Books for dreary January BY AUTHOR LYNDSEY GALLAGHER
JANUARY can be a long, hard month at the best of times. One of my favourite ways to pass the winter nights is with a good book. This month’s reading recommendations focus on fairytale retelling, a lot of which is YA. This genre is often mistakenly perceived as purely for young adults. It’s not, it simply incorporates a protagonist of this age group. Approximately half of YA readers are actually adults. For anyone that enjoyed the Disney films or traditional books as children, this genre may just provide the perfect escapism. I’ll start with the obvious one, an oldie but a goodie.
CINDER BY
MARISSA MEYER Cinder is the 2012 debut young adult science fiction novel of American author Marissa Meyer, published by Macmillan Publishers. The back of this book says, “This isn’t the fairytale you remember. But it’s one you won’t forget.” The story is loosely based on the classic Cinderella. It is the first book in The Lunar Chronicles, followed by Scarlet, published in February 2013.
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless Lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl, Cinder – a gifted mechanic, and a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.
Cinder is a funny, smart, determined protagonist. The Prince is a well-rounded character that actually acted like a normal person and not this perfect, romantic ideal that we so often picture when we see the word “prince”. Their relationship is slow-building and not over-the-top like some YA books. The story has plenty of twists and turns with a ‘big reveal’ at the end and provides the perfect balance of action and mystery
If you’re looking for an entertaining, unique sci-fi adventure which stands out from the crowd, Cinder might just be the book for you.
A CURSE SO DARK AND LONELY BY BRIGID KREMMERER Originally published in January 2019 by Bloomsbury YA, this contemporary fantasy re-telling of Beauty and the Beast offers a compulsively readable romance.
Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his 18th year, Prince Rhen, the heir of Emberfall, thought he could be saved easily if a girl fell for him. But that was before he turned into a vicious beast, hell-bent on destruction. Before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.
Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, Harper learned to be tough enough to survive. When she tries to save a stranger on the streets of Washington,
DC, she’s pulled into a magical world.
Break the curse, save the kingdom.
Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe. A prince? A curse? A monster? As she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what’s at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall... and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.
This book is written in alternating first person perspectives of Harper and Rhen, with great pacing, delivered in an easy-to-read manner. Although it is a romance, the story also explores the people of Emberfall and the conflict with the neighbouring kingdom blending romance with fantasy. The story is dark, tragic and enthralling, gradually building to a thrilling climax at the end. Kremmerer then released a sequel called A Heart So Fierce and Broken in January 2020, and a third book, A Vow So Bold and Deadly, is set to release at the end of this month.
Lyndsey Gallagher lives in Enniscrone. She is the author of The
Seven Year Itch and The Midwife Crisis. Visit www. lyndseygallagherauthor.com