UnEnchanted (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale, #1) in Once Upon a Time...

Mar 25, 2013 Shelly Hammond rated it it was amazing

I absolutely love this book. This is one that was offered as free so I grabbed it up figuring I would read it one day and give it a shot. WOW! I am so glad I did. I do believe I have found one to add to my favorites list.

I love fairy tales and books that twist fairy tales up, though there are times when such books become just plain silly or done so many times before that you just get bored. This is not one of those books. This book has a very unique storyline based on the Grimm legends and curse ...more

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Mar 07, 2014 Victoria rated it really liked it

I stumbled upon this book on Kindle, and at first, I was not captivated by this story. The idea of the story, fairy tales all twisted up, was intriguing, so I continued reading. Then, something magical happened. It was so subtle that I barely noticed at first. I went from wondering where the author was going with plot to being sucked in wholeheartedly, eagerly reading each line.

Unenchanted, for me, turned out to be quite...enchanting. I look forward to reading the next installment.

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Jun 16, 2013 Kimber Wheaton rated it liked it

Shelves: ya

I came across UnEnchanted while searching for Kindle deals. I love fairy tales, have since I was a little girl so I was instantly drawn to the plot. It didn't hurt that the ebook is free. I read this short book in about two hours. It was enjoyable enough to hold my interest and keep me reading. I found this to be a light and fun read, nothing deep or life changing. Sometimes life calls for a lighthearted distraction, something to occupy our minds for a few hours that leaves us feeling good.

Mina I came across UnEnchanted while searching for Kindle deals. I love fairy tales, have since I was a little girl so I was instantly drawn to the plot. It didn't hurt that the ebook is free. I read this short book in about two hours. It was enjoyable enough to hold my interest and keep me reading. I found this to be a light and fun read, nothing deep or life changing. Sometimes life calls for a lighthearted distraction, something to occupy our minds for a few hours that leaves us feeling good.

Mina comes across rather pathetic throughout most of the story. Her mother has always encouraged her to blend in, to hide in a crowd and her personality reflects this. We find out fairly quickly why her mother is so smothering, she seems to think that a low profile is key to keeping the family curse from discovering Mina. The mother is an odd bird whenever she appears in the story, which isn't very often. Best friend Nan is so perky she wore me out every time she opened her mouth. Mina's little brother, Charlie, is an interesting character that I hope the author expands on in her second book.

The main love interest, Brody, is the stereotypical Prince Charming: tall, blond, wealthy, and attentive. He's Mr. Popular but has no interest in that. We really don't learn all that much about Brody, other than the fact that he's suddenly obsessed with Mina after never noticing her for years. If that's part of the curse, then I think I could live with it.

Enter Jared. He's a fae who appears when Mina is attacked and cries to the heavens for help. Not exactly the most agreeable guy, he saves her then wavers between helping and not helping. Jared is the stereotypical bad boy: tall, dark, handsome, dangerous, powerful, rides a motorcycle. You know, the kind of guy your brain warns you to stay away from while your libido screams, 'I'm yours!'.

This novel has quite a few spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors. A couple of paragraphs just flat out made no sense. However, while the errors pulled me away from the plot, the story was enjoyable enough to keep me reading. My husband commented that I had a smirk plastered on my face just about every time he looked at me while I was reading. Not a bad way to spend two hours...smirking at a cute story.

I recommend this book to anyone middle school and up looking for a lighthearted, fun read. I liked it enough that I paid for the second book in the series Fairest.
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Oct 13, 2012 Marie Deason rated it it was amazing

I have to admit I didn't really expect to enjoy this book so much. A free book for my kindle to check it out. And I did read the reviews and see a lot of complaints about the lack of editing. And yes that can be annoying. But I devoured this book and the sequel. I am really excited for the next book in the series.

The plot line sometimes was a little leading. But I loved fairy tales as a little girl and have an obsession to read retellings of my favorite fairy tales. And it was easy to see with ...more

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Oct 22, 2012 Momo (the Mome Rath) rated it it was ok

Shelves: retelling, reviewed, faeries, self-pub, pub-2011, urban-fantasy

The idea for Unenchanted itself is amazing and I can honestly say I was sucked in for most of the book. However, I almost want to steer anyone planning on reading away as the hiccups in this one were pretty bad. In YA literature, there are many great fairy tale retellings, so I can’t recommend a book that I struggled through at points when there are so many others that I whole-heartedly enjoyed to the last word.

What I did like about Mina was that she did seem like a teenager. Her voice actually The idea for Unenchanted itself is amazing and I can honestly say I was sucked in for most of the book. However, I almost want to steer anyone planning on reading away as the hiccups in this one were pretty bad. In YA literature, there are many great fairy tale retellings, so I can’t recommend a book that I struggled through at points when there are so many others that I whole-heartedly enjoyed to the last word.

What I did like about Mina was that she did seem like a teenager. Her voice actually felt like that of a young girl. Other than that, Mina was not particularly likeable. She was your typical “normal” young adult main character, made complete with shyness and an inferiority complex. If you’re looking for a strong heroine kicking Grimm-fairy-tale-ass and taking names, look elsewhere. Mina was borderline whiney at times and grated on my nerves.

Most of the dialogue was atrocious. It wasn’t that it wasn’t authentic for a teenager, it wasn’t authentic for anyone. No one talks like that. The only character whose dialogue sounded like a real person was Mina’s best friend, Nan. Nan had more personality than the rest of the cast of characters combined and was incredibly likeable. Unfortunately, Nan is not the main character.

But the most upsetting thing about Unenchanted was the amount of typos. There were misspelled words, words missing, and other issues on top of that. This is completely unacceptable in a published book, self published or otherwise. If you’re going to publish a book, it should be something you poured your heart into and have gone over repeatedly. Clearly, the author put absolutely no time into editing her book.

Nevertheless, I am still intrigued with where this is going as Unenchanted did have an interesting and original plot. I probably will pick up the Chandra Hahn’s next book in the series. I guess this makes it a mixed up review...at first I'm like "Don't read it!" and then "I'm gonna read the sequel." What I mean is: Unenchanted is flawed, but the story is original and interesting. Read at your own risk.

I want to give it a 2.5, but GoodReads won't let me :( Or maybe it was deserving of a full 3 stars. I still don't know

Originally posted on my blog Where the Mome Raths Outgrabe ...more

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Jun 28, 2013 Stacy Sabala rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya

Book Review- UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn
Mina Grime has the worst luck. She is a complete klutz. Her mother freaks out when some of the stranger things happen to her and moves them elsewhere. It’s just Mina, her mom and her younger brother Charlie. They live above a Chinese restaurant and Mina goes to a private high school. Her partner in crime is Nan Taylor, who has been her friend for two years. Nan could be the most popular girl at school if she tried, but she is happy to be as she is and Mina Book Review- UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn
Mina Grime has the worst luck. She is a complete klutz. Her mother freaks out when some of the stranger things happen to her and moves them elsewhere. It’s just Mina, her mom and her younger brother Charlie. They live above a Chinese restaurant and Mina goes to a private high school. Her partner in crime is Nan Taylor, who has been her friend for two years. Nan could be the most popular girl at school if she tried, but she is happy to be as she is and Mina is thankful for her only friend.
Mina’s mom has been skittish lately, so she hasn’t been telling her about the strange things she has encountered. One day when on a field trip with her class, she has a life changing experience. She saves her crush’s life. Brody almost falls from the catwalk in a bakery factory, but Mina jumps up and grabs a hold of his backpack before he can fall and holds him there until other students help pull him up. Brody is the most popular boy in school and her heroic acts make the news. With Mina in the news her mom has to reveal the family secrets. Mina is from the family of the famous Grimm brothers and her family has been cursed. They have to beat the fairy tales in order to close the gate that allows the Fae to cross into the human world.
Mina is shocked but knows she is the one the story has chosen. She has to beat the curse. She refuses to let her little brother Charlie shoulder the responsibility. She will protect her family and rise up to meet what the story throws at her. She has to.
This is a unique story. It is the first in the series and poor Mina is blind-sided. I like how the story unfolds and a romance seems to progress with Mina and Brody. She isn’t alone with her tasks with the fairy tales.
I liked the characters and how they handled what was thrown at them. I also thought the author provided some excellent twists and turns in the story. I did feel sorry for Mina at the end, but I can’t wait to see what happens next. I recommend this story to everyone. It is a great beginning to a fun series. I give it a 4 out of 5.
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May 24, 2015 D rated it it was ok

Shelves: ya, fairy-tales

I originally picked up this book because the premise seemed interesting but ultimately, the heroine of the book really ruined it for me. When "you're not like the other girls" was literally a line of dialogue from the love interest, I lost most of my interest in the book. I did power through it but I was disappointed at the way it fell so easily into those easy traps.

I feel like it could have been a good story, especially with the premise, but the potential was wasted. ...more

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Nov 18, 2012 Renate rated it did not like it

Shelves: fairy-tale-inspired-retold

To be perfectly honest, I couldn't even bring myself to finish this book. The premise is cool, and I love fairy tale re-tellings, but the grammer was atrocious, and though I tried to look past the mis-spelled words and ubiquitous grammatical errors, when the (not a word) word "maked" appeared, I just couldn't. The viewpoint changes without warning early on, and the character voices are so underdeveloped and indistinguishable it took me several confusing paragraphs to figure out that we were now ...more

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Apr 08, 2013 Sstrachan611 rated it really liked it

Really liked this book... there were some things that could have been better for continuity and also for the editing. But over all a very good story. I really want to read book 2 now.

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