Review: Tear You Apart by Sarah Cross

Title: Tear You Apart
Author: Sarah Cross
Genre: retellings, supernatural, young adult
Series: Beau Rivage #2
Pages: 384
Source: publishers via NetGalley
Rating: 4/5

A modern Snow White reimagining, in which a teen with a murderous stepmother is trapped in a dangerous game of love, jealousy, and hate with her best friend and lover, who is destined to decide if she lives or dies . . . until a mysterious prince from a strange underworld offers her an escape.

Faced with a possible loophole to her "Snow White" curse, Viv goes underground, literally, to find the prince who's fated to rescue her. But is life safe in the Underworld worth the price of sacrficing the love that might kill her?

I was (and still am) a big fan of Sarah Cross's debut Kill Me Softly back when it was published in 2012. Having just reread it to prepare for this long-anticipated sequel, I can tell it holds up and remains fun, funny, clever, original, and diverse. Happily for me (and you!), Tear You Apart is more of the same. A feisty fairy tale retelling that loses one of the bite the Brothers Grimm were so fond of, Cross isn't afraid to go to dark places with her story and characters -- a fact that helps rank this series as tied with The Lunar Chronicles for my favorite modern retellings. 

The basics of the beloved Snow White tale are here -- evil stepmother, absent father, beautiful daughter in peril, animal friends, poisonings, angry huntsman -- but Cross makes it all her own from the start. From the town of Beau Rivage itself to the clever way she interprets and modernizes the curses, Tear You Apart is engaging and original while still holding true to the fairytale that inspired and guides it. There's all that you expect in a Snow White tale, and then more. Black lesbian singers, POC characters abound, creative spins on classic ideas -- it's all part and parcel of what Sarah Cross has to offer. (But can we get a third book just about Jewel, pretttyy pleaaaase?!)

Characters from the first book are still in play and remain likeable, active, and essential, but Viv and Henley are the main focal points and they err on the side of angry and angsty more than cute and cuddly. It was nice to see former MCs Blue, Mira, and Freddie (also can we make Freddie a gay Prince? I ship it) but the new characters also intrigued me (Jack Tran, anyone?) and seem to beg for more screentime. I'd be down for a Jack the Giant Slayer story, is what I am saying. Actually, I would be down for anything Cross writes in this world (and the two short stories [After the Ball & Twin Roses] are also fun trips back to Beau Rivage when you're in withdrawal.) 

There are some problematic aspects to this story, no matter how much I like it and had fun reading it. Viv and Henley don't communicate well (in general and with each other), and then punish each other for this fact for most of the book. Neither one acts very maturely when it comes to the other and it can be frustrating as hell. Their relationship is far from healthy. But for me, this book works because I don't need Viv or Henley to be perfect. I need them to grow, learn, adapt --- and this they do over the course of Tear You Apart. These books won't be for everyone -- they're far darker than most fairytale retellings being pubbed -- but I love them for just those reasons (among others.)

If you like dark fairy tales, or the Lunar Chronicles, I'd highly suggest the Beau Rivage stories. They are fresh, fun, and dangerous. Sarah Cross's imagination is a fertile, creative place and her retellings are highly readable and well-written.  

 

Post-Christmas Book Haul!

Hola! Happy New Year! Did you enjoy Danielle and I trying to answer all those questions for the End of Year survey? 

If you remember my Pre-Christmas Book Haul, there were some fun books in there. Well for Christmas, I was only actually given one book by my family (Cursor's Fury by Jim Butcher) and $80 in Barnes and Noble giftcards. (Well $55 in B&N giftcards and $25 in a Visa giftcard, which come on now, we all know where that is going.)

Here is what I was given, and sent (both by friends and by publishers for tours):

Given: 
Cursor's Fury by Jim Butcher (Codex Alera #3)

Sent:
Isabella: Baveheart of France by Colin Falconer (thank you TLC Book Tours!)

And Penny is a creep and wanted in the picture.

This is a super pretty ARC of Laurie Halse Anderson's soon-to-be-out The Impossible Knife of Memory. Bekka from Pretty Deadly Reviews sent this to me and she wrapped it like a present because she is the best.

 

 pictured: joy

This is what I came home to the day after Christmas.That is what is known as a YAY pile to me. In there were several tour books, and a lovely Christmas package from my coblogger.

Isn't it pretty?! It's a cute note, the first Legends anthology, homemade/delicious cookies that to my boyfriend never existed, and a mystery book! 

The mystery book ends up being Two Boys Kissing, which I have wanted but have refused to buy in hardcover. Danielle is the best.

 

From Danielle:

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
Legends edited by Robert Silverberg (She sent this to me so I could read the first Dunk & Egg story from ASOIAF. Bless her. I am a huge fan of the series and somehow have never read any of them.)

From TLC Book Tours:

Netherwood by Jane Sanderson - this is described as for fans of Downton Abbey so I am curious. I've never watched the show, though. I also have the sequel, Ravenscliffe, coming for review later this month.
The Kept by James Scott - honestly this sounds brutal, but I have to know how it all works out in the end from the synopsis alone.

Remember that $80 of giftcard money I mentioned earlier? I had it less than 48 hours. Here is where $75 of it went:

 

Deadline and Blackout by Mira Grant (Newsflesh 2 & 3). I've already read Deadline as I own it on Nook, but I decided to get the series in paperback as well.

Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross. I read this as an ARC two years ago and have always wanted a physical copy. 

The King's Blood by Daniel Abraham (The Dagger and Coin #2). Another second in a series I haven't started. But I plan to get to this particular series in 2014.

The Mage's Blood by David Hair (The Moontide Quartet #1). I would've had more cash to spend if not for this behemoth. It's huge and costly but it sounded like precisely my kind of fantasy. And I would never send spend $27 on one book so giftcards were perfect.


eBook Buys:

Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingstone (Wondrous Strange #1)

17 year-old Kelley Winslow doesn’t believe in Faeries. Not unless they’re the kind that you find in a theatre, spouting Shakespeare—the kind that Kelley so desperately wishes she could be: onstage, under lights, with a pair of sparkly wings strapped to her shoulders. But as the understudy in a two-bit, hopelessly off-off-Broadway production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, wishing is probably the closest she’s going to get to becoming a Faerie Queen. At least, that’s what she thinks... 

In this fun, urban fantasy, Kelley's off-stage life suddenly becomes as complicated as one of Shakespeare’s plot twists when a nighttime trip to Central Park holds more than meets the mortal eye.

This was a Free Friday download, so I figured: why not?

The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani 

 The majestic and haunting beauty of the Italian Alps is the setting of the first meeting of Enza, a practical beauty, and Ciro, a strapping mountain boy, who meet as teenagers, despite growing up in villages just a few miles apart. At the turn of the last century, when Ciro catches the local priest in a scandal, he is banished from his village and sent to hide in America as an apprentice to a shoemaker in Little Italy. Without explanation, he leaves a bereft Enza behind. Soon, Enza's family faces disaster and she, too, is forced to go to America with her father to secure their future.

Unbeknownst to one another, they both build fledgling lives in America, Ciro masters shoemaking and Enza takes a factory job in Hoboken until fate intervenes and reunites them. But it is too late: Ciro has volunteered to serve in World War I and Enza, determined to forge a life without him, begins her impressive career as a seamstress at the Metropolitan Opera House that will sweep her into the glamorous salons of Manhattan and into the life of the international singing sensation, Enrico Caruso.

From the stately mansions of Carnegie Hill, to the cobblestone streets of Little Italy, over the perilous cliffs of northern Italy, to the white-capped lakes of northern Minnesota, these star-crossed lovers meet and separate, until, finally, the power of their love changes both of their lives forever.

