FTF Review! Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis was my absolute most anticipated release for 2012. I saw the cover on Goodreads and left that window open for days so that I could stare at the cover and quietly covet this book in the comfort of my own home. And then Misty and I started talking about Fairy Tale Fortnight part duex and she was just as crazy excited about this book as I was. And I can't tell you how happy I am that not only did we both manage to get our hands on a copy to review for FTF, but Alethea also participated in the greatness that is FTF. (Check out her awesome giveaway pack!)

I haven't been reading anything lately for a lot of reasons, but I read this book in a day and was reminded why I love reading so much. This wasn't a perfect book, but it was just so delightfully... delightful that I can't stop smiling every time I think about it.

Seriously. There was so much fairy tale awesome packed into one book! I mean, really. From the very first chapter you stumble into so many different allusions and hints and blatant discussions of so many different fairy tales, some well known, some not so well known, that it fair to made my heart sing.

Before I get into more of what I thought of the book, I wanted to make one point. There is a lot in this book that could potentially be annoying or aggravating to some. During last years Fortnight, I posted about Why I Always Forgive My Fairy Tales. And that applies very much to this story here. There are parts of the story that are predictable, parts of the story that happened too fast or too symmetrically to be fully realistic or believable (magic numbers 3 and 7 pop up a lot in this story). But I didn't care. Because it's a fairy tale and that automatically means I will love it just for existing, just for being what it is.

Sunday is our main character and she loves stories and words and writing (girl after mine own heart, no?) She always carries with her a magical diary (a name day gift from her Fairy Godmother) that never runs out of pages. But Sunday generally sticks to the past because what she writes has a tendency to come true and she recognizes that this sort of power is not something to be played with. (And how refreshing is it to have a young character that nevertheless understands responsibility and the importance of power).

Sunday has a large and varied family and I loved that there was so much importance placed on family and relationships in this story. The characters aren't perfect and some of them make poor decisions or let old hurts fester, but there is still this deep bond, this strong assurance of love and affection and loyalty that runs through the entire family and I loved that this was a family, not without their problems, but that was still warm and loving.

There were some moments when I felt that the author was trying just a little too hard to be mysterious and keep us from figuring out the secrets too soon. It made the passages confusing rather than intriguing and I thought it to be a bit overdone. But even with that and the previous warning aside, this was pretty much the perfect book for me to read right now. It was delightfully fun and I spent almost the entire time reading this book with a smile on my face. It's pretty clear from where the book went and how it ended that the author is hoping to write sequels with the other Woodcutter sisters (not to mention that she said it in her interview). And that's totally fine by me! Monsueir et Madame Publishers, if you choose to publish more of Kontis's Woodcutter family drama, you've got a guaranteed reader right here.

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