From the Bookshelf of Once Upon a Time...…

Enchanted (Woodcutter Sisters, #1; Books of Arilland, #1)

Alethea Kontis

Start date: July 1, 2015

Finish date: July 31, 2015

Discussion: Old Archives

Why we're reading this: July 2015 Group Read
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Dearest - September 2015
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last updated Jan 17, 2016 03:29PM

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What Members Thought

Jun 17, 2013 Mary Catelli rated it liked it

Shelves: ya-fiction, fairy-tale-and-other-retellings

Once upon a time there was a girl named Sunday Woodcutter, the seventh daughter -- and yes, the others were Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. There were three brothers, one a foundling, and the oldest one had gone to serve the king and for having killed the prince's dog -- accident or what have you, Sunday doesn't know -- was turned into a dog. It did not create warm feelings between the Woodcutters and the royal family.

But that was back story -- like Tuesday's tragic death, in red dancing shoes, Once upon a time there was a girl named Sunday Woodcutter, the seventh daughter -- and yes, the others were Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. There were three brothers, one a foundling, and the oldest one had gone to serve the king and for having killed the prince's dog -- accident or what have you, Sunday doesn't know -- was turned into a dog. It did not create warm feelings between the Woodcutters and the royal family.

But that was back story -- like Tuesday's tragic death, in red dancing shoes, and how Monday married a prince, and they lived in a house that she had gotten them -- and the story opens with Sunday in the woods, writing about her family, when a talking frog addresses her. He's perfectly willing to listen to her stories, which no one in her family is, and tells her that he's starting to forget being human. She tries the kiss, it doesn't work, but he asks her to return and tell him more stories.

Her mother does not approve. There's lots of chores to be done. But she goes back, and on the third visit. she brings him a bucket -- and discovers her brother Trix had exchanged their cow for beans. The frog gives her a golden bauble, and she kisses him and runs off, missing that he turned back into a man -- the prince, from the royal family.

He's not very coherent, but he remembers her brother and, when he manages to get back home, orders there to be three balls with all eligible young women of the realm. He's haunted by voices. And his father set out to exploit the balls for his own purposes.

The rest of the tale involves two fairy godmothers, sisters, and spinning wool into gold, Saturday's hitting herself with an axe, a riot, a maidservant who can't speak, and someone's trying to sell Sunday a comb, an apple, and a ribbon at the fair. Not in the same order as Snow White, actually. There are a number of fairy tale tropes like that, blink and you'll miss them especially since they are often in quite different contexts. Also, this one uses a lot of tales. Including some rather obscure ones. And some Mother Goose. ...more

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Jul 21, 2015 Jessica Andersen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: magick, young-adult, faries, series-i-like, fairy-tale, first-in-series

This is a fun story that will keep you guessing at all the fairy tale references. It's a fresh twist with good characters and a good story.
Sunday is the 7th daughter of a 7th daughter. Her other sisters are also named for days of the week. Sunday likes to write stories, but she mostly sticks to things that have already happened, because the things she writes tend to come true.
She finds a nice frog to tell stories too, he tells her how much he likes them (because, talking frog). And since he's ...more

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