Review: Non-romance reader:  I lIked it very much, in spite of the "romance" element
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 19, 2014
Bottom line: I really enjoyed this book.The characters are quite mixed. I have read a great deal of fantasy over the past 5 decades, so the mixing of the fantasy creatures did not bother me.  But in the scenes of the frame story (the world tree part, which connects all the stories together) it makes it seem awfully contrived, so contrived as to almost be an afterthought. Connecting the individual books together with a frame story makes the reader more apt to purchase the next book, obviously.  I might have been more influenced to buy the next book without the frame story, though, because the world tree story feels so theatrical. Another reviewer commented that the sentence structure was awkward. yes, sometimes it is.  There are places where it is sort of, "not i, says the dog.  not i, says the cat..."  This is in great contrast to the vocabulary. there are enough words not generally heard in conversation, as if good use of a thesaurus was made.  This is preferable to repeating the same words over and over, but some words are unusual enough to seem ostentatious. There were a few continuity inequities, as well.Like some other reviewers, i had some trouble with the language. It reads like a young adult novel, until the "romance" part kicks in.  A few words are too crude for just a "romance novel,"  they are more appropriate for erotica. They are what i think of as street words. Their contrast with the juvenile nature of the premise and the writing style is what made me uncomfortable.Another reviewer objected to the name of the heroine, and i have to say that it bothered me, too. It seemed so obvious.This book would benefit from a good editor, but then, most books would.All that said, the story is captivating, and i thought original. Who does not like a Cinderella retelling? I have read several lately, and this one was fun (except for the graphic sex part.)  The characters are well-developed and likeable,I got this one free, and yes, i bought the second. I am a couple of chapters into it, it is worth the read, so far, despite the very theatric feel to the frame story.  I will probably follow through with this series, unless the language gets more graphic.