Manga Review: Snow White with the Red Hair, Volume 1, by Sorata Akiduki

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Shojo Beat (VIZ Media)

Release Date: May 2019

Volumes: 21+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. RightStuf.

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A romantic retelling of a classic fairy tale about a beautiful herbalist and a lovestruck prince.

Shirayuki is an herbalist famous for her naturally bright-red hair, and the prince of Tanbarun wants her all to himself! Unwilling to become the prince’s possession, she seeks shelter in the woods of the neighboring kingdom, where she gains an unlikely ally—the prince of that kingdom! He rescues her from her plight, and thus begins the love story between a lovestruck prince and an unusual herbalist.

Review:

I really, really want to like this series. I've heard a lot of hype for it, and I know people love the anime, but for some reason it hasn't really stood out for me.

Shirayuki has very unusual, bright red hair. So the prince of her kingdom demands her as his concubine. Receiving this offer, she immediately runs away, only to stumble upon a cute boy, who is of course, also a prince. But, not knowing this, she befriends him and he helps her out.

I understand the whole theme with Shirayuki, of letting her be her own person, not making her decisions for her, giving her her freedom. It's pushed a little heavy, though, and hit a little artificial for me. Maybe it was just too heavy.

Zen is cute, and I don't mind their friendship. Their flirtation is actually a bit more obvious than I expected this early, but I don't mind that at all. I appreciate that Shirayuki has a career path in mind, and makes progress toward accomplishing it in this volume. And I don't mind the side characters so far.

This just felt very meh for me. It was an okay read, but I'm not particularly attached. It all felt very surface. I want to be, though, so I hope it gets better.


A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Novel Review: Winter (The Lunar Chronicles, #4) by Marissa Meyer

Rating (Out of 5): ~5

Genre: YA Fantasy/Sci-fi Romance; Fairy-Tale Retelling

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan)

Release Date: November 10, 2015

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday. Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend–the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters?

The Cover:

I love all of the covers in this series. I think they're pretty much perfect. The contrast of the red and the blue, with the red showing the main symbol for the fairy-tale story, is beautiful. They're simply and gorgeous, focusing on the important part of the story. I love it.

Review:

I don’t think that I can ever write a review that expresses my complete and utter love for this series, so I’m just going to do my best here.

This conclusion could not have been any better. It was everything I wanted it to be and I can’t believe it’s over. I love it unconditionally, I should make that clear.

We fully meet Winter, and she’s crazy. Literally going insane because she won’t use her powers. But she has Jacin, who will do anything he can to help her.

Scarlet and Wolf finally seeing each other again is beautiful and makes me want to cry they make me so happy. I hadn’t even realized I loved them as much as I do until this book. Ohmygod they make me so ridiculously happy.

Cress and Thorne is almost as good as Scarlet and Wolf. Thorne is my favorite, even if he is frustrating at time, and I love how Cress pushes him and stands up to him, even as she loves him so much. I want to see their adventures after this, seriously. They’re the best.

I love Cinder, of course, our witty, hard-edged heroine. And while Kai doesn’t stand out to me as much as the others, I do think that they’re a good match. I love their ending, and I believe that they do have a good future ahead of them.

Aside from the romances, I love the relationship that Winter and Scarlet form, and of course Thorne and Cinder are my favorite friendship. Their banter is so nice.

I won’t spoil too much of the main plot, but I do love what happens. It’s intense and surprising, and long. A lot happens in regards to Levana, but I love how it all works out.

I would read a dozen more books about these characters, and I just want more. More more more. I know I’ll be re-reading this series in the future, because I love it to pieces, and I'm looking forward to the novella collection.

Novel Review: Crave: The Seduction of Snow White by Cathy Yardley

Genre: Erotica/Adult Romance (with sex! sex is a main point in this book!)

Rating (Out of 5): ~2 (maybe 2.5)

Publisher: HarperCollins (Avon Red)

Spoilers?: Somewhat Minor.

Buy it here: Amazon. Book Depository. Barnes & Noble. Powells (or this one).

Goodreads Synopsis:

When a woman is ripe for the picking . . .

Beth Cordova's life is no fairy tale. Having barely escaped the evil grasp of her wicked stepmother, this "missing princess" seeks refuge in a strict commune where carnal pleasures are forbidden.

Sometimes just one bite of the apple . . .

Her world is lonely and void of intimacy, until the charming Stephen Trent arrives at the commune. Suddenly Beth yearns for a man's touch, the feel of his lips on hers . . . and Stephen is eager to show this pure-as-snow princess that she can still be the sensual woman she was once upon a time.

Is all it takes to unleash her desires...

But all is not what it seems, and the stunning beauty finds herself again in danger, her stepmother hot on her trail. The commune's founders will not tolerate the pair, yet fleeing its walls could prove fatal. Trapped in a world where passion is outlawed, can Beth live happily ever after?

Review:

I was expecting to like this book a lot more, particularly because of how much I enjoyed Enslave. And I feel like part of the reason I didn’t enjoy it is my fault.

Beth is living in a commune where men and women are separate and there can be no mingling between the two, and Stephen is a reporter coming in to see if there’s some big secret behind what they’re doing.

I’m going to cover the commune first: the commune is freakin’ crazy. For one, I just don’t like that sort of life style, how women take care of the home and men work (although, if that’s how someone wants to live, then go ahead), and particularly how they are not allowed to interact with each other at all. The women, in this instance, aren’t even allowed outside the fence, and men only when they go out to work. It’s ridiculous.

Then there’s the fact that they’re also kind of killing people. Not, like, all the time, but when someone steps out of line and is caught (which almost never happens), they get punished. And while part of it is publicly, the actual killing part is kept away from the public, so they don’t have to face it or see it happening. It’s horrible, really. The people heading the commune are mostly at fault, but the citizens of the commune just get excited about the punishing and goad them on, which isn’t really any better.

Oh, there’s also the fact that Beth is running from her wicked step-mother, seeing as how Beth is Snow White. Her step-mother, while we didn’t get to see much of her, I didn’t particularly like. And the ending for that plot worked out very nicely.

The ending in general, actually, for the romance, the commune, and the evil step-mother bit, all worked out rather well. That’s probably my favorite part. The only part I actually liked, really.

Now, the romance part: my biggest problem is how obviously lust at first sight it was. And how that lust turned, very quickly, into I-want-to-run-away-with-you-and-protect-you-Love. Part of the reason it bothered me, I think, is how I read a couple other books with a similar element really close to this one, but mostly I just don’t think I liked how it was done in this one.

There was also the fact that I didn’t particularly love Beth or Stephen, and the sex wasn’t very good. For instance, there were two instances in the book, near the end, where I thought the two should, instead of having sex, talk and comfort each other. You know, get to know each other. Instead, they had sex. One of the instances, even, they were supposed to be keeping quiet and hiding, and I just didn’t think the sex was needed then. And, really, when someone (like me) says that the sex wasn't needed or good, something is wrong here.

So, overall, I didn’t particularly like this book. The killing part of the commune was exciting, and the ending was good. That’s about it. I do still plan on reading Yardley’s other books, her Sleeping Beauty retelling in particular, and I hope that it’s better.