Lock & Mori (Lock & Mori #1) by Heather W.Petty

Lock & Mori (Lock & Mori #1) by Heather W.Petty

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Genre: YA, Mystery, Retelling

Rating: ****

Lock and Mori was the type of Sherlock retelling that I think I was dying to read but didn't know. I found the book to be a simple and wonderful reworking of the popular Arthur Conan Doyle tales that I actually hadn't experienced in both print and fanfiction form. 

The book follows the unfortunate life of James Moriarty otherwise known as Mori by our lovely Sherlock, but James is no ordinary human. They're female cursed with a masculine name. However Mori is having a tough time. Her mother just died and her father isn't exactly coping in the best way, add in a few mischievious brothers and then we have a big problem.

Sherlock changes Mori's life though. He adds the sweet to the bitter and they have such a weird but cute relationship. It's something that I wish one day I could have, that easy-going banter and conversations where they just play their deductive games. It's just so cheek squeezingly adorable. 

But the reason I didn't give this a five star rating is just because some parts just didn't add up. I felt that some matters were a little illogical for a pair of high school students to get away with, but if you read the book, and I do reccommend it, then you will see what I mean.

Otherwise the book is available to purchase from Amazon UK and Amazon US now. 

Ash & Bramble by Sarah Prineas

Ash & Bramble by Sarah Prineas

Published by: HarperTeen

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Fairy tale

Tagline: When the glass slipper doesn't fit...

Rating: ***

Ash & Bramble revolves around the protagonist Pin and her waking up from one situation, to be in another. She's a seamstress at first in this world called Story, but somehow breaks out of it with a boy named Shoe. However when chased by a Godmother, things go bump.

I wasn't too sure what to think about this novel.

My main thoughts were mainly about how little I cared about Pin and Shoe. Instead I was counting the pages, the minutes and stops until I could turn my kindle off and stop reading the damned thing.

Pin isn't our typical female protagonist. She's against the grain from the very start. I liked that she planned her escape. It was intelligent and smart but also different. Pin is just not any of the female characters in any traditional fairytale not because of any of what I listed above, but because when she's placed into this different situation she chooses not to be submissive and instead thinks for herself (yay!).

But it wasn't enough. She still needed the guy to rescue her and kiss her and all that. It's just annoying that it could have been amazing and strong but instead it had holes in it from how some male characters can kinda ruin the strong woman.

As far as fairytales go, I found this retelling a fantastic idea but didn't enjoy how it unravelled. It was different for sure. But I think if I was forewarned, maybe I'd have given it a miss.


Ash & Bramble can be bought from Amazon UK or Amazon US.

The Lunar Chronicles...

So after my recent trip to Barrow-In-Furness, I was lent a pile of books and in that pile was Cinder by Marissa Meyer. I've always expressed a hesitation of reading this series because a cyborg cinderella retelling was never something that appealed to me. I normally hate retellings of storys I love but somehow I managed to fall for this book. It was just wonderful to read and I was quite attached to the characters.

The second novel Scarlet is based upon Red Riding Hood and I REALLY loved this one!! This was the book where the reader really falls for the main guy. And Wolf really is to die for. He's a man of mixed reviews though so if a badboy-slash-rugged and handsome man is your thing, then Wolf is beautiful. Him and Scarlet continue the first book, though they flicker back and forth to Cinder which is done quite wonderfully. Most authors do this a bit good-bad, mainly bad but I was happy that it was something that still appealed to me.

Cress, the third book in the series wasn't the best book. I admit I enjoyed it but I found her a raher babyish character, something you'll discover why in the book. But again the series remained strong and good things happened!

So this is why you should all go read this series

Modern spins and slurs on the tales and myths!

So a recently popular thing is to rewrite the fairytales or modernise the stories we grew up listening about, ie Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and more. Heck! We're even rewriting mythological tales such as the Greek and Roman Gods, some are touching on the Polynesian Gods and more. Rewrites are such an open-ended option because one can follow the same events as the previous or make it their own by spinning it their way. 

One series I'm reading at the moment, one that will remain anomynous as I don't know whether I like it or not yet, is very much a mix of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights in that moorland, very secluded and secretive family. So far it's very English-countryside orientated, a mass of pathetic fallacy (Something brilliant when used right) but there's that spark missing that wasn't with Jane Eyre (I don't care for Wuthering Heights so yeah) but maybe that's because it is a "Modern" take on it.

Although in the big and beautiful world of YA (Young Adult), there are a great number of retelling and modified versions of these fantastical tales. Below are eleven books that I have read but I must say that Goodreads have a far better list than I could ever write about. (Also the link is just below!)

1. Percy Jackson series

2. Avalon High

3. Blue Blood series

4.Grisha trilogy

5. Starcrossed series

6. Covenant series

7. Goddess Test  trilogy

8. Bloodstone Saga

9. The Dark Elements series

10. Mythos Academy series 

11. Dollhouse Asylum 

https://www.goodreads.com/genres/mythology