WANT MORE OF THE OPENING? READ THE EXCERPT OF THE WHOLE TENSE, ACTION FILLED FIRST CHAPTER BELOW!
“Mirror, mirror on the wall...
...Who will bring about my fall?”
~POISONED
Remember that feeling of anticipation when you are holding one of your absolutely most-anticipated books in your hands? You're breathless with excitement to dive in, but also feel a nervous flutter, because what if it can't meet your expectations after all the time you've spent building it up? Maybe you read it right away. Maybe you wait another year until that flutter finally flees and allows anticipation to overpower it. I do all of this and more!
At that stop, we found out that Donnelly was writing another fairy tale retelling, but couldn't tell us anything about it yet. Whatever it was, I already knew I wanted it and put it on my radar, no questions asked. Upon eventually finding out the title and summary, I wanted it even more!
Now, the release is just over a week away, and I'm so excited to talk about it and hope you'll add it to your TBR this year! Keep reading after today's review for an excerpt of the gripping first chapter and a chance to win your own copy of POISONED!
Do I need to read STEPSISTER before reading POISONED?
You do not! They are not connected, but stand-alone novels. They both happen to retell a beloved fairy tale, and they both twine in some interesting secondary characters, but nothing overlaps or connects!
Donnelly's take on the classic fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is so unique and adds nuance. Our beloved Snow White, Sophie, is very tender-hearted, to the point where her entire kingdom thinks her soft and weak, unable to do the violent things needed to rule -- but that same kindness will turn out to be her saving grace. When POISONED begins, we are told that the huntsman who carves out Sophie's heart is not the villain, and neither, truly, is the evil queen. The mystery grows as it blends into the tale in a charming way that reminds me of how much I loved the blend of exterior forces manipulating the main character's journey in STEPSISTER. Seven brothers discover Sophie in the forest just in time and manage to capture her soul before it flees. One of the brothers is a clockmaker, and fashions a new heart for her out of clockwork. But of course, a clockwork heart can't last forever, and when Sophie finds out who really has her heart and where it is being kept, she resolves to storm his palace and take back what is hers -- if only her temporary heart doesn't grind to a stop before she can accomplish such a daunting task.
I adore a good retelling, especially when it harks back to original tales and doesn't just recount the bits we all know from Disney movies. Disney has helped erase the memories of the darker, grittier stories that weren't always quite so "Happily Ever After." For example, in the original tale of Snow White, did you know that the Queen didn't attempt to kill Snow White just once with a poisoned apple, but multiple times? And that she wasn't actually awakened with a kiss, but when her coffin fell and dislodged the apple caught in her throat? The original has so much meat and I love when retellings explore more of the original tale and include it, twining it into something original -- and readers who think they know Snow White are even more thrilled by all the added depth!
I really liked exploring more of Sophie's personality as she journeys and seeing the way her actions come full-circle. I also liked the darkness seeping in to stop her on her way. Sophie learns so many hard lessons, and there are multiple times where it is mentioned that she did, in fact, die, and was reborn as someone so much stronger with greater mettle. I don't want to talk too much about the journey and spoil it! There is romance, but Sophie is the hero of her own story, and I love the more feminist take on the tale and watching Sophie grow and change over the course of the novel. I also liked diving a little more into the Queen herself and what makes her tick, and seeing that she isn't just a flat villain character, but so much more. You can't help but feel for her.
I went into POISONED expecting it to be a companion novel to STEPSISTER, which it is not. There were two characters, Fate and Chance, whose interactions and manipulations of the story I absolutely lived for, and I fully expected to seeing them guiding the story again. They didn't make an appearance, so I was a bit bummed, but the new characters manipulating our story were so mysterious and I wanted to know more about them. I loved the way their role expanded and blossomed in the climax. I hope Donnelly writes more of these fairy tales and am ready to read every one!
Her writing is beautiful and evocative, and as you can see in today's Instagram post, I marked up both my ARCs like crazy (Because I can't mark up my beautiful hardcover copies, of course! ^.~) and am ready to do the same with more books!
Excited to pick up POISON? Keep reading for an extended excerpt to whet your appetite and a chance to win your own copy of this unputdownable new release!
Want a SIGNED, PERSONALIZED COPY of POISONED?
If you order from one of Donnelly's two local bookstores, Merritt Books or Oblong Books, then can arrange to have a book signed and personalized for you -- and I would assume you should be able to get some backlist as well, and you're going to want STEPSISTER, too, if you haven't already picked it up! ^.~
PLUS, you'll be helping an author's indie bookstore stay open during the pandemic. Win/Win!
Once upon long ago, always and evermore, a girl rode into the Darkwood.
Her lips were the color of ripe cherries, her skin as soft as new-fallen snow, her hair as dark as midnight.
The tall pines whispered and sighed as she passed under them, the queen’s huntsman at her side.
