Week 10 Reviews: Kill Me Softly, After the Ball, Twin Roses, Tear You Apart

From Goodreads:
Mirabelle's past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents' tragic deaths to her guardians' half-truths about why she can't return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined.

In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who's a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.

But fairy tales aren't pretty things, and they don't always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy tale curses of their own . . . brothers who share a dark secret. And she'll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns.

From Goodreads:
"After the Ball" is a short story set in Beau Rivage, a city where fairy tales come to life, and ancient stories are played out again and again. You can read more about the cursed fairy-tale characters of Beau Rivage in my novel Kill Me Softly.

From Goodreads:
A modern retelling of "Snow White and Rose Red" in the world of Kill Me Softly and Tear You Apart for fans of Once Upon a Time and Maleficent.

Pearl and Ruby have always shared everything, including their Snow White and Rose Red curse. When they were little kids, that meant sharing Pop-Tarts and cartoons with Theo, the enchanted bear prince who came to visit them every winter, and then disappeared from their lives.

And at seventeen, sharing is still their way of life—clothes, double dates, part-time jobs at their mom's cafe, Twin Roses.

And then the harbinger of the second half of their curse shows up—the annoying man who caused the bear prince to be cursed in the first place who they must help if their prince—their fated love—is to return to their lives in human form, and they're ecstatic.

But the sisters forgot one little detail. There are two of them, and only one Theo. And now only one of the sisters can have the happy ending.

From Goodreads:
If you want to live happily ever after, first you have to stay alive.

Viv knows there's no escaping her fairy-tale curse. One day her beautiful stepmother will feed her a poison apple or convince her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Henley, to hunt her down and cut out her heart before she breaks his. In the city of Beau Rivage, some princesses are destined to be prey.

But then Viv receives an invitation to the exclusive club where the Twelve Dancing Princesses twirl away their nights. There she meets Jasper, an underworld prince who seems to have everything—but what he really wants is her. He vows to save her from her dark fate if she'll join him and be his queen.

All Viv has to do is tear herself away from the huntsman boy who still holds her heart. Then she might live to see if happily ever after is a promise the prince can keep. But is life as an underworld queen worth sacrificing the true love that might kill her?

My first review of Kill Me Softly
My Review:
So, so, so, so, so, so, soooooooo good to read these books! It's been just over 2 1/2 years since I last read Kill Me Softly, so of course I had to reread it, and then there's the new stories After the Ball and Twin Roses, and of course, Tear You Apart! They were so great!

Knowing about the Blackbeard curse that Blue's family has, well, yeah, and what happens, the warnings that the group gives make sense! And going back into this world, was just fantastic! Just absolutely loved it!

I enjoyed that hey, there are these fairy tales, and the fairies either want to punish or help, but just because things are supposed to be a certain way, there is a bit of a wiggle room for choices, for things to end not as they seemed to be, like in the two short stories, really enjoyed that!

Or that quick look at Max and Dusty at the beginning of Tear You Apart. That was really great, and contrasted with the not so good relationship between Viv and Henley! Oh, and that we got to see the gang again, was great. And Mira got to have a 2 week vacation with her parents!

Jasper, oh, not so many good things to say about you. You had an idea in your head, and a fear, and Viv just pushed right past that, and showed you wrong. And you weren't a good guy-going to let her be frozen, just because she preferred a different guy to you? But at least Viv guessed the troll's name, which was awesome, seeing as it was her own, and he'd been saying it over and over, taunting her with it! That was really great! Loved how things turned out there, besides the Underworld making her stepmom do the heated burning dancing shoes thing to kill her that I didn't know was a part of it. Not fun at all!

Ok, I think, since it's a series, that it would be really fantastic for Freddie to get a book, like Blue, and Henley/Jasper, which ends up being Henley's book. Because Freddie and his penchant for carrying around a sword, more often then before, wanting to mete out justice to Felix, well, yeah, it'd be great for him to have his own book!

My favourite line from Twin Roses: "Nixies lure cute guys to their deaths. You should be safe." Mean, but true!

My favourite lines from Tear Your Apart: "Freddie's doing the dishes? Of course he's doing the dishes." Yep. Poor you, Blue, being kicked out to go help him while they have some girl talk! "It did explain, though, why Freddie was so gung ho about decapitating the guy." Yep. Just this line, the voice/tone that I got from it, hilarious! "Koschei wrote his phone number on a napkin and tried to
give it to Jewel, then Viv, then Jasper, until finally Baba Yaga grabbed it and ground it up with her pestle." Well, that's persistence! "“I have a German shepherd in the car. He's not trained in search and rescue, but—we have a rapport. I think together we could-" Oh, Freddie, ever the Prince! "Yes. You especially should have one. It may be the only thing that gets Rafe to shut up." Oh, I can just imagine if the movie version of Belle had a sword!

Such a great, awesome series, and I'd really, really love to have more books in this series!

Author: Sarah Cross
Series: Beau Rivage #1, 1.5, 1.6, 2
First Read: October 13th, 2012
Read: March 4th, 4th, 4th, 4th, 2015
Source: Tuebl, Free, Tuebl, NetGalley
Reason Why: Rereading! And they're Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2015 Books!
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Published: April 10th 2012, 2012, December 8th 2014, December 9th 2014, January 27th 2015

Kill Me Softly:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

After the Ball:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Twin Roses:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars

Tear You Apart:

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars