Review: LOVE this series!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 1, 2013
Along Came a Spider is the third installment in Kate SeRine's Transplanted Tales series.  I absolutely love this series.  It is incredibly unique and the world Kate has built is just brilliant.  You see, years ago Cinderella's godmother screwed up a spell and sent some of our favorite Nursery Rhyme, Fairy Tale and Classic Literary characters into our world, the Here & Now.  We Ordinaries are oblivious to their existence mostly because the Tales have blended well into our society.  They have done so by taking regular jobs and living regular lives.  It's amazing what some of these characters do for a living!  Sure, they are immortal and have to move around a lot to avoid being noticed as different, but besides that, they are just like you and me.  Well...other than they all come with an insane background story.  And that story is not always what we see on the page from their initial tale.We do revisit some storylines from book to book so I recommend reading these books in order but every installment also comes with a fantastic romance and a neat Happily Ever After.  Book one, Red, featured Tess Little (Little Red Riding Hood) and Nate Grimm (the Grimm Reaper).  Book two, The Better to See You, told us about Lavender Seelie (Cinderella's fairy godmother) and Seth Wolf (the big bad wolf).  Finally, this latest installment, Along Came a Spider tells the tale of Trish Muffet (Little Miss Muffet) and Nicky Blue (Little Boy Blue).In the first book, we met Dracula. He's a big bad and he did something horrible to Nicky in that book.  Two years have passed since book one and Nicky has been MIA since then.  Apparently he's gone all vigilante and has been tracking Dracula down with ultimate plans for him that are not too pretty.  He calls himself Spider.  (You see the twist there, where the title comes from now?  Pretty clever, eh?)  But now he's back and he needs Trish's help.Trish has been infatuated with Nicky since the moment they both arrived in the Here & Now.  Nicky has since been married but that has not faded Trish's crush.  Nicky is now available but he is very damaged, the events from book one having taken a real toll on his heart and his mind.  I love Trish and Nicky together.  In fact, they are my favorite couple so far.  Their passion, their chemistry, their dialogue...all of it is superb.I have liked Trish since the first time I met her.  She is very smart and has a little snark and temper to her I enjoy.  She is no pushover.  She is strong yet not so much so that she feels unreachable.  I have also liked Nicky since the first time I met him.  He's smooth and clever and so incredibly sexy.  Also, there is a strong vulnerability to him that actually makes him even sexier!  They help each other in their quest to find Dracula and in healing each other's hearts.Other than tracking down Dracula to `teach him a not too pleasant lesson', there are these odd sort of vampires to deal with too.  Where are they coming from and who is responsible for them?  The obvious answer is Dracula but is it really him?Trish and Nicky are also dealing with humans who were usually there to help the Tales' law enforcement division but who now seem bent on capturing Tales to try to isolate what makes them special.  They want to run tests and experiments to see if they can figure them out.  I am not a huge fan of plotlines like these.  They are common in paranormal fiction and they always get on my nerves.  Yes, this one did rub me a bit wrong while I was reading it, especially considering it's the first time we've heard of such a thing happening in the series, but it wasn't as bad as most that I've read.  I think the thing that bugged me the most is that it all seemed to have come out of nowhere.  It didn't even seem to fit into the flow of this book.  But of course, by the end of the story, you want to smack yourself for doubting because it does actually fit nicely into the story and it makes sense when you find out the reason for it.  But while getting there...that was my only little beef with this one.I want to say one little thing about Kate's talent as an author.  Not only has she created a world that continues to blow me away, she has a knack for writing characters you attach yourself to quickly - no matter how insignificant they might seem.  You find yourself caring for the most second secondary character...and you have only read them for three or four pages!  The Pigs (who are actually men) are a great example of this.  They are around for a few lines then something happens are you find yourself hoping they are okay.  Why should I care?!  They were slimy too!  But you do care and that's because Kate has talent.  Another example of this is Dracula.  He did horrible things yet I found myself in tears over him.  What is that?!  That is odd...but that is awesome.Overall, and even with the humans being bastards sideplot, I did really enjoy this book.  I am overjoyed to know that a novella about Tess and Nate is in the works as well as a fourth book for the series.  Ever After will be Gideon's story (woot!) and is due out next year.  I.  Can.  Not.  Wait.Along Came a Spider does what a great story should do:  it sucks you in, it bounces you around a bit, it makes you sweat and it makes you smile.  If you have yet to discover the Transplanted Tales, read it next.  Its characters will win you over and its creativity will amaze you.  What more could you want?4.5 stars