Brought to you by TeamNerd Reviewer Annabell Cadiz On Sunday, May 19, I headed back to Books and Books in Coral Gables with my big brother, Omar, and my cousin, Rosa, to attend the meet and greet with Author Alex Flinn who was speaking on her new book TOWERING, which came out earlier this month. I usually stress about being late for such occasions (or really anything) because I HATE being lat,e so I was quite happy that we actually arrived EARLY. Ironically enough, the author was chatting on the side with people and the event started off fifteen, twenty minutes LATE. That'll teach me to be early for anything (insert sarcastic tone here). Anywho, I managed to get come great vids of Alex reading from Towering and answering fan questions before sitting down to sign copies of her books. I also got to chat with a mom and her daughter (who looked to be in her later teens. Maybe 17 or 18) while standing in line. The mom asked if me and my cousin Rosa were writers. I promptly explained, proudly, that I was already a published author *hehe* and have my next book scheduled for an August release (crosses fingers that will really happen!). After I finished getting my books signed and was about to leave, the mom and daughter stopped me and asked for my information so they could purchase a copy of LUCIFER (SONS OF OLD TRILOGY, #1)! *Eeeep!* I felt SO cool actually talking about my book inside a bookstore with total strangers and watching their faces light up with interest as I explained the story =D Two new fans! (Hopefully!) Now stay tuned for the videos with Alex Flinn and pics! Alex Flinn reads a chapter from her new book Towering which follows the fairy tale character of Rapunzel. She also reveals how she came to write fairy tales, how she decided on writing Beastly as well as A Kiss in Time, and why she switched over from writing realistic fiction to re-tellings of fairy tales.
Alex Flinn reads a chapter from the perspective of the Prince from her new book Towering.
Alex Flinn discusses where the idea for Rapunzel came from, when she first considered herself a writer and her journey to become a professional writer, she offers advice to aspiring writers, confesses she doesn't use a laptop or computer to write her books but notebooks, gives inside scoop to the next book featuring the character of Kendra (the witch featured in Beastly and Bewitching) and explains how Beastly ended up as a movie.
Meet and Greet
Alex signing my copies of Beastly and Towering
Me and Alex Flinn
Signed Copy of Beastly
Signed Copy of Towering (thanks to my big bro who bought me a copy)
Once, I put a curse on a beastly and arrogant
high school boy. That one turned out all right. Others didn't.
I go to a new school now--one where no one knows
that I should have graduated long ago. I'm not still here because I'm stupid; I
just don't age.
You see, I'm immortal. And I pretty much know
everything after hundreds of years--except for when to take my powers and butt
out.
I want to help, but things just go awry in ways
I could never predict. Like when I tried to free some children from a
gingerbread house and ended up being hanged. After I came back from the dead
(immortal, remember?), I tried to play matchmaker for a French prince and ended
up banished from France forever. And that little mermaid I found in the
"Titanic" lifeboat? I don't even want to think about it.
Now a girl named Emma needs me. I probably
shouldn't get involved, but her gorgeous stepsister is conniving to the core. I
think I have just the thing to fix that girl--and it isn't an enchanted
pumpkin. Although you never know what will happen when I start . . . bewitching.
Brought to you by TeamNerd ReviewerAnnabell Cadiz
Review:InBeastlyKendra was one of my favorite
characters. I was looking forward to getting a chance to readBewitchingand discovering more about Kendra’s
story and how she came to be witch. While there were certain aspects of the
book that were interesting and entertaining, the book fell short of actually
delivering to the same height of enjoyment asBeastly.
I had thoughtBewitchingwould solely focus on Kendra’s
backstory and how she manages to keep to getting herself involved in other
people’s lives and what happens when she does. The first third of the book does
deal with Kendra specifically. Kendra is left an orphan in her small village,
her family having all died of the black plague except for her younger brother
Charlie, and she is desperately seeking for a way to help her brother survive
since he has become sick as well. She discovers her dormant powers one evening
and knows she cannot stay within the village. Even before the plague, the
village was keeping a close eye on everyone and casting claims of witchcraft on
anyone who did anything remotely suspicious so Kendra packs up her brother and
heads out of town. Except soon she is entangled in mess involving a gingerbread
house, a wicked witch who likes to eat children and learns she is more powerful
then she realized.
At the beginning of the first third
of the book, I was invested into Kendra’s story. The pain and loneliness she
was endearing from losing her family. The tragedy of her world falling apart
and the desperation she feels to save the only remaining family member she has
left. Right from the start the reader is rooting for Kendra to find love and a
happy ending from the heartbreak she has had to go through so early in her
life. But then Kendra’s story turns rather boring. She loses the intimacy she
shares with the reader and starts to go through the motion of repetitively
describing what’s going on until she finally manages to become free of the evil
witch.
Then the book fast forwards to the
present but doesn’t focus on Kendra. The story turns to Emma and Lisette. A
modern take on the story of Cinderella, a bad take at that. It takes the span
of the entire novel before the story reveals HOW and WHY Kendra decided to
involve herself in Emma’s world. Emma’s mother got remarried and her father
discovers he had a daughter, Lisette, and moves her into their home after
Lisette’s mother dies. Emma thinks it’s her chance to finally get the sister
she’s always wanted but things don’t go according to plan. Emma is the
definition of a weak female lead. She is one of the WORSE I have ever read. She
is dull, boring, lacks both courage and self-esteem, and let’s everyone treat
her life crap. She never stands up for herself and thinks the only way she’ll
be complete is if the popular girls like her and if Lisette approves of her
finally. Emma spends the entire novel moping about how unfair her life is and
never made any actual effort to reclaim her relationship with her father, her
friends, her boyfriend. She just let’s Lisette take everything from her and
only groans about it until Kendra decides to step in to help her. Even when
Kendra does, there’s isn’t even much magic performed. The story lacked depth
and that bang factor.
Lisette was supposed to be portrayed
as the evil stepsister who comes in and destroys Emma’s life and how poor Emma
has no control over it. The problem was that Lisette wasn’t really so much evil
as she was pathetic. She only gets away with making Emma’s life so miserable
because Emma let’s her. Emma could have told her father the truth and her
boyfriend but let’s herself be intimated by Lisette. Emma is constantly
reminding the reader that she allows Lisette to slide because they are
“sisters” and she finally has the sister she’s always wanted. Lisette is
bitter, angry, petty, and shallow. She blames Emma for the life she had but
really it was her mother’s fault.
Then there’s the romance within the story. I did like the way
Emma’s relationship with her crush Warner developed. They started off as
friends which was cute and they develop a close relationship. The problem was
there were holes within their relationship and what ends up happening between
Lisette, Warner and Emma was BEYOND ridiculous! Warner ends up being used as a
puppet within the plot. He doesn’t possess his own thoughts and is easily
manipulated. He was just as pathetic as Lisette and Emma. Whatever sweetness
Warner possessed was quickly thrown out the window and his personality turned
one dimensional. The romance in the book was shallow and had no real life
lesson. Okay, well, that’s not true: the lesson was that a girl will discover
how beautiful she is and how amazing she is when a hot, rich guy walks into her
life and tells her she is. *rolls her eyes*
There are retellings of the Little
Mermaid and the Princess and the Pea in-between Emma and Lisette’s story. But
both retellings are lackluster at best and boring at worse. The retelling of
the Little Mermaid was probably the worse retelling of the two. I can’t even
remember what the girl’s name was who played the mermaid. She has no common
sense and is so gullible. She also falls in love at first sight and is willing
to give up her entire life to be with a human she doesn’t even know much about.
Then what happens when she finally finds the guy was just so stupid I couldn’t
take it. The retelling of the Princes and the Pea was just boring and the
prince lacked any spine I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to be with
him. I didn’t really understand the need to place both those retellings within
the book. Kendra was barely present and when she showed her so called magic
there wasn’t much of it.
I did like Kendra though. She was sarcastic and amusing. But so much of the
book covered retellings and Emma and Lisette’s stories that after the first
third of the story there isn’t much else to discover about Kendra. It was
disappointing not to get to see her powers and the depth she could really go with
them. Or to discover where exactly her powers came from and whatever happened
to her brother after she helped him survive. Kendra isn’t as much of a mystery
but there still isn’t known too much about her character other than the fact
that she gets involved in people’s lives even though it doesn’t always go well.
Other than that Kendra isn’t seen or heard from much throughout the book.
Bewitchinghad moments were it did deliver. The writing was
well done in certain parts and the romance between Warner and Emma started off
in a really cute and sweet way. Kendra’s short chapters were pretty
entertaining and amusing. But there was nothing really memorable about the book
(other than how boring it was). There was too much repetition in Emma and
Lisette’s story which made a barely existing plot and there were no likeable
characters outside of Kendra. The pacing was choppy, starting off well then
progressing excruciatingly slow. The characterization had no real build up
since every character came off without depth or dimension. The various
scenarios within each of the retellings as well as Emma and Lisette story
didn’t always work because there wasn’t enough build up.
Bewitchingcould have been good if the story would have shown more of what Kendra
could do and how she managed to find the people whose lives she gets involved
with but it wasn’t able to meet expectations.
About the Author:Alex Flinn
loves fairy tales and is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Beastly, a spin on Beauty and the Beast that
was named a VOYA Editor’s
Choice and an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. Beastly is now a major motion picture starring
Vanessa Hudgens! She also wrote A Kiss in Time, a
modern retelling of Sleeping Beauty,
and Cloaked, a humorous fairy tale mash-up, as well as Breathing Underwater, Breaking Point, Nothing to Lose, Fade to Black, and Diva. Alex lives in
Miami with her family.
