saradavcamp's review against another edition
3.0
It took me a while to get into it. I was a little afraid it would be another whiny teenager book. It ended great, though. I hope the sequels have her growing as a character. It will be interesting to see how she has to adapt the grimm stories and survive them--and hopefully the author can do it all in only a books...we'll see.
laurenjodi's review against another edition
3.0
UnEnchanted
3 Stars
Wilhelmina "Mina" Grimm is not your typical teenager. She is a descendent of the Brothers Grimm and the latest in a long line of family members who must survive a curse that forces them to relive the tales collected by their ancestors.
An intriguing premise very similar to the TV series Grimm but the writing is simplistic and would have benefited from a professional editor.
That said, the story itself is engaging and Mina is a sweet albeit clumsy heroine dealing with the trials and tribulations of being a social outcast at school as well as the dangers associated with the family curse, i.e. an abundance of fairy tale characters coming to life and threatening her family and friends.
Overall, not too bad even if the ending is open ended and disappointing.
3 Stars
Wilhelmina "Mina" Grimm is not your typical teenager. She is a descendent of the Brothers Grimm and the latest in a long line of family members who must survive a curse that forces them to relive the tales collected by their ancestors.
An intriguing premise very similar to the TV series Grimm but the writing is simplistic and would have benefited from a professional editor.
That said, the story itself is engaging and Mina is a sweet albeit clumsy heroine dealing with the trials and tribulations of being a social outcast at school as well as the dangers associated with the family curse, i.e. an abundance of fairy tale characters coming to life and threatening her family and friends.
Overall, not too bad even if the ending is open ended and disappointing.
vmars314's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this one, more than I thought I would for a free Kindle book. Mina is a descendant of the Grimm brothers and they are cursed to finish all the fairytales. The only way to break the curse is to live through all of the tales, and we don't know exactly how many there are. This is just the first book in the series and Mina manages to complete three of the tales. I definitely want to read the rest of this series to see how it all turns out.
junghoseok's review against another edition
4.0
Whelp, I’m a sucker for a retold fairytale (aren’t we all? We say they’re overdone, yet we keep coming back). I checked this one out on audiobook. This book was a pretty good one to listen to on audio (aka the narrator does a good job and keeps you enthralled and it’s not hecka long so you have to renew the book/check it out from the library fifty times to finish it and you still forget what happened in the first half of the book by the time you finish listening to it).
The story follows Mina, a normal teenage girl who discovers she’s the descendant of the Brothers Grimm and doomed to die in the repeated unfinished fairytales they wrote down unless she survives them all and completes the tales.
At first, this read (or listened?) like the typical unpopular-girl-in-high-school-dealing-with-mean-girls-and-boys, but it picked up, and I found myself invested in the story. I would be more coherent and intelligent in this review but since I was kind of invested despite what I first thought, I have a bit of a ramble to get out, so here’s where the spoilers begin and the review degrades into my thoughts and rants.
Speaking of boys, can we talk about Brody? I didn’t know what to think of the guy. The whole time he was being super pushy about getting to know Mina and stalking her and following her around my opinion swung between the pendulum of the two sides to my personality.
Me, a Hufflepuff: “aw this is kind of cute, he’s pursuing her."
Me, a Horned Serpent: “BOY YOU BETTER CALM DOWN, THE LADY DOESN’T WANT TO BE AROUND YOU.”
Still not sure which side won out, as usual. And speaking of Brody, I was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was a bad guy. The entire time he would do things and say things and make sure he was around Mina all the time and ask her again and again where she lived and I would be like “he’s evil! he’s evil! stay away, Mina!” But no, she was all swoony over his “chiseled jaw” (literal wording, I kid you not, I rolled my eyes and said “please” at my desk while I was in the middle of a project because I couldn’t take all the descriptions. I’ll spare you the rest, but suffice it to say Mina tried to “block out his glorious being” by closing her eyes). Actual dialogue: Brody to Mina: “I don’t want to be your friend.” Me: YAS HE’S EITHER GOING TO SAY I AM YOUR FRIEND OR IM’ HERE TO KILL YOU. Brody: *kisses her forehead* “I want to be more.” Me: *tableflip*
And then Jared shows up and for a while and he actually starts to make me miss Brody for a small second but more on him later
More evidence that Brody is Evil—Jared said the wolf man (who was stalking Mina and trying to get the Grim book from her) wouldn’t have gone after Mina on his own and “someone with enough power sent him” clearly that person is Brody!! And there’s this scene where it says he “nuzzled” Mina like twice and I’m thinking, you know what else likes to nuzzle people? Dogs. As in wolves. As in THE FAIRY TALE CREATURE THAT IS TRYING TO KILL MINA
All the signs point to it, I’m telling you. And Mina’s mom calls Brody out in a glorious scene that made me realize how far gone I am when I agree with the mothers in all these books and Brody walks out and I’m like oh goody, looks like it’s Jared time. Brody’s out of the picture and we have to have another inordinately attractive man to follow Mina around. But no, Brody comes back and wants to help her and I’m still thinking he’s evil.
And then the ending actually surprised me with Brody forgetting everything that happened and that he liked Mina at all (or did he? Was it all a fake? Is he a fake? Is he pretending to have amnesia? I’m probably giving the boy too much credit). Still, there are four books to go in this series, and I think it’s safe to say I’m in it for the long haul, and I still think Brody will end up being evil.
I’ll end my rant/review with the quote of the week: “She was a helpless victim of her irrational bitterness.”
Me too, Mina. Me too.
The story follows Mina, a normal teenage girl who discovers she’s the descendant of the Brothers Grimm and doomed to die in the repeated unfinished fairytales they wrote down unless she survives them all and completes the tales.
At first, this read (or listened?) like the typical unpopular-girl-in-high-school-dealing-with-mean-girls-and-boys, but it picked up, and I found myself invested in the story. I would be more coherent and intelligent in this review but since I was kind of invested despite what I first thought, I have a bit of a ramble to get out, so here’s where the spoilers begin and the review degrades into my thoughts and rants.
Speaking of boys, can we talk about Brody? I didn’t know what to think of the guy. The whole time he was being super pushy about getting to know Mina and stalking her and following her around my opinion swung between the pendulum of the two sides to my personality.
Me, a Hufflepuff: “aw this is kind of cute, he’s pursuing her."
Me, a Horned Serpent: “BOY YOU BETTER CALM DOWN, THE LADY DOESN’T WANT TO BE AROUND YOU.”
Still not sure which side won out, as usual. And speaking of Brody, I was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was a bad guy. The entire time he would do things and say things and make sure he was around Mina all the time and ask her again and again where she lived and I would be like “he’s evil! he’s evil! stay away, Mina!” But no, she was all swoony over his “chiseled jaw” (literal wording, I kid you not, I rolled my eyes and said “please” at my desk while I was in the middle of a project because I couldn’t take all the descriptions. I’ll spare you the rest, but suffice it to say Mina tried to “block out his glorious being” by closing her eyes). Actual dialogue: Brody to Mina: “I don’t want to be your friend.” Me: YAS HE’S EITHER GOING TO SAY I AM YOUR FRIEND OR IM’ HERE TO KILL YOU. Brody: *kisses her forehead* “I want to be more.” Me: *tableflip*
And then Jared shows up and for a while and he actually starts to make me miss Brody for a small second but more on him later
More evidence that Brody is Evil—Jared said the wolf man (who was stalking Mina and trying to get the Grim book from her) wouldn’t have gone after Mina on his own and “someone with enough power sent him” clearly that person is Brody!! And there’s this scene where it says he “nuzzled” Mina like twice and I’m thinking, you know what else likes to nuzzle people? Dogs. As in wolves. As in THE FAIRY TALE CREATURE THAT IS TRYING TO KILL MINA
All the signs point to it, I’m telling you. And Mina’s mom calls Brody out in a glorious scene that made me realize how far gone I am when I agree with the mothers in all these books and Brody walks out and I’m like oh goody, looks like it’s Jared time. Brody’s out of the picture and we have to have another inordinately attractive man to follow Mina around. But no, Brody comes back and wants to help her and I’m still thinking he’s evil.
And then the ending actually surprised me with Brody forgetting everything that happened and that he liked Mina at all (or did he? Was it all a fake? Is he a fake? Is he pretending to have amnesia? I’m probably giving the boy too much credit). Still, there are four books to go in this series, and I think it’s safe to say I’m in it for the long haul, and I still think Brody will end up being evil.
I’ll end my rant/review with the quote of the week: “She was a helpless victim of her irrational bitterness.”
Me too, Mina. Me too.
ladyofthelake68's review against another edition
4.0
Unenchanted is an enchanting book that reenchants stories that have been told many times before. Mina is a clumsy teenage girl who wants nothing more than to be left alone. Unfortunately, fate has other ideas. Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, and The Glass Coffin are being retold in through her life, and she has to learn how to survive the stories.
kawc29's review against another edition
5.0
Okay, the writing is not the best style ever and it could have used some editing, but the story itself was very good. It was a fun concept and it was interesting enough that I looked past the errors so I could learn what happens to the characters. Part of the editing problem, I would guess, is lack of funding. It was a freebie, the second one in this series has far fewer errors which leads me to believe more effort was put in.
I do love this book though in spite of its technical faults, which usually bother me to the point I cannot read it. Like I said, the story was good though and I'm a sucker for anything Grimm, real or imagined.
I do love this book though in spite of its technical faults, which usually bother me to the point I cannot read it. Like I said, the story was good though and I'm a sucker for anything Grimm, real or imagined.
authorash's review against another edition
4.0
It was very good, one part threw me off but I think that was on my part for reading too fast. I loved this book otherwise. I Can't wait to read the others! Im interested to see how far the author is going to continue writing these, because technically, there are very many possible plot for this. Well done
eveeneman's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
kandicez's review against another edition
2.0
Amazon description: “Mina Grime is unlucky, unpopular and uncoordinated; until she saves her crush's life on a field trip, changing her High School status from loser to hero overnight. But with her new found fame brings misfortune in the form of an old family curse come to light. For Mina is descended from the Brothers Grimm and has inherited all of their unfinished fairy tale business. Which includes trying to outwit a powerful Story from making her it's next fairytale victim.
To break the fairy tale curse on her family and make these deadly occurrences stop, Mina must finish the tales until the very Grimm end.”
I wish that I had read this synopsis before buying and then reading this book! There are numerous typos in the synopsis alone and this is on a professional, viewed by millions, website. What would I have expected if I’d read that first? It was a deal in my BookBub email one day and I fell in love with the cover. I didn’t even read the description, just “clicked to buy”. That’s what you get for loving appearances!
The story idea, plot, whatever you want to call it, was appealing and had so much promise. It reminded me of the television show “Once Upon a Time” and the graphic novel series “Fables”. I love the idea of the Fairy Tale world encroaching on our “real world” and while I don’t search out the subject, I generally grab it up when I stumble across it. The idea of this book is the only reason I gave it two stars instead of the one it deserved. If it had been written by someone with more skill (or even just a better editor!) It could have been extraordinary.
In addition to simple typos and incorrect use fo grammar there were plot points that could have used an editor. My understanding is that most authors have a relative ro friend at least peruse their work before submitting it. Whoever read this first must have been a child, the parent of the author or in love with her! I find it discouraging that books are published in such a sloppy manner. It doesn’t look like this is available as an actual paper novel. I hate to think that eBooks are held to a lower standard than physical books.
I just looked and this is actually the first in a series of at least five. I am even embarrassed to admit that I already own one of the others and obviously bought it because of the cover because it is gorgeous. I need to either rethink my book buying strategies or lighten up on my expectations.
To break the fairy tale curse on her family and make these deadly occurrences stop, Mina must finish the tales until the very Grimm end.”
I wish that I had read this synopsis before buying and then reading this book! There are numerous typos in the synopsis alone and this is on a professional, viewed by millions, website. What would I have expected if I’d read that first? It was a deal in my BookBub email one day and I fell in love with the cover. I didn’t even read the description, just “clicked to buy”. That’s what you get for loving appearances!
The story idea, plot, whatever you want to call it, was appealing and had so much promise. It reminded me of the television show “Once Upon a Time” and the graphic novel series “Fables”. I love the idea of the Fairy Tale world encroaching on our “real world” and while I don’t search out the subject, I generally grab it up when I stumble across it. The idea of this book is the only reason I gave it two stars instead of the one it deserved. If it had been written by someone with more skill (or even just a better editor!) It could have been extraordinary.
In addition to simple typos and incorrect use fo grammar there were plot points that could have used an editor. My understanding is that most authors have a relative ro friend at least peruse their work before submitting it. Whoever read this first must have been a child, the parent of the author or in love with her! I find it discouraging that books are published in such a sloppy manner. It doesn’t look like this is available as an actual paper novel. I hate to think that eBooks are held to a lower standard than physical books.
I just looked and this is actually the first in a series of at least five. I am even embarrassed to admit that I already own one of the others and obviously bought it because of the cover because it is gorgeous. I need to either rethink my book buying strategies or lighten up on my expectations.