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Letters to Zell
Everything is going according to story for CeCi (Cinderella), Bianca (Snow White), and Rory (Sleeping Beauty)—until the day that Zell (Rapunzel) decides to leave Grimmland and pursue her life. Now, Zell’s best friends are left to wonder whether their own passions are worth risking their predetermined “happily ever afters,” regardless of the consequences. CeCi wonders whether she should become a professional chef, sharp-tongued and quick-witted Bianca wants to escape an engagement to her platonic friend, and Rory will do anything to make her boorish husband love her. But as Bianca’s wedding approaches, can they escape their fates—and is there enough wine in all of the Realm to help them?
In this hilarious modern interpretation of the fairy-tale stories we all know and love, Letters to Zell explores what happens when women abandon the stories they didn’t write for themselves and go completely off script to follow their dreams.
In this hilarious modern interpretation of the fairy-tale stories we all know and love, Letters to Zell explores what happens when women abandon the stories they didn’t write for themselves and go completely off script to follow their dreams.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2015
209 people are currently reading
1897 people want to read
About the author
Camille Griep
17 books52 followersCamille Griep lives and writes in the Pacific Northwest.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 227 reviews
June 12, 2015
Drama, backstabbing, cheating, lust, desire, broken dreams, Los Angeles and Unicorns. This was the Jerry Springer version of Fairyland. The Princesses lives are not the happy ever after the books suggested and the Fairy Godmothers don't seem to really have anything positive to give. It all spills out of their hearts in letters written to Zell aka Repunzel after she leaves Fairyland to find herself on a Unicorn reserve. The Princes are untrustworthy meat heads or codependent unfulfilled stories. Walt would not approve.
So how did I feel about it ? I hated the drama, the emotional turmoil, the heartache, the gossip, the cheating, the lack of self esteem. I avoid all the above items as much as possible and this book had them in excess. So how did I feel about the book ? Hard questions don't have easy answers ! It was all letters, disjointed and sometimes I didn't care who's letter I was reading. I had points in the books where it was just "wah wah wah, I'm so unhappy, wah wah wah, I want____ so badly, wah wah wah" I wanted to stomp on their fingers to get them to stop writing these whine-a-thon letters. It was not an easy book for me to finish. I am an emotional sponge absorbing sad broken feelings and carrying them off into the real world where I gloat and glower for hours afterward. I was a heavy sodden sponge, when I finished and was thrilled to squeeze this book's drama out and take a deep breath.
So Yoda how did you like the book ? Well I didn't like it, but, (isn't there always a but) is was genius. The way the author twisted these sweet fairytales into real life made for TV drama-rama would take over the TV reality with the highest of ratings. I have to recommend it to fans of this type of drama.
June 11, 2015
I have always been a sicker for a retelling, especially those that feature some of my most favorite childhood stories. However, this isn't your typical happily ever after tale with a twist. In fact, quite the opposite.
Told in letters to Zell (Rapunzel) through Ceci (Cinderella), Bianca (Snow White), and Rory (Sleeping Beauty), these in fact are tales of what happens when the ending of the tale isn't so happily ever after.
Quirky, fun, and but sometimes disjointed as the letters bounce back from one scribe to the next, this often times lighthearted but still serious story was quite the adventure.
As each narrator seeks to find what will truly make them happy in life, all emboldened by Zell who finally escaped her life of not so happy ever after, to a life she truly wanted, these smart, sassy, and often foul mouthed princess take quite the adventure to self discovery and purpose.
A fun collection of letters all to Zell that is sure to engage anyone looking outside the box on what the norm is suppose to be in a retelling. This retelling has spunk, adventure, heart ache, self discovery and more often than not, just down right strange but fun.
Told in letters to Zell (Rapunzel) through Ceci (Cinderella), Bianca (Snow White), and Rory (Sleeping Beauty), these in fact are tales of what happens when the ending of the tale isn't so happily ever after.
Quirky, fun, and but sometimes disjointed as the letters bounce back from one scribe to the next, this often times lighthearted but still serious story was quite the adventure.
As each narrator seeks to find what will truly make them happy in life, all emboldened by Zell who finally escaped her life of not so happy ever after, to a life she truly wanted, these smart, sassy, and often foul mouthed princess take quite the adventure to self discovery and purpose.
A fun collection of letters all to Zell that is sure to engage anyone looking outside the box on what the norm is suppose to be in a retelling. This retelling has spunk, adventure, heart ache, self discovery and more often than not, just down right strange but fun.
December 27, 2015
3.5... can't say I *really* liked it... but I did like it.
Spunky take on happily ever after... in letter form... revolving around Snow White (Bianca), Cinderella (Ceci), Sleeping Beauty (Rory) and Rapunzel (the titular Zell).
Unicorns and pink bunnies aside, it does get a bit sordid in parts and I found their forays into Disneyland hilarious.
Be forewarned though that they whole thing is written in letter form, so if that isn't your thing then steer clear. But honestly, if you're looking for a fairy tale retelling that isn't all sunsets and roses and a bit more spunky. Then give it a whirl.
I do have to admit that I couldn't go through the book all in one sitting, you do have to keep in mind that this has a slice-of-life-ish type of thing going for it so be prepared for the mundane.
Huhu.
Spunky take on happily ever after... in letter form... revolving around Snow White (Bianca), Cinderella (Ceci), Sleeping Beauty (Rory) and Rapunzel (the titular Zell).
Unicorns and pink bunnies aside, it does get a bit sordid in parts and I found their forays into Disneyland hilarious.
Be forewarned though that they whole thing is written in letter form, so if that isn't your thing then steer clear. But honestly, if you're looking for a fairy tale retelling that isn't all sunsets and roses and a bit more spunky. Then give it a whirl.
I do have to admit that I couldn't go through the book all in one sitting, you do have to keep in mind that this has a slice-of-life-ish type of thing going for it so be prepared for the mundane.
Huhu.
January 6, 2016
I received this book for free at an Amazon/47North event at WorldCon.
Letters to Zell is smart chicklit that deeply integrates fairy tales and classic fantasy literature. The four central women of the book are nuanced and flawed in very realistic ways, but the supporting cast is just as vivid. Griep really does a fantastic job of confronting the dilemma of "Happily Ever After." What does that mean? People have different dreams and desires, and the "happy ending" of a tale or movie means those characters still have a lot of life to live.
I had a bit of trouble keeping track of who was who for the first quarter of the book, since names are a weakness of mine, but soon enough I was able to keep everyone straight. I really felt for Rory, whose Sleeping Beauty life was much more tragic than anything depicted by Disney. I also loved CeCi, Cinderella, whose husband is so supportive he smothers her as she wistfully dreams of being a professional chef. It's a fun and fluffy read, but there is also tremendous depth. It's a story about four very different women who also happen to be princesses and best friends, and how they rejoice and bicker and endure life together when their futures are governed by manipulative magic. This book has it all going on, but it works. It works very well.
Letters to Zell is smart chicklit that deeply integrates fairy tales and classic fantasy literature. The four central women of the book are nuanced and flawed in very realistic ways, but the supporting cast is just as vivid. Griep really does a fantastic job of confronting the dilemma of "Happily Ever After." What does that mean? People have different dreams and desires, and the "happy ending" of a tale or movie means those characters still have a lot of life to live.
I had a bit of trouble keeping track of who was who for the first quarter of the book, since names are a weakness of mine, but soon enough I was able to keep everyone straight. I really felt for Rory, whose Sleeping Beauty life was much more tragic than anything depicted by Disney. I also loved CeCi, Cinderella, whose husband is so supportive he smothers her as she wistfully dreams of being a professional chef. It's a fun and fluffy read, but there is also tremendous depth. It's a story about four very different women who also happen to be princesses and best friends, and how they rejoice and bicker and endure life together when their futures are governed by manipulative magic. This book has it all going on, but it works. It works very well.
decided-against
June 13, 20166/13/16 I don't think this book is for me. But it does look like a book some might enjoy, so I wanted to let you all know it's a Kindle Daily Deal today for $1.99.
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July 14, 2015TL;DR Review
3.5 stars mostly for Bianca, omg.
More reviews @ The Bibliosanctum
Longer Review
Narrator: Amy McFadden | Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins | Audiobook Publisher: Brilliance Audio (July 1, 2015) | Whispersync Ready: Yes
Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book and audiobook was provided to me by the publishers. I would like to thank the author and the publishers for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed from here forward are my own.
