Entwined

Author: Heather Dixon

Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy/Fiction/Rewritten Fairytale

Series: None

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.

Positive Content: Though burdened with the job of keeping the castle running, Azalea does her best to be a good sister to her ten younger sisters and keep her promise to her mother. She wants to do what’s right for everyone else. The sisters, though they can irritate and annoy each other, love each other very much. The King loves his daughters – and deceased wife – very much, and wants to keep them protected. Several characters protect others and go out of the way to be kind.

Negative Content: It is said that the first High King D’Eathe went mad with magic and tormented people in awful ways; even going so far as to trap their souls. (This is never confirmed). The sisters disobey their father and even go so far as to say they hate him (this is later rectified and put to rights, however). The sisters swear on silver (magic) when they promise to tell no one about a newly-discovered secret room where they can dance to their heart’s content, and this causes problems later on.

Summary: I loved this book. LOVED. I could relate to Azalea, and the sisters – as well as a certain lord Teddie Haftenravenscher, provided humor and laughs. It is easily – but well – written and an original take on the Twelve Dancing Princesses. The cover was candy to the eye – and I enjoyed the book so much that I’m reading it aloud to my younger sister. This is not a PERFECT book (Azalea curls her toes inside her shoes every other page or so) but my complaints are small and my praises loud. Huzzah!

Ages: 15+

5 out of 5 stars