for the most part was a great big pile of ehhh. It was really disappointing and honestly, this book praises these authors as being some of the best YA authors out there. Half of them I've never heard of, half of them I haven't read, and most of their stories were not something that would inspire me to give them that title. My hands hurt from typing all this disappointment. I hope I find a better anthology next time.

[Liviania · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've repeatedly mentioned that I love fairytales and love seeing them retold. How could I resist the lure of an anthology gathering some of the hottest names in YA plus a bunch of my personal favorites? There were also a few authors I haven't read, which is an advantage of anthologies - a short and sweet introduction to a new voice.

Despite the title (GRIM), not all of the stories in the collection are based on Grimm's fairytales. Some are French tales, others are Hans Christian Anderson, some are other traditional sources. Some of the sources are used more than once. They are almost all retellings, though it took me embarrassingly long to figure some of them out. For instance, opening story "The Key" by Rachel Hawkins is based on one of my favorite tales and I still didn't get it until after I finished the story. (I don't think "Untethered" by Sonia Gensler is a retelling, which makes its inclusion odd.)

I did like this anthology overall. There were a few stories that I thought were too brief, and Ellen Hawkin's prose debut left me underwhelmed. I found Sarah Rees Brennan's "Beauty and the Chad" a bit too silly at first, but it's really stuck with me. Another one of my favorite authors, Tessa Gratton, wrote a Beauty and the Beast story called "Beast/Beast," which had an intriguing take on the central relationship and its evolution. "Figment" by Jeri Smith-Ready was a standout, one I'm sure I'll re-read to put a smile on my face. Julie Kagawa's "The Brothers Piggett" was another simple, silly one, but I enjoyed its gruesome twists. Another favorite of mine was "Sharper Than a Serpent's Tongue" by editor Christine Johnson. It's a tale of two sisters, but they aren't the straightforward bad sister and good sister of classic fairytales.

If you're a fan of fairytales or any of these authors, then GRIM is a wonderful choice for you. I do wish the anthology had been all Grimm fairytales, with no repeats, but as it is, some of the repeats were my favorites. The book does stand out in diversity, both in authors and characters.

[Shaun Hutchinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't normally rate or review books I've written, but since I only wrote one story in this anthology, I feel justified.

Every single story in GRIM is a treasure. Some are more literal interpretations of their fairytale counterparts, some simply embody the spirit of the fairytale they're based on, but all are unique, well written, and wonderful. This is one for reading aloud on a dark winter's night.

[Aurora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buddy read with Simo and Giovanna c;

Day 1 ~> The Key by Rachel Hawkins
4 stars out of 5
It was a very pretty read and I really enjoyed it but it was very short so you don't really have a ending and I would have liked to see how it really finish but it was good too.

Day 2 ~> Figment by Jeri Smith Ready
4 stars out of 5 stars
This was a really really good story and I really liked it.
It was a retelling of puss in boots and I don't really like the real story but this one was very good written and I liked a lot the ending.

Day 3 ~> The twelfth girl by Malinda Lo
2 stars out of 5
It was bad written in my opinion, no sense and I didn't really understand the whole story meaning. It was predictable and boring so 2 stars cause I'm a kind girl and I don't like to give 1 star.

Day 4 ~> The raven Princess by Jon Skovron
3.5 stars out of 5 stars
It was a well written story but some point were pretty bad and boring probably because that since the half of the story I haven't really understood a lot of the entire thing but whatever. It was quick but nothing special.

Day 5 ~> Thinner than water by Saundra Mitchell
3 stars.
So this little story is enjoyable but I felt nothing and I don't know cause I really just liked the end but 3 stars cause it was okay.

Day 6 ~> Before the rose bloomed by Ellen Hopkins
1.5 stars
Okay so I'll never read a book by Ellen Hopkins. First thing first I don't like poetry -the real one- and then this author tried to write in verse like it was some kind of poetry. Are you fucking kidding me? I mean what's wrong with you?
And it was also boring.

Day 7 ~> Beast/Beast by Tessa Graton
4.5 out of 5 stars
This has been the best short story of the book since now.
I liked how it was written and I really liked this retelling also cause I like the real story.

Day 8 ~> The brothers Pigget by Julie Kagawa
2.5 stars out of 5
I don't know, I don't like how Kagawa writes, I don't know there's something that I don't like and I'll probably be the black sheep right now cause lots of people like her books but this story didn't convince me at all and also the "final plot twist" -if we can call it like that- was nothing special.

Day 9 ~> Untethered by
2.5 stars out of 5
Did I understand this story? Didn't I? Probably the second.
This story is just weird and I just cannot connect a lot so I don't know I just liked the character's name and so that is why my 2 stars cause I really I just didn't understand that much of what really happened.

Day 10 ~> Better by Shaun Davis Hutchinson
No rating out of 5 stars
What was that? I didn't understand anything I mean Okayy.

Day 11 ~> Light it up by Kimberly Derting
3 out of 5 stars
I don't know, the story was good but her writes was a bit boring I mean I don't know too how it is but it's not that comfortable.

Day 12 ~> Sharper than a serpent's tongue by Christine Johnson
3.5 out of 5 stars
This was good, I liked it. A bit creepy but overall it was creative.

Day 13 ~> A real boy by Claudia Gray
3 out of 5 stars
The story was cute but the writing was just not the best for me.

