Review: Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

Title: Kill Me Softly

Author: Sarah Cross

Reviewed by: Cassie

What We Say: Sweet and sappier

Summary (from Goodreads.com)

"Clever fun."--Kirkus Reviews

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.

Kill Me Softly drew me in with its enchanting cover, strange title, and intriguing concept. As a reader, I find fairy tale retellings are the most difficult and challenging. On one hand, the author must get the main idea of the fairy tale across. On the other, she must adapt it to her own story.

For me, these are either blow your mind, or make you scream and pull out your hair. If you like most retellings, don't mind me at ALL. I find it hard to like them, personally.

This is because of the protagonist 75% of the time.

In fairy tales, the princess is mellow, demure, sweet . . . You know. And while I'm cool with that, Mira grated my nerves.

On one hand, people see her as pure, beautiful, and sweet.

But as a reader, I saw her as bratty, lamely violent, and false. She's interesting enough, but whenever she thought "I wanted to punch him", and never did, I wanted to punch Mira. And then she would, not only not do bodily harm to the guy, she would flirt with him. In my opinion, the princess should take one course.

Either she excels in being sweet/cute OR tough/sassy. When the author tries to mix them, I always get the feeling of the protagonist trying too hard to be something.

The actual modernized world was good, it's just the characters that bugged me. Mind you, I also usually don't like fairy tale retellings (unless it's Cinder by Marissa Meyer)

Thanks for stopping by!
xoxo Cassie