*based on an ARC edition (out January 15, 2015)
Tear You Apart is the follow-up to Sarah Cross's Kill Me Softly, which are both set in the fairy tale driven town of Belle Rivage. Everyone who lives there have been Cursed by either evil fairies or Good fairies, and they are destined to carry out these fairy tales curses, no matter how hard they try to fight against it. Some have the Sombulence curses, like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty- and our two main female characters in either book have one of those. Some have the Rumplestilskin curse, some have the Beauty and the Beast curse, but they all know they have it and that one day they will be forced to live the tale out to it's conclusion. In Tear You Apart we follow Viv and Henley, a Snow White and her Huntsman. We met them in the first book, and we know that this Curse is so much more complicated then your average girl meets boy, boy is fated to cut out girl's heart kind of tale. Viv and Henley are in love, but as they get older they get closer to the inevitable conclusion- one day soon Viv's stepmother will task Henley with taking Viv out into the woods and cutting out her heart. How can love survive that? When it becomes apparent that the her stepmother Regina is about to finish the curse, Viv runs to the Underworld, which is less a place for the dead and more just another kingdom with it's own curses and secrets. There's always a prince in these tales, and Viv's prince-the one who is fated to save her from her cursed sleep-got tired of waiting for her to die and offers her protection in his castle as his princess. With no other choice but to flee, Viv does; but her heart, still intact, still only belongs to her Huntsman. Once she arrives she discovers there is much more than meets the eye in this castle- the king of the Underworld is a Rumplestilskin troll, and not a very nice guy. She's trapped now, and the only way to get out and to salvage her own future is to finish the tale.
I truly enjoyed both Kill Me Softly and Tear You Apart. I loved thinking about these fairy tale characters- the real ones, by the way, from the Grimm stories and not Disney- living in this place. I never really thought about what it would be like to know you have this destiny and are fairly powerless to stop it. But I think the moral of these two stories is that if you fight hard enough you can weave your own tale, and it can have the ending of your choosing. I loved these characters, and the stories, and I especially enjoyed the mention of how dark the Grimm tales really were. Red-hot iron shoes. Sleeping Beauty wasn't always woken up with a kiss, if you get my drift. These were terrifying stories. So I loved how it was all portrayed and they were both excellently written. A definite must for everyone who loves a good tale.
Tear You Apart is the follow-up to Sarah Cross's Kill Me Softly, which are both set in the fairy tale driven town of Belle Rivage. Everyone who lives there have been Cursed by either evil fairies or Good fairies, and they are destined to carry out these fairy tales curses, no matter how hard they try to fight against it. Some have the Sombulence curses, like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty- and our two main female characters in either book have one of those. Some have the Rumplestilskin curse, some have the Beauty and the Beast curse, but they all know they have it and that one day they will be forced to live the tale out to it's conclusion. In Tear You Apart we follow Viv and Henley, a Snow White and her Huntsman. We met them in the first book, and we know that this Curse is so much more complicated then your average girl meets boy, boy is fated to cut out girl's heart kind of tale. Viv and Henley are in love, but as they get older they get closer to the inevitable conclusion- one day soon Viv's stepmother will task Henley with taking Viv out into the woods and cutting out her heart. How can love survive that? When it becomes apparent that the her stepmother Regina is about to finish the curse, Viv runs to the Underworld, which is less a place for the dead and more just another kingdom with it's own curses and secrets. There's always a prince in these tales, and Viv's prince-the one who is fated to save her from her cursed sleep-got tired of waiting for her to die and offers her protection in his castle as his princess. With no other choice but to flee, Viv does; but her heart, still intact, still only belongs to her Huntsman. Once she arrives she discovers there is much more than meets the eye in this castle- the king of the Underworld is a Rumplestilskin troll, and not a very nice guy. She's trapped now, and the only way to get out and to salvage her own future is to finish the tale.
I truly enjoyed both Kill Me Softly and Tear You Apart. I loved thinking about these fairy tale characters- the real ones, by the way, from the Grimm stories and not Disney- living in this place. I never really thought about what it would be like to know you have this destiny and are fairly powerless to stop it. But I think the moral of these two stories is that if you fight hard enough you can weave your own tale, and it can have the ending of your choosing. I loved these characters, and the stories, and I especially enjoyed the mention of how dark the Grimm tales really were. Red-hot iron shoes. Sleeping Beauty wasn't always woken up with a kiss, if you get my drift. These were terrifying stories. So I loved how it was all portrayed and they were both excellently written. A definite must for everyone who loves a good tale.
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