This story starts when Zell (Rapunzel) unexpectedly leaves her friends to move to the “boonies” (Oz) to run a unicorn farm with her husband Jason and her twins. Zell’s circle of friends consist of the prim and proper Rory (Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty), the foul-mouthed and cynical Bianca (Snow White) and the levelheaded CeCi (Cinderella). The inhabitants of fairy tale land know that they’re supposed to live out their pages to their happily ever after. On top of that, they are aware of the “outside” world, which is where normal humans live, humans who supposedly give power to their pages through their belief, which supposedly makes it even more important that they act a certain way. Zell, Rory, and CeCi have all achieved their happily ever after, even though it seems they still long for something more. Bianca is still getting to her happily ever after and is slated to be married to a kindly prince she doesn’t love. With Zell’s sudden departure, her friends find themselves in a sudden flux as they begin to rebel against their stories and start to find themselves. This book is told through a series of letters from each woman to Zell as they go from the pain of dealing with her departure to creating a happily ever after on their own terms.
Imaginative retellings are one of my favorite types of story because I love seeing how authors reimagine old characters and old stories, and this book was on one of my recent Top Ten Tuesdays of books that I was looking forward to listening to/reading this year. This story was like a fairy tale version of Real Housewives. Zell apparently met her prince while he was roaming the woods blind and she was pregnant with twins. She restored his eyesight and they married. You don’t learn too much about Zell other than little tidbits of her story, which was disappointing. Rory is married to a prince who doesn’t care for her much. She tries to be perfect and tell herself that loves comes eventually, even though she loved someone else before marrying her prince. She’s one of those women who tries to act like everything is beautiful while inwardly falling apart. CeCi has a great relationship with her prince. They truly love one another, but she’s starting to feel they’re beginning to drift in two different directions. The things she loves to do (cooking) she has to hide from him because he said that part of her fairy tale is over and she’s no longer a servant. However, she wants to do this because she loves it, and she wants to share this love with him. And then there’s Bianca… Oh, Bianca…
Bianca was probably favorite Princess because instead of sweet Snow White sobbing in the forest with her animals friends and the dwarves…
… we get Bianca who doesn’t take anyone’s shit, who’s cynical about love and the role women play in these stories, who admits that she’s sexually attracted to women and men and gratuitously uses the word “fuck.”
Yeah, this Snow White is who we get, but with less tattoos. (But I think she’d totally get the tattoos if she thought she could get away with it.) Bianca argues: “It’s irresponsible storytelling. Love can certainly include the occasional experimental romp in handkerchiefs or a playful smack on the behind with a riding crop, but it doesn’t involve isolation and belittlement. Star is already worthy of Sabian. What does she have to reinvent herself for?” Despite Snow White’s general curmudgeonly attitude, she does have a gentle heart. While she despises what her stepmother put her through, she has no desire to exact revenge and isn’t looking forward to having to possibly execute her in her happily ever after. She doesn’t blame her father, who loves to travel, for not being around to protect her. She petitions the powers to allow Huntsman to return from exile because she believes that he did the only thing he could considering the circumstances. She has no desire to marry the prince she’s fated, too, even though she lauds his great qualities and believes him to be a great man and a good friend to her. She doesn’t want what the pages tell her is her happily ever after. She wants to create her own. They all want to create their own. They want to be the narrators of their own stories.
A few complaints I do have is that the letter writing format can be a little jarring and disjointed. Sometimes, it’s too much like being a “chaptered” story where one letters is just really a continuation of the last letter’s story. Some of the moments that were so important to the characters were glossed over in their letters. Also, certain letters can get a little tiresome, even repetitive, especially Rory’s whose letters have to continuously be a “Everything is fine” mantra, even though I understand why they’d be like that. Sometimes, this book felt like it was going into young adult territory with some of the dialogue and scenarios. I’ll also concede that sometimes it’s hard to get to the meat of their issues with the way they complain. Like wanting to write Bianca off as just a catty witch instead of seeing the woman who wants to just be and leave this vengeance thing behind. These type of things can take readers out of the story.
However, don’t think this is a serious read. While there are certainly serious themes here, this book is infused with humor. While some of it made me smile, I won’t say it was laugh out loud funny. Some of the jokes were a little corny, but the narrator, Amy McFadden, caught the varying tones of the princesses well. Rory’s voice was whimsical and dream like. CeCi’s voice was conversational and levelheaded. Bianca’s voice was tough and unladylike. She didn’t do a great job with male voices, but readers should take care to remember she’s reading these letters in the tone of the princesses, so it makes sense the male voices wouldn’t be that great. She’s creating a semblance of a male voice as the princess would. These princesses are catty, cordial, selfish, selfless–in other words they’re very flawed as any person. They complain, they whine. But if you look through their words you can see more shaping up. If stories that turn your favorite princess into less that some self-sacrificing damsel upsets you, turn away from this book. This was one of the more fun retellings I’ve read, but this absolutely won’t be for everyone. I’d rate this between 3 and 3.5 stars, but I am feeling generous because I liked some of the themes. With that being said, I’ll leave you with this quote from Snow White:
“We’re all at risk of becoming imprisoned within our own mirrors. By our expectations of ourselves. We are vain or unkempt, bitches or sycophants, mothers or monsters, queens or servants.”
3.5 stars mostly for Bianca, omg.
More reviews @ The Bibliosanctum
Longer Review
Narrator: Amy McFadden | Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins | Audiobook Publisher: Brilliance Audio (July 1, 2015) | Whispersync Ready: Yes
Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book and audiobook was provided to me by the publishers. I would like to thank the author and the publishers for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed from here forward are my own.
This story starts when Zell (Rapunzel) unexpectedly leaves her friends to move to the “boonies” (Oz) to run a unicorn farm with her husband Jason and her twins. Zell’s circle of friends consist of the prim and proper Rory (Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty), the foul-mouthed and cynical Bianca (Snow White) and the levelheaded CeCi (Cinderella). The inhabitants of fairy tale land know that they’re supposed to live out their pages to their happily ever after. On top of that, they are aware of the “outside” world, which is where normal humans live, humans who supposedly give power to their pages through their belief, which supposedly makes it even more important that they act a certain way. Zell, Rory, and CeCi have all achieved their happily ever after, even though it seems they still long for something more. Bianca is still getting to her happily ever after and is slated to be married to a kindly prince she doesn’t love. With Zell’s sudden departure, her friends find themselves in a sudden flux as they begin to rebel against their stories and start to find themselves. This book is told through a series of letters from each woman to Zell as they go from the pain of dealing with her departure to creating a happily ever after on their own terms.
Imaginative retellings are one of my favorite types of story because I love seeing how authors reimagine old characters and old stories, and this book was on one of my recent Top Ten Tuesdays of books that I was looking forward to listening to/reading this year. This story was like a fairy tale version of Real Housewives. Zell apparently met her prince while he was roaming the woods blind and she was pregnant with twins. She restored his eyesight and they married. You don’t learn too much about Zell other than little tidbits of her story, which was disappointing. Rory is married to a prince who doesn’t care for her much. She tries to be perfect and tell herself that loves comes eventually, even though she loved someone else before marrying her prince. She’s one of those women who tries to act like everything is beautiful while inwardly falling apart. CeCi has a great relationship with her prince. They truly love one another, but she’s starting to feel they’re beginning to drift in two different directions. The things she loves to do (cooking) she has to hide from him because he said that part of her fairy tale is over and she’s no longer a servant. However, she wants to do this because she loves it, and she wants to share this love with him. And then there’s Bianca… Oh, Bianca…
Bianca was probably favorite Princess because instead of sweet Snow White sobbing in the forest with her animals friends and the dwarves…
… we get Bianca who doesn’t take anyone’s shit, who’s cynical about love and the role women play in these stories, who admits that she’s sexually attracted to women and men and gratuitously uses the word “fuck.”
Yeah, this Snow White is who we get, but with less tattoos. (But I think she’d totally get the tattoos if she thought she could get away with it.) Bianca argues: “It’s irresponsible storytelling. Love can certainly include the occasional experimental romp in handkerchiefs or a playful smack on the behind with a riding crop, but it doesn’t involve isolation and belittlement. Star is already worthy of Sabian. What does she have to reinvent herself for?” Despite Snow White’s general curmudgeonly attitude, she does have a gentle heart. While she despises what her stepmother put her through, she has no desire to exact revenge and isn’t looking forward to having to possibly execute her in her happily ever after. She doesn’t blame her father, who loves to travel, for not being around to protect her. She petitions the powers to allow Huntsman to return from exile because she believes that he did the only thing he could considering the circumstances. She has no desire to marry the prince she’s fated, too, even though she lauds his great qualities and believes him to be a great man and a good friend to her. She doesn’t want what the pages tell her is her happily ever after. She wants to create her own. They all want to create their own. They want to be the narrators of their own stories.
A few complaints I do have is that the letter writing format can be a little jarring and disjointed. Sometimes, it’s too much like being a “chaptered” story where one letters is just really a continuation of the last letter’s story. Some of the moments that were so important to the characters were glossed over in their letters. Also, certain letters can get a little tiresome, even repetitive, especially Rory’s whose letters have to continuously be a “Everything is fine” mantra, even though I understand why they’d be like that. Sometimes, this book felt like it was going into young adult territory with some of the dialogue and scenarios. I’ll also concede that sometimes it’s hard to get to the meat of their issues with the way they complain. Like wanting to write Bianca off as just a catty witch instead of seeing the woman who wants to just be and leave this vengeance thing behind. These type of things can take readers out of the story.
However, don’t think this is a serious read. While there are certainly serious themes here, this book is infused with humor. While some of it made me smile, I won’t say it was laugh out loud funny. Some of the jokes were a little corny, but the narrator, Amy McFadden, caught the varying tones of the princesses well. Rory’s voice was whimsical and dream like. CeCi’s voice was conversational and levelheaded. Bianca’s voice was tough and unladylike. She didn’t do a great job with male voices, but readers should take care to remember she’s reading these letters in the tone of the princesses, so it makes sense the male voices wouldn’t be that great. She’s creating a semblance of a male voice as the princess would. These princesses are catty, cordial, selfish, selfless–in other words they’re very flawed as any person. They complain, they whine. But if you look through their words you can see more shaping up. If stories that turn your favorite princess into less that some self-sacrificing damsel upsets you, turn away from this book. This was one of the more fun retellings I’ve read, but this absolutely won’t be for everyone. I’d rate this between 3 and 3.5 stars, but I am feeling generous because I liked some of the themes. With that being said, I’ll leave you with this quote from Snow White:
“We’re all at risk of becoming imprisoned within our own mirrors. By our expectations of ourselves. We are vain or unkempt, bitches or sycophants, mothers or monsters, queens or servants.”
October 7, 2016
This is a powerful, beautiful book using the veneer of Western European fairy-tale princesses living in a magical realm just a portal away from ours to tell a familiar, timeless story about four female friends struggling to redefine themselves, and their friendship, in the face of lives that don't match up to "happily ever after" expectations. This is partially due to the fact that structure of the magic world is such that there are rules that, when broken, lead to a ripping in the fabric of reality.
I think that's a great metaphor for "other people's expectations" (and our own) carrying unnecessary weight, but it also leads to some good SFF plot and conflict. For example, one of the princesses has already suffered a romantic loss before the story even opens. The author also explores the realistic implications of the canonical elements of dysfunctional family in several of the fairy tales--stepmotherly betrayals, absent fathers, etc. This is far more nuanced, fleshed-out, and fun to read than those clickbait posts making fun of what if Disney princesses were real. The leading ladies in this book were compelling, three-dimensional, and sympathetic.
Let me reassure you that this is an official Shira Glassman endorsement, which means that yes, this book does include a happy f/f resolution. My sapphic sisters, you may safely proceed. Moving along: it's also a bittersweet and powerful story because some situations aren't salvageable, and it does go down some dark roads although by the end I embraced the entire package. I also loved how no matter how angry the friends got with each other, they still remained friends and loved each other--they could discuss I'm angry with you without breaking up the friendship. That is valuable.
The focus of the book is on platonic love, mostly between the princess leads, but there are also satisfying dips into m/f and f/f romance. I've seen many people looking for fantasy books where m/m and f/f relationships aren't treated as remarkable, and this is one of those books -- there is never any kind of negative reaction to the f/f subplot, or indeed literally any kind of comment about it being unusual, and some of Snow White's dwarves are in relationships with each other (which I'm sure will make Tof Eklund very happy.)
I loved the clever bits of worldbuilding, like how the portal to the "real world" is near enough to Disneyland (Cali, not FL--we're "world") that nobody would question people popping out of thin air in princess garb. I loved the complexities the author drew out of familiar, relatively simple stories. I loved the fact that one of the points she was making was that we aren't getting less imaginative like a lot of technophobes seem to think--we're getting more imaginative, with more and more variations on the old stories, and adding new ones. The princesses step out of their world into ours astonished at all the things Disneyland got "wrong" because we've done so many new things with the old legends! (I mean, I was definitely struck by the pointed way all four princess protagonists' lives adhere to the storybook originals, rather than the Disney version.)
TW for a suicide metaphor that winds up being a lot less painful than real suicide because of some worldbuilding-specific magical elements that smoothed it over to a point where I, as a reader, felt soothed. I do feel like the grieving portions of the book rang true to my experiences with loss. (Also, I hope the author was being tongue in cheek when she said the cellist was the one who suggested Pachelbel's Canon for a wedding--most cellists would rather fall out of a tree than willingly offer to play it! The cello part is the same eight notes over and over again. I'm a violinist, so I'm fine with it :P)
I think that's a great metaphor for "other people's expectations" (and our own) carrying unnecessary weight, but it also leads to some good SFF plot and conflict. For example, one of the princesses has already suffered a romantic loss before the story even opens. The author also explores the realistic implications of the canonical elements of dysfunctional family in several of the fairy tales--stepmotherly betrayals, absent fathers, etc. This is far more nuanced, fleshed-out, and fun to read than those clickbait posts making fun of what if Disney princesses were real. The leading ladies in this book were compelling, three-dimensional, and sympathetic.
Let me reassure you that this is an official Shira Glassman endorsement, which means that yes, this book does include a happy f/f resolution. My sapphic sisters, you may safely proceed. Moving along: it's also a bittersweet and powerful story because some situations aren't salvageable, and it does go down some dark roads although by the end I embraced the entire package. I also loved how no matter how angry the friends got with each other, they still remained friends and loved each other--they could discuss I'm angry with you without breaking up the friendship. That is valuable.
The focus of the book is on platonic love, mostly between the princess leads, but there are also satisfying dips into m/f and f/f romance. I've seen many people looking for fantasy books where m/m and f/f relationships aren't treated as remarkable, and this is one of those books -- there is never any kind of negative reaction to the f/f subplot, or indeed literally any kind of comment about it being unusual, and some of Snow White's dwarves are in relationships with each other (which I'm sure will make Tof Eklund very happy.)
I loved the clever bits of worldbuilding, like how the portal to the "real world" is near enough to Disneyland (Cali, not FL--we're "world") that nobody would question people popping out of thin air in princess garb. I loved the complexities the author drew out of familiar, relatively simple stories. I loved the fact that one of the points she was making was that we aren't getting less imaginative like a lot of technophobes seem to think--we're getting more imaginative, with more and more variations on the old stories, and adding new ones. The princesses step out of their world into ours astonished at all the things Disneyland got "wrong" because we've done so many new things with the old legends! (I mean, I was definitely struck by the pointed way all four princess protagonists' lives adhere to the storybook originals, rather than the Disney version.)
TW for a suicide metaphor that winds up being a lot less painful than real suicide because of some worldbuilding-specific magical elements that smoothed it over to a point where I, as a reader, felt soothed. I do feel like the grieving portions of the book rang true to my experiences with loss. (Also, I hope the author was being tongue in cheek when she said the cellist was the one who suggested Pachelbel's Canon for a wedding--most cellists would rather fall out of a tree than willingly offer to play it! The cello part is the same eight notes over and over again. I'm a violinist, so I'm fine with it :P)
June 30, 2015
This book just went on and on. I was expecting some Desperate Housewives *gossipy princesses meet the Real World* but this was just too much. I found myself skimming so I could get to the next page as far as possible, and I ended up watching the percentage read at the bottom of my screen like a hawk.
Frankly, this book is boring. The princesses are annoying. And I don't really like novels written in letter form, i.e. novels where everything takes place within letters to other people, so I'm not sure why I even picked this up. I was just hoping for some entertainment, I think, and I definitely didn't get that here.
There's not much else to say. I got bored. The characterization was flat – Rapunzel is a goody two shoes, Cinderella is somewhere in the middle, and Snow White is a crazy bitch. The worldbuilding isn't very well done, though I guess you could say I don't know if it got better, since I couldn't force myself even past 25%. The writing did not compel me to want to move on at all.
Don't read unless you like...no, I can't even say that. Read a sample if you must, and if you love that, then you'll surely enjoy the book, but other than that, I could not and will not recommend this book.
This ARC was kindly provided by NetGalley for me to read and review honestly.
Frankly, this book is boring. The princesses are annoying. And I don't really like novels written in letter form, i.e. novels where everything takes place within letters to other people, so I'm not sure why I even picked this up. I was just hoping for some entertainment, I think, and I definitely didn't get that here.
There's not much else to say. I got bored. The characterization was flat – Rapunzel is a goody two shoes, Cinderella is somewhere in the middle, and Snow White is a crazy bitch. The worldbuilding isn't very well done, though I guess you could say I don't know if it got better, since I couldn't force myself even past 25%. The writing did not compel me to want to move on at all.
Don't read unless you like...no, I can't even say that. Read a sample if you must, and if you love that, then you'll surely enjoy the book, but other than that, I could not and will not recommend this book.
This ARC was kindly provided by NetGalley for me to read and review honestly.
June 4, 2015
I love this book to pieces.
Genre-wise, this book is a fascinating cross between new adult, women's fiction, and fairytale-inspired fantasy. None of those are typically genres I enjoy, and yet I absolutely adore this story.
This is the story of three princesses, three women, three friends, coming to terms with the lives they've been handed, struggling to balance the expectations of them with what they want and what they're allowed to want, from career to family to romance to friendship.
All of the characters have such compelling voices that I was hooked from the start. Camille has a gift for making me snicker with dry humor one moment and then punching me in the gut the next with her words.
I can't say enough good things about this book. Even if you don't think this is your genre, I highly recommend giving it a shot. I think you'll be delightfully surprised by what Camille pulls off.
Genre-wise, this book is a fascinating cross between new adult, women's fiction, and fairytale-inspired fantasy. None of those are typically genres I enjoy, and yet I absolutely adore this story.
This is the story of three princesses, three women, three friends, coming to terms with the lives they've been handed, struggling to balance the expectations of them with what they want and what they're allowed to want, from career to family to romance to friendship.
All of the characters have such compelling voices that I was hooked from the start. Camille has a gift for making me snicker with dry humor one moment and then punching me in the gut the next with her words.
I can't say enough good things about this book. Even if you don't think this is your genre, I highly recommend giving it a shot. I think you'll be delightfully surprised by what Camille pulls off.
March 10, 2021
This was absolutely brilliant. It made me laugh, it made me want to cry and yes it’s essentially about princesses, but it humanises the fair tales so much. Even if your not a fairy tale fan I’d highly recommend it.
June 24, 2016
3.75 stars
Review to come
Rapunzel has upped and left Grimmland with her husband and kids to help run a unicorn sanctuary in Oz. And now Cinderella, Aurora and Snow White are left to figure out what to do without her. Suddenly Zell's leaving sparks the idea of doing more in the other Princesses' heads. CiCi wants to be a chef, which means taking lessons outside in the real world. Snow White suddenly realises her wedding may not be the be all and end all of her life and she could be free to love whoever she wants. And Aurora, well she discovers coffee and that maybe her husband isn't her happily ever after after all. Letters to Zell explores the bumps that come after the happily ever after is sealed and how sometime you have to work pretty hard to get it.
If you liked Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, I think you might like this book. While Chapters to Zell is not quite as satirical as Beauty Queens, it definitely that over-the-topness I associate with Libba Bray's book. The girls are loud and dramatic and they, and the world they live in, have ideals about how they should live and what they should look like and it's a stretch to try and change these. But the more the girls travel through the portal, the more their eyes open to other things and their real dreams. They begin to fight for what they want - CiCi for her cooking classes, Bianca for her freedom and Rory for some magic spell that make her life better than it should be.
I thought it was interesting that we never really got to meet Zell. Just heard about what she was like by the letters the other characters wrote to her. She was definitely some ideal fairy princess until the end when CiCi had a go at her and we discover that Zell isn't actually as perfect as we think. I liked that there was some diversity to the books as well, and there was never any hoo-haa about Bianca's choice of partner Outside. I loved that relationship, though it seemed very rushed. I really enjoyed Cici's relationship dynamic with Edmund who at first I thought a bit snobbish and then turned out to be thoughtful and understanding. I also loved the princesses' reactions to their Disneyland counter-parts.Definite LOL moments.
This book will throw any ideas you have about your fairy princesses out of the water. So stop thinking about the singing Disney versions, and think more along the lines of the kick-butt princesses we see in Once Upon A Time, cause that's what these girls are mixed in with a little bit of LA-grit.
Review to come
Rapunzel has upped and left Grimmland with her husband and kids to help run a unicorn sanctuary in Oz. And now Cinderella, Aurora and Snow White are left to figure out what to do without her. Suddenly Zell's leaving sparks the idea of doing more in the other Princesses' heads. CiCi wants to be a chef, which means taking lessons outside in the real world. Snow White suddenly realises her wedding may not be the be all and end all of her life and she could be free to love whoever she wants. And Aurora, well she discovers coffee and that maybe her husband isn't her happily ever after after all. Letters to Zell explores the bumps that come after the happily ever after is sealed and how sometime you have to work pretty hard to get it.
If you liked Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, I think you might like this book. While Chapters to Zell is not quite as satirical as Beauty Queens, it definitely that over-the-topness I associate with Libba Bray's book. The girls are loud and dramatic and they, and the world they live in, have ideals about how they should live and what they should look like and it's a stretch to try and change these. But the more the girls travel through the portal, the more their eyes open to other things and their real dreams. They begin to fight for what they want - CiCi for her cooking classes, Bianca for her freedom and Rory for some magic spell that make her life better than it should be.
I thought it was interesting that we never really got to meet Zell. Just heard about what she was like by the letters the other characters wrote to her. She was definitely some ideal fairy princess until the end when CiCi had a go at her and we discover that Zell isn't actually as perfect as we think. I liked that there was some diversity to the books as well, and there was never any hoo-haa about Bianca's choice of partner Outside. I loved that relationship, though it seemed very rushed. I really enjoyed Cici's relationship dynamic with Edmund who at first I thought a bit snobbish and then turned out to be thoughtful and understanding. I also loved the princesses' reactions to their Disneyland counter-parts.Definite LOL moments.
This book will throw any ideas you have about your fairy princesses out of the water. So stop thinking about the singing Disney versions, and think more along the lines of the kick-butt princesses we see in Once Upon A Time, cause that's what these girls are mixed in with a little bit of LA-grit.
May 9, 2015
I'm not totally sure how I felt about this book. On the one hand, it was definitely an interesting take on fairy tale retellings, and the story did emotionally affect me. On the other hand, the characters were generally pretty annoying and I found the whole book to be rather heavy handed. Also the way everyone treated Maro bothered me a lot - like clearly she wasn't a great person, but I felt like she was getting treated much worse than Henry even though they were both at fault.
Overall, I think it's a book that is worth reading if you like fairy tale retellings and can find it for cheap.
Received from NetGalley.
Overall, I think it's a book that is worth reading if you like fairy tale retellings and can find it for cheap.
Received from NetGalley.
January 2, 2017
This book was so so good! The format really worked well! I thought Zell would end up being one of the main characters but not much of it was actually about her. I loved the concept of Fairy Tales being real but different from how we humans imagine them and I especially loved seeing the personalities of the princesses I learned about shine through so much!
I actually got this book from the library and read it for the first time in the end of October 2015. I loved it so much that I just bought my own copy on Amazon so that I could re-read it, write a review, and make people borrow it and read it.
Letters to Zell, written by Camille Griep and published July 1, 2015 by 47North, is available from Amazon.com as a paperback ($10.00) or Kindle ebook ($4.99) and is also available for free through Kindle Unlimited. It is available through Audible as an audiobook for $9.95 (1 credit).
