Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

Title: Kill Me Softly
Author: Sarah Cross
Release Date: April 10th, 2012
Publisher: Egmount USA
Pages: 314
Format: Electronic Copy
Acquired: ARC; Netgalley
Age Group: Young Adult

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.

I was really excited to read this book, especially since I love fairy tales and I'm a little obsessed with the new ABC TV show Once Upon A Time, which is amazing, just throwing that in there.

I'm always on the look out for retellings of fairy tales, because I just love how people interpret them in different ways. In this story, some of the popular fairy tales that many of us have grown up with get retold in dark, twisted, haunted ways that leaves someone shuddering.

I loved the entire premise of the story and the setting, where an entire town of people is full of fairy tale characters, curses, and fairy godmothers. It was great.

Though, I did have my complaints, mainly Mira. I always love a stubborn heroine, because it shows that she's tough and can stick to her guns. But I also love heroines who have some sense of self-preservation, which is exactly what Mira lacks. If I have ever seen a love-sick girl before, I see it in her. I was really, really annoyed on how fast she fell for Felix and even her relationship with Blue got to me, because it was like, "Girl, you just met these guys. Stop it!"

And it really annoyed me how she treated poor Freddie, the only person in this entire novel, I feel, that had some actual character to him and wasn't mobbing and crying about things that can't be changed. Him and Jewel, I really liked Jewel and Layla. I understand it must suck to be on a curse, but half the time I felt like these character's were just trapped in their own little world of self-pity, Viv as an example. So, I liked Freddie, he was a really good guy and I wish that Mira would have seen that instead of being...herself.

But besides these little things, I really did like this book. It was creative the way Cross molded these characters to the fairy tells. And not to mention how funny it was. There were just some parts where I couldn't stop laughing, because some character's are so out there it's hilarious.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fairy tale and unexpected endings, because I was not expecting what happened at the end. I thought my jaw would hit the desk when I read it, but it was so worth it.