Book Review: Kill Me Softly

Kill Me Softly
by Andrew Fukuda
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Expected Publication: April 10, 2012
Pages: 336
Age Demographic: Young Adult
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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.

* Summary taken from Goodreads.

❝My Thoughts❞

Kill Me Softly is a wonderfully romantic edgy Grimm-based novel, brimming with suspsense, passion, and hidden thorns. Sarah Cross pens a novel that has the magnificent ability to stand out on its own amongst the legions of fairytales and their retellings to date. Riddled with secrets and lies, half-truths covered in darkness, rich and compelling prose, and beautiful imagery Kill Me Softly is a tale beyond any other. The characters are entertaining and enchantingly interesting, the plot is well developed, and the mystery is enough to keep readers flipping the pages as fast as their fingers can fly. It's strange, but Sarah Cross does a good job of penning a host of fairytale re-tellings all combined into one book, with originality, creativity, style, and flare all its own.

The best thing about Grimms Fairytales is that there aren't always happily ever afters and wonderful pretty things. A rose is such a beautiful thing to look at, their fragrance appealing, but underneath all that green you'll find that you might be pricked by a thorn. It's such a deceptively beguiling little thing, but it can also wound. This is what makes Kill Me Softly so appealing, in the story that it has to tell. It's in the details of the fairytale destiny that Mirabelle has learned that she has to choose to accept or not to accept her destiny. Dark secrets are kept deeply hidden and locked away, two brothers lives cursed with fairy tales, while Mira struggles to either accept or embrace what fate has in store for her.

Sarah Cross prose is beautifully flawless and flows effortlessly. It will definitely draw readers in with its intoxicating beauty. The emotion and heart that she depicts while penning the romance contained within the pages of Kill Me Softly is breath taking and heart pounding. Personally I'm not the biggest fan of insta-love or triangles, but this was set-up brilliantly. The irony of the love triangle is that appeared to be somewhat haunted and a bit twisted, which made it much more easier to take and interesting to read about.

The characters are some of the most interesting and complex that I've read in a while, very unique and likable in their own ways. The story just seems to come alive on the pages and transports readers on an intriguing journey of their own. I would recommend this book for those who enjoy fairy tale retellings.

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ABOUT SARAH CROSS

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Sarah Cross loves fairy tales in all their incarnations. Her first novel, Dull Boy, is about another kind of myth—superheroes. Visit her online at www.sarahcross.com.

Author information taken from her Amazon.

{ This ARC was provided by ATW ARC Tours, in exchange for an honest review which I have provided. No money exchanged hands, I review books for fun because I love to read. I am not interested in monetary gain. Any piece of this ARC that was or wasn't quoted, is not part of the finished product and should not be perceived as such. Instead, you should compare and check it against a finished copy once it is released.}