Review: More than I was expecting...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 27, 2014
4.5 stars -- OK, so it had me at Rapunzel retelling, but it's really more of a Rapunzel inspired tale -- like what if you took some of the elements of that story and tried to imagine them in real life in the modern world.  It was a great success.  Anya was so sweet and naive and innocent, but I could totally buy it given the way she grew up and all the tidbits of her history we were given.  Zander was unbelievably adorable....he was kind of more of a beta male, and I wasn't expecting that.  Very pleasant surprise.  I mean seriously, who doesn't love a mischievous bookworm???  They had great chemistry together too.  It started off as this totally believable epic crush, but transitioned perfectly to something that I could see was more and real love.My pleasant surprise came with Anya's mother....  I had set myself up to anticipate a truly evil woman, b/c quite honestly in Tangled she is one of the most insidious and evil characters I've ever seen.  But that wasn't what we got.  Which was kind of marvelous and unexpected.  I seriously kept expecting some additionally horrible revelation, and when I didn't get it, instead of being disappointed I was impressed.  B/C she had way more character development than I was expecting, and it was just so very real and heartbreaking and believable how someone could let their grief and fear and guilt overwhelm them into making truly horrible choices.  I even liked that the resolution with her character wasn't quick and 100%....but slow to turn around.  Believable.  That's just what I keep thinking.I was enthralled with Zander and Anya's love throughout the book, but the ending with the mother is what hit this book out of the park for me.  Such a great surprise.