A Story Musing: A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow

 

A Mirror Mended

by Alix E. Harrow

Our book club theme this past month was “A Fairy Tale Retelling.” Alix Harrow has been one of my favorite writers of the past few years with books like The Ten Thousand Doors of January and The Once and Future Witches. Harrow’s writing is vivid with detail and energy. Her heroine’s have a great amount of agency in affecting how the story moves forward. Things don’t just happen to them, they make them happen.

A Mirror Mended is the continuation of an LGBTQ retelling of fairy tales that began with A Spindle Splintered. “Zinnia Gray has always been fascinated by Sleeping Beauty because she has a mystery illness. No one who has it has survived past their 21st birthday. Her best friend creates a Sleeping Beauty themed party for her on her 21st birthday. Of course, her story doesn’t end there, and Zinnia finds herself in a fight, not only for her life, but other sleeping beauties as well. I can’t recommend this one enough. It’s short and sweet, and beautiful and courageous.” https://storymusing.blogspot.com/2022/06/reading-lgbtq-books.html

This book picks up the story from A Spindle Splintered. Zinnia is able to jump from one dimension to another, and different versions of fairytales, through mirrors, to help people in other fairytales escape the doomed narrative.

There’s a certain aspect to this that reminds me of the funny space adventure movies I’ve seen where the hero or heroine is jumping from one adventure to another. She’s a swashbuckling heroine from my perspective, told in the first person with a strong sense of voice.

“You might think interdimensional travel is difficult or frightening, but it’s usually not that bad.” But this time is much worse than usual. “Maybe my conviction that my organs are turning themselves inside out is just a really shitty hallucination.”

This time Zinnia makes contact with yet another girl for help, but it turns out to be the evil queen. However, the evil queen isn’t quite as evil as the storytellers would have you believe, and Zinnia falls for the Evil Queen, who she dubs Eva.

This actually seems to be more of a Little Red Riding Hood story with a particularly horrific bend. But, again, this is not your usual Red, and there’s a science fiction feel there too.

As always, the writing is vivid with details, funny, and thought provoking. It’s not your typical fairy tale though it does retain some elements, like a happy ending, of a kind. I highly recommend.

Book Review: Bridal Boot Camp by Meg Cabot

 

Bridal Boot Camp:

Novella in Little Bridge Island Series

by Meg Cabot

 

I’ve been a long-time fan of Meg Cabot, from the Heather Wells Mystery Series to the Queen of Babble Series. They were fun, fast-paced, and flirty.

This was like that, there was a good premise and set-up, but it was so incredibly rushed, as if she were trying to pack all the elements that people like about her writing into a tiny package.

Then it jumped right into a sex scene that had none of the import or depth of one in a longer novel. It had no heat, just mechanics.

To be perfectly honest, give this one a pass and go for one of the novels.  There are two in the Little Bridge Island Series, and several in each of the other series I mentioned above.

I really wouldn’t waste your time with this one when there are so many better and fuller books by Meg Cabot to read.

Book Review: Deadly Brew by Lynn Cahoon

 

I picked up this novella from our ebook catalog on one of my borrowing sprees – I go in and pick a book from several different genres so that I have something to read no matter what I’m feeling like. Since we are allowed 5 books at a time, it’s a great way to pick up books from the comfort of my own home without spending any money.

This looked like a fun little cozy mystery. I started it the other day, and it was perfect for the sudden downturn in temperatures, a fun Halloween mystery set in a haunted house, where several couples are going to spend the weekend. The main character, Jill Gardner, owns “Coffee, Books, and More, and her boyfriend is the sheriff. Her neighbor is a spiritualist/medium, perfect for a haunted house mystery.

We start out at the fun coffee shop, all decorated for Halloween, getting to know the main character and her surroundings then head to the “haunted house” where they meet their friends. The caretaker is a little taciturn but he isn’t staying so no big deal.

It seems like it’s all fun and games. They will be locked in with plenty of food, and they brought their own beer and wine. There are four couples – Jill and her sheriff boyfriend, Greg, their friends Matt and Darla, Jill’s friend Amy and her boyfriend Justin, Jill’s neighbor Esmeralda, and her friend Jake.

Jill is apparently pretty nosy. “Everyone has secrets. Maybe this David’s were interesting.”

The last woman to live in the house is the real mystery though. She disappeared some years ago and it was recently auctioned off to be torn down. Condos will be put up in its place. Before that happens, they auctioned off a night in the house for charity.

There are some odd little incongruities. Jill and Greg simply spread their sleeping bag on a bed that still has bedding on it, though no one has been doing the housekeeping for years. I’d be checking for anything living in the bed first, and at least removing a layer to remove dust.

That night, the spiritualist sets them up for a little Ouija board séance which suddenly becomes rather interesting. They also find out the woman who lived in the house was a witch of some kind. Then there’s the books that just move across the room and the dream Jill has. It’s shaping up to be a good, super natural mystery.

It’s just a little novella, but it took a leap between the séance and them going to bed that bothered me. I would have liked the author to include something about the stories the characters told each other in between and the marshmallows toasted in the fireplace. She lost a chance for some good setting and color in the story there.

What really bothered me most came much later in the story. This goes from being a cozy little mystery to a very disturbing explanation for why the woman who lived there was murdered. To my mind, it leapt form a cozy mystery to a modern mystery, and it could have at least been glossed over.

I felt a bit like it was bait and switch. I enjoyed most of the story to a reasonable degree but that really put a bad end on it for me. I wouldn’t dissuade anyone from reading it, but neither would I recommend it. A bit disappointing.