Day 14 ~> Skin Trade by Myra McEntire
2.5 out of 5 stars
This was ok I guess. I don't really know what to say about it.

Day 15 ~> Beauty and the Chad by Sarah Rees Brennan
3 out of 5 stars
This story was fine I don't know but it was good.

Day 16 ~> The pink by Amanda hocking.
4 out of 5 stars
This one was probably the cutest and I enjoyed it a lot. I really liked this one.

Day 17 ~> Sell out by Jackson Pearce
4.5 out of 5 stars
This one is probably the best. Loved it even if it was too short. ugh

This one was my first collection of short stories and my expectations were high and I don't know the book was fine but not as good as I wanted it to be.
Overall thanks for Gio and Simo for this experience

[Stuti Rai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grim is, purportedly, an anthology of grim retellings of childhood fairytales, of course foregoing the fact for a moment that most of these stories have a grimmer, gorier, disturbing origin. However, to me, it was less grim- which has always implied, again to me, heartbroken mermaids howling eternally in the wind, a kingdom barren for centuries et cetra, et cetra, and Grim turned out to be oh-shit! screwed it up, we did! or oh man! what a creative twist on the original story. Not it lessened my enjoyment, but I was expecting stories with completely different atmospheres than what we have here.

Here's a fact: above all, I love fairytales and their retellings. I like to see how creatively, how originally one can maneuver around the core story. Sometimes, it's like little screw-yous to Disney or Anderson, other times it's homage, or just revising tales one could never get enough of. Grim did not, sirs and ma'ams, disappoint in that respect.

Here's fiction:

The Key by Rachel Hawkins: 2.5 stars
This was a simple, strightforward story whose twist I saw coming. What did manage to catch my eye(heh heh, it's in the story) was that Ms Hawkins instilled in one short story that engaging factor of her full-length novels. Grim? So very not. Girl, you are going to befucked up any second now? So muchos yes.

Figment by Jeri-Smith Ready: 3 stars
So not grim yet it was nostalgic. It's a story of the forever life of a small creature- a figment- who can help you achieve you dreams. It had a solid beginning that tapered down in the middle, with a defining end. A bi-concave lens!(Dudes, I am so lame. This is a cry for help, geddit?)

The Twelfth Girl by Malinda Lo: 4 stars
Harley was the kind of girl who could get away with anything...
Kudos for the beginning. Besides the numericals and the gyrating, Ms Lo's story has strayed far from the orginal fairytale. Nevertheless, it had a nice plot, featuring outspoken girls who make deals with the devil, mythical lands of patying and booze and dreams, missing sister and a despondent conclusion. Circle of life and all the shakes, folks.

The Raven Princess by Jon Skovron: 2 stars
It's a story with a traditional outline, told in conventional narrative, including cursed princesses and young men on conquests, witches interchangeable with mothers. Its one shining moment is in the end, when it breaks away from the mould not only where it concerns the romance, but the fate of our young characters and the witch interchangeable with mother. Oh and there was this pair of gay giants raising an orphan human child that convinces our brave warrior that there are things and people to meet far beyond the woods and the kingdom where a boy who won't kill has no place. Those are things I like to see in a traditional fairytale, and I do know how weird that sounds. Also, it made me happy. Happy is not spelled G-R-I-M.

Thinner Than Water by Saundra Mitchell: 5 stars
(Sadly, that is the limit I set. Why do I let myself be constricted by these meaningless norms? WHY? WHY?)
Grim to the very end. Grimmer for its ending(which kinda made me happy, made me SOARRRRR over the rooftops). Grimmest for its reflections of our society, the paradigms it draws from our civilized, hypocritical world, like the truest fairytales. Where a girl rises to the throne by having to marry her father, the king of the land, and where women who rule can't offer help and men bow down before power. Saundra Mitchell's story rocked. It was a very grim and ungly twist on the donkey-skin story, and it had a lot of cruelty excercised in it: from animal to child.

Before the Rose Bloomed: A Retelling of the Snow Queen by Ellen Hopkins: 1 star

Ah! Here it is!
The story I want to bitch

about. The story everyone bitched about. I'm
sure Ms Hopkins works can be/are really powerful, but this story? Eh.

What does the verse mean here? I like
free verse, but this is changing lines in mid of a sentence.

Brushing that aside, the story was
tradtionally told and extended, and didn't stray far from the orginal plotline.

Wholly bogus.
I didn't finish it:

maybe there's something grim at the
end, maybe there isn't. I don't care.

Beast/Beast by Tessa Gratton: 2 stars

The Beauty(not exactly, but whatever): the prose, yo. It was so graphic, the descriptions, the moss and blood and thorn and tears. Loved it. The unresolved ending, so we don't know basically anything because this was a story about their budding romance, not an adventure. That it developed from being a case of situational romace, and became more.
The Beastly(not exactly, but whatever): There isn't much about this story to entice a reader. Straightforward; nothing shocking, terrifying or beautiful. The unresolved ending, so we don't know basically anything because this was a story about their budding romance, not an adventure- there is so little in this novella that the ending was begging to be resolved.

The Brothers Piggett by Julie Kagawa:3 stars
Remeber: don't piss of the witch ladies, don't mess with the pig brothers. It doesn't end well. The MC was such a crying, whining brat even the writing seemed to be condescending towards him; the ending served him exactly right, IMO.

