Fractured Beauty [Review & Giveaway!]

Hello everyone!

Title: Fractured Beauty

Authors: Adrienne Monson, Lehua Parker, Angela Corbett, Angela Brimhall and Angela Hartley

Publisher: Tork Media

Published Date: 1^st June 2017

Rating: 3 Stars

*Thanks to the authors for the review copy*

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Synopsis: Beauty and the Beast may be a tale as old as time, but in this collection by the Fairy Tale Five you’ll meet five newly imagined Belles and the Beasts they love. 

Angela Brimhall’s beast is a terrifying sea monster cursed by a scorned gypsy. He must risk all to save the strong-willed princess before losing his last chance at love and redemption, becoming forever damned to the briny deep. 

Lehua Parker’s Nani is trapped by Indian and Hawaiian traditions and a fiancé locked in stasis in a medi-mod. Cultures and expectations collide in this sci-fi futuristic world where nano-bot tattoos and dreams reveal the secret of Nani’s heart. 

Angela Corbett’s Ledger is determined to find out more about the mysterious woman who saved him from certain death and uncover the secrets of  Withering Woods, but some beasts are better left caged. 

Adrienne Monson’s Arabella rushes to an enchanted castle to pay her father’s debt, but is met with a burly beast with a mysterious past. It’s a howling paranormal regency romp that will keep you turning pages well past your bedtime. 

Angela Hartley’s Porta Bella discovers there’s more to Oregon life than taking care of her father when she finds herself rescued by Bigfoot. It’s up to Porta Bella to unravel the faery’s curse and discover who’s the real monster.

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Review: After having read a novel by Adrienne Monson before, I was curious to try one of her short stories. I was happy that another four short stories came along with it, all of them being fairytale retellings. If you know how much I loved The Lunar Chronicles and also The Wrath and the Dawn, then you might already have figured out how much I love any kind of retelling whatsoever. Anyway, it made me really eager to read this short story collection. I’ll do little reviews for each short story.

Beauty and the Beast: This first story wasn’t quite to my taste. Although it wasn’t bad, I just have to say that it was too… bizarre? The villain had a way of talking that represented where she came from, so she never spoke in complete sentences. I don’t know why that always bothers me, but it bothered me here too. I also felt like all the good characters didn’t make it to the end, and all the bad ones – who had very few redeeming qualities, did. It made me a little frustrated. So I’ll give this one 3 stars.

Nani’s Kiss: I really loved this short story! I only wish it had been longer. It’s a sci-fi retelling, and I loved the culture the author managed to create, and the world she managed to build, in so few words. I would’ve wanted to explore it further (hence wanting more of the story.) I liked the characters a lot. The ending was a bit… weird? But still pretty good. I would give this one 4 stars.

Withering Woods: Although this wasn’t a bad story, I got the sense that it was a tad bit under developed. I feel like it had more to do with it needing to be a short story than anything else. Although I liked the characters and the creepy setting, I wanted the world and the Screamers to be a bit more developed. The plot was quite rushed as well, amounting to very little. But there was such a good message brought across about love, and beauty, which I had to appreciate and made up for the plot line quite a bit. I would give this one 3 stars.

Arabella’s Story: This one was by far my favourite of the collection. It was perfect! I liked the adapted fairytale, and how it made a lot more sense this way. Arabella’s character was realistic, and she was the kind of person I’d love to have as a friend. There was a brilliant plot twist – I didn’t even know short stories could do plot twists this well, and I really liked the message the story brought across. The romance moved a bit too fast, especially at the end. But I’m chalking it down to trying to bring a complete story into a short amount of words. So I’m still giving it 5 stars.

Inner Beauty and the Beast: I felt like it was such a shame to end the collection with this story. The world building was okay, but a bit rushed because the story was so short. The main character struck me as cruel – but she was supposed to be, so that was okay. But she was far too judgmental, and she never respected other people’s lifestyles or opinions. When she wanted something, she would do whatever she could to get it. If someone’s morals and values were different from her own she couldn’t see it from their perspective. Instead, she was overly cruel. It actually offended me a bit, because of the rudeness with which she spoke of values others supported. I couldn’t enjoy this one for that reason, at all. I’d have to give it 1 star.

All in all, this was a decent collection. I quite enjoyed reading the range of stories and seeing how the adapted them to fit their own ideas. Some stories were better than others, but I have yet to come across a collection where I enjoyed each and every story. So I understand!

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Links: Goodreads and Amazon!

Olivia’s Question: What’s your favourite fairytale?

Olivia-Savannah x