Friday, April 13, 2012

Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

* * * 1/2




 
Mira has never known her parents or much about her secretly shrouded past. When she runs away to Beau Rivage, the town of her birth, on the cusp of her sixteenth birthday, she’s hoping to find her parents’ graves and not much more. But she's stumbled into – or been drawn to the place where the Märchen, the Marked, play out to try to resist their roles. Here, Grimm fairytales come to life, curses and gifts are awakened, and Mira is destined to meet her fate, whatever it is.


Kill Me Softly is simply delightful! From the moment I started reading, I was glued to every page especially because the first few chapters provided some “what the heck?” moments. That's what makes this book so enchanting because you’re just following the breadcrumbs to get to the bottom of the story.

As describe above, Mira finds herself in Beau Rivage a few days before she turns 16. Since her past is a complete mystery to her, she decides that she will discover the truth on her own. Once in Beau Rivage, she encounters some pretty interesting personalities like Blue, an abrasive rocker and his best friend, Freddie. Blue insists that she yleave and never come back, convinced it's for her own safety. But when she meets Felix, Blue’s nicer, older brother, she plans on sticking around. Felix not only offers to help her find her parents’ graves, he also offers to put her up at the hotel casino that he runs  much to Blue's chagrin.

Over the next few days she comes to realize that many people in this town are fairytale characters, living out their fairytale in various forms. It's like the TV show Once Upon A Time except in Beau Rivage, these people know that they’re fairytale characters and are waiting for the transformation to take place when they are fated to live out their roles in whatever tale they’re in.

I was surprised that for someone so sheltered Mira didn’t seem too unfazed by all the people she was meeting and disturbing things she was learning. Her interaction with both Blue and Freddie are tense, fun and downright ridiculous. Her instant attraction to Felix will have some readers swooning. The focus of the story does change from looking for her parents’ graves to unraveling secrets and discovering the truth about these fairytales. And there are times when her stubbornness gets in the way of her seeing the big picture which honestly can be quite maddening. I mean, when someone tells you so many times that something isn’t good for you, don’t you think you should at least take them seriously, even if for a little bit?

Kill Me Softly is a darker take on some of the more famous fairytales. It may be a little twisted but it’s imaginative, and I had fun putting together the pieces to guess which fairytale was being played out that Mira had unwittingly immersed herself in ... oh and I guessed right!

~ Bel

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