Untethered by Sonia Gesler: 4 stars
Even for a short story, Ms Gesler's seems slow. Yet it was poignant and atmospheric; and shocking. Like ghosts in white dresses, really.(Okay, I'm officially scared because umm...I'm alone and all the lights are out and yeah, it's an almost-summer friggin' afternoon but fuck.) Brilliant, grim writing and I'm sure checking out more of her books. Couldn't really figure whose retelling it was, though.

Better by Shaun David Hutchinson: 2 stars
She's an experiment, he's the dying son of her experimentor(?). Adults with sticks up their asses, who can't wrap their heads around new beginnings. So she and he create their own new beginning, their own new generation. Been there, read that, not much to it.

Light it Up by Kimberly Derting: 2 stars
A retelling of Hansel and Gretel, set in our world of lost magic, drained phone batteries, step moms, men in woods where you don't get signal. It's the same story with modern inputs, more or less. I liked the protagonist, however.

Sharpher than a Serpent's Tongue: 3 stars
As a story, there's very little in it. Kinda like Goldilocks, where she eats and sleeps and runs away. This one here is about curses and boons, where one might not be the other. It's like a snapshot into someone's life, of no import despite the magic because fuck-all happens, but if you start thinking about it, you'll get to discover so much.

Skind Trade by Myra McEntire: 2 stars
Confusing is the word for this chapter. I didn't get it; fighting, romance; hot, monstrous dudes in a band, it has it all. Yet the glue is mising; the magnifying glass of making sense is missing.

Beauty and the Chad by Sarah Rees Brennan: 5 stars
Trademark Brennan wit, humor and twists. Belle(or Isabelle) runs away from home to the Beast's house to keep her father's honor who can't be bothered when it comes to monsters, and serves the Beast(Chad) as a stable boy; they fall in love as boys, they almost marry as man and man, where the Chad, previously a frat boy, thinks his love is a cross-dressing stable boy and gives a lecture to the witch-y witch who cursed him, in dude-speak.

"So your village lies in the shadow of a castle in which there is always a beast, punished for his misdeeds by being trapped in the body of a ferocious killing machine? Pardon me for asking," said Beauty, "but do you never consider moving?"

Doves had appeared from somewhere-Beauty believed that the furniture had kidnapped them somehow.

It was the smile Beauty recognized, and not the eyes, in the end.

The Pink: A Grimm Story:1 star
A Nelson ha-ha!

Crappy narrative, structure of the story, writing, story. Done.(And it has six chapters.)

Thank you, Harlequin Teen!

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read This Review & More Like It At Ageless Pages Reviews


Reviewing anthologies is never easy, but I love them. It’s a brief look at many different writers and how they interpret a pretty broad topic. Anyone who’s ever read my reviews probably knows, I can’t get enough of twisted fairy tales. And I can be pretty harsh, because I read a lot of them, which only makes reviewing this collection harder. While I liked several individual stories, I also felt that more were uninspired and lacked oomph. The only fair way to do this review is to take a brief look at each chapter.

The Key by Rachel Hawkins - I found this to be a pretty “eh” retelling of Bluebeard. Instead of a wife finding a hidden closet of dead bodies in her new husband’s home, we get teenage psychics and tattooed bad boys. It wasn’t that it was unfaithful, just not inspiring. And it felt extremely short. In a book where the stories only average 30 pages, this still felt like the shortest by far. (Best Bluebeard retelling is Cruel Beauty, which mixes Bluebeard with Beauty and the Beast for creepy as fuck results. FYI.)

Figment by Jeri Smith-Ready - Very pretty prose. Well written, but I don’t think I would connect it to the source material, (Puss in Boots,) if the author hadn’t specifically included several boots references. It’s hard to find a balance between modernizing fairy tales and changing them completely and this didn’t entirely work for me as a modernization. Again, though, as a short story about luck and talent and their intersections, I did find it successful.

The Twelfth Girl by Malinda Lo - Good, interesting contemporary retelling with a creepy twist at the end. I immediately recognized it as the 12 Dancing Princesses, but it didn’t feel like a retread. I wish it was a touch longer, though.

The Raven Princess by Jon Skovron - Very straightforward retelling of the Raven. (Fairy tale, not Poe poem.) The end is different, with a “be yourself” kind of moral. The only “modernization” was the gay giants, which, while I always love to see LGBT representation, I found somewhat, token? A little on the nose? So far only The Twelfth Girl has been grim.

Thinner Than Water by Saundra Mitchell - Well there’s my grimness. Phenomenal, truly. It follows the beginning of Cat-Skin in horrifying, (and possibly triggering,) detail, before veering off to an end that is entirely the author’s construct. Again, I thought the end was a bit rushed and I was left confused if the princess had been planning this all along, or if she just happened to stumble into another queen’s camp, but that’s more than made up for by the emotionally powerful prose.

Before the Rose Bloomed by Ellen Hopkins - I don’t like the original Snow Queen and its preachy overtones, so magnifying them and including the Tree of Knowledge, didn’t work for me at all. The religious references don’t feel well integrated into the whole story, and worse, Greta never feels empowered, despite going on a globe spanning journey to rescue her boyfriend. She cries and prays and God fixes it all for her. I didn’t get the point of changing the characters names from Gerda and Kai/Kay to Greta and K. I couldn’t get a handle on a time period. Honestly, I hated it.

