Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Fantastic Fairytales - Beauty by Nancy Ohlin (writing as Nancy Butcher)

 
 Published: May 2013, Originally published 2005
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 175
Copy: Library
Summary: Goodreads

Ana is nothing like her glamorous mother, Queen Veda, whose hair is black as ravens and whose lips are red as roses. Alas, Queen Veda loathes anyone whose beauty dares to rival her own—including her daughter.

And despite Ana’s attempts to be plain to earn her mother’s affection,
she’s sent away to the kingdom’s exclusive boarding school.

At the Academy, Ana is devastated when her only friend abandons her for the popular girls. Isolated and alone, Ana resolves to look like a true princess to earn the acceptance she desires.

But when she uncovers the dangerous secret that makes all of the girls at the Academy so gorgeous, just how far will Ana go to fit in?


As much of a fan as I am of fairy tale retellings, for some reason this one didn't catch my interest too much.   Beauty is very, very loosely based on Snow White, - wicked queen obsessed with beauty and jealous of her daughter, but this one while not modern in setting, had a modern feel to it. 

Beauty in this instance is a drug, in pill form, that the girls become addicted to.  There is a 'little man' who is helping the queen to keep her beauty but nothing really clicked about him.  I'd love to be able to pin down what I wasn't keen on in this book, but I think it was just in general.  I didn't connect to Ana, and because of that couldn't connect to the others.

Still, if you are a fan of retellings, give it a try (it's a really quick read) and let me know what you think.  It wasn't bad, just not for me.

No comments:

Post a Comment