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blodeuedd's review
3.0
I read it in an anthology last year
It was a good re-telling of the Goose girl
It was a good re-telling of the Goose girl
saidahgilbert's review
2.0
The ending was a bit abrupt in my opinion. I would've like to see more resolution rather than the narrative telling us that it's all resolved in the end.
moirwyn's review
4.0
This review originally appeared on my blog, Books Without Any Pictures:
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2016/06/02/its-that-time-again-mini-reviews/
I won a copy of this book during Armchair BEA, which is fitting, considering that’s how I first discovered Jeffe Kennedy’s writing several years ago. Heart’s Blood hits everything I want in a cozy comfort read–romance, magic, revenge/poetic justice, and a happy ending.
Heart’s Blood is a retelling of the Goose Girl. The novella starts out as Prince Cavan worries about his upcoming political marriage, but determines that he will do his duty to his country and make the best of it. Then his bride Princess Nathilde shows up, and she’s a monster from hell. She’s basically all the evil stepmother witch bitch stereotypes rolled into one. But she has a secret–she isn’t really Princess Nathilde. She beat and raped and seriously fucked up the real princess, who is now posing as her servant and has taken the name Nix.
Prince Cavan is perplexed about what to do with Nix, since Princess Nathilde doesn’t want her as a maid. Nix finds a place tending the geese, and being surrounded by nature gives her a chance to start to heal. And I’ll stop there since I don’t want to get all spoilery, but there’s some good old-fashioned comeuppance for the fake Nathilde, and everything ends as it should. I enjoyed this one a lot, but it does get a bit dark, so if you’re bothered by graphic sexual violence, you may want to steer clear.
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2016/06/02/its-that-time-again-mini-reviews/
I won a copy of this book during Armchair BEA, which is fitting, considering that’s how I first discovered Jeffe Kennedy’s writing several years ago. Heart’s Blood hits everything I want in a cozy comfort read–romance, magic, revenge/poetic justice, and a happy ending.
Heart’s Blood is a retelling of the Goose Girl. The novella starts out as Prince Cavan worries about his upcoming political marriage, but determines that he will do his duty to his country and make the best of it. Then his bride Princess Nathilde shows up, and she’s a monster from hell. She’s basically all the evil stepmother witch bitch stereotypes rolled into one. But she has a secret–she isn’t really Princess Nathilde. She beat and raped and seriously fucked up the real princess, who is now posing as her servant and has taken the name Nix.
Prince Cavan is perplexed about what to do with Nix, since Princess Nathilde doesn’t want her as a maid. Nix finds a place tending the geese, and being surrounded by nature gives her a chance to start to heal. And I’ll stop there since I don’t want to get all spoilery, but there’s some good old-fashioned comeuppance for the fake Nathilde, and everything ends as it should. I enjoyed this one a lot, but it does get a bit dark, so if you’re bothered by graphic sexual violence, you may want to steer clear.
diaryofthebookdragon's review
3.0
Not related to the plot of The Twelve Kingdoms series and can be skipped.
jesshale's review
3.0
A re-telling of the Goose Girl fairy tale in the Twelve Kingdoms world.
A nice enough read - well, nice enough for a story that includes a rather vile villain and the brutal death of a character. (It's Falada, the horse - I don't think this is a spoiler because that's in the original fairy tale!)
I thought the setting and main characters were done well, with the connection between Nix and Cavan endearing and enough to drive the story forward. I certainly enjoyed it more than the romances in the other Twelve Kingdoms books.
My quibbles are that the villain, the false Natilde is SO over-the-top. She has no subtlety, so it makes sense at the end when it's hinted that the scheme wasn't her own - she doesn't seem smart enough to have carried it off. Plus there's a rather gratuitous "rape" scene which I don't think was at all necessary.
Also, I wanted Nix to have more agency in her victory. I didn't understand how, when given the motivation of Falada's death and the way she reacts to that it kind of...petered out leaving her needing to be rescued from the snow by Cavan. I also missed the scene which is fairly standard to this fairytale where the imposter is invited to come up with the punishment for a traitor and, thinking she's condemning the real princess comes up with something cruel - usually death via being dragged through the town in a barrel studded with nails, I believe - and then PSYCHE it's turned around on her. It's a satisfying "you brought this on yourself" moment, and it's completely skipped here. It seems unusual that the author missed the opportunity for an awesome gory punishment given that she doesn't shy away from brutality in the rest of the story.
A nice enough read - well, nice enough for a story that includes a rather vile villain and the brutal death of a character. (It's Falada, the horse - I don't think this is a spoiler because that's in the original fairy tale!)
I thought the setting and main characters were done well, with the connection between Nix and Cavan endearing and enough to drive the story forward. I certainly enjoyed it more than the romances in the other Twelve Kingdoms books.
My quibbles are that the villain, the false Natilde is SO over-the-top. She has no subtlety, so it makes sense at the end when it's hinted that the scheme wasn't her own - she doesn't seem smart enough to have carried it off. Plus there's a rather gratuitous "rape" scene which I don't think was at all necessary.
Also, I wanted Nix to have more agency in her victory. I didn't understand how, when given the motivation of Falada's death and the way she reacts to that it kind of...petered out leaving her needing to be rescued from the snow by Cavan. I also missed the scene which is fairly standard to this fairytale where the imposter is invited to come up with the punishment for a traitor and, thinking she's condemning the real princess comes up with something cruel - usually death via being dragged through the town in a barrel studded with nails, I believe - and then PSYCHE it's turned around on her. It's a satisfying "you brought this on yourself" moment, and it's completely skipped here. It seems unusual that the author missed the opportunity for an awesome gory punishment given that she doesn't shy away from brutality in the rest of the story.
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