Title: Enchanted
Author: Alethea Kontis
Release date: May 8, 2012
Publisher: Harcourt Children’s Books
Pages: 305
Source: Publisher
It isn’t easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.
When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.
The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past – and hers?
Enchanted is a refreshingly odd book. With a mix of magic, fairytales, romance, and adventure, readers will find a lot to love about it.
Sunday is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. Every now and then she needs to escape her family. One day she stumbles upon a talking frog by a well. The frog is actually a man who is cursed and only true love’s kiss can turn him back into a man. Sunday falls for the frog but she doesn’t know that it’s really the prince of Arilland, Rumbold. Rumbold is an enemy to Sunday’s family. Can they work past that for true love or are they doomed to forever be apart?
Sunday and Rumbold are odd characters. Sunday is very fanciful, always writing in her magic notebook and getting distracted easily. She’s sometimes overly emotional but luckily she’s never whiny. Rumbold, however, seems to be more of the main character to this book. While the chapters alternate between his and Sunday’s point-of-views, more seemed to be going on with him than with Sunday and he was the more relatable of the two. He was a bit lost and confused and he felt very alone. His transformation was a reinvention for him. He came back as a very different man and he was forced to face what he had done in his past. He was a lovable guy and he was cute in his idiocy. He’s very different from your typical male character.
My issue with Enchanted was with the sisters. The sisters were too alike. I had a hard time telling them apart at times and there were some cases where I had to doublecheck which sister I was reading about. I just felt like they could all use some development and more distinct personalities. Rumbold’s friends did not have that problem. Velius, Erik, and Rollins were such fun individuals. Velius was a bit of a playboy, Erik was sometimes a brute, and Rollins tried to keep them all in line. They were quite the group.
Going into Enchanted I expected it to be a retelling of The Frog Prince. And it was. But it was also had tons of other fairytales included: Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, The Princess and the Pea, Snow White, Bluebeard, The Red Shoes, and The Little Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe. Now some of those were just vague references but Alethea Kontis definitely switched things up by not sticking to just one retelling. Trying to catch all the different references was fun (I might have missed some though.)
Overall, Enchanted was one fun fairytale with some touching messages about love, loss, and family. It can definitely be read as a standalone but I have hopes for a sequel!
Looking for more reviews of Enchanted?
Great review! I have this book for review as well. I started it, but only read a couple of pages of it. I definitely need to grab it soon and read it. =D I’m glad you liked it!
Fabulous review! Good call on the Bluebeard tale–you’re the only one to mention it so far. 50 points! Also, I’m thrilled you liked Rumbold. You’re right: he’s *not* like most lead male characters, and some have found that off-putting. Which is a shame, since he’s really a good (albeit messed up) guy. You’ll be happy to know that there are at least 2 more books in the works (Saturday & Friday’s books) hooray!! Xox
I really enjoyed this book!! I didn’t get confused between the sisters. I thought they had pretty distinct personalities. I’m glad you liked it though! I love how the author intertwined so many different Fairy Tales.
I thought Enchanted was okay-ish. However, I didn’t see the point of Sunday’s special ability associated with writing. It never contributed anything meaningful to the plot. Not to mention, the back story between the prince and the brother didn’t make too much sense.
Haven’t read this but it sounds really intriguing. Thanks!
I think I had the opposite problem with keeping characters straight. I could tell all the sister apart pretty easily (maybe because I have 4 sisters), but struggled with keeping the guys straight. I’m glad you liked it, though. Great review!
Fairytales (AND it’s a retelling of the frog prince,) always make me feel all jumpy inside. I just LOVE them so much *greedy look on her face* and there are practically no retellings about the frog prince <3 so this book is the next one I’ll buy. Thanks for the review!
But it sound indeed difficult to keep all the sisters apart 🙂
This sounds like a worthy retelling of the frog prince story! I like the seventh daughter of a seventh sister thing – sounds like there might be a lot of mythology behind that.
But like you said since it’s about sisters, they should each have had their own unique personality.
Glad the romance worked! And that his friends were unique individuals 🙂 I think she’s gotten lots of awesome reviews for her fairytale retellings, so you must tell us if you read anything else by her 🙂
Lovely review 🙂