Sunday 22 December 2019

Review: Mirror, Mirror - Anthology

Once upon a time...

...in a world far removed from the days when fairy tales were new, five bestselling authors spin versions that take the classic stories into a new dimension. You’ll recognize Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and other enduring characters, but they’ll exist in realms beyond your imagination, where the familiar is transformed into the extraordinary and otherworldly.

Includes:
Taken in Death by J.D. Robb
If Wishes Were Horses by Mary Blayney
Beauty, Sleeping by Elaine Fox
The Christmas Comet by Mary Kay McComas
Stroke of Midnight by R.C. Ryan

For more information about any of these authors you can visit their websites by clicking the links below:
J.D. Robb
Mary Blayney
Elaine Fox
Mary Kay McComas
R.C. Ryan

Review:
Mirror, Mirror is an anthology containing five stories inspired by fairytales and written by bestselling authors. I wanted to read this for J.D. Robb's contribution but I enjoyed the other stories too and have found a couple of new to me authors who I want to read more from in the future.

Taken in Death by J.D. Robb

This story is J.D. Robb's take on Hansel and Gretel, normally Eve is only involved in investigating murders but after the body of a nanny is discovered the team quickly realise that the children she was looking after have been abducted. Eve finds herself in a race against time to track down missing seven year old twins Henry and Gala before they come to harm at the hands of the evil witch who stole them.

Taken in Death was a really creepy novella with a cannibalistic evil twin and a couple of pretty smart children who are able to leave a trail for Eve to follow. A perfect read-in-one-sitting story that'll give you your Eve and Roarke fix while you're waiting for the next full length book to arrive.

If Wishes Were Horses by Mary Blayney

Mary Blayney's contribution is a historical romance inspired by the tale of Goldilocks, it's not what I'd call a complete retelling but you can definitely see hints of the original tale in here. This was quite a cute story that had a feel of Downton Abbey to it, there were a few things that didn't feel particularly realistic about this story but I found it fairly easy to overlook those because I liked the main characters and was interested in seeing them get a happily ever after.

Beauty, Sleeping by Elaine Fox

Elaine Fox has written a clever and original take on Sleeping Beauty where Beauty is a man and he's not technically asleep. Instead he's been cursed to spend his life as a ghost that nobody can see, hear or interact with, until his true love comes along and is able to save him.

The Christmas Comet by Mary Kay McComas

Mary Kay McComas' story is inspired by two tales I'm not really that familiar with, The Little Matchstick Girl by Hans Christian Andersen and The Star Money by the Brothers Grimm, so I probably didn't appreciate it as much as I could have. I think my main issue with this one was that the main character was just too much of a saint, it's great that she tried to help so many people but doing it to the point where she couldn't afford to pay her own rent or buy herself food was a bit ridiculous.

Stroke of Midnight by R.C. Ryan

The final story by R.C. Ryan is inspired by Cinderella. I really liked the way Sydney refused to be a victim and chose to live life on her own terms in spite of her step-mother. She and Cullen made a cute couple and I was really enjoying their romance but I have to admit the rushed proposal at the end did spoil it a little. I'd have preferred it if the romance had been developed over a longer time before getting to that point. Still a cute read but not my favourite in the anthology.

Source: Purchased

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

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