Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Thoroughly Kissed (Fates 2) by Kristine Grayson

Summary:
Kristine Grayson's bestselling fairy tale romances bring the classic stories into the present day, where fairy tale characters must grapple with the complexities of modern life as well as their own destinies. Emma (Sleeping Beauty) fell into a magical coma that lasted for a thousand years when a boy she didn't even liked kissed her. Now that Emma's awake, she's determined to be a normal girl...a normal girl who is deathly afraid of kissing. When she meets history professor Michael Found, Emma has to choose between her fear of kissing and her potential Prince Charming.

Reviewer: Fashionta
Unbelievably, I didn’t know that Thoroughly Kissed was a re-release when I requested the arc from net galley. However, the reissue couldn't have come at a better time. We are in the midst of a resurgence of the genre, once again being enchanted with fairy tales characters. Fairy tales are being remade with new spins yet they all still cleave to Once Upon A Time and end in Happily Ever Afters.

Emma is Sleeping Beauty of the fable but this modern day damsel awakes in a VW van in the 21st century. She manages to get along just fine until her magic awakens and sets off a series of events.

This is the first contemporary fairy tale book I have read and I hoped this would expand on the general concept and follow less of the original, with the author painting in a broad new spectrum with her own creative hand. I was not disappointed. This Sleeping Beauty, this Emma, is not the helpless girl of twenty we know from the myth who wakes up saved by her Prince Charming. Instead, she's a successful and established history professor with production work on a documentary under her belt and tenure to boot using her own intimate memories of the Dark Ages. But she is about to be challenged by Michael, the new head of department and purported expert on the Dark Ages.

Michael, dazed and smitten, doesn’t know what to believe anymore. She compels him to take a journey with her to Portland as she has nobody close to help her, isn't allowed to fly and the Fates demand it. He tags along to help save Emma from herself. Her magic is uncontrolled and Michael gets drawn in as she uncannily keeps getting into situations where magic is involved. Even her whimsical dreams become reality as she gives her pet cat the ability to speak!

While this book is a little cheesy with the last names of these two main characters being Emma Lost and Michael Found, that was not my main issue with the story. I felt it lacked believability in terms of Michael. His character believes everything Emma says about magic, never questioning her. His implicit belief in her strikes me as improbable given his educated background.

Also I would have more enjoyed a stronger villain who had a more important role than what it was. I have to give this book 3.5 stars.

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Review Courtesy Of: NetGalley

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