What do you think?
Rate this book
Strung
Just before senior year, Penny’s car was struck by a drunk driver. Her body was beyond repair, but her mind was saved by a powerful benefactor attempting to blur the moral lines between medical science and technology. Penny now lives as an Automa alongside others whose consciousnesses were uploaded into elite cyborgs. Together they work and perform at the prestigious Monstro Theater in Amsterdam.
Though she is forbidden to leave the theater for ten years, Penny is granted every luxury her heart desires. Any skill or information she wishes can be downloaded in seconds - except the precious memories of her life before. Despite longing for knowledge of her past, Penny makes the most of her confinement with her new companions. After an outsider exposes the truth, Penny realizes she’s been strung up in a web of lies. She wants to trust what she feels she’s known all along, but doing so would force her to face an impossible choice.When the truth catches up, it doesn’t let go without a fight.
STRUNG is a standalone novel in the Twisted Fairy Tales series. ***Read for FREE in Kindle Unlimited***
Though she is forbidden to leave the theater for ten years, Penny is granted every luxury her heart desires. Any skill or information she wishes can be downloaded in seconds - except the precious memories of her life before. Despite longing for knowledge of her past, Penny makes the most of her confinement with her new companions. After an outsider exposes the truth, Penny realizes she’s been strung up in a web of lies. She wants to trust what she feels she’s known all along, but doing so would force her to face an impossible choice.When the truth catches up, it doesn’t let go without a fight.
STRUNG is a standalone novel in the Twisted Fairy Tales series. ***Read for FREE in Kindle Unlimited***
206 pages, Paperback
Published August 26, 2019
1 person is currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Constance Roberts
14 books51 followersConstance Roberts is a retired flight attendant who turned in her wings to stay at home with her adventurous children and to write. She and her husband live in St. Louis, Missouri where they spend the weekends playing board games with friends. She is currently working on exciting projects and has big plans for another fantasy series.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 8, 2020
Unique take and a fun frolic
I've often shied away from fairy tale retellings, because so often it feels as derivative as the category name implies - you can tell who will be good and who will be bad and it just throws me.
NONE of this is true in Strung. I fell in such love with the cover that I decided to give it a read, and the first few chapters gave me that same "oh, there's all the names, here we go" feeling, but the world built here was so intriguing I simply had to give it time. Penny is an Automa, a human consciousness placed into a robotic body, with no memory of her past. To repay the debt of this resurrection, auts spend their first decade serving and performing for the institute that is developing this new technology. Of course...nothing is that easy.
The characters in Strung pop off the page, and while the names are familiar, they don't all fall into their traditional roles so you are kept guessing. The world feels familiar enough to immediately fall into, and the thought and detail layered on I loved. A few editing issues stood out, but they were spread well out and didn't hurt my reading. This was a ton of fun and has made me less skeptical of this genre.
I've often shied away from fairy tale retellings, because so often it feels as derivative as the category name implies - you can tell who will be good and who will be bad and it just throws me.
NONE of this is true in Strung. I fell in such love with the cover that I decided to give it a read, and the first few chapters gave me that same "oh, there's all the names, here we go" feeling, but the world built here was so intriguing I simply had to give it time. Penny is an Automa, a human consciousness placed into a robotic body, with no memory of her past. To repay the debt of this resurrection, auts spend their first decade serving and performing for the institute that is developing this new technology. Of course...nothing is that easy.
The characters in Strung pop off the page, and while the names are familiar, they don't all fall into their traditional roles so you are kept guessing. The world feels familiar enough to immediately fall into, and the thought and detail layered on I loved. A few editing issues stood out, but they were spread well out and didn't hurt my reading. This was a ton of fun and has made me less skeptical of this genre.
Read
April 20, 2021If you enjoy fairytale retellings, technology, pop culture references, and enemies to lovers, keep reading.
Before anything... can we talk about that cover?! The cover is the number one reason I picked up this book. It's just so beautiful!
Strung is a new and interesting take on the classic Pinocchio—and in my opinion, completely believable. Roberts had me turning pages quickly (especially in the second half), wanting to know what was going to happen next.
While there are several characters in the story, we only really get to know a few—and Roberts does a great job at making us care about or hate them, depending on who they are. Her attention to detail in the costuming for the Automas, the clothing of the humans, and the theater décor made it very easy to paint scenes in my head while reading—like I was right there in the audience and a part of the story. Roberts had be rooting for Penny (main character) the whole time, and I was on the edge of my seat with every new obstacle introduced throughout the story.
This is a fun, quick read. I highly recommend.
Before anything... can we talk about that cover?! The cover is the number one reason I picked up this book. It's just so beautiful!
Strung is a new and interesting take on the classic Pinocchio—and in my opinion, completely believable. Roberts had me turning pages quickly (especially in the second half), wanting to know what was going to happen next.
While there are several characters in the story, we only really get to know a few—and Roberts does a great job at making us care about or hate them, depending on who they are. Her attention to detail in the costuming for the Automas, the clothing of the humans, and the theater décor made it very easy to paint scenes in my head while reading—like I was right there in the audience and a part of the story. Roberts had be rooting for Penny (main character) the whole time, and I was on the edge of my seat with every new obstacle introduced throughout the story.
This is a fun, quick read. I highly recommend.
October 16, 2020
Needs better editing.
December 2, 2019
I wasn't entirely sure what to expect because it's a little different than my normal reading but I throughly enjoyed this one and I hope that there may be a sequel... pretty please?
Spoiler Alert
The main character is Penny and like most girls she has ambitions and dreams, she enjoys designing and making clothes, loves sappy overly dramatic romance movies and she is very good with her violin but unlike most girls, shes a robot. Now shes not like R2D2 and while she does have extensive programming she also has a conscience , she was a living, breathing girl before she was placed inside her new robotic body and her world is about to be turned upside down.
Like all the bots, she doesnt have any memories of her human life which has left her curious as to who she was before. She is 2 years into her 10 year servitude and now everything is about to change. Penny and her best friend Chloe are snooping around to find out who Penny was before when they uncover secrets no one was ever ment to find out. Truth is, there is no end of their servitude, they would only be reset, placed in another body and reintroduced as a new member of their theater group.
They can have anything they want, download any training they want as long as the show goes off without a hitch but something is missing and the truth which can be hard to digest is the only thing that can set them free along with the help of an unlikely source.
Spoiler Alert
The main character is Penny and like most girls she has ambitions and dreams, she enjoys designing and making clothes, loves sappy overly dramatic romance movies and she is very good with her violin but unlike most girls, shes a robot. Now shes not like R2D2 and while she does have extensive programming she also has a conscience , she was a living, breathing girl before she was placed inside her new robotic body and her world is about to be turned upside down.
Like all the bots, she doesnt have any memories of her human life which has left her curious as to who she was before. She is 2 years into her 10 year servitude and now everything is about to change. Penny and her best friend Chloe are snooping around to find out who Penny was before when they uncover secrets no one was ever ment to find out. Truth is, there is no end of their servitude, they would only be reset, placed in another body and reintroduced as a new member of their theater group.
They can have anything they want, download any training they want as long as the show goes off without a hitch but something is missing and the truth which can be hard to digest is the only thing that can set them free along with the help of an unlikely source.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 26, 2019
I recently purchased this book at a reader fest. The cover immediately caught my eye. I love it! The fact that it was a retelling of Pinocchio, with a girl as the lead, grabbed my interest. I found it to be an interesting twist on a somewhat familiar childhood story. Roberts’s tale is nicely detailed, making scenes easy to visualize. I loved the musical angle throughout the book, as well. There are some minor editing issues, but they don’t detract from the overall enjoyment of the story.
January 29, 2020
This is one of my favorite stories from Constance Roberts. Love the spin on the "real boy" Pinocchio idea, with this very real girl with very real feelings and thought processes. I love that one of the main relationships explored is the friendship between Penelope and Cleo. My only complaint is that it's over! I want more.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews