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Love's Enchanted Tales #5
Spindle
What happens when the sleeper wakes to a changed world?
In the aftermath of the dragon wars, Celena Geraint expects peace to return to the Kingdom of Aneirin. Instead, she is cursed by a dragoness to an enchanted sleep. When she wakes, a century has passed and everything she knew has vanished in a war of succession whose only hope for an end now lies in her hands.
He went on a quest to find the Sleeping Duchess, never expecting legend to come to life. Now Brand finds his plans of escaping the war-torn kingdom on hold for the sake of a woman with silver eyes. Staying by her side as she works to save their kingdom, he knows he can never reveal he feels more than protection toward the duchess.
Will she need to sacrifice her own chance at love to win the throne?
A fantasy retelling of the classic fairytale, Sleeping Beauty
Clean romance, adventure, and humor combine to bring classic fairytales and myths to new life in Love's Enchanted Tales, a series of interconnected stand-alone stories. Each story can be read and enjoyed on its own. However, for greatest enjoyment they should be read in order.
In the aftermath of the dragon wars, Celena Geraint expects peace to return to the Kingdom of Aneirin. Instead, she is cursed by a dragoness to an enchanted sleep. When she wakes, a century has passed and everything she knew has vanished in a war of succession whose only hope for an end now lies in her hands.
He went on a quest to find the Sleeping Duchess, never expecting legend to come to life. Now Brand finds his plans of escaping the war-torn kingdom on hold for the sake of a woman with silver eyes. Staying by her side as she works to save their kingdom, he knows he can never reveal he feels more than protection toward the duchess.
Will she need to sacrifice her own chance at love to win the throne?
A fantasy retelling of the classic fairytale, Sleeping Beauty
Clean romance, adventure, and humor combine to bring classic fairytales and myths to new life in Love's Enchanted Tales, a series of interconnected stand-alone stories. Each story can be read and enjoyed on its own. However, for greatest enjoyment they should be read in order.
246 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 8, 2018
31 people are currently reading
54 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 26, 2020
Spindle is the third book I've read from Kimberly A. Rogers' Love's Enchanted Tales series. It felt appropriate to read a book from the middle of the series after completing the second to last book, Dragon's Maid, and the first book, Selkie's Song. Spindle is about on par with the sweet love story from Dragon's Maid and is a vast improvement over the faux Disney-mocking from Selkie's Song, though it did contain some welcome cameos of Naia and Malik. This book stood out among the ten in the series because "Sleeping Beauty" is such a versatile story to adapt. The fairy tale is so simple that every novelization is unique in how it chooses to expand upon the details. This version follows the protagonist's journey after she wakes up to learn that a century has passed and her kingdom is in turmoil. It has everything you would expect from a contemporary retelling of "Sleeping Beauty."
Spindle is the story of Celena, the cousin of King Eric from Selkie's Song, the first book in this series. Celena is cursed by a dragon to fall asleep when she pricks her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel. For some reason, that does not stop her from spinning flax as a hobby, which makes it that much easier for the curse to take effect. One hundred years later, Celena is awakened by a mercenary named Brand, who must take on the burdon of revealing to her that everyone she knew is long gone. Yet, adjusting to the new century is not the most difficult challenge Celena must deal with. Upon her research about the time she was asleep, the duchess learns of a civil war that began while she slept and that her kingdom is in danger of being overtaken by a wicked tyrant. Though she had no prior ambition to rule, she must now face the task of taking back her kingdom for the sake of protecting the citizens.
This is the first book I read from Love's Enchanted Tales that does not have a paranormal romance between a human and a dragon or selkie. Then again, I suppose a woman who lived a hundred years in the past qualifies as paranormal. I thoroughly enjoyed the development of Celena and Brand's romance and all of the challenges that come between them. As stereotypical as it is for social class to divide two lovers in the middle ages, I liked that Brand was hired as Celena's Captain of the Guard so he could remain close enough for her to get to know him better while his lack of noble ranking remains as an obstacle. It was bittersweet to read about him answering all of her questions about the past to the best of his abilities as well as his fierce determination to protect her from becoming corrupted by the new order.
