Book Review: Sweetly

Book Review: SweetlySweetly by Jackson Pearce
Series: Fairytale Retellings #2
Published by Little Brown Books for Young Readers on August 23rd 2011
Pages: 312
Goodreads

SWEETLY is a modernization of Hansel and Gretel and a companion book to SISTERS RED.

Twelve years ago, Gretchen, her twin sister, and her brother went looking for a witch in the forest. They found something. Maybe it was a witch, maybe a monster, they aren’t sure—they were running too fast to tell. Either way, Gretchen’s twin sister was never seen again.

Years later, after being thrown out of their house, Gretchen and Ansel find themselves in Live Oak, South Carolina, a place on the verge of becoming a ghost town. They move in with Sophia Kelly, a young and beautiful chocolatier owner who opens not only her home, but her heart to Gretchen and Ansel.

Yet the witch isn’t gone—it’s here, lurking in the forests of Live Oak, preying on Live Oak girls every year after Sophia Kelly’s infamous chocolate festival. But Gretchen is determined to stop running from witches in the forest, and start fighting back. Alongside Samuel Reynolds, a boy as quick with a gun as he is a sarcastic remark, Gretchen digs deeper into the mystery of not only what the witch is, but how it chooses its victims. Yet the further she investigates, the more she finds herself wondering who the real monster is, and if love can be as deadly as it is beautiful.

I loved Pearce's first novel in this series – Sisters Red – and could not wait to see what she came up in this one. Also, I love Hansel and Gretal and all the renditions of the tale and so I love to see what the modern tale would look like in a teen novel.
 
I could not put this book down after I started it. I probably enjoyed this one more than Sisters Red and that book was awesome. There's this intrigue right away in the novel. A brother and sister come to town and are warned away from the owner of a candy shop. A sweet girl who Ansel starts to fall for as they find themselves staying with her after their car breaks down. The reason that Sophia is so hated by this town is that girls mysterious disappear after her chocolate festival, which is at first put off as just running off to a bigger town, but as the next festival date closes in, there's more to the story that is revealed.
 
Final Verdict: 
By the end of the book I was not quite satisfied. I loved the way the two books tie in and I can't wait to see what Jackson will be writing next.

 

Kristen

Kristen is the co-blog owner of The Book Monsters. Kristen is an Elementary School Library Media Specialist in the Chicago suburbs who loves reading. Why else would she be a librarian?

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8 responses to “Book Review: Sweetly”

  1. Joy

    I haven’t read Sister Red or Sweetly yet, but I have been meaning to do so. Both are on my TBR pile and have been for a while now. I love the concepts behind both books.

    Reply
  2. FABR Steph

    Jackson Pearce is terrific. Not only are her books terrific, but she does entertaining videos. Thanks for the great review. Sorry to hear that the end wasn’t so great for you.
    -FABR Steph@FiveAlarmBookReviews

    Reply
  3. Carina Olsen

    I loved Sisters Red so much, and I did love this one too, just not as much as Sisters Red 😉 Really excited for the third fairytale retelling she is doing, though 😀 Glad you enjoyed this book 😉
    Love, Carina

    Reply
  6. Christina Kit.

    I’m so happy you liked it! I too love modern re-tellings of fairy tales! They tend to be so real and creepier and just very original! The whole missing girls after the festival thing is intriguing!

    Reply

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