Title : Enchanted (Books of Arilland #1)
Author : Alethea Kontis
Demographic : Young Adult
Genre : Romance, Fantasy, Retellings
A series a fairytales involving seven sisters . . . starting with Sunday.
From Goodreads:
It isn't easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.
When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.
First in the series, introduces Sunday of the Woodcutter family. She has a big imagination and a kind heart, always writing away in her journal. She comes upon a frog by the name of Grumble, falling for his sweet and enchanting personality, even in his amphibian form. While telling him of her sisters and parents, he in turn falls for her too. When Sunday breaks his curse unknowingly, Grumble remembers his life as a Prince Rumbold and returns to his castle, intent on finding his princess. With both of them having connected family issues, they struggle to find their happy ending when their fairy godmothers join their struggles.
Ohh I liked the mix of fairy tales coming all together. Readers would think this is the story of the Frog Prince, but it's a whole bunch of our loving fairy tales, that Kontis just enhanced for us. I initially thought this was more of a middle grade book, but when the story got a bit darker, I definitely re-thought that. I like how the story is told in third person limited in both the Prince and Sunday, I always preferred dual points of view, for the sake of knowing the male love interest more, heh. It was such a lovely story with how it started off pretty innocent, with Sunday introducing her sisters and trying to help her frog friend, to weirdly dark, in an odd way.
Sunday is the youngest daughter of her family, and the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. Her other sisters from Monday to Saturday (lol, I know it's funny), seem to have a uniqueness to them that sometimes Sunday was envious off. She didn't realize her own fairy powers until her godmother and aunt, Joy, came to stay with them. Her power of belief made her stronger and her love for the Prince more pronounced. Part of the book is her trying not to fall for the Prince, when she already fell in love with her froggy friend, not knowing they are one in the same.
Oh man. . I love Rumbold alot. I like his struggles when he transitiones to human form again, and the darkness that keeps playing in his mind. He comes to without memories of the last year or so, and tries to restart his life. He tries to find Sunday by pronouncing three balls that will be placed and that all maidens have to attend. While also trying to fight off this darkness and keeping his mind in control. He's very distraught with how he was brought by his nameless father and can't get his dead mother off his mind. His side of the story was very dark and spooky for me, but it delved into the plot and made more connections that I didn't really pay attention to until the godmothers were shown.
Some side characters I like to mention were Sunday's sisters. They each have their own specialness about them, and I liked how Kontis slowly introduced them to us so readers can better identify them better. Saturday with her strength, Friday with her embroidery, Thursday is mentioned but she seemed kick-ass to be overseas as a pirate, Wednesday with her unique fairy powers, Tuesday is also mentioned but never seen, and Monday, a distant princess, who's very mysterious. I especially liked Friday and Saturday, which I know the next books are their own stories, so I'm excited to learn more about them. Rumbold's cousin, Velius and his guard, Erik are companions that try to help him in in his quest, and I enjoyed their bantering. Seems like they'll be paired with Sunday's sisters, but maybe that's just me hoping.
My Rating : 5 Stars
It was a very enjoyable book! I thought it was kind of weird and bit slow in the beginning, but it really hit off after Rumbold turns back into a human. It was also very adventurous with the mixed fairytales, like Jack in the Bean Stalk and Cinderella. The plot was a bit overwhelming, but I had to think on it a bit, as it made more sense with how the Prince and Sunday were interconnected. I'm looking forward to learn more of her sisters and what their fairytale will be like.
Romance : 5
I thought they fell for each other pretty quickly, but I'm guessing that was the point of the book, since it was mostly about them trying find each other. There were some sweet moments that were cute, although I was annoyed with what Sunday did when she found out about the Prince and Grumble being the same person. But they got together pretty quickly, and had their happy ending.
Recommended : Yes!
For those fairytale readers like me out there like me, I don't think you'll be disappointed. It had the right amount of fantasy and romance, and I read it in two days, so I definitely think people should check it out!
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