Early Review – Dearest (The Woodcutter Sisters, Book 3) by Alethea Kontis (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 288 pages
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Release Date: February 3rd, 2015
ISBN-13: 978-0544074071
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in the Woodcutter Sisters series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley
Rating: ?/5 stars

I got a copy of this book to review through NetGalley. This was a well done continuation of the Woodcutter Sisters, a series of fairy tale retellings featuring different sisters. I actually thought this was one of the most cohesive stories of the bunch. It’s mainly a retelling of The Six Swans.

This book tells the story of Friday, she is the sister who weaves and sews and is very kind and loving. While she isn’t my favorite sister of the Woodcutter sisters I did think her magical skills were very suited to the story. The Six Swans is the perfect tale for Friday because of her weaving skills.

Friday is the least firey of the sisters, the most obedient and sweetest. However she still has some passion in her, she is very passionate about protecting those she loves.

Friday is swept up in the ocean her other sister accidentally called; in fact the whole kingdom is in a state of emergency trying to deal with this unexpected ocean in their midst. Friday starts taking care of the kids of the refugees from the flooding. In process of doing this she meets a strange serving girl that seems to be under a curse. After that Friday gets embroiled in solving the curse and freeing, not only the serving girl, but her six brothers (who have been turned into swans) as well.

This is a beautifully written and well done fairy tale. I loved that Friday has a gift for sewing and weaving, and that it ends up being this very mundane ability that saves the story. I enjoy all the Woodcutter sisters and their quirky traits.

This book has a serious case of insta-love, which I guess it is a fairy tale so it kind of works…however insta-love isn’t my favorite. All of the books in this series have gotten a bit odd toward the end…to the point where I don’t understand exactly what is happening and this book is no exception. At the end Death appears and there is talk of Gods and people are taken for other purposes; it’s a bit confusing. This happened in the first couple books too. I really enjoyed them until I got to the end and then I was like…what the??

Overall this was a very well done fairytale retelling. I continue to enjoy the Woodcutter family and love the beautiful writing. Things do get a bit hard to follow at the end, but it doesn’t detract from the story. I would definitely recommend this whole series to those who enjoy fairy tale retellings.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge