Blog Tour Book Review: Bonded by Michelle Davidson Argyle

Title: Bonded
Author: Michelle Davidson Argyle
Release Date: November 1st 2012
Publisher: Rhemalda Publishing
Source: Received from the author for an honest review/blog tour

What happened after Cinderella married her prince? How did the evil sorceress in Sleeping Beauty turn evil in the first place? Discover these stories and a world filled with magic, forbidden love, elves, sprites, dragons, and the most powerful creatures of all— the fairies —in Bonded, a collection of three fairy tale inspired novellas.

CINDERS: A Cinderella sequel. Money can’t buy love, but magic isn’t a sure bet either. Cinderella, now officially a princess, finds royal life is not what she once dreamed. When a mysterious elf from her past stirs up long-suppressed passion, Cinderella begins to wonder if there really is love beneath the spell that captured her husband’s heart. But undoing magic can be harder than casting the initial spell, and the results are even less predictable.

THIRDS: A retelling of the Grimm’s fairy tale, One-Eye, Two-Eyes, Three-Eyes. Issina is surrounded by magic, yet none of it belongs to her. Despised and abused by her mother and sisters, she finds comfort when she meets the beautiful elves living in the nearby woods. The elves want to help her discover her own magic, but it’s not the kind of power she hoped for, and she learns there is more to magic than getting what you want.

SCALES: A Sleeping Beauty prequel. The sun never sets in the realm of the fairies. When the young fairy Serina looks into her sister’s eyes, she sees darkness for the first time. After her mother is murdered, Serina defies fairy law to follow her sister to the human realm. There she discovers the strength of a bond, the weight of a promise, and the darkness in her own heart.

My Thoughts

CINDERS: I thought that it started off great, but then headed into a really dark and dreary place that I felt took away from the magic of the start. The writing is great, and the imaginative and creative license taken with classic characters was refreshing and fun. But poor Cinderella had me wishing for a another, new happily ever after for her!
A 3.5 star read :]

THIRDS: I really enjoyed the storyline - again, this was reminiscent of the Cinderella theme (downtrodden youngest sister, made to wait on the family hand-and-foot) but it turned into something so much more.
Great character growth for both the lead and her mother and sisters - a coming of age story, and I enjoyed the magic element very much in this one.
This was my favourite of the three, a very well written 4 star read ;]

SCALES: I wasn't too keen on this one to begin with, it had a completely different feel to it from the first two.
The two sisters are very different from each other in temperament and behaviour and have an underlying competitiveness that made me feel uncomfortable for Serina.
It was a very bittersweet tale of a fairy who really only ever wanted to be loved.
A rather haunting almost 4 star read ;]


LINKS

Author website
Goodreads
Purchase for kindle

Book Trailer: