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Kill Me Softly
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Kill Me Softly
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Kill Me Softly
Audiobook10 hours

Kill Me Softly

Written by Sarah Cross

Narrated by Kim Mai Guest

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

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.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateApr 10, 2012
ISBN9780449010396
Author

Sarah Cross

Sarah Cross lives in New York and loves fairy tales in all their incarnations. Visit her online at www.sarahcross.com.

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Reviews for Kill Me Softly

Rating: 3.472477157798165 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

109 ratings19 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I gave this book a 4 star review because I enjoyed reading it and felt it was a fresh and interesting take on the re-telling of fairy tales. While I did enjoy reading it, I did feel there were some issues. For instance, I think that Mira, the main character, should have been older...at least 17 going on 18 rather than 15 going on 16. I felt that a lot of the romantic interplay, especially between her and Felix was inappropriate with their age difference, and she just read as older to me. Also, it just felt wrong to have such a young girl staying in his hotel suite. They barely knew each other and the jump from strangers one minute to this intense romantic love was a bit of a stretch. The other thing was the lack of development in some of the surrounding characters. Blue was okay, but Freddie and Jewel and the others often felt very flat and artificial...like stereotypes of the fairy tale people they were destined to be. I would have liked to have seen them more fleshed out with their thoughts about their curses and some emotion about their destinies instead of it just being shrugged off. Freddie, yeah he's a hero and a good guy, but that doesn't have to mean that he never has an angry thought or might wish he was living a different life. I hope that the author goes into their lives a bit more in future books, and reveals more about them as individuals stuck in a cycle of having to re-live these curses. Surely Viv can't be as superficial and selfish as she seems? And if some of the kids are cursebreakers, how come they can't break the curses of their friends that are ruining their lives? Anyway,I look forward to reading book 2 (which, having just peeked at the author's website) appears to be all about Viv and her curse as her generations Snow White. Hopefully some of the threads left hanging in this book get resolved as we get to know the character of Beau Rivage better and in more depth.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved this book. It took me a while to get through it, but that was simply because of everything going on around here, not because the book was slow to get into. The book introduces Mirabelle, or Mira as she is called to friends, who is an orphan and lives with her two godmothers in a small town. All she wants for her upcoming sixteenth birthday is to see her parents graves in the town where she was born. So she decides to run away to this town she has been forbidden to visit by the godmothers. Here she learns exactly who she is and what her destiny entails. This is a retelling of a fairy tale but it is an awesome retelling in a new and different way. I give it 5 stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I do love a good fairy tale re-telling. Although, I'm not sure this qualifies as a re-telling as much as a re-living. The concept is interesting: Certain people are branded as fairytale icons and are, therefore, forced to complete the famous story at some point in their life. There are a myriad of fairy tales at play, but Mira's story is a combination of two. She's in the Sleeping Beauty tale, and the other one...well, to be honest, naming the other story is a TOTAL spoiler. But let's just say it's not a "common" one and it was So. Awesome.

    The plot was a bit...wandering at times. Mira snuck out of her house, spent her savings and was prepared for the worst in order to find her parents grave and yet she was very, very distracted from this purpose for most of the book. I can understand this distraction once she figured out what was going on, but this was happening before she even knew what was going on.

    I loved how Cross portrayed each of the real life fairy tales and what living with the blessing/curse was like in every day life. I actually found some of the secondary characters more intriguing than Mira because of how they were coping with their predetermined paths.

