Bewitching (Kendra Chronicles #2)

"Bewitching" continues the story of the witch Kendra and retells multiple fairytales. The book begins with her origin story, losing her family to the plague and discovering her magic in her desperation to save her brother. In fear of persecution, they flee and there is a retelling of Hansel and Gretel, which adds a scary veneer. Then it goes to the main story of Emma and Lisette, a retelling of Cinderella. In between their story, Kendra tells of some of her past failures, such as the little mermaid (with the Titanic). All stories are well written and captivating, but it reads more as a series of short stories than one book. I would have preferred to stick with only the story of Emma, which was the most interesting and main story. Regardless, I really loved it and enjoyed the writing style. This could easily be a stand alone. It's a fantastic set of stories and I'm looking forward to the next!

So here I am typing; trying to figure out how to start this review. I tend to do that a lot with a book I enjoyed.

Before I start, let me just say this: I cheated. I did not read book 1 (which happens to be Beastly). Rather, I watched the film. It's safe to say it doesn't continue from book one. It's actually a whole new story (though Kendra does mention her story here and there about how she turned a snotty rich boy in New York into a beast to make him find true love). I'm usually picky about my books, really picky and now I'm trying to figure out if all the books I have rated 1 star is entirely my own fault; all because the female protagonist annoyed me. I'm starting to get that feeling because I was going to drop this book and give it 1 star, then write about how much Emma annoyed me. Smh.

I'm glad I pushed myself to read this because I really want to. I fell completely in love with Beastly and the books are always better than the film itself. It takes time for us to get to know the characters -- whether we're watching a film or reading a book, it does. And to automatically stop watching a film or reading a book because of a certain character is a big no no. We're supposed to wait and see how it all turns out in the end, then we give out judgement. I'm so glad I've learnt this piece of knowledge.

Here's the reason why I'm not giving this 5 stars (Hah! I'm so glad it's not going to be about the main character): Kendra's stories.

When the book first started off, I was patient. Kendra talked about how she came to be who she is. I thought she was finished, but she dedicated over 30 pages talking about it. I let it slide. After reading part 1 of the story with Emma, Kendra speaks about why she should and shouldn't help Emma; again, she dedicated not 30, but 50 pages on Prince Louis and how his mother turned away every girl to become his bride. I gave my eyes a little roll but continued on.

Part two ended with Emma and Kendra was hesitant on helping her because she didn't want poor miserable Emma to be even more miserable due to the fact that her magic sometimes backfires. So Kendra was going to let us read about how she tried to help Doria and her magic backfiring... again it was about 70 pages long so I skipped that whole part. Maybe I shouldn't have, but really, Mrs Finn could have just summarised these short stories into a paragraph or two and move on with the main story we wanted to read.

So that's the reason why I didn't give this book 5 stars. Moving on.

The book was just... how can I put it? Amazing? Heartbreaking? Somewhere along those lines. I laughed off of certain parts, I yelled in anger off of certain parts, and I cheered off of certain parts. You know when a book is well written if it arouses your emotions. I am definitely looking forward to reading more of the Kendra Chronicles. Kendra is a funny, inspiring character with an awesome style and don't-give-a-care attitude that we'll all fall in love with.

Bewitching is one majorly fun read. This book gave me that swelling heart/goofy grin feeling in the end. Sure, some parts were a little cheesy and it was chock-full of fairytale elements, but would you really expect anything less?

I love that though we have the whole “evil stepsister” thing going on it’s not a normal Cinderella story in the least. In fact, Emma often refers to the fairytale in comparison to her situation and questions whether she or her sister would really be the “evil stepsister.” I also really love the Emma doesn’t let her anger get the best of her and wish her sister the worst complexion on the planet and an instant 10 sizes added to her waist. She think about it sometimes, yes, but she never really wants it to happen which makes her pretty fantastic :]

I really like the way Kendra gets to interject every now and then giving her own opinion on the situation. Plus, the stories from the times she meddled in others lives in the name of helping were fantastic. It was fun to make the connections with what fairytales the stories were related to as well as see some (heavily “touched up”) history.

The Nutshell: If you’ve read some of Alex Flinn’s other fairytale retellings such as Beastly and A Kiss in Time then I can almost guarantee you’ll love Bewitching. This isn’t just one fairytale retelling, it’s a big mashup that has little self-contained stories inside of it. This is a fun read, but it’s also a story that focuses on relationships from those of a girl and her first love to a daughter and her father.

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