Beast/Beast by Tessa Gratton - Reminded me of Beauty by Robin McKinley, which isn’t a bad thing at all. I really liked Beast’s nature-inspired appearance and how that kept Beauty from being truly afraid while still being monsterous. I thought the end was really sweet, and oddly for a Harlequin Teen book, is the only one with romance so far.

The Brothers Piggett by Julie Kagawa - A violent, twisted Three Little Pigs with a hint of Sweeney Todd. Amazing. We could have condemned the “nice guy” more, but a quibble. Kagawa may have finally won me over.

Untethered by Sonia Gensler - Pretty, well written, with a surprising twist, but I wouldn’t call it, or its inspiration,The Shroud, a fairy tale.

Better by Shaun David Hutchinson - Other reviews called this a Pied Piper retelling, (as does the author; I had to look it up,) and I can see that at the very end, but I found it to be more of a scifi Pinocchio/Frankenstein hybrid. I liked it, regardless! The end was suitably creepy, the length felt right, but this is where I realized how uneven the anthology is. Nothing about this or Untethered fits with the rest of the collection. In a different anthology, I’d give Better four stars, but combined with the other stories?

Light It Up by Kimberly Derting - I liked the plot, but I had some issues with the writing. There are phrases that didn't work, like "laugh-frown" and a really weird description where the author trips over herself to emphasis that a character is white. There's also a scene with a tense change, probably for dramatic effect, but it read unintentional and sloppy. I could also have done with a dozen less "bitch"s. I'm all for teenage characters swearing like their real-life counterparts, but it got repetitive and gross. This is one I wanted to like more than I did.

Sharper than a Serpent's Tongue by Christine Johnson - I never connected with this retelling of Diamonds and Toads. In many ways, it’s, again, a very straightforward modernization. “Nice sister” gets jewels and roses when she speaks, “mean sister” gets toads and snakes. Unfortunate is the reason for the blessings. I didn’t like the sexual assault plot or the way any of it was handled at all. The last line did resonate, which brought the whole thing back from the edge, but I couldn’t get over how detached I felt from the characters.

A Real Boy by Claudia Gray - Another human falls in love with a robot story, this one actually is supposed to be based on Pinocchio. Is it any wonder I was confused by Better? I like the love story aspect better than any other story in the collection. It’s really beautifully, sweetly told. I wish there had been some more world building, but otherwise Rowan and Blue have something really good here.

Skin Trade by Myra McEntyre - Ugly.

Choppily written, lacking in plot, mindlessly violent. I have no idea what the author was even trying to do. The story is a complete mess. I almost quit. Twice. In 20 pages. This is just ugly.

Beauty and the Chad by Sarah Rees Brennan - I didn't get what the author was going for at first, but once I did, I found myself smiling at it. I didn't exactly like the story. I'm not sure the conceit worked. I found Chad's voice wildly grating. The moral was heavy handed. But I do applaud Brennan for doing something different and playing with gender/gender roles. It made me think more than I would have expected.

The Pink by Amanda Hocking - This was one of the only tales I was completely unfamiliar with, so with no preconceived notions, I liked it. The end could have had more tension and the phrasing "the pink" made me think of vaginas, not carnations.

Sell Out by Jackson Pearce - Too short. I was interested in the idea, but the execution needed a whole mess of world building.

Seventeen stories, but only seven left an impression once the book was closed. I only hated two, but I also only loved four. Unfortunately, I think the collection needed more editing. The book is called Grim and has an amazing dark, spooky cover, but most stories are anything but. A common thread of “fairy tales” can only carry an anthology so far. Some are contemporary, some are classic fantasy. One’s a ghost story, two’re sci-fi. I wish the editor had gone with one more defining characteristic in all the stories, like all contemporaries or all twisted endings. Right now, I feel like I could split these into two or three smaller collections and have them all be more successful for it.

[Mel (Epic Reading) · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 65%
Sadly these stories seem to be the B (or even C) list of what these authors could have likely provided for an anthology. The quality, editing, and overall calibre of the stories is just not there, even for the top authors listed.
Each story just seemed to come with more and more disappointment and finally I just didn’t feel any of the stories I’d read to the 65% point were worth it and thus decided the final couple were not worth my time.
It’s always a risk to let go on any anthology with different authors (as you never know if the last story is worth the whole anthology) but for me I just couldn’t be bothered or carry forward.

[Jessie Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Key (Bluebeard) by Rachel Hawkins - 3/5

I really liked this despite some qualms; it was clever and a nice modern twist on Bluebeard. I do wish it had been a bit longer because you don't really have a feel for the characters. (If you want a longer retelling, look at Sarah Cross's Killing Me Softly.)

Figment (Puss in Boots) by Jeri Smith-Ready -3.75/5

I'd never before read a Puss in Boots retelling, but this was good. Loved the fresh applications of the story and how Smith-Ready still carried the same vibe. Possibly one of the most well-written contributions to the entire anthology.

The Twelfth Girl (12 Dancing Princesses) by Malinda Lo - 3.5/5

This was good, bordering on great. Certain aspects worked well (location, diversity) but it was kinda.. flat at times? Very recognizable as a 12 Dancing Princesses but with an added air of creepitude I really enjoyed. Again, a story that would have benefited from a longer length.