Though much of Spindle focuses on the politics of taking over a kingdom, it doesn't get too tedious due to its strong pacing. It is half as long as Selkie's Song, which works to its benefit in just about every way. After Celena is awakened, she is tossed around like a piece of meat among the nobles who wish to find a consort to use her newfound power as the heir to the throne. Among them, she meets the Duke of Glenrowan, who is the love interest from the following book. He added a healthy dose of mystery and intrigue to the story and gave Celena a believable love triangle instead of making Brand her only viable option. I also enjoyed the dichotomy between Celena's innocence with the corruption among all the other nobles she was forced to deal with in her quest to take back the kingdom.
Spindle is exactly what you would want to see from an updated retelling of "Sleeping Beauty." It places the power back in the hands of the protagonist by transforming the tale of a helpless princess into a one about a courageous woman fighting to restore her kingdom after years of corruption. The book doesn't dance around the fact that Celena must cope with the loss of everyone she held dear before she fell asleep. It dove into all the emotions that a person in her situation would experience. I love how supportive Brand was toward her plight even if he did not fully understand what she was going through. His humility combined with her obligation to marry a consort of noble blood gave this book the perfect fairy tale romance to complete the story.
Spindle is the story of Celena, the cousin of King Eric from Selkie's Song, the first book in this series. Celena is cursed by a dragon to fall asleep when she pricks her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel. For some reason, that does not stop her from spinning flax as a hobby, which makes it that much easier for the curse to take effect. One hundred years later, Celena is awakened by a mercenary named Brand, who must take on the burdon of revealing to her that everyone she knew is long gone. Yet, adjusting to the new century is not the most difficult challenge Celena must deal with. Upon her research about the time she was asleep, the duchess learns of a civil war that began while she slept and that her kingdom is in danger of being overtaken by a wicked tyrant. Though she had no prior ambition to rule, she must now face the task of taking back her kingdom for the sake of protecting the citizens.
This is the first book I read from Love's Enchanted Tales that does not have a paranormal romance between a human and a dragon or selkie. Then again, I suppose a woman who lived a hundred years in the past qualifies as paranormal. I thoroughly enjoyed the development of Celena and Brand's romance and all of the challenges that come between them. As stereotypical as it is for social class to divide two lovers in the middle ages, I liked that Brand was hired as Celena's Captain of the Guard so he could remain close enough for her to get to know him better while his lack of noble ranking remains as an obstacle. It was bittersweet to read about him answering all of her questions about the past to the best of his abilities as well as his fierce determination to protect her from becoming corrupted by the new order.
Though much of Spindle focuses on the politics of taking over a kingdom, it doesn't get too tedious due to its strong pacing. It is half as long as Selkie's Song, which works to its benefit in just about every way. After Celena is awakened, she is tossed around like a piece of meat among the nobles who wish to find a consort to use her newfound power as the heir to the throne. Among them, she meets the Duke of Glenrowan, who is the love interest from the following book. He added a healthy dose of mystery and intrigue to the story and gave Celena a believable love triangle instead of making Brand her only viable option. I also enjoyed the dichotomy between Celena's innocence with the corruption among all the other nobles she was forced to deal with in her quest to take back the kingdom.
Spindle is exactly what you would want to see from an updated retelling of "Sleeping Beauty." It places the power back in the hands of the protagonist by transforming the tale of a helpless princess into a one about a courageous woman fighting to restore her kingdom after years of corruption. The book doesn't dance around the fact that Celena must cope with the loss of everyone she held dear before she fell asleep. It dove into all the emotions that a person in her situation would experience. I love how supportive Brand was toward her plight even if he did not fully understand what she was going through. His humility combined with her obligation to marry a consort of noble blood gave this book the perfect fairy tale romance to complete the story.
March 4, 2020
It was fun getting see glimpses of Malik and Naia in this book as they were my favorite couple in the series so far.
Most of this story is more a what happens after which isn't too uncommon for Sleeping Beauty retellings. The curse, sleep, and awakening happens in like the first 10%.
There's some minor errors. "not quiet" instead of "not quite". A repetition of "voice voice". "He was going more damage than help" instead of either "he was doing more damage than help" or something like that. And a missing period "And, dragons could not hide their scales Utter nonsense.” But that was the only things that really jumped out at me.
What I honestly can say drove me NUTS was a repetitive issue. Certain words you can repeat frequently without readers noticing. Other words . . . in this case malicious stick out when repeated often.
