The Amaranth Enchantment

Author: Julie Berry

Summary: (goodreads) When Lucinda Chapdelaine was a small child, her parents left for the royal ball and never returned. Ever since, Lucinda has been stuck in perpetual servitude at her evil aunt’s jewelry store. Then, on the very same day, a mysterious visitor and an even more bizarre piece of jewelry both enter the shop, setting in motion a string of twists and turns that will forever alter Lucinda’s path. In this magical story filled with delightful surprises, Lucinda will dance at the royal ball, fall under the Amaranth Witch’s spell, avenge her parents’ death, and maybe—just maybe—capture the heart of a prince.

Review: Julie Berry's writing is great. I absolutely loved this story. It is a little difficult to pin-point what exactly makes this story special and unique and unforgettable for me. Maybe it was the cast of characters that did me in? A prince. Do I really need to go on? :) Maybe because there was some sort of modern paranormal activity added to the traditional fairy tale formula? Or maybe The Amaranth Enchantment just had a nice, snarky main character. Or maybe all of the above.

But really, where else are you going to find a fairy tale, sci-fi, magic story, except for in The Amaranth Enchantment. I'm usually pretty good about figuring out how a book is going to end so the twists and cool weirdness of this book gave me a surprise. I loved it. A must read for any fairy tale lover.

The setting is old, but then new. The writing is seamless in weaving in the unbelievable facts in with what we come to expect. And the prince....he is just so princely. I would have liked to get to know him a little more, but towards the end he becomes my ultimate favorite character. And what can I say about Peter? He was a very interesting person.

It was a really great read and I enjoyed how it kind of smudged the lines between science and magic elements while keeping the pieces that make a fairytale a fairytale.

Rating: 1 2 3 4 5

*Blogger seems to have not saved the latter half of my review, so sorry if it isn't as well put together as it ought to be for a five star review :( And I was soooo proud of this review too!