The Raven Princess by Jon Skrovon - 2.75/5

A little bit grim at first, but also can feel a bit... treacly? A little... saccharine? The ending was neat, but a bit too pat and easy for an anthology named Grim.

Thinner Than Water (Cat-Skin) by Saundra Mitchell - 5/5

I freaking loved this. It brought all the grit and grimness I had been waiting for. I was unsettled by it (as I am by the Cat/Donkey Skin fairy tale in general) but thought it was GREAT how Mitchell ended it. Melura is a badass character and one I'd like to see in a full-length novel. Just maybe focused on a different fairy tale. It definitely made me curious to seek out Mitchell's novels.

Before the Rose Bloomed (The Snow Queen) by Ellen Hopkins - n/a

Skipped because verse does not work for me outside of poetry.

Beast/Beast (Beauty and the Beast) by Tessa Gratton -3/5

A decent retelling, but again, one sorely lacking the grimness promised. I appreciated Gratton's version of the characters, but didn't overly care about or invest in them.

The Brothers Piggett (The Three Little Pigs) by Julie Kagawa - 4/5

Fun, clever, almost as dark and twisty as I wanted it to be. Kagawa does a The Three Little Pigs a new kind of justice and it is so fun and awesome and GRIM.

Also now I want pie.

Untethered (The Shroud) by Sonia Gensler -2.5/5

This is one I didn't know the original story so it's hard for me to compare and judge in that regard. However, has some good prose and I liked it? I don't have much else to say.

Better (The Pied Piper) by Shaun David Hutchinson - 3/5

uhh.. sure, this is a Pied Piper retelling. If I squint and don't focus too hard. It definitely seems moreso towards the end, but most of this story does not gel with the whole "fairy tale" theme. It was grim yes, but also felt so misplaced here. Also would have been stronger without a romance.

Light It Up (Hansel & Gretel) by Kimberly Derting - 3/5

Decent, but I never really manage connect to Derting's writing or her storytelling methods just don't work for me. Add a shorter length and I was never really gonna go for for this one.

Sharper Than a Serpent's Tongue (Diamonds and Toads) by Christine Johnson - 2/5

I hard a hard time with this? It just didn't connect with me and failed to do anything really new or interesting with the established fairy tale besides using it in a modern setting. (Also Jewels in Killing Me Softly and Tear You Apart is a far more exciting example of a modern version for a Diamonds and Toads retelling.)

A Real Boy (Pinocchio) by Claudia Gray -3.5/5

Surprisingly, I really liked this because of the romance. Buuuut I am running out things to say about it. Well-written, engaging and a pretty good length.

Skin Trade (The Robber Bridegroom) by Moira McEntire - 1/5

No.

Beauty and the Chad (Beauty and the Beast) by Sarah Rees Brennan - 3.5/5

This worked better than it should have? Some parts didn't gel as well as they could, but it was pretty amusing (after all, it is Sarah Rees Brennan). Though, again, not very grim.

The Pink (The Carnation) by Amanda Hocking - 2/5

I've been complaining about length the whole time but The Pink had the opposite issue of most here -- it felt too long. It doesn't help that I've never truly enjoyed a Hocking novel; her style just does not work for me.

Sell Out (Snow White) by Jackson Pearce - 3/5

Decent, but not engrossing the way the better stories have been. It fits in the anthology and Pearce is a good storyteller, but, once again, majorly hampered by the lack of length.

Final thoughts: Grim is a mixed bag and while the theme is only carried by some of the stories, it can be a fun read. It also made me curious to seek out longer stories from Saundra Mitchell because she basically won the anthology and reaffirmed my love for Sarah Rees Brennan. Julie Kagawa also reminded me why sometimes her books and characters can be so much unexpected fun.

5-stars: 1
4-stars: 1
3.75-stars: 1
3.5-stars: 3
3-stars: 5
2.75-stars: 1
2.5-stars: 1
2-stars: 2
1-star: 1
No rating: 1

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good anthology. I liked most of the stories. Here is the full review where I rated each story individually http://booknerd777.blogspot.com/2017/...

[Brie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't always a fan of short stories or short story anthologies. Within the past year that has quickly been remedied.

I loved Grim. Love, love, love, LOVED it. Not only was it a collection of some of my favorite YA authors, but they were retellings of fairy-tales - which I am all over like a crackhead on the pipe lately.

Fairy-tale reimaginings are my favorite new flavor of crack. It tastes like glitter, fabulous hair and danger. And I LIKE it.





There. I said it.



I loved reading the retellings of familiar tales weaved into a different pattern than I was used to; and loved reading the ones I wasn't familiar with even more.

The only disappointment I felt while immersed in Grim was when it was over.


I received Grim as an ARC through Netgalley.com via Harlequin Teen.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although clearly written for a teen audience, the majority of these fairy-tale adaptations were creative, original, and would be enjoyable for adults as well. As with most anthologies, a few stories were outstanding and a few pretty awful with most falling on the better end. Recommended.

[Saarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't believe I finished this. It wasn't terrible , but definitely not my favourite. It was nice to read some short stories for once though.

