For some reason, I put off reading this book. I think it’s because I never actually looked at its summary, which is just silly of me. I liked the cover and then wrote it off as a thriller or suspense type book, which I usually don’t like. But no. It’s not. Well… it is. But it’s not. With me so far?

Mirabelle’s past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents’ tragic deaths to her guardians’ half-truths about why she can’t return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined.

In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who’s a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.

But fairy tales aren’t pretty things, and they don’t always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy tale curses of their own . . . brothers who share a dark secret. And she’ll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns.

That’s right, it’s a rewritten fairy tale book! Oh my god, I LOVE THESE. Why didn’t someone tell me this book was out and about and being enjoyed by other people who aren’t me?! Traitors, the lot of you. (I’m specifically blaming you, Caitlin.) Anyway. After I discovered the conspiracy to keep me ignorant of this book’s storyline, I immediately read it and thoroughly enjoyed it. So, hah.

It started off like most fairy tales do, with a girl. Right away, I knew there was something different about Mirabelle’s life. Who has more than one godmother looking after her ever since her parents died in a horrible fire? Suspicious lifestyle indeed…

My theory was confirmed once Mirabelle ran off to Beau Rivage, the town she was born in. She was different. But so were a lot of other people in that town. And that’s when this book got good. It was like stumbling into Grimm’s Fairy Tales. No one really hid the fact that they were different, but they also didn’t just come out and say it either.

Some of the characters were great. I loved Blue — you’ll figure out why — and Freddie was adorable, though a bit single-minded about his destiny. I really want to know what happens to the secondary characters after Kill Me Softly ends. What happens to Caspien’s story? How do Viv and Henley turn out? Does Layla redeem Rafe? What’s going to happen to Freddie? … So much left open-ended. If this became a series, I’d gladly read it.

Overall, I found this to be a strange book, but the good strange. It was darker than what you’re probably used to when it comes to fairy tales, but honestly, I like darker fairy tales. Sometimes the Beast should actually be a beast, you know? If you like revised fairy tale books, I urge you to give this one a try. Who knows? You might like the dark ones, too.

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