Boook Review: Entwined by Heather Dixon

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Reading level: Young Adult

Hardcover: 480 pages

Publisher: Greenwillow Books (March 29, 2011)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0062001035

ISBN-13: 978-0062001030

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Visit the site: Heather Dixon Harper Teen

Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it.

The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation.

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.

But there is a cost.

The Keeper likes to keep things.

Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.

 

My Review

This is originally an old German tale "Twelve Dancing Princesses" written by the Brothers Grimm. See Here.

It is three o'clock in the morning and I just finished Entwined. Now, most of the time I cherish sleep over anything else. But NOT when I am reading perfection and I cannot wait to get my thoughts down. Seriously, I just cried four different times in the last three chapters.

 REALLY. I didn't cry that much during The Hunger Games or Harry Potter! Okay maybe Harry Potter. But seriously I devoured this book. It was so beyond good, I am alllllmost speechless. And believe you me, that takes a lot.

Azalea was one of the bravest, most compassionate, sympathetic, motherly, selfless,  heroic characters I ever laid eyes upon. To just write words about her doesn't do it justice. Azalea's mother dies of child birth (Lily) at the beginning of the book and she has to practically raise her eleven sisters and be their mother, protector and caretaker. She does such a fantastic job, it practically puts me to shame and I only have five children.

 I loved the close knit family of these twelve siblings. Heather Dixon Blew it out of the park when she wrote this book, for I fell in love with all of the girls... Azalea, Bramble, Clover, Delphinium, Evening Primrose (Eve), Flora, Goldenrod, Hollyhock, Ivy, Jessamine, Kale and Lily! What I LOVED, LOVED about this brilliant author is that if you look at the names of the twelve Dancing Princesses, they are all in alphabetical order. Let me just say, I can't tell you how many times I used the alphabet while reading to figure out who-was-who in the age order of sisters.

 The father grew on me like no other character. To watch him go from a hardened, mourning and bitter husband to a sweet, loving and caring father took me for a spin. Dare I say spin, for this entire book was about dancing.

Dancing. I can hear you now... how can you read an entire book about dancing?

Well let me explain...

When the girls mother was alive she danced like an angel and she taught them to dance the waltz, the Entwine and many, many other romantic dances. The girls danced so much they had to repair their dancing slippers every night before they went to bed. It was who they were, all of them. But when their mother dies, the entire castle goes into mourning for an entire year. All of them have to wear black, the curtains are drawn in the castle so no sunlight can get through and the ballroom was locked... so that means no more dancing. For an entire year! They could not stand it, so eventually they find a magical passage in Azalea's fireplace that leads them to a magical forest where they meet Keeper. They would dance in the magical forest were Keeper would watch them and encourage them to come back every night. Keeper though, was not the nice man he seemed. For he wanted a favor after allowing the twelve princesses use his ballroom. The favor was impossible for Azalea to handle on her own. And let me just say, The Keeper likes to KEEP things.


Yes, this book also has romance in it too. The King has a riddle for the men in the Kingdom to solve. So the young gentlemen come calling on Azalea and try to solve the riddle at the same time while staying at the castle. It's so funny when the younger sisters don't like a caller because they will bite, throw food at them and all sorts of stuff. The girls were just so lovable, I would adopt all of them if I lived in the magical Kingdom.

So read Entwined, I promise you, you will not be sorry. This is pretty much the first book I have read that is not paranormal or has enough action, romance or an intense plot to keep me interested. I can tell you I loved it, but I want you to see for yourself. This heartwarming magical story of this family that lost their mother/wife and against all odds kept on dancing and living happily ever after is a keeper.





I do not give six chess pieces EVER!

 

Profanity - NONE

Sexual - NONE

Violence - MILD

This book was EXTREMELY clean. For full content go to Parental Book Reviews.