Book Review: Spelled by Betsy Schow

Read: April 26-27     Verdict: 3.75 Stars


I received a free digital copy from the author/publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest feedback.

Spelled is a whirlwind, fun and whimsical ride into the land of fairytales and fairytale princesses where the Emerald princess is Dorothea. Because of a curse laid upon her family a long time ago that threatens that an Emerald princess could turn evil, none of them are allowed to live their castle...ever. And Dorothea is sick of it. After a disastrous ball including a stalker magician, a weird munchkin girl and the announcement she's getting married to some handsome but annoying stranger, Dorothea makes a wish and it comes true. Now everything is upside down and Dorothea, her fiance-turned-hairy beast and a sulking servant girl have to try and fix it.

This was just a lot of fun. The kind of book that you can read really quickly and serves you up some quick bursts of laughter throughout. There were so many clever things put into this book that were reminiscent of our real life such as the Castle Shopping Network, the storage cloud (real clouds in the sky), ebooks (enchanted book) and the band Wrong Direction and their hit single 'My Spell's What Makes You Beautiful'. I'm a sucker for these clever and amusing pieces in fairytale retellings.

Dorothea is not a character you warm up to quickly. She's spoilt and stubborn and cares a lot more about her clothes and shoes than she does for people around her. She mistook her fiance as a gardener on the first occasion she met him and hardly knows any of her servants names. But there's something about her that you have to like. Overall she's plucky and her journey into damsel in distress to butt-kicking flame-haired (literally) princess is great to follow. I also enjoyed her relationship with Kato and how it developed.

I wish there hadn't been quite so much of characters stabbing her in the back but it all made for an interesting read and I can say that overall I was entertained by this book. If anyone loves a good fairytale retelling, give this one a go!