Too explain, I honestly enjoyed the banter about the horse when it first started. It was amusing and spoke well of an easygoing relationship between the two MC's. It made me smile.
And then.
Malicious, malicious, malicious. If the horse was discussed you could plan on that word cropping up multiple times. Sometimes I'd get lucky and get a "malign" or a "malevolent" or usually another "m" word that fit. But between 15% and 50% I caught 13 uses of malicious. I don't count words. I really don't, but it got to the point where the horse would get brought up and I was like oh great, here we go, more uses of malicious. Which is NOT what a reader should be thinking when you're putting together a humorous, lighthearted scene.
So I started keeping track and then went back to see how many more I could find from skimming. There's possibly some I missed. And I know it seems super whatever to be bugged about this but it's just the fact. Malicious is too memorable of a word to not notice if it comes up that many times and only during short pieces of dialogue. It was just too overused.
Anyway, I just had to say that and get it out of my system.
In general this is an interesting story about Eric's kingdom 100 years later after the dragon wars and how it fell apart and has been constantly tearing itself into pieces since then. There's political drama everywhere and Celena expertly navigates it in order to put her kingdom back together. She handled the task before her well and I liked pretty much all of the choices she made and found them to be sound and promising of a good future for the kingdom.
Most of this story is more a what happens after which isn't too uncommon for Sleeping Beauty retellings. The curse, sleep, and awakening happens in like the first 10%.
There's some minor errors. "not quiet" instead of "not quite". A repetition of "voice voice". "He was going more damage than help" instead of either "he was doing more damage than help" or something like that. And a missing period "And, dragons could not hide their scales Utter nonsense.” But that was the only things that really jumped out at me.
What I honestly can say drove me NUTS was a repetitive issue. Certain words you can repeat frequently without readers noticing. Other words . . . in this case malicious stick out when repeated often.
Too explain, I honestly enjoyed the banter about the horse when it first started. It was amusing and spoke well of an easygoing relationship between the two MC's. It made me smile.
And then.
Malicious, malicious, malicious. If the horse was discussed you could plan on that word cropping up multiple times. Sometimes I'd get lucky and get a "malign" or a "malevolent" or usually another "m" word that fit. But between 15% and 50% I caught 13 uses of malicious. I don't count words. I really don't, but it got to the point where the horse would get brought up and I was like oh great, here we go, more uses of malicious. Which is NOT what a reader should be thinking when you're putting together a humorous, lighthearted scene.
So I started keeping track and then went back to see how many more I could find from skimming. There's possibly some I missed. And I know it seems super whatever to be bugged about this but it's just the fact. Malicious is too memorable of a word to not notice if it comes up that many times and only during short pieces of dialogue. It was just too overused.
Anyway, I just had to say that and get it out of my system.
In general this is an interesting story about Eric's kingdom 100 years later after the dragon wars and how it fell apart and has been constantly tearing itself into pieces since then. There's political drama everywhere and Celena expertly navigates it in order to put her kingdom back together. She handled the task before her well and I liked pretty much all of the choices she made and found them to be sound and promising of a good future for the kingdom.
October 16, 2020
Most Sleeping Beauty retellings will follow the classic format by having the vast majority of the book be about before the curse befalls the Princess. This is my new favorite because it deals largely with the aftermath of her waking up. Celena is not a typical nobel woman. I love her poise and that everything she does is measured and with purpose without her being overbearing. It would be very easy to dismiss her as not being strong because she is not forceful. That would be a mistake. Brand is the perfect knight in shining armor without all the messy baggage of actually being a part of the aristocracy. The bumps in the road evoked genuine anxiety as they work together to break Celena's curse.
Miss Rogers continues to impress me with her takes on my favorite fairy tales. Her twists and turns breathe new life into what can often be mundane tales that we have grown tired of. I feel as though I am devouring this series.
Miss Rogers continues to impress me with her takes on my favorite fairy tales. Her twists and turns breathe new life into what can often be mundane tales that we have grown tired of. I feel as though I am devouring this series.
June 14, 2022
Great story
Sleeping beauty has to figure out how to navigate a world a century after her sleep but everyone and everything she knew is long gone. This took me a few pages to become invested, but around 30% through I was committed. The plot moves quickly at a good pace. Some characters from previous books are mentioned or make an appearance,
But knowledge of the former books is unnecessary for understanding what’s going on. Unlike some of the earlier heroines, Celena is well aware of how to play the games of the court and is much more willing to act intelligently. Character development is good. Altogether, I would highly recommend this book.