    Like I said, I found the premise and the characters absolutely fascinating, even if I though Mira was a bit wishy-washy. I would certainly be interested in further books in this world, if only because I want to see how some of the secondary characters' curses play out.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Mirabelle is about to turn 16, and she is ready to learn about her past, including her parents deaths, even if her godmothers don't think she is ready. They have always been so overprotective of her, that Mira has created an elaborate hoax to escape their detection until she can get to Beau Rivage, where she was born and her parents died. However, many dangers lurk in Beau Rivage for an outsider, and many more lurk for an insider removed too soon. Mira must navigate this new world of fairy tales come to life before her curse is activated.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Kill Me Softly by Sarah CrossPages: 336Release Date: April 10th, 2012Date Read: 2012, April 8th-10thReceived: ARC from NetGalleyRating: 3.5/5 starsRecommended to: 16+SUMMARY -Mirabelle has lived a sheltered life since her parents died in a fire - the fire that had interrupted Mira's christening and swallowed them alive. Now Mira lives with her godmothers, Elsa and Bliss. They've protected her from harm - and from every day life, like boyfriends and parties and getting her ears pierced. She's never resented them - she knows they mean well. But if she's going to get answers about her parents and who they were, she's going to have to travel to the one place her godmothers have absolutely forbidden her to go: Beau Rivage, the city where she was born. After nine months of planning, Mira makes her escape...and finds herself lost in a world where storybooks are real, heroes take the stage, villains destroy, fairy tale endings are determined by a special mark, and there is no way of getting out.MY THOUGHTS -This book is a page-turner if I ever saw (read) one! The first chapter or so sets up the story nicely, without an info-dump, and then it's off - mercilessly dragging you along until the ride is over. And by golly, it's a wild one!I enjoyed myself immensely while reading Kill Me Softly. It's an excellent read. However, I did take issue with how carnal it was at times... I know that fairy tales are dark, and sometimes carnal, but this book went further than that. (Read the For the Parents section below for more info.) Besides that, I just adore this book. Sarah Cross's writing delivers clear and crisp images. It didn't blow me away, but at times it really stood out to me the way she worded things. I plan on reading whatever else she publishes!CHARACTER NOTES -This book proves everything I believe about good looks and falling in love. Admittedly, when I first read Blue's description, all I could think was, "...Seriously?" But my my my... By the end of the book, I had decided that blue hair, blue eyebrows and facial piercings are the hottest things ever!Blue. Is. AWESOME! I totally fell for him, loved his character SO MUCH. And because of that, looks don't matter. I'm quite sure a few other Kill Me Softly fans can attest to this same exact thing.The mystery that is Blue... Ahhh... He was a breath of fresh air. As his character, his past, and what lies in his future slowly become apparent, I could not help falling for him with every new word he spoke, every action he made. True love? Yes, please!Mira is the kind of girl who is determined, not rebellious. I love and respect this about her. She didn't run away to spite her godmothers or get drunk or sleep around. She ran away because of the calling she felt in Beau Rivage. I heard that some readers were annoyed by her, but I definitely wasn't. She didn't always make the right decisions and often couldn't see what was RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER. But that leads to the great part about her - she comes around, sees for cryin' out loud, and doubly makes up for her bad decisions with her bravery, love, and selfless nature.Felix - ach! He had me wondering from the moment he was introduced. I guessed some of his story before but honestly I had no idea I was right so I didn't really hold onto it... But holy gracious it was intense!!The others are also amazing. I love this cast and still think about it to this day. Every individual was unique and pulled his or her own weight in the story. And they made me laugh, which is always a bonus.STORY NOTES -So, you always hear of love triangles... Every heard of a love "square"? 1 girl, 3 guys? Haha! Cheesy, I know. Well, in this book, you will experience this, possibly (probably?) for the first time. I was so skeptical at first of the love triangle, and then the third guy was introduced and I was like, "Hey, this actually works!" Sarah Cross mastered it! I can't said who the three guys are but...trust me, you'll love them all. Also trust me in that you'll have your favorite from the moment he's introduced!My my, what an intense story-line we have here! Dark and sinister, like any good Grimm, but also with a touch of Sarah Cross. She rocked these stories, lemme tell you. She made the world of Wilhelm and Jacob Grim her own. The interwoven stories and intense scene sequences....WOW.The climax was really really great, although I felt it could have been drawn out a bit longer. A little more detail, maybe in the actual event, maybe in the rescue, I don't know. But the point is - it was awesome no matter what. And the end...the end!!! Blue!! *faints*SUMMING IT UP -Grimmly beautiful! ;) I truly enjoyed this story and hope to see more of Sarah Cross in the realm of literature!For the Parents -Some scattered language (briefly strong). Some sexual content. The details were what bothered me. Mira is an innocent girl who decides randomly she doesn't mind sleeping with men she just met- and even buys lingerie for he occasion. They don't actually have sex, but there are 3 or 4 very steamy kisses, and 2 almost lead to sex - and Cross goes into too much detail for me to just let it pass by. Later in the story, two girls kiss. (If I remember correctly, one girl spits diamonds out of her mouth after the kiss as payment for letting her use a facility for a concert.)So, no, not happy with the content. That's the reason for the lower rating.Recommended 16+
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Mirabelle has lived with her godmothers since her parents were killed in a fire in their hometown of Beau Rivage. He godmothers love her but are very protective with all sorts of strange rules Mira has to follow. One of the rules is that Mira never go to Beau Rivage. As her 16th birthday approaches, Mira hatches a plot to run away and discover why her family is so opposed to her going there. It does not take long for her to discover that Beau Rivage and everyone there, are very special indeed. Fairy Tales are real and Mira has her own curse to deal with.I enjoyed this book. It is fun and romantic. The weaving of very real teens into fariy tales is pretty fun. But as a librarian, I have to bump it down a bit because like so many of the YA books I have read lately, the romance is SO intense. Ok, there is magic there and that has something to do with it but Mira seems all to willing to die for love. It did not stop my enjoying the book but it did give me pause. Get a grip, he is just a boy. A boy with evil magical powers, but still just a boy.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    When Mira is first are introduced , she seems sweet but once she gets to Beau Rivage, her attitude changes. She seems lost and angry.That is until she meets Felix, who instantly bedazzles her and she becomes attached to him. Now, here is where I have issues with this book because Mira is fifteen and Felix is in his 20s, and he is coming on to her in a very sexually intoxicating manner. The poor girl is dizzy, literally from the lustiness(I am quite sure this is not a word, but I'm using it). Felix has a brother Blue, who Mira initially met when she arrived and he tried his best to get her to leave. I think the chemistry between Mira and Blue is so funny and the most interesting. She meets others just like her in this town and Mira feels like her new friends are keeping her in the dark, as they won't tell her anything, except stay away from Felix. Torn between her supposed love for Felix and the possible danger, she believes that she knows him better than they do, after a matter of days. Seriously!The story is great and completely not what I expected. One of the cool things I really liked about this book are the marks that identify what story that the characters belong.Beau Rivage is full of fairy tale tragedies, and everyone knows their fate. The thing is no matter how hard they may try to change their path, destiny gets in the way. Mira wants to be the exception to this rule, that's if she survives her curse, and finds out what her trigger is before it is too late. Dark, witty and original this is a great book about love and destiny.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Mirabelle Lively is just about to turn 16 years old and all her life she has been, told what to do and been overly protected by her fairy godmothers. All she wants is to see her parents graves, find out where they had lived, and to know them. Whenever she has asked about her parents or wanted to visit the town she was born in Beau Rivage, they refuse. So, if they won't let her go, she was determined to go on her own. In the middle of the night, with the help of a couple friends, Mira runs away from home and to the one place her godmother's never wanted her to go. Where she meets a cast of fairy tale characters. First, two brothers, one of them is charming and eager to help her and the other a rude and mean guy who is determined to get her to stay as far away from him and his brother as he can.So, I didn't know what to expect when I got this book from netgalley but, I was really excited because I enjoy watching the show Once Upon a Time and it seemed like the book would be similar. It was, in a few ways except these are the happy and fun filled Disney fairy tales that we grew up watching. They are the dark Grimm's fairytales. Now, I personally was not super familiar with most of these darker ones, but Sarah Cross does a good job of explaining a few and I enjoyed that aspect very much. I really liked Mira as a character, in the beginning of the story she was sheltered and had no idea what she was getting herself into by the time she arrived in the town of Beau Rivage and by the end of it, she has a home there and friends who mean the world to her. While reading this book I was torn, I don't know about you guys but I usually get so mad when I start a book and the main character (usually a girl) meets a guy and automatically fall in love with him, without knowing anything about him or what love really means. So, at first I was mad and I hate it when that happens but, the more I thought about it (and trust me I thought about it a lot while reading this book) It did make sense for her to fall in love without knowing much about the guy because to me at least in some of the fairytales that is what happens. Boy meets girl or, girl meets boy and they fall madly in love and live happily ever after. Overall, I really did enjoy this book, I felt like it was something new and different that I haven't normally read and I couldn't put the book down, I love it when two characters have a witty banter together that can make me smile and enjoy the book even more ( I always wish that I could be witty) It was fun picturing all the different fairytale characters in the different people she met throughout the story and learning about the darker versions of the fairytales. I had so many thoughts and feelings going through my mind and that is what makes me really enjoy a book. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who loves fairy tales, enjoys the show Once Upon a Time, or just wants to read something out of the ordinary. It was a pretty quick and enjoyable read and I really hope that Sarah Cross continues to write books from this fairytale world she has created!!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Kill Me Softlyby Sarah CrossEgmont USAavailable April 10 2012received from NetGalley for reviewWhen I was a kid, I used to watch a Saturday morning cartoon called "Fractured Fairy Tales" where a funny dog explained to a small boy the true stories behind some of the fairy tales we read as children.This book puts an entirely new spin on the 'fractured fairy tale' idea. All I can say is WOW. I really, really liked this book. The main character is a 15 year old girl who was raised by her godmothers (get it?) far away from her homeland. She is protected from everything. She can't even use a pair of scissors because the godmothers are afraid she may get hurt. Sound familiar? Well, this isn't a Disney story. She goes to a town called Beau Rivage to look for the gravestones of her deceased parents. She meets all sorts 'cursed' individuals who also lead not so fairy tale lives. A beautiful girl whose stepmom wants her dead, a 'prince' