Book Review: Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

I just can't seem to stay away from the fairy tales. Enchanted by Alethea Kontis was an interesting take on the classic fairy tale. This seems to me to be like a fairy tale stew. There were elements of all kinds of fairy tales such as The Frog Prince, Jack and the Beanstalk, Snow White, Cinderella. Now I'm not saying the plot is the same, but there were elements from the classic tales. There was a magic mirror, a tower, a courtyard of people enchanted with a sleeping spell, some magic beans and other things.

Book Description:
Publication Date: May 8, 2012
It isn’t easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past—and hers?


My Review:
Sunday Woodcutter likes to spend time on her own in the woods writing stories. However, what she writes tends to come true, so she will only write about things that have already come to pass about her family. One day while in the woods, she encounters a talking frog. When asked for his name, he tells her it is Grumble. He asks her to read her stories and she obliges him. As is the way with fairy tales, she falls in love with him in a very brief period of time as he does with her.

The first day they meet, Grumble asks if she will kiss him. So she does, but the spell is not broken. It is not until she tells him she loves him that he turns back into a man. We find out he is actually the crown prince Rumbold, but his return to humanity is anything but an easy transition. He is haunted by ghosts of his past and the ghosts of his memories. He has no recollection of his life before becoming a frog and as he tries to piece together his past, he is not sure he was an altogether good sort of person.

In an effort to try to woo her, the prince announces there will be three balls held and all the eligible daughters in the kingdom must attend. His plan is to allow Sunday to get to know him as a man, but there is a history linking his family with hers and there is bad blood between the two family's. How can he possibly hope that she will fall in love with the very man responsible for her oldest brother's death?

There's also the matter of the king and just how old is he? Just how much of a jerk was Rumbold before he was ensorcelled? What happened to Sunday's brother Jack? What is Rumbold's godmother jealous of? Why does Sunday's godmother show up now of all times to train her with her gift? Just who is related to whom or is everyone related to each other? Will Sunday ever learn to love the man that Rumbold is and forget the frog that he was? Which one is better company? For answers to these questions and more you'll just have to read the book, but I don't think you'll be disappointed.

It is well crafted and blended together effortlessly to make for one enjoyable story.