Crows, perched high in the branches, blinked their bright black eyes.
As the sky lightened, the huntsman pointed to a pond ahead and told the girl that they must dismount to let the horses drink. She did so, walking side by side with him. Lost in her thoughts, she did not hear the soft hiss of a dagger leaving its sheath. She did not see the huntsman lift his face to the dawn, or glimpse the anguish in his eyes.
A gasp of shock escaped the girl as the huntsman pulled her close, his broad hand spanning her narrow back. Her eyes, wide and questioning, sought his. She was not afraid—not yet. She felt almost nothing as he slid the blade between her ribs, just a slight, soft push and then a bloom of warmth, as if she’d spilled tea down her dress.
But then the pain came, red clawed and snarling.
The girl threw her head back and screamed. A stag bolted from the brush at the sound. The crows burst from their roosts, their wings beating madly.
The huntsman was skilled. He was quick. He had gutted a thousand deer. A few expert cuts with a knife so sharp it could slice blue from the sky and the delicate ribs were cleaved, the flesh and veins severed.
The girl’s head lolled back. Her legs gave out. Gently, the huntsman lowered her to the ground, then knelt beside her.
“Forgive me, dear princess. Forgive me,” he begged. “This foul deed was not my wish, but the queen’s command.” “Why?” the girl cried, with her dying breath. But the huntsman, tears in his eyes, could not speak. He finished his grim task and got to his feet. As he did, the girl got her answer. For the last thing she saw before her eyes closed was her heart, small and perfect, in the huntsman’s trembling hands.
• • •
In the forest, the birds have gone silent. The creatures are still. Gloom lingers under the trees. And on the cold ground, a girl lies dying, a ragged red hole where her heart used to be.
“Hang the huntsman!” you shout. “Burn the evil queen!” And who would fault you?
But you’ve missed the real villain.
It’s easily done. He’s stealthy and sly and comes when you’re alone. He stands in the shadows and whispers his poison. His words drip, drip, drip into the small, secret chambers of your heart.
You think you know this tale, but you only know what you’ve been told.
“Who are you? How do you know these things?” you ask.
Fair questions, both.
I am the huntsman. Dead now, but that’s no matter. The dead speak. With tongues blackened by time and regret. You can hear us if you listen.
You will say that I’m telling you tales. Fairy stories. That it’s all make-believe. But there are more things afoot in the Darkwood than you can imagine, and only a fool would call them make-believe.
Keep to the path, the old wives say. Stay out of the forest.
But one day, you will have to walk deep into those dark woods and find what’s waiting there.
Violence: PG ( Decapitation is retold as a story in a non-violent way; a memory has a character fleeing, covered in blood, and stabbing an attacker multiple times; soldiers bully townspeople and the Crown ignores wounded soldiers; the various ways the Queen attempts to kill Snow White; the queen also orders several horrible punishments, including the whipping of a young boy and the killing of all hounds in the palace. )
O F F I C I A L I N F O:
It shouldn't have come as a surprise. Sophie had heard the rumors, the whispers. They said she was too kind and foolish to rule -- a waste of a princess. A disaster of a future queen. And Sophie believed them. She believed everything she'd heard about herself, the poisonous words people use to keep girls like Sophie from becoming too powerful, too strong . . .
With the help of seven mysterious strangers, Sophie manages to survive. But when she realizes that the jealous queen might not be to blame, Sophie must find the courage to face an even more terrifying enemy, proving that even the darkest magic can't extinguish the fire burning inside every girl, and that kindness is the ultimate form of strength.
O F F I C I A L I N F O:
Publisher: Scholastic
When the prince discovers Isabelle’s deception, she is turned away in shame. It’s no more than she deserves: she is a plain girl in a world that values beauty; a feisty girl in a world that wants her to be pliant.
Isabelle has tried to fit in. To live up to her mother’s expectations. To be like her stepsister. To be sweet. To be pretty. One by one, she has cut away pieces of herself in order to survive a world that doesn’t appreciate a girl like her. And that has made her mean, jealous, and hollow.
Until she gets a chance to alter her destiny and prove what ugly stepsisters have always known: it takes more than heartache to break a girl.
Enter now!
TOUR SCHEDULE
10/1/2020 | Review | |
10/2/2020 | Review | |
10/3/2020 | Review |
Week Two:
10/4/2020 | Review | |
10/5/2020 | Review | |
10/6/2020 | Interview | |
10/7/2020 | Review | |
10/8/2020 | Review | |
10/9/2020 | Review | |
10/10/2020 | Review |
Week Three:
10/11/2020 | Review | |
10/12/2020 | Review | |
10/13/2020 | Review | |
10/14/2020 | Review | |
10/15/2020 | Review | |
10/16/2020 | Review | |
10/17/2020 | Review |
Week Four:
10/18/2020 | Interview | |
10/19/2020 | Review | |
10/20/2020 | Review |
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