Entwined

First off, it's a gorgeous cover, no?

Official blurb:

Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it.

The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation.

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.


But there is a cost.

The Keeper likes to keep things.


Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.



This is another retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses fairy tale and it's quite good. BUT.... I have to say that I liked Princess of the Midnight Ball a bit better. Still, this is probably my favorite book genre, so I pretty much ate it up. The writing was lovely and there was some great emotion in the story. My complaints are that the world Heather Dixon created could have been more unique; it seemed to be a carbon copy of our world. I don't know - I just like my fantasies to feel... well, I'm not sure, but I want to travel somewhere. Most of the problem came out in the language. One character was obviously british, another obviously german, another french, etc... The main character kept saying "Great scott!" which got on my nerves because it's such a colloquial saying. And maybe it just reminded me of Back to the Future too much. I thought Heather Dixon could have stretched her imagination just a bit more on the language and character names.

But the characters themselves were fantastic. I loved Azalea and Lord Bradford and all the sisters, particularly Bramble. The King was a great character - very complex and dynamic. And I have to say that Lord Teddie (aka Lord Haftenravensher) made me laugh out loud several times. When this happens, Sarah looks at me and says, "Mom... is your book funny? Will you read it to me?" Yes, Sarah. I'll let you read this book someday. It's funny and sweet and very clean (I'm loving all these LDS authors who are publishing YA books!).