Sleeping beauty has to figure out how to navigate a world a century after her sleep but everyone and everything she knew is long gone. This took me a few pages to become invested, but around 30% through I was committed. The plot moves quickly at a good pace. Some characters from previous books are mentioned or make an appearance,
But knowledge of the former books is unnecessary for understanding what’s going on. Unlike some of the earlier heroines, Celena is well aware of how to play the games of the court and is much more willing to act intelligently. Character development is good. Altogether, I would highly recommend this book.
June 20, 2019
This is the first book in the series that had a cuss word in it - argh! At least it came near the end and I didn't miss a whole lot when I skipped to the ending.
This is a Sleeping Beauty type story, but in this one the spindle continues to be tied to the Duchesses life and she leaves it in the hands of her faithful protector Brand, the man who woke her up.
Many of the families of previous stories show up in this one and it's fun remember the previous stories to put everything in place.
Not a clean read, there is a cuss word or two.
This is a Sleeping Beauty type story, but in this one the spindle continues to be tied to the Duchesses life and she leaves it in the hands of her faithful protector Brand, the man who woke her up.
Many of the families of previous stories show up in this one and it's fun remember the previous stories to put everything in place.
Not a clean read, there is a cuss word or two.
July 27, 2019
An excellent retelling
This is a really excellent retelling of sleeping beauty - always a difficult case because it's kinda boring and gross and the reality of being asleep for a hundred years the waking is terrifying. Most people sidestep this, but Kimberly Rogers dealt with it head on. It's the first book in this series that I've felt was a true retelling and that actually benefits from the association with the original tale. Some flaws, but a really good read that I'd definitely recommend.
This is a really excellent retelling of sleeping beauty - always a difficult case because it's kinda boring and gross and the reality of being asleep for a hundred years the waking is terrifying. Most people sidestep this, but Kimberly Rogers dealt with it head on. It's the first book in this series that I've felt was a true retelling and that actually benefits from the association with the original tale. Some flaws, but a really good read that I'd definitely recommend.
October 17, 2019
Sweet and engaging
I love that the stories in this series are finally bringing back old faces! The Selkies are still my favorites and I was so excited to see them again. This book had sweet characters who were still able to keep up with court intrigue. I really enjoyed the new take on the story with it being more about after she wakes. Excellent read!
I love that the stories in this series are finally bringing back old faces! The Selkies are still my favorites and I was so excited to see them again. This book had sweet characters who were still able to keep up with court intrigue. I really enjoyed the new take on the story with it being more about after she wakes. Excellent read!
April 11, 2020
Sweet read
This was a sweet read and am interesting take on Sleeping Beauty. It took a bit for me to get into this book, but I'm glad I stick with it as Naia and Malik from the Little Selkie played a role in this book. I would rate this book PG for thematic violence, sweet and clean.
This was a sweet read and am interesting take on Sleeping Beauty. It took a bit for me to get into this book, but I'm glad I stick with it as Naia and Malik from the Little Selkie played a role in this book. I would rate this book PG for thematic violence, sweet and clean.
April 1, 2023
Contains: some fighting. This book was definitely more politically focused than other books in the series. It is a sleeping beauty retelling but most of the Sleeping Beauty story occurs in the first few chapters and the rest is it’s own thing. We do get to see some characters from the first book which was nice.
September 20, 2020
Spindle takes you beyond the awakening...
Another great tale, Spindle takes you beyond the awakening, to see what life is like 100 years later, after sleeping beauty wakes. An excellent book !
Another great tale, Spindle takes you beyond the awakening, to see what life is like 100 years later, after sleeping beauty wakes. An excellent book !
March 4, 2019
This is a different take on Sleeping Beauty. What happens when she wakes up a hundred years later and has to adjust to a new culture? It is an interesting take on fitting in and romance.
March 23, 2019
Loved it!
Another great addition to this series! I have loved every one so far and would highly recommend to anyone who is a lover of fairy tales. ❤️
Another great addition to this series! I have loved every one so far and would highly recommend to anyone who is a lover of fairy tales. ❤️
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews