Fairy Tale Retellings! discussion

Hi everyone. Sorry for posting late. Life got busy awfully quick. Our BotM will be Entwined. Have fun discussing the book and feel free to politely express your opinions. Hope the summer went well for everyone! As always, happy reading.

I first read this book in 2011 shortly after it was published. Great book! I really enjoyed it! It was written by the niece of one of my closest friends. I will try and re-read it before the end of September.

I discovered this author through her artwork....which led me to her book! Which I LOVED. Can't wait for people to read this one!

What a beautiful cover this one has!

Yes! I'm excited!

I'll be passing on this one, I read part of it and it just didn't sit well with me so I stopped.

Ella wrote: "I'll be passing on this one, I read part of it and it just didn't sit well with me so I stopped."

I have such fond memories of this one! I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it, too!

I own this book in hardcover. I cannot remember where I found it. I think it might have been a used book store. I love 12 dancing princess retellings so I believe I have read this book. I just don't remember when. Will defiantly be rereading.

I listened to it as an audiobook which in this case kind of hindered my ability to enjoy the book as much as I could have. I dropped it somewhere in the middle. It was a bit slow for me but if I ever get my hands on the readable version I think I'll try it out again.

It does get slower in the middle, but the ending was so worth it for me. It was unexpected, thrilling and super cute. At least that’s how I remember it. I’ll definitely need to find time to reread this one for the umpteen time.

Noonecansinkmyship wrote: "It does get slower in the middle, but the ending was so worth it for me. It was unexpected, thrilling and super cute. At least that’s how I remember it. I’ll definitely need to find time to reread ..."
Yeah, hopefully I can make it through sometime! :)

Just started reading this, and wonder why I never heard of it all these years.
I don't have quite as many siblings as Aurelia, but I'm the oldest, and what impresses me most so far is the way the author shows the sisterly personalities and interactions.
In the early versions I read, the Twelve Dancing Princesses were just a bunch of dancers in pretty dresses, without personalities.

Susan wrote: "Just started reading this, and wonder why I never heard of it all these years.
I don't have quite as many siblings as Aurelia, but I'm the oldest, and what impresses me most so far is the way the ..."

YES! That's why this one's my favorite so far. Every sister is going to have her own personality and so many authors just kind of say "don't look here..."

Susan wrote: "Just started reading this, and wonder why I never heard of it all these years.
I don't have quite as many siblings as Aurelia, but I'm the oldest, and what impresses me most so far is the way the ..."

Right?! I love how the author mentions every sibling and gives them at least a little bit of a personality. It really shows the sister relationships and helps us understand Azalea even better.

Finally finished! I first tried listening to the audiobook but 2 weeks in I was barely making it through the first 100 pages. I checked the book out and devoured it in a few hours! I reallllly liked it. 4 out of 5 for me.

I agree about Wallwork doing a good job with the characterization of each character. It gets a little difficult with the younger ones but I mean that's all right because they're all kids. Clover, Bramble, and Azalea made more sense to focus on and I really enjoyed each of them individually.

Never thought I'd say this about a fairytale but the romance, even though it's very well done, didn't matter in the slightest to me. (Well, okay, except Clover and Fairweller. They were my favorite pair). What really mattered to me was the girls reconnecting with their father. In every scene with him and the girls, I became a fangirl, especially once he came home from the war and I saw how hard he wanted to try but was struggling. When I realized it was him who had come in to save the girls towards the end underneath the cape...🥰 Father-daughter relationships aren't often explored in fairy tales other than making the father an overprotective fool (which the King could be--him and his boxing skills lol) but Entwined really delves deep into it and makes the King such an important character.

I am obsessed by the way with all the curtsy etiquette and dancing in the book. I googled the entwine dance trying to see if i could find a clip of it only to find a post from Heather on her blog explaining it's made up 😥She did have some cute artwork though http://story-monster.com/2010/06/entw...

And I found a blog where she made a guest post explaining how to do a soul curtsy which I don't think I could do in a million years but the artwork is cute and I imagine in reality it would be gorgeous. http://mypileofbooks.blogspot.com/201...

here's a video of someone trying to attempt the curtsy but they couldn't get it all which is really obvious why when you watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrO_u...

IT'S HARD!!! I appreciated seeing it though because it makes the last chapter more beautiful to me and better appreciate how difficult it was for Azalea to do.

Never have I ever gotten such a great feel for a main character's shifts of mood and/or confidence, shown by her fidgets. Maybe it's because I'm an inveterate fidgeter myself, but Aurelia's tiniest and most seemingly random fusses--rolling a dried rosebud back and forth between her hands on a tabletop or twisting her fingers through the loose weave of a shawl--mean so much more than the usual "felt a flush creeping up her neck" language we see so often (and learn to almost ignore).

The fidgets are also so perfect for a character whose whole life has shrunk to a few rooms.

Tiffany wrote: "Finally finished! I first tried listening to the audiobook but 2 weeks in I was barely making it through the first 100 pages. I checked the book out and devoured it in a few hours! I reallllly like..."

Thanks for the links to the author's blog and the soul curtsey.

The soul curtsey is exactly what I thought--the move made, for example, by the Sleeping Beauty towards the end of her grand pas de deux with the prince that caps the full-length ballet (music by Tchaikowsky, in the original choreography by Petipa). For 2 years after college I worked as publicist for a midwestern ballet company (a strange job for someone with two left feet), and I wish there was a youtube of their version, which lingered on the soul curtsey so that it would bring tears to my eyes every time.

I'm really really sorry that despite Entwined doing well HDW couldn't make a living writing, because I admire this book so much. I'm going to check out her other two stories.

Truly one of the more interesting and accomplished retellings I've read. I'm grateful to whoever nominated it, because (as I said somewhere above) I'd never even heard of it.
I didn't feel it lag in the middle, because the whole story seemed best to me when it was concentrating on the characters and their relationships.
But (view spoiler)[the whole climactic magical battle went on too long for my tastes, and I actually didn't quite ever get a clear sense of how the magic system worked. Or I guess I should say the three different kinds of magic, and who had access to which. Which is probaby why I the final conflict had a few too many twists and false defeats for me. (I must admit that I never get into fight scenes--in books or visual media--think I'll ask what other people think about them in another thread sometime. ) (hide spoiler)]

Susan wrote: "Truly one of the more interesting and accomplished retellings I've read. I'm grateful to whoever nominated it, because (as I said somewhere above) I'd never even heard of it.
I didn't feel it lag i..."

I'm so glad to see everyone's so hyped about this book! I love in depth relationships so I sincerely enjoy this book and didn't mind the lack of action in the middle.

Tiffany wrote: "Finally finished! I first tried listening to the audiobook but 2 weeks in I was barely making it through the first 100 pages. I checked the book out and devoured it in a few hours! I reallllly like..."

I love how all the siblings have a personality. That's super tough to do and the authoress did an amazing job of it, even if I did want to shake some of them sometimes. But hey, they wouldn't be siblings if you didn't want to shake them all the time sometimes.

You're right. The father taught dynamic was adorable and I really like how deep it dove into the complexities of human relationships. This book really shows that those who are closest to us sometimes hurt us the most even if they know us the best. And that there really is such a thing as second chances and real change. Who says you can't teach an old dog a new trick? That's only if the old dog doesn't want to learn a new trick.

I love Clover and Fairweller. I have no idea how Heather Dixon Wallwork got me so invested in a couple in like two chapters. But oh my gosh, they are so adorable.

Thank you so much for the links! The pictures of the soul curtsey are so elegant and I love the way the dress poofs out. Does anyone know if the soul curtsey was really a thing they used to do or if it's made up?

Also, I love this Bramble moment:

“Down with tyranny!' Bramble cried. 'Aristocracy! Autocracy! Monocracy! Other ocracy things! You are outnumbered, sir! Surrender!”
― Heather Dixon, Entwined

I did really like that part, it made me smile (:

I don't know whether the soul curtsey was ever really a thing, but it's really a thing in classical ballet, and the women in Entwined do live and breathe dance.