Initial Thoughts

How cool does that summary sound? I thought it seemed awesome too! I love anything to do with fairy tales and I can’t get tired of them. I love seeing new ways authors retell them. This one is different where that character has to live all the fairy tales so I was pretty excited to see what happened.

My New BFF

Nan was easily my favourite character. All the others were really boring and lacked any dimension. Nan was the only one confident and easy going. I found her much better than the main character Mina who was the typical ordinary, clumsy, and shy girl. I’m getting a little tired of that. Plus Mina spent most of the book moping around being unsure of herself. That really bothered me.

My Crush

I liked Jared in this book even though we didn’t see him often. His character was lacking a lot of information though because we know nothing about him except that’s he’s supposed to be important somehow. I thought the author could have at least given us some more background information on him.

Writing Style

One thing that really bothered me and I’m seeing it bothered others too, is that there was no editing done to this book. There were spelling mistakes and grammar errors and even some sentences were structured weird. I’m sure even a family member of the author could have read the book and noticed these mistakes.

Another thing that bothered me was the characters. They were all very two dimensional and had almost no personality. The main character Mina was your typical protagonist who was shy and didn’t fit it until she started seeing the popular guy in school. Then she focused more of her time of him than her task that she was supposed to do. Even the male lead was extremely boring and never made any sense to me. It seemed like he was just around for some fluff.

Closing Thoughts

I feel like this story had so much potential and the author ruined it. I’d like to keep reading the series to see if it gPostsets better though. The plot had a lot of fluff in it so if you’re more interested in how much Nan tweets as opposed to the actually curse part then this is the book for you. I’m actually a little disappointed with this book right now but I really, really want to finish the story on a good note. Let’s hope book two turned out better! ( )

This book was really fun. I love the fairy tale twists in this book. Not just one fairy tale but I won't tell you what they are. I really enjoyed the characters and the crazy things that happened during the story. The ending? Well that is just cruel to do to a teenage girl! LOL! I loved it! Twisted in so many ways. I am definitely reading more of this series. ( )

I need more

not exactly what I was expecting, and I wish there had been a little more something... I felt the Story was lacking.. I guess having read the two fairy tales that were mentioned in the book made it hard for me to somehow place them. ( )

loved the story, but i couldn't get past all of the poor editing. I would gladly read the next installment if I were assured of better job done with it. ( )

A charming lighthearted fractured fairytale.

Mina Grime is cursed with bad luck. Whatever can go wrong, will. And when it does, her mother, Sara, will inevitably pack up her and her younger brother, Charlie and move. It's almost like they're running from something but Mina has never been able to solve the puzzle. Until the day she saves Brody Carmichael's life, becomes popular, starts a relationship with him, refuses to go pack and demands some answers from her mother. And then life just gets grimm.

Perfect for younger teens, this fractured fairytale is a clean funny read with a likable and relatable main character. Mina feels all the anxieties of growing up and of not fitting in and struggles to overcome her fears and anxieties to believe in herself. I really enjoyed this. Mina was great and Nan (the best friend) was hilarious. Jared was cool even if he was a bit standoffish to begin with. Having read this previously, I knew where the relationship with Brody was going and I felt even worse for knowing it was all part of the Story. But honestly, I never really liked Brody anyway.

The plot was fast paced and entertaining and contained lots of fairytale elements that I adored. Particularly this

Mina sat in silence as she thought through her options. “Why is it called a Grimoire, anyway? I thought that was something evil, or a book of spells or something.” “No, honey, it’s just a record of the tales your family members have lived through. Over time, it has gained powers of its own. If your ancestor’s name was Smith, it would have been called the Smithoire.

Hahn, Chanda. UnEnchanted (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 1) (p. 78). Chanda Hahn. Kindle Edition. Plus I was amused that the first tale is Hansel and Gretel and that the old witch is in fact a cougar.

“Hansel and Gretel.”
“But wait, how?” Mina thought back through the day. “The bakery was the gingerbread house?” Jared snorted. “Obviously.”
“But there wasn’t an old witch. No one was imprisoned.”
“There wasn’t? Are you positive? Think again—no one was held captive?” Jared’s mouth turned up in challenge, and he actually looked at Mina in surprise.
“Well, no, we were all free to walk around. The boys did seem to act strange when the tour guide was talking, but…” Mina’s eyes lit up with elation. “Wait, that’s it. The tour guide didn’t capture anyone, but she did captivate the boys’ attention, and then seemed to settle for Brody in the end. He was the only one she really cared about. But she wasn’t a horrible old woman, and she didn’t try to put him in an oven. She wasn’t going to eat any of the students like in the story, right?”
“Not exactly. There is a word for her kind in your world, I believe?”
“I don’t understand.” She turned and picked up a large rock and held it in her hands. “An older woman who preys on the attention of younger men. Who uses them, eats them up, and spits them out. Sound familiar?”
“A cougar?” Mina asked in disbelief. Jared snorted again.
“A man-eater.” “Oh!” Mina replied, still dumbfounded.

Hahn, Chanda. UnEnchanted (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 1) (pp. 165-166). Chanda Hahn. Kindle Edition. It was a unique take.

Overall a strong start to a fractured fairytale series. I can't wait to see what Mina comes up against next. 4 stars. ( )