Hello my favorite little munchkins. How are you all doing? I am doing well. Anyways, I am really tired and want to get this day over with but I was able to read this book and review it which was something that put me in a really happy mood.

I was provided with an ARC (Advanced Readers Copy) at YallWest so please now that this isn’t the full review for when the book comes out and that all thoughts and opinions change by the person.

Now, Why don’t we get into this post?

Author: Betsy Cornwell

Pages: 320

Genre: Retelling, Young Adult, Fantasy

Publishing Date: August 7th, 2018

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Description according to Amazon, ” From a New York Times bestselling author, a fresh, female-centered take on “Robin Hood” in which a young noblewoman, like the legendary hero, becomes an outlaw fighting for social justice. Perfect for fans of Marissa Meyer and Sarah J. Maas.

When sixteen-year-old Sylvie’s brother takes over management of their family’s vast estates, Sylvie feels powerless to stop his abuse of the local commoners. Her dearest friend asks her to run away to the woods with him, and soon a host of other villagers join them. Together, they form their own community and fight to right the wrongs perpetrated by the king and his noblemen. Perfect for fans of fairy tale retellings or anyone who loves a strong female lead, this gorgeously written take on the Robin Hood tale goes beyond the original’s focus on economic justice to explore love, gender, the healing power of nature, and what it means to be a family.”

Review:

Trigger Warnings For The Following:
- Rape is mentioned and discussed in this book and one character had this happen to them.
- Suicide attempts happened in the beginning of this book.
- Please take caution when reading this book so it does not harm your state of being.
The writing was wonderful but felt a little too flowery in the beginning of the book.
I LOVED the characters.
- Now, while I felt like they all could’ve been worked on more they were still really enjoyable and felt extremely lifelike.
- My favorite character was Little Jane.
  - The reason why is because she went through so much and was still able to be an amazing person.
  - She cares and loved almost everyone around her and is honestly the mom of the group.
  - I felt that while it wasn’t outwardly staten she was the third most developed character behind Sylvie and Bird.
  - She is a strong, independent, kind women and isn’t that we all want in books???
- Bird and Sylvie were able to expand on their friendship and we were able to see into their past which was something that I enjoyed as it gave the reader a much clear ability to see why they became friends and have stayed friends.
- Now, this book has a topic of family:
  - While blood family is more toxic in this book it shows how your family doesn’t always have to be from your blood and that you can find and make you own family through others you meet and befriend. This was personally something that I really liked as you don’t see it in many books.
There was a couple grammatical errors throughout this book but I have an ARC of this book so it should be fixed by the time the book is officially published on the date shown above.
The setting was wonderful in this book because I LOVE THE WOODS AND IT WAS JUST SO AMAZING TO SEE SOMETHING LIKE THAT!
Now while this is a retelling it is more fantasy compared to historical fiction so be prepared going into the book with that.
This book all-in-all felt like it could’ve been split up into two books and given much more depth but nonetheless it was really enjoyable for a read near a fire or the beach.

4/5 stars

Author

According to Amazon, “Betsy Cornwell is an American writer and teacher living in west Ireland. She is the story editor and a contributing writer at Parabola, and her short-form writing includes fiction, nonfiction, and literary translation and has appeared in Fairy Tale Review, Zahir Tales, The Violence Prevention Initiative Journal, and elsewhere. She holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Notre Dame and a B.A. from Smith College.

Mechanica was published in 2015 and has featured on several best of the year lists, including Amazon.com’s Best Young Adult Books and USA Today‘s Must-Read Romances. In a starred review, Kirkus called this retelling of Cinderella “a smart, refreshing alternative to stale genre tropes.” Mechanica is a YALSA Teens’ Top Ten nominee for 2016.

Betsy’s debut novel, Tides, was published in 2013 to critical acclaim including a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly, a place in the Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year, and a Bisexual Book Awards nomination.

Betsy has two more novels forthcoming from Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, in 2017 and 2018.”