Told in the format of letters written to Zell (short for Rapunzel), this 326 page novel offers a modern re-telling of classic fairytales. It follows CeCi (Cinderella), Bianca (Snow White), and Rory (Sleeping Beauty) after they hear the news that Zell has run off from Grimmland to help run a Unicorn preserve. They keep her up to date on their own lives through letters, allowing the reader to see their different personalities, values, hopes, and dreams.
Given the title, I assumed that the story would primarily be about Zell. The first time I read LTZ, I was a little disappointed at first that I wasn’t getting to hear much of her story, but I realized fairly quickly that the heart of the story really isn’t about her and remembered that the title is Letters TO Zell, not Letters FROM Zell.
I’m not sure why, but I envisioned CeCi (Cinderella) as Kristin Chenoweth as Glenda from the musical, Wicked. I think it has to do with her sarcasm and wit. She is the first character introduced and initially seems a bit pretentious and spoiled, but I promise she grows on you as the story goes on. In addition to giving us a little bit of information about CeCi’s life, her first letter to Zell establishes a few ideas that are important throughout the novel. Firstly, that the princesses’ stories more closely resemble the tales from the Grimm Brothers than anything Disney has ever created; secondly, that Zell, CeCi, Rory, and Bianca are all very close friends; and, thirdly, the importance of each princess’s “Pages,” “unpredictable stories penned by a capricious author” that dictate what happens in each princess’s life. Once a princess has completed her Pages, she is free to make decisions about her own life, within what seem to be certain set limits and societal expectations.
Bianca (Snow White) is much edgier than any version of her I’ve read or seen so far. She cusses, which I like, even having the f word at the top of her stationary (Important F***ing Correspondence from Snow B. White). She has really realistic ideas about love, believing that relationships “should be based on mutual interests, trust, [and] friendship.” Until you read her first letter, it’s possible you could think this is a children’s book- which would be a mistake. Bianca is strong, fierce, and independent and I really admire her individuality and spirit. I think one of the main reasons I like her is that she is also quite the feminist, which is pretty amazing when you consider the implied view points of most of the other people who live in Grimmland.
Rory (Aurora/ Sleeping Beauty) starts the book as a meek and meager little thing. I feel quite bad for her for much of the book as she seems to let people treat her like a doormat and her husband is an absolute ASS. She is naive about the world and has absolutely terrible self-esteem. She also experienced major heart break due to the fact that 100 years ago she and Fred went against her pages, causing him to be banished to the Outside (our world) and her to be put into an enchanted sleep to save her life. She wakes up (without a magical kiss from her true love) and there is Henry, who becomes her husband when she has new Pages written. Towards the end of the story, I found myself really relating to Rory, but I don’t want to say too much about that.
CeCi is really into cooking, even though princesses aren’t supposed to cook, and she learns from another character that on the Outside, you can take cooking classes. It’s dangerous to travel to the Outside when you have unfinished Pages, so at least one person always has to go with Bianca when she travels to the Outside. There are also really specific rules about traveling to the Outside and if the princesses stay Outside for too long, they could be trapped there with no way to return to Grimmland. The four princesses journey to Hollywood and find a cooking school where they take a souffle class. CeCi loves it so much that Bianca bought her a year long cooking course for her birthday. They continue to venture out into the Outside, CeCi enjoying her cooking classes, Bianca finally starting to believe in love, and Rory doing her damndest to find ways to keep her husband’s interest.
There are lots of little jokes for the reader about things that the princesses don’t understand about the Outside. For example, when Bianca asks the head souffle chef at the cooking school why their rubber shoes are so orange and homely, she says that the chef mutters something about it being the nature of crocodiles and resolves to ask Captain Hook about it the next time she sees him.
At the end of the day, Letters to Zell is a story about friendship and strength and love and passions and independence. It’s about not just accepting your destiny, but getting out there and making your own. It’s a wonderful read and I would highly encourage anyone to read it, but especially those who have a love of Disney princesses and fairytales. I’m on my second read now, but I have a feeling this is a book I will return to over and over again and I sincerely hope Camille Griep writes another book about the girls who have come to be my fictional friends.
Reading Letters to Zell convinced me to seek out every novel I could find within the Modern Retelling of Classic Fairytales genre and I have been very happy with the other books I have found so far. Not only was LTZ a gift, but it continues to give me more gifts with each new book I find within the genre it compelled me to explore.
I would also like to note that Camille Griep is lovely. I tweeted her to tell her how much I love the book and we had a short conversation about my favorite character (Bianca) and how I related to her realistic portrayal of depression at a crucial point in the book. She did not ask me to review this book and no one offered me any compensation for doing so.
I actually got this book from the library and read it for the first time in the end of October 2015. I loved it so much that I just bought my own copy on Amazon so that I could re-read it, write a review, and make people borrow it and read it.
Letters to Zell, written by Camille Griep and published July 1, 2015 by 47North, is available from Amazon.com as a paperback ($10.00) or Kindle ebook ($4.99) and is also available for free through Kindle Unlimited. It is available through Audible as an audiobook for $9.95 (1 credit).
Told in the format of letters written to Zell (short for Rapunzel), this 326 page novel offers a modern re-telling of classic fairytales. It follows CeCi (Cinderella), Bianca (Snow White), and Rory (Sleeping Beauty) after they hear the news that Zell has run off from Grimmland to help run a Unicorn preserve. They keep her up to date on their own lives through letters, allowing the reader to see their different personalities, values, hopes, and dreams.
Given the title, I assumed that the story would primarily be about Zell. The first time I read LTZ, I was a little disappointed at first that I wasn’t getting to hear much of her story, but I realized fairly quickly that the heart of the story really isn’t about her and remembered that the title is Letters TO Zell, not Letters FROM Zell.
I’m not sure why, but I envisioned CeCi (Cinderella) as Kristin Chenoweth as Glenda from the musical, Wicked. I think it has to do with her sarcasm and wit. She is the first character introduced and initially seems a bit pretentious and spoiled, but I promise she grows on you as the story goes on. In addition to giving us a little bit of information about CeCi’s life, her first letter to Zell establishes a few ideas that are important throughout the novel. Firstly, that the princesses’ stories more closely resemble the tales from the Grimm Brothers than anything Disney has ever created; secondly, that Zell, CeCi, Rory, and Bianca are all very close friends; and, thirdly, the importance of each princess’s “Pages,” “unpredictable stories penned by a capricious author” that dictate what happens in each princess’s life. Once a princess has completed her Pages, she is free to make decisions about her own life, within what seem to be certain set limits and societal expectations.
Bianca (Snow White) is much edgier than any version of her I’ve read or seen so far. She cusses, which I like, even having the f word at the top of her stationary (Important F***ing Correspondence from Snow B. White). She has really realistic ideas about love, believing that relationships “should be based on mutual interests, trust, [and] friendship.” Until you read her first letter, it’s possible you could think this is a children’s book- which would be a mistake. Bianca is strong, fierce, and independent and I really admire her individuality and spirit. I think one of the main reasons I like her is that she is also quite the feminist, which is pretty amazing when you consider the implied view points of most of the other people who live in Grimmland.
Rory (Aurora/ Sleeping Beauty) starts the book as a meek and meager little thing. I feel quite bad for her for much of the book as she seems to let people treat her like a doormat and her husband is an absolute ASS. She is naive about the world and has absolutely terrible self-esteem. She also experienced major heart break due to the fact that 100 years ago she and Fred went against her pages, causing him to be banished to the Outside (our world) and her to be put into an enchanted sleep to save her life. She wakes up (without a magical kiss from her true love) and there is Henry, who becomes her husband when she has new Pages written. Towards the end of the story, I found myself really relating to Rory, but I don’t want to say too much about that.
CeCi is really into cooking, even though princesses aren’t supposed to cook, and she learns from another character that on the Outside, you can take cooking classes. It’s dangerous to travel to the Outside when you have unfinished Pages, so at least one person always has to go with Bianca when she travels to the Outside. There are also really specific rules about traveling to the Outside and if the princesses stay Outside for too long, they could be trapped there with no way to return to Grimmland. The four princesses journey to Hollywood and find a cooking school where they take a souffle class. CeCi loves it so much that Bianca bought her a year long cooking course for her birthday. They continue to venture out into the Outside, CeCi enjoying her cooking classes, Bianca finally starting to believe in love, and Rory doing her damndest to find ways to keep her husband’s interest.
There are lots of little jokes for the reader about things that the princesses don’t understand about the Outside. For example, when Bianca asks the head souffle chef at the cooking school why their rubber shoes are so orange and homely, she says that the chef mutters something about it being the nature of crocodiles and resolves to ask Captain Hook about it the next time she sees him.
At the end of the day, Letters to Zell is a story about friendship and strength and love and passions and independence. It’s about not just accepting your destiny, but getting out there and making your own. It’s a wonderful read and I would highly encourage anyone to read it, but especially those who have a love of Disney princesses and fairytales. I’m on my second read now, but I have a feeling this is a book I will return to over and over again and I sincerely hope Camille Griep writes another book about the girls who have come to be my fictional friends.
Reading Letters to Zell convinced me to seek out every novel I could find within the Modern Retelling of Classic Fairytales genre and I have been very happy with the other books I have found so far. Not only was LTZ a gift, but it continues to give me more gifts with each new book I find within the genre it compelled me to explore.
I would also like to note that Camille Griep is lovely. I tweeted her to tell her how much I love the book and we had a short conversation about my favorite character (Bianca) and how I related to her realistic portrayal of depression at a crucial point in the book. She did not ask me to review this book and no one offered me any compensation for doing so.
February 4, 2018
This book was a fun read with a heartfelt message about friendship and becoming the author of your own story. I recommend it to anyone needing a bit of a pick-me-up, and a good laugh!
January 10, 2019
I loved this book! It was a great story and I liked that the end wasn’t just nicely packaged up and tied with a pretty bow. As for the characters even as fairytales they were relatable and funny. I definitely didn’t expect this book to be so good. I had added it to my Audible library years ago and just decided to read it now. I’m so glad that I did. A nice little diamond in the rough!
July 12, 2015
"Letters to Zell" is a thought-provoking novel that not only entertained me, but it made me consider my friendships and the type of friend I am. Through the letters of the three fairy tale character, Griep reminds the reader that friendship is not merely spending time together but actually supporting and trusting another person. It also deals with the realm of fairy tale in a way that respects the traditional stories while recasting them for today.
While some other reviewers have found the epistolary format unbelievable, that is at the essence of this conceit -- just like one willing suspends disbelief when reading a memoir that a person would recall every comment made by every person she has encountered, a book that is letter based will feel chapter-based at times. I found the letters to provide the dip into another's head that makes one love a character and her use of both voice and tense to keep the characters separate developed the characters of Rory, Bianca and Ceci.
Another thing I appreciated about this novel was that Griep went beyond the familiar Disnified versions of fairy tales, causing me to pull out an old copy of Grimms tales and laugh at her use of characters. This combination of both modern day and original story made this book a refreshing re-telling and consideration of the fairy tales.
At the heart of this novel is two things: friendship and stories. As a reader, I know that stories affect me, but this novel made me think about how the stories we tell as a society affect us as well. Stories that were passed down from mother to daughter, from grandmother to grandson tell us something about the people who told these stories, and our changes to them tell us about ourselves. That we continue to re-tell these stories in different forms (from the original Grimm to Monster High to this novel) tells us about our own culture. Griep deals with this conflict through her novel in a humorous but also thoughtful way. Those looking for something "Sex in the City"-esque are looking at the wrong author. Griep's work is not about exploits and cosmopolitans (though, they are in the book) but more about where the stories we tell ourselves leave us and the burden and joy we share in friendship.
While some other reviewers have found the epistolary format unbelievable, that is at the essence of this conceit -- just like one willing suspends disbelief when reading a memoir that a person would recall every comment made by every person she has encountered, a book that is letter based will feel chapter-based at times. I found the letters to provide the dip into another's head that makes one love a character and her use of both voice and tense to keep the characters separate developed the characters of Rory, Bianca and Ceci.
Another thing I appreciated about this novel was that Griep went beyond the familiar Disnified versions of fairy tales, causing me to pull out an old copy of Grimms tales and laugh at her use of characters. This combination of both modern day and original story made this book a refreshing re-telling and consideration of the fairy tales.
At the heart of this novel is two things: friendship and stories. As a reader, I know that stories affect me, but this novel made me think about how the stories we tell as a society affect us as well. Stories that were passed down from mother to daughter, from grandmother to grandson tell us something about the people who told these stories, and our changes to them tell us about ourselves. That we continue to re-tell these stories in different forms (from the original Grimm to Monster High to this novel) tells us about our own culture. Griep deals with this conflict through her novel in a humorous but also thoughtful way. Those looking for something "Sex in the City"-esque are looking at the wrong author. Griep's work is not about exploits and cosmopolitans (though, they are in the book) but more about where the stories we tell ourselves leave us and the burden and joy we share in friendship.
January 18, 2016
What a pleasant surprise I found in this book! I have to confess, when I decided to give it a chance, I expected to roll my eyes frequently--but that didn't happen even once. The modern fairy tale about four princesses we thought we knew couldn't be more charming, and the character of Bianca (Snow White), with her expletive-ridden stationery and bourbon-induced honesty, ensures the plot and its themes never stray into the corny or predictable. Best of all, in this story of fairy tales, which normally rely on flat characters and demonizing the dark side, every princess had a personality and every bad fairy had a conscience. Of course, modernizing fairy tales has been done before, but never have I read one that did such a good job of using them as a metaphor for growing up--not just from 10 years old to 20, for instance, but all the years after that, when you realize that what you wanted then might be the worst thing for you, and society's plan for you might be wrong. It's the time you realize that ALL "adults" might be making it up as they go along. This book looks at "happily ever after" and asks, how can we expect life to be so tidy? I'll end this review by saying I read this book in a day, and I felt like I lived, and better understood, each fairy tale within it.
May 19, 2015
http://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2015/05...
I'm prone to liking books that rework fairy tales, and this one isn't the usual YA fare--instead, it focuses on adult princesses trying to deal when their happy-ever-afters aren't actually that happy. The whole thing is told in letters to Rapunzel, who has left their fairy tale town to run a unicorn preserve, from Cinderella (who longs to be a chef), Snow White (who's being forced to marry a guy who's just a friend), and Sleeping Beauty (her marriage is . . . not great). Now, the letters thing doesn't always work--a lot of them read like, well, book chapters, and not actual letters to a person (they tend to pick up where the last person left off, which means the story moves along, but it's not really authentic). Still, there are some genuinely moving moments, and the characters are great--I am THERE for a foul-mouthed, bisexual Snow White who is perpetually flipping everyone off. This is better than it has any right to be. B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in July.
I'm prone to liking books that rework fairy tales, and this one isn't the usual YA fare--instead, it focuses on adult princesses trying to deal when their happy-ever-afters aren't actually that happy. The whole thing is told in letters to Rapunzel, who has left their fairy tale town to run a unicorn preserve, from Cinderella (who longs to be a chef), Snow White (who's being forced to marry a guy who's just a friend), and Sleeping Beauty (her marriage is . . . not great). Now, the letters thing doesn't always work--a lot of them read like, well, book chapters, and not actual letters to a person (they tend to pick up where the last person left off, which means the story moves along, but it's not really authentic). Still, there are some genuinely moving moments, and the characters are great--I am THERE for a foul-mouthed, bisexual Snow White who is perpetually flipping everyone off. This is better than it has any right to be. B+.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in July.
June 2, 2015
Whether or not your mature, feminist self will admit it these days, but most girls, at one time or another have dreamed about being a princess. Me? Well, I am not too proud to admit that I still do some days, although my definition of princess does, of course, evolve. And this is why I loved this book so much. Griep touched on everything from the sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, nostalgia of the fairy tales of childhood to the modern issues women, and society at large, struggle with. Just the mention of the names – Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella - brings back fond memories of nights snuggled in bed with the familiar stories being read to me (again!). But the appeal of Zell does not stop there. What keeps you turning pages is the real way these princess girlfriends negotiate the ups and downs of their own unique happily-ever-afters . . . getting by with a little help from their friends . . . like we all do.
August 20, 2020
This was fun. I should have read it earlier! I tend to shy away from epistolary form, but this ended up feeling more like a traditional story told by three first-person narrators. There was so much detail in the letters that they stretched belief as actual letters sometimes. A feature, I think, not a bug. The inner lives of fairy tale princesses are a lot more complex than we're led to believe. And what is "happily ever after," anyway? Good stuff here.
August 3, 2019
Fairytales and Swearing
Loved the fairytale aspect. What a great concept to explore what might happen to these famous princesses after their happily ever afters, and all through letters to each other. However, Snow White's mouth is absolutely filthy. I get why the author wrote her this way to go with her attitude, but it got old and overdone pretty quickly.
Loved the fairytale aspect. What a great concept to explore what might happen to these famous princesses after their happily ever afters, and all through letters to each other. However, Snow White's mouth is absolutely filthy. I get why the author wrote her this way to go with her attitude, but it got old and overdone pretty quickly.
February 19, 2018
Good for what it is. Much better than many other fairytale remakes, especially for a book available through Kindle Unlimited.
January 1, 2024
I read this every few years and love it every time 👸
May 1, 2018
The idea of the book was really good. The letter format made it difficult to read. Lots of strong language so not Disney approved.
August 16, 2024
I stumbled upon this title, looking for a "z" book for my ABC challenge. It is a fresh take on the fairytales we all know. All the princesses and realms are connected, but just a little different than the stories we grew up with. The POV's from each princess are entertaining. The whole book is just one letter at a time, so it is an interestingly different format than the typical novel. If you love fairytales and Disney and are looking for a lighthearted read, this was a great palate cleanser from my more dark or paranormal reads.
August 18, 2015
**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net**Where to start with this one? Letters to Zell is a hilarious and zany ride that takes what we knew of fairy tale princesses and turns it on its' head. Told in letter format, Letters to Zell starts off with a letter to Zell (Rapunzel) from Ceci (Cinderella- but don't call her that! She hates it!). Apparently, Zell up and left her princess friends to run off and tend to Unicorns. Zell, Ceci, Bianca (Snow White) and Rory (Sleeping Beauty) are all a part of a book club, and the other princesses are not too happy that Zell left them without any notice.
The letters drop you right in the middle of their world, and it takes a good bit of time to get your bearings. Since the book is told in letter format, and alternates between the princesses, the author- Camille Greip, has to weave details into each letter. Although this method took longer than a couple setting the stage paragraphs or even chapters would have, it felt more authentic to the story telling method. If these princesses were really writing letters to their friend, they wouldn't explain the world they all grew up in, in one go around. (If my friend wrote me a letter and described Florida, it would be one bizarre letter.) So even though this often left me a bit confused until I could gather enough details to paint a picture of the world, I kind of liked it. It made me feel like I was on a scavenger hunt of sorts.
Let's talk a little bit about the letters. They completely cracked me up! I loved Binaca's. She is so crass. All of her letters started with "Important F-ing Correspondence from Snow B. White" Bianca is also still living out the pages of her story, so her letters were of particular interest to me. The book on a whole was a lot of fun to read. I loved the concept of these princesses bonding together and doing something so ordinary as drinking (a lot!) and having a book club. Parts of the story did seem to drag on a bit, and I had to put the book down a few times and pick it up again later, but overall, I enjoyed this story.
Letters To Zell reminded me of the song "Fairytale" by Sara Bareilles. Where all of the Fairy tales have taken a decidedly less happy(and maybe more realistic?) turn than their happily ever after. Each of these princesses are trying to figure out what they really want to do with their lives. I think this is a great book for people in their 20s to read, because I feel like we all are trying to figure out our passions and what we really want to do. And I think everyone has at some point wondered, or known someone who has wondered, if the path they were on was the right one. This takes that idea, throws in some adventure, princesses and a whole lot of wine, and takes us on a journey to answer that questions. And there are a lot of laughs, and some behavior unbecoming of fairytale princesses, along the way.
This review was originally posted on Book Briefs
The letters drop you right in the middle of their world, and it takes a good bit of time to get your bearings. Since the book is told in letter format, and alternates between the princesses, the author- Camille Greip, has to weave details into each letter. Although this method took longer than a couple setting the stage paragraphs or even chapters would have, it felt more authentic to the story telling method. If these princesses were really writing letters to their friend, they wouldn't explain the world they all grew up in, in one go around. (If my friend wrote me a letter and described Florida, it would be one bizarre letter.) So even though this often left me a bit confused until I could gather enough details to paint a picture of the world, I kind of liked it. It made me feel like I was on a scavenger hunt of sorts.
Let's talk a little bit about the letters. They completely cracked me up! I loved Binaca's. She is so crass. All of her letters started with "Important F-ing Correspondence from Snow B. White" Bianca is also still living out the pages of her story, so her letters were of particular interest to me. The book on a whole was a lot of fun to read. I loved the concept of these princesses bonding together and doing something so ordinary as drinking (a lot!) and having a book club. Parts of the story did seem to drag on a bit, and I had to put the book down a few times and pick it up again later, but overall, I enjoyed this story.
Letters To Zell reminded me of the song "Fairytale" by Sara Bareilles. Where all of the Fairy tales have taken a decidedly less happy(and maybe more realistic?) turn than their happily ever after. Each of these princesses are trying to figure out what they really want to do with their lives. I think this is a great book for people in their 20s to read, because I feel like we all are trying to figure out our passions and what we really want to do. And I think everyone has at some point wondered, or known someone who has wondered, if the path they were on was the right one. This takes that idea, throws in some adventure, princesses and a whole lot of wine, and takes us on a journey to answer that questions. And there are a lot of laughs, and some behavior unbecoming of fairytale princesses, along the way.
This review was originally posted on Book Briefs
January 31, 2016
2.5 stars
This one was quite disappointing. The idea was really good and I loved that the book is about the letters that the characters wrote to each others and that's just that, letters and letters. These things are good and I really liked it. And in a sort of way this book is "well done" because is about the feelings and the way to know ourselves better and the ways to make our dreams come true, and the feelings part is good, is realistic and is also enjoyable, but it was a really depressing and slow reading. And I was expecting so much more!!!!
Questo libro è stato abbastanza deludente. L'idea di base era buona e il fatto che sia un romanzo epistolare (completamente epistolare) mi è piaciuto davvero molto, ma l'idea di base per me non funziona. E' un libro sui sentimenti e sulla realizzazione personale, e da questo lato posso anche arrivare a dire che è ben fatto, ma per tutta la lettura sono stata tormentata da un tarlo che mi continuava a ripetere che c'era qualcosa che scricchiolava nell'intera struttura. E la cosa è questa: l'autrice prende le principesse delle storie (Biancaneve, Aurora, Rapunzel e Cenerentola) che sono costruite come le casalinghe ideali degli anni 50 (prende proprio la versione Disney), le fa vivere la loro favola e poi ci catapulta nel "cosa è successo dopo?" e di colpo le nostre casalinghe perfette anni '50 diventano delle donne moderne comprensibilmente insoddisfatte per il loro "e vissero felici e contente".
Il punto è che, per me, non puoi avere tutto: o hai la versione delle disney delle principesse o hai la versione moderna. Ma non tutte e due assieme. E' difficile spiegare quello che intendo, ma se tu me le presenti come principesse disneyane allora l'intero senso di insoddisfazione che provano non sta in piedi, se per un attimo guardi la cosa dal punto di vista del personaggio e di coerenza, mentre se tu consideri queste principesse come donne moderne allora la loro insoddisfazione ha senso, ma non il loro passato. Perché non è realistico e non è coerente che nel giro di un paio di giorni ti trasformi da principessa disney( a.k.a. casalinga perfetta) a insoddisfatta cronica. C'è qualcosa che non va!
Spero di essere riuscita a spiegarmi, almeno in minima parte.
This one was quite disappointing. The idea was really good and I loved that the book is about the letters that the characters wrote to each others and that's just that, letters and letters. These things are good and I really liked it. And in a sort of way this book is "well done" because is about the feelings and the way to know ourselves better and the ways to make our dreams come true, and the feelings part is good, is realistic and is also enjoyable, but it was a really depressing and slow reading. And I was expecting so much more!!!!
Questo libro è stato abbastanza deludente. L'idea di base era buona e il fatto che sia un romanzo epistolare (completamente epistolare) mi è piaciuto davvero molto, ma l'idea di base per me non funziona. E' un libro sui sentimenti e sulla realizzazione personale, e da questo lato posso anche arrivare a dire che è ben fatto, ma per tutta la lettura sono stata tormentata da un tarlo che mi continuava a ripetere che c'era qualcosa che scricchiolava nell'intera struttura. E la cosa è questa: l'autrice prende le principesse delle storie (Biancaneve, Aurora, Rapunzel e Cenerentola) che sono costruite come le casalinghe ideali degli anni 50 (prende proprio la versione Disney), le fa vivere la loro favola e poi ci catapulta nel "cosa è successo dopo?" e di colpo le nostre casalinghe perfette anni '50 diventano delle donne moderne comprensibilmente insoddisfatte per il loro "e vissero felici e contente".
Il punto è che, per me, non puoi avere tutto: o hai la versione delle disney delle principesse o hai la versione moderna. Ma non tutte e due assieme. E' difficile spiegare quello che intendo, ma se tu me le presenti come principesse disneyane allora l'intero senso di insoddisfazione che provano non sta in piedi, se per un attimo guardi la cosa dal punto di vista del personaggio e di coerenza, mentre se tu consideri queste principesse come donne moderne allora la loro insoddisfazione ha senso, ma non il loro passato. Perché non è realistico e non è coerente che nel giro di un paio di giorni ti trasformi da principessa disney( a.k.a. casalinga perfetta) a insoddisfatta cronica. C'è qualcosa che non va!
Spero di essere riuscita a spiegarmi, almeno in minima parte.
November 23, 2016
I can’t decide which I loved more, the crack-me-up quips, the underlying feminist strength or the tender and honest belief that every woman must create and live her own story. I am certain of one thing: I loved reading Camille Greip's novel Letters to Zell.
Structuring an entire novel as a series of letters presents any author with a formidable challenge: how to grab and sustain readers' interest throughout. Ms. Griep tackled the challenge with humor, truth telling and by fleshing out 'storybook' characters as real women who make mistakes, struggle with owning up to those mistakes and finding forgiveness for those who've done them wrong.
I began reading this book while sitting on the beach believing it to be a 'fun read,' and it's definitely that, but also so much more. These women presented to us as flat characters in fairytales when we were young, bloom under this author's guidance into authentic real women an adult reader can respect and love.
Beneath her entertaining story, however, Ms. Greip subtly weaves in real psychological disorders which manifest themselves in relationships between the ‘white knight’ and the ‘damsel in distress.’ Olivia Shaffett writes in her 2015 article Damsel in Distress Disorder published in Modern Girls that these relationships can strip a woman of her power:
“Because this particular kind of guy only likes you when you’re acting like a “damsel in distress.” He is completely there for you through your emotional breakdowns and more vulnerable moments. But once you get yourself together and start succeeding at life? Forget it. This particular guy becomes the biggest bully in your life. When you’re down, he will do anything for you. When you’re up, he tears you right back down.”
Letters to Zell shows that playing either of these roles makes 'happily ever after' nearly impossible.
And if I may quote, Cecilia Cinder Charming,
"Wouldn't we be better friends to one another, better lovers, better people if we all believed the best of ourselves, our friends, the future--at least every once in a while?"
As a 'Human,' I couldn't have said it better myself.
Structuring an entire novel as a series of letters presents any author with a formidable challenge: how to grab and sustain readers' interest throughout. Ms. Griep tackled the challenge with humor, truth telling and by fleshing out 'storybook' characters as real women who make mistakes, struggle with owning up to those mistakes and finding forgiveness for those who've done them wrong.
I began reading this book while sitting on the beach believing it to be a 'fun read,' and it's definitely that, but also so much more. These women presented to us as flat characters in fairytales when we were young, bloom under this author's guidance into authentic real women an adult reader can respect and love.
Beneath her entertaining story, however, Ms. Greip subtly weaves in real psychological disorders which manifest themselves in relationships between the ‘white knight’ and the ‘damsel in distress.’ Olivia Shaffett writes in her 2015 article Damsel in Distress Disorder published in Modern Girls that these relationships can strip a woman of her power:
“Because this particular kind of guy only likes you when you’re acting like a “damsel in distress.” He is completely there for you through your emotional breakdowns and more vulnerable moments. But once you get yourself together and start succeeding at life? Forget it. This particular guy becomes the biggest bully in your life. When you’re down, he will do anything for you. When you’re up, he tears you right back down.”
Letters to Zell shows that playing either of these roles makes 'happily ever after' nearly impossible.
And if I may quote, Cecilia Cinder Charming,
"Wouldn't we be better friends to one another, better lovers, better people if we all believed the best of ourselves, our friends, the future--at least every once in a while?"
As a 'Human,' I couldn't have said it better myself.
August 31, 2015
Not only can Camille Griep get into my head, (witness More Reflections on Letters to Zell and Not Being "That Kind of Guy") but she seems to have lived several lifetimes to be able to write such a fun yet never frivolous deep dive into relationships. How does she make thoroughly entertaining, engaging, challenging and even page-turning exciting letters to the fairy-tale princess Rapunzel from her friends Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella? (See Goodreads for a summary of the plot.) I think maybe she has more than a little fairy magic herself. Of course, Zell, Bianca, Rory & CiCe aren't as we imagined them, nor is Grimmland. I'm now thinking Ms. Griep's words bewitched me because I've done things I've never done before. I wrote two posts prior to finishing the book. I rarely do multiple posts on the same book, but have never posted before I've read the whole thing. I felt a little like a stalker blog. The first two posts aren't reviews, but musings on topics inspired by the book, its characters, and their relationships. Oh, wait, this her debut novel as well. Definitely magic.
This book makes you reflect - a lot. You reflect on how truthful you are with yourself and others. It makes you realize that almost all of your actions are tainted by selfishness; as a pastor friend once told me "I've never met an unmixed motive." It makes you reflect on the ethics of pursuing what seems right for you juxtaposed to the impact on others. It makes you think about unintended consequences and when helping hurts. Most of all, it shows the importance of genuinely listening. Not listening to make a point, or give advice or fix an issue. Rather, giving and receiving full-on, face-on listening. All of that reflection, however, is bundled in this delightful package of the challenges these women face and working through it via letters to their now distant friend Zell.
For full review: http://wp.me/p2XCwQ-1f9
This book makes you reflect - a lot. You reflect on how truthful you are with yourself and others. It makes you realize that almost all of your actions are tainted by selfishness; as a pastor friend once told me "I've never met an unmixed motive." It makes you reflect on the ethics of pursuing what seems right for you juxtaposed to the impact on others. It makes you think about unintended consequences and when helping hurts. Most of all, it shows the importance of genuinely listening. Not listening to make a point, or give advice or fix an issue. Rather, giving and receiving full-on, face-on listening. All of that reflection, however, is bundled in this delightful package of the challenges these women face and working through it via letters to their now distant friend Zell.
For full review: http://wp.me/p2XCwQ-1f9
August 9, 2015
When reading the summary, I told myself it would be a fun read. Something different. As lately, I was joking about fairy tales and Prince Charming having a modern interpretation picked my curiosity.
The fact that these super star princesses were not happy about what every girls dream of being a wonderful ending for a love story from childhood made me want to know more about the author plot.
I was very surprise but not at all in a good way. If the story could have been promising, it's too long. The author takes too much time to go to the point.
The fact that all the story is writing as letter to Rapunzel could have been cool. But the absence of reply means just a lot of complains not really a correspondence.
The princesses are boring, swearing or too naive to be fun. Honestly, they are winning so much that it's no wonder the princes are always out of the picture. :-) Would have run away myself from their clique. They only know how to gossip and are really not cool role model.
So I ended up watching the percentage read at the bottom of my screen more and more. As I'm not really patient these days, I haven't read the story until the end.
I'm sorry since the author was trying to come up with something interesting but her vision of women is pretty awful. And she has lost me by taking too much time to put some action in her story. :-(
Lucie
http://newbooksonmyselves.blogspot.fr...
The fact that these super star princesses were not happy about what every girls dream of being a wonderful ending for a love story from childhood made me want to know more about the author plot.
I was very surprise but not at all in a good way. If the story could have been promising, it's too long. The author takes too much time to go to the point.
The fact that all the story is writing as letter to Rapunzel could have been cool. But the absence of reply means just a lot of complains not really a correspondence.
The princesses are boring, swearing or too naive to be fun. Honestly, they are winning so much that it's no wonder the princes are always out of the picture. :-) Would have run away myself from their clique. They only know how to gossip and are really not cool role model.
So I ended up watching the percentage read at the bottom of my screen more and more. As I'm not really patient these days, I haven't read the story until the end.
I'm sorry since the author was trying to come up with something interesting but her vision of women is pretty awful. And she has lost me by taking too much time to put some action in her story. :-(
Lucie
http://newbooksonmyselves.blogspot.fr...
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