Lush and evocative, told in tantalizing detail and enriched with lovable, unforgettable characters, The Shoemaker's Wife is a portrait of the times, the places and the people who defined the immigrant experience, claiming their portion of the American dream with ambition and resolve, cutting it to fit their needs like the finest Italian silk.

This riveting historical epic of love and family, war and loss, risk and destiny is the novel Adriana Trigiani was born to write, one inspired by her own family history and the love of tradition that has propelled her body of bestselling novels to international acclaim. Like Lucia, Lucia, The Shoemaker's Wife defines an era with clarity and splendor, with operatic scope and a vivid cast of characters who will live on in the imaginations of readers for years to come.

I read and loooved The Supreme Macaroni Company back in early December so this was a steal at $1.99.

All in all, I would say I had a very good Christmas and I am sincerely grateful to be here and to talk to all of you in 2014!

Review: Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

Title: Kill Me Softly

Author: Sarah Cross

Genre: mythic fiction and fairy tale retellings, young-adult

Series: Untitled #1

Pages: 336 (Nook ARC edition)

Published: April 10, 2012

Source: publishers via NetGalley

Rating: 4.5/5

True love’s kiss just may prove deadly….

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.

This is one of those surprising books that went above and beyond my expectations; in fact, I passed this over a couple times on NetGalley because it seemed so been there, done that at first glance and I've been trying to control the amount of requests I make there. Then, pretty much the next week reviews on GoodReads started popping up - 4 stars, 4.5 stars, 5 stars - and who am I to fight the tide? I learned my lesson around December when the same sort of thing started happening with another book that I initially dismissed and which ended up becoming immensely popular (coughAngelfallcough). So with this I didn't hesitate; the day of reading those reviews, I downloaded and began my journey to Beau Rivage, Sarah Cross's imagination and quite possibly some of my favorite fairy tale retellings ever in Kill Me Softly.

To put it the most succinctly, Kill Me Softly is charming, clever and just plain fun. There's a lot to enjoy from this book - a fairly feisty heroine, a unique angle on fairytales in a modern-day scenario, and the clever allusions and asides to popular tales we know and love. I have to admit, the darker and more unsettling this novel became, the more and more I loved it. Kill Me Softly is most definitely at its best when it takes an unexpected, usually foreboding, turn, or reveals a truth very cleverly hidden behind the author's sleight of hand. Sarah Cross is quite adept, more than adept really, at setting the perfect scene and atmosphere for her cursed characters to populate and on occasion, I was really struck by the imagery in her words. I don't want to get spoilery since there's secrets and curses and mysteries aplenty to uncover and figure out, so I will just say that Sarah Cross finds a way to make both a love triangle between brothers and extreme instalove palatable.

Another aspect of this that I greatly appreciated was the author's tendency to show her fairy-tale world within a world and its rules, and instead let them evolve naturally rather than line them all out in an introductory info-dump. Sure, for a while the curses and Blue don't make a lot of sense, but given time and attention, the details emerge. Kill Me Softly is a very readable and quickly engrossing book - the kind you pick up for a chapter and somehow emerge 97 pages and several very interesting plot-twists later. There are double meanings and hints staring out at you from the page that slowly click and make a bigger picture - several times I wanted to hit my forehead and say "duh! Of course..." The author excels at providing the reader with clues and hints but not spelling out the answers desired. I won't go so far to say Kill Me Softy is perfect, but it is damn near close, and only a few slight quibbles keep it from making it to my best-of-2012 shelves. 

I found the final (? temporary?) conflict with the main antagonist left me feeling rather underwhelmed. It takes Mira so long to clue in and then it's kind of... over in a flash and without much depth. There are sequels/companion novels confirmed to be written so I am sure the villain will reappear along the line but I wish the entire plotline of Kill Me Softly had been resolved in one novel. I vehemently support the idea of a sequel for another character from the fascinating world of Beau Rivage; I wouldn't be nearly as enthused for a return to Mira's plotline from the first/launching point of the series.