Book Review for UnEnchanted : An Unfortunate Fairy Tale by Chanda Hahn

UnEnchanted: An Unfortunate Fairy Tale, by Chanda Hahn, is a young adult novel about doing whatever it takes to protect your family, even if it means subjecting yourself to the cruel whims of fairytales long forgotten.


Mina is, for all intents and purposes, a loser, or at least, that’s what she believes. However, this changes when she saves Brody Carmichael’s life, the most popular boy in school. This catapults her into the most recognized girl in high school. However, when she finds out about her family’s curse, she begins to understand the consequences of her actions. In order to protect her younger brother, Charlie, from succumbing to the curse, she must complete a series of fairytale stories. She soon realizes that if she wants to live happily ever after, she has to learn who to trust and who to love.


I enjoyed reading about Mina. She reminded me of myself when I was in high school. Even now, I can still think back on it, I wish I could tell her, ‘Yep, you’ll grow out of it.’ But still, she’s brave and kind, so much so that the book decided to help her. After all, her brother was in danger of being killed, and because her father died before her in attempting the trials, she would have to do whatever it took to complete them before they kill her. To be honest, Brody did annoy me just a bit. He seemed like he was the stereotypical Prince Charming jerk who would do anything to stay in the limelight. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that wasn’t the case. The relationship development between Mina and Brody was sweet. It could be a bit much at times, but other than that, it was wonderful.


The Fae are, of course, mischievous, like they always are. When I heard about the curse, and how they bargained with the original Grimm brothers, it made sense for them to do something like strike a deal, at least without getting something in return. Fairy godmothers and fairies who grant wishes; while they’re pleasant to think about, in the end, they’re just as malicious as they’ve always been. Then of course, this book is an inversion of a fairytale. It gives a glimpse of real life, and shows that every action has consequences. A bloody way to learn something, but important nonetheless.


Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was enchanting, as well as gothic, especially with the countless number of lives the fairytales have claimed. Hahn gives us a glimpse of what these fairytales are truly like, and that sometimes, in order to preserve innocence, you have to risk your life, all the while blindly following a trail of corpses. As such, I would give this book a rating of a 3.6 out of 5.0 stars, and would recommend it to fans of Gail Levine Carson and Lisa Ann Sandell.

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Published on March 12, 2018 10:00
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