Review: Dark and Chilling
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 7, 2013
So I, like many reviews I have read, assumed this would be your run-of-the-mill fairy tale retelling. Fortunately, I was VERY wrong. I'll agree with other reviewers that this book is weird. But it's definitely not the weirdest thing I've ever read.I really liked Ruby. She was a tough girl; she didn't complain about her horrible situation, she sucked it up and dealt with it. And did her situation get HORRIBLE.I mean, literally anything that could have gone wrong for her happened. It was miserable. And Tam. I didn't really like him until the last chapter. Because he was totally playing her the whole time and she knew it! But it made for a different relationship than most YA books nowadays, so that was refreshing. I mean, sure, he had the whole sexy adorable charming smooth talker rich thing going for him, but I didn't trust him one bit through the entire book.Those antagonists...they were CREEPY. Sadistic. Hedonistic. All in all a pretty terrible crowd. They murdered people, had orgies, drank until they were completely wasted, did drugs, and did all manner of other bizarre and dangerous things. They set the tone for the book, meaning this book is DARK.I was pleased with Ruby's reaction to this creepster group. She was horrified. As she should have been.I really would have just turned to complete and utter denial. She literally steps into a nightmare. There's really no other word for it. Which was an AWESOME conflict. The stakes were so high, she was literally suffocating (no, literally. She was actually suffocating).Ruby's main concern was taking care of her ailing mom and her younger sister. I liked that there was a big focus on her being the caretaker, because as a 17 year, that's an impossible situation, which added a nice layer of conflict outside of the fantasy conflict.All in all, this book was creepy, dark, and all around AWESOME. With a terribly infuriating cliffhanger of an ending, I am anxiously awaiting the sequel. Highly recommended for fans of fairy tale retellings, paranormal and fantasy novels!