[Dark Faerie Tales · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Overall, I am not a huge fan of anthologies, but this contained so many memorable short stories it would take too long to write a review for every one. I was very impressed and definitely enjoyed myself reading it!

The Review:

The Key by Rachel Hawkins - 5 Stars

Lana has powers like her mother, powers to look inside a person’s mind. It comes in handy when her mom needs to evaluate what a customer came for, in their little fortune-telling truck. But when Lana has to look inside Skye, the boy she has been secretly dating, she’ll discover something that will change everything.

This story was really short. To tell you the truth, I’m not a huge fan of anthologies, because this shortness usually limits you getting to know the character and understanding them, etc., plus everything goes really fast. But in The Key, I really felt like I was in the story with Lana. Everything was described clearly and at a pace that was easy to follow. I was impressed by the characterization of Skye especially, and I picture him as a brooding, mysterious, sly boy. Altogether, this is probably my favorite YA short story of the book, because of its execution.

Figment by Jeri Smith-Ready - 4 Stars

Yet another story I was impressed by! Eli is a musician born from a father who never cared, one that had one huge hit, then unexpectedly his career crashed. When dear old papa passes away, Eli is left with nothing from his will . . . except a stuffed cat. But this cat has powers of persuasion and luck, and will be a vital tool in Eli’s life.

Fig was an interesting character. He sees the way it is and he tells it. It’s a blunt way of thinking but one I enjoyed, and a bit of fun humor is added with Fig’s love of boots. That was the only part of the story that clued me in to the origins of the fairy tale it’s based on, Puss in Boots, to tell the truth. And Figment was well-written! I understood everything perfectly and loved the flow of the sentences. Definitely read this one if you pick up Grim.

The Twelfth Girl by Malinda Lo - 3 Stars

This story was enjoyable with a major plot twist at the end. To be honest, it wasn’t one of my favorites, but I did like reading it. Liv is trying to get into Harley’s group of twelve. These girls flout the rules, sneak out nightly, and never, ever, get caught. But these powers come at a cost, and Liv is the only one strong enough to still break the curse. I could tell within the first pages it was a remake of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, and it didn’t stray far from the original.

Liv is a well-done character. She has the elements of a solid point of view: inquisitive, clear, and strong imagery as we read. The one thing I did not feel so strongly about was how she broke the “curse”. It took probably five pages and she figured out the riddle within seconds, taking the point away from it being a riddle in the first place. Also, the pacing of defeating the curse went faster than the rest of the story. Altogether, though, this was a memorable book because of the surprise twist on the last page.

The Brothers Pigget by Julie Kagawa - 5 Stars

Percival Pigget is fat. Not slightly overweight, but fat, with layers of chins. He lives in a bakery with his two very protective brothers, and one day he meets a girl he falls in love with. And unlike others, she is friendly, looks past his appearances . . . might even be falling for Percival. But when he sees Maya and another boy kissing, everything changes.

Even from the title, it’s clear this is a retelling of the Three Little Pigs. All the brothers have names that start with P. They are all fat, with different houses, and at one point are plagued by a monster whose origins are revealed at the end. This story stuck out to me out of all of them because it was well-written and had a shroud of mystery and foreboding I enjoyed.

Better by Shaun David Hutchinson - 5 Stars

Pip isn’t real, she’s been told a hundred times before. Flesh created in a lab, not human, not capable of love, not capable of pain. But Pip falling for Levi seems real. It feels real. And as long as Pip remains a lab mouse and Levi is struck by a stifling, fatal disease, they will never be together. In Better, Levi and Pip fight to defeat that which forces them apart.

This story has everything. It is well-written, has amazing characters, a cute romance, a time limit, a stereotypical community, and a dystopian world built in outer space. From the start, you’re lured into the horrible world Pip lives in. In one line I felt so hopeless for the character, my chest seized up: “You are not real. You can’t hate me, because you can’t feel hate. You won’t ever fall in love because you’ll never know what real love feels like.” I wish the author could elaborate this story into a full, 400 page book, because I would read it. In the short time you know the characters, you feel for them. I highly recommend getting Grim if only to read this (although I loved almost every single one!)

Skin Trade by Myra McEntire - 1 Star

I can’t provide a synopsis for this story, because I didn’t understand it in the slightest. I’m sorry, but I read it twice and still not understanding. Are the antagonists eating their victims? Drinking their blood? Selling their skins? So much happened at once, not a second of clarity was provided. And the romance, the romance made me snort. It happened so quickly, and I didn’t understand either of the character’s personalities. This was probably one of the most gory and confusing stories I’ve read in my life, and trust me, I’ve read a lot.

FTC Advisory: Harlequin Teen provided me with a copy of Grim. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

[Nadia King · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grim is an anthology of twisted retold fairy tales for the YA market. Like most anthologies, there were stories in there that completely knocked my socks off and there were some where I was like 'meh'. Overall though, this was an easy and entertaining read. My favourite was The Key by Rachel Hawkins. I had to shush my husband when I was reading that one! Definitely check out Grim.

[Adele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sarah Rees Brennan's story, "Beauty and the Chad," was a fun, pleasant bit of fluff.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Key by Rachel Hawkins - Bluebeard - 4 stars

I really enjoyed this one. I didn't know which fairy tale it was retelling until after I read it, so I wasn't expecting the story to take the direction it did. I wish the ending hadn't been quite as abrupt, I would have loved just a little bit more.

Figment by Jeri Smith-Ready - Puss in Boots - 3 stars

This one was kind of sweet. I don't think I've ever read something in the point of view of a stuffed animal before. Other than that, it was average.

The Twelfth Girl by Malinda Lo - The Twelve Dancing Princesses - 4 stars

Loved the dark tone of this one, it kept me interested throughout. It was told in kind of detached way, and the ending was left too open-ended for my taste, but still found it very entertaining.

The Raven Princess by Jon Skovron - The Raven - 3.5 stars

This one started out kind of rocky, but the ending wasn't what I expected and that was neat.

Thinner Than Water by Saundra Mitchell Cat Skin - 5 stars

This is definitely one of the darkest stories in the whole book. The main issue it deals with - incest - is pretty difficult to swallow. I haven't read or even heard of the story this is based off of, so I can't compare it to the original. But I loved the writing and especially the powerful ending.

Before the Rose Bloomed by Ellen Hopkins - The Snow Queen - 2 stars

I've never been a fan of verse writing, that's probably why I haven't read anything by Hopkins. The whole writing style just seemed odd to me, and the story itself was bland.

Beast/Beast by Tessa Gratton - Beauty and the Beast - 3.5 stars

This is a pretty standard retelling, no real flare added to the story to make it different. I would normally give it a lower rating, but because of my great love of Beauty and the Beast, I enjoy reading it regardless of how it's presented.

The Brothers Piggett - The Three Little Pigs - 5 stars

I mainly read this book because I love Julie Kagawa, so of course I had high expectations. I loved the story she chose, I've never read a retelling of it before, and I loved the way she told it and the spin she put on it. Wonderful.

Untethered by Sonia Gensler - The Shroud - 1 star

Um . . . I just thought this was written in a bizarre way and I didn't totally understand what happened.

Better by Shaun David Huchinson - The Pied Piper - 4 stars

This one had a science fiction aspect to it, and I really liked it. There was a certain darkness to it and the ending was lovely.

Light It Up by Kimberly Derting - Hansel and Gretl - 4 stars

Definitely an interesting updated take on the classic fairy tale. It still follows the basic storyline, but it changes it up enough to be exciting. Instead of an evil old witch/hag, we get an evil male park ranger!

Sharper Than A Serpent's Tongue by Christine Johnson - Diamonds and Toads - 4.5 stars

I'm not entirely sure why I enjoyed this one so much. I read the original story when I was much younger, so perhaps it was just the nostalgia. However, I loved how it seemed to have a message of making the most of what you're given, how even a curse can be like a blessing. And I much preferred the "bad" sister to the "good" sister.

A Real Boy by Claudia Grey - Pinocchio - 4 stars

I found this one to be very unique, and I got surprisingly attached to the romance in a very limited amount of time.

Skin Trade by McEntire - The Robber Bridegroom - 1 star

While I appreciate the dark/grim tone this story was going for, it simply did not work for me. A bunch of creepy band dudes like to eat the skin of pretty women, but one falls in love with a girl quite randomly and they want an HEA? Am I supposed to be rooting for this? Seriously?

Beauty and the Chad by Sarah Rees Brennan - Beauty and the Beast - 4 stars

I felt this retelling was much more successful than the previous one, I loved the modern Beast and the fairy tale Beauty.

The Pink by Amanda Hocking - The Carnation - 3.5 stars

It was interesting at first, but I think it was a bit too long and the ending was sort of boring.

Sell Out by Jackson Pearce - Snow White - 3.5 stars

Well, the whole point of the story was kind of absent here . . . I mean, it's supposed to be true love's kiss and this clearly wasn't. I would love to know what happened after she woke up. Otherwise, it was okay.

Overall, Grim had a wide variety of stories that ranged from bad to amazing.

[Nasty Lady MJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

To see the full review click on one of the following links:

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Fairytale retellings are pretty popular right now, so it’s only natural that a anthology focusing on them would be published. Usually I’m not a huge fan of anthologies because I think immediately cash cow. But this particular collection of short stories surprised me.

The Key by Rachel Hawkins:

I give this one a C. While it does convey Bluebeard, this story really felt incomplete in a lot of ways. I just didn’t really feel any sort of connection to any of the characters. It wasn’t bad, per say, but honestly it really wasn’t that creative.

It had potential though. I did like the whole psychic angle, but the thing is it was never really that well fleshed out. Plus, the open ending just didn’t work for me.

Figment by Jeri Smith-Ready:

A-/A. Probably one of my favorite stories in this collection. I liked the message because it wasn’t overly preachy. Plus, I really liked the characters in this one. It was a pretty unique take on Puss and Boots. I’ll probably read more of the author’s work in the future.

The Twelfth Girl by Malinda Lo:

B/B+

I really need to refresh my knowledge on The Twelve Princesses. I liked Lo’s take on this fairytale and I liked the fact she featured an LBGT main character. This one did leave me with more questions than I had coming in when I finished it though. Sometimes I’m not sure if that’s such a good thing especially when I know I’m never going to get a full novel. But I think for short stories where pacing is a critical issue, sometimes that’s how these pieces are going to end.

The Raven Princess by Jon Skovron:

C+/B-. This one was just okay. I liked the giants, but the story overall felt like it was heavily a copy paste version of the original fairytale. The characters were probably what saved it from getting a lower score.

Thinner than Water by Saundra Mitchell

B+

Donkey’s Skin is such a disturbing fairytale and I really liked how Mitchell addressed the disturbing aspect more than the happily ever after. I really liked how well formed the main character in this one was. I also thought all the characters were realistic given the situation and I liked how the ending diverted from the original fairytale. I really have to thank Mitchell for that.

Before the Rose Bloomed: A Retelling of the Snow Queen by Ellen Hopkins:

D.

The verse drove me crazy which really is more of a personal issue than anything else. I know that Hopkins is a pretty popular author, but I’ve always avoided her stuff because she writes in verse.

This was a retelling of the Snow Queen and with all the press with Frozen and everything, you’d think it would be pretty epic, but nope. Other than being written in version its pretty much the same as the Hans Christian Anderson version.

[Deniz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This took me only 10months to read... well, I read at first one story a week... wrote reviews for each.. then I kinda put it aside and never got back into it. Till one day - well today actually - I decided that this was ridiculous and I read the entire thing in one go.

So why did it take me this long?!

I love anthologies. I have a fondness for short stories. They like the little treat in-between, the unexpected surprise in the middle of a work day.
Still I found this difficult to get through.
I think part of the problem was that I did this the wrong way and the other I have this in the wrong format.
I strongly recommend others to get a hardcopy of this. Because in my opinion this should be a coffee table book. It does look pretty enough for starters. But also as I said, when you relaxing and feel like a tidbit of reading this might be your mini-fix. If this would be the case my other advise flip the book open and read the stories randomly at your on pleasure.
So since I don't have an hardcopy and I got the ARC of this, I found myself never doing said procedure, which is a huge part why this took me so long.
The other reason was simply I set myself a too high goal writing a review for each and every short story- meant I didn't pick this up because I had no time to review it straight after... simply to ambitious of me

Now the book itself has some seriously good stories in them and some that I didn't like.
Since this is written by different authors this was to be expected.
I actually should confess that I am always always really skeptical when there is a fairytale retelling involved. Because frankly when Disney went a called a movie Rapunzel that had absolutely nothing AT ALL to do with the original fairytale - which happened to be on of my favorites when I was a child, by the way- I was beyond disappointed. I could simply not like the film. So now I am always always wary.
And while Grim is really fabulously done, I am still not convinced it is my favorite genre. I think I prefer new stories... or maybe I just grew out of fairytales? Who knows?
Still this a great gift for lovers of anthologies, the genre and books.
And in fact I shall procure a hardcopy for those cold days in front of the fire when I feel like a little treat.

[Jeann (Happy Indulgence) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review appears on Happy Indulgence. Check it out for more reviews!

I’ve never read the original Grim fairy tales, but know they are dark, twisted and shocking stories which serve as cautionary tales. This Grim anthology is a refreshing YA twist to many of these stories, recognisable even if you haven’t read the source material, such as the Beauty and the Beast retellings, The Twelfth Princess, and Hansel and Gretel.

I loved the journey that the YA authors took us on throughout the book – stories set in the present, others based on the original fantasy setting, and even sci-fi ones set in the future. With robots, kings and queens, magic, princesses and even a “dude” frat boy, Grim is just bursting at the seams with stories to tell and adventures to take us on. All which are dark, mysterious and even disturbing.

My favourite stories were Thinner than Water, the one about a princess who gets molested by the King, Better, the story of a robot who needs to save a dying boy, and Beast/Beast, a retelling of my favourite fairy tale. All of the stories were creative and enjoyable, and I was enveloped in these short and sweet adventures. Some left me disturbed, others left me in awe, and still others made me cringe. All I knew is that I wanted to keep on reading and discovering the dark and magical adventures held within the anthology.

The only story that I didn’t love was The Beauty and Chad, where the Beast is a dude bro who exhibits a low IQ and makes me cringe by his stupid comments, such as “No homo? Dumbass interfering furniture.” I suspect it was there for some comedic relief, but I didn’t find it fitting to the rest of the book.

Grim captures the essence of fairy tales through creative, indulgent and disturbing retellings. It serves as a perfect introduction into this wonderfully dark world of twisted fairy tales, and I was totally absorbed into the stories which disturbed, intrigued and totally freaked me out. Isn’t that cover absolutely gorgeous as well?

Thank you to Harlequin Australia for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Farrah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark, creepy, and absolutely brilliant! Grim was a fantastic read. Every story in this anthology was amazing. With retellings of classics, from Beauty and the Beast to The Three Little Pigs, this entire book was magnificent. Loved it!

There are quite a few stories in this anthology, so I'm not going to go into each one individually. But, I will say that each story was dark and unique. I truly enjoyed all of them. They were quite varied-in genre, in tone, in theme-and I really liked that variation. We got romances, dystopians, thrillers, and much more. And they were all great.

I really liked all the characters in this book, whether they were protagonists or antagonists. Despite the fact that these were all short stories, each character felt fleshed out.

I was completely hooked through each story and I loved every one.

Honestly, I could go on and on about how amazing this book is, but I'll spare you. Grim was a brilliant anthology. YA lovers, you definitely have to read it, because it was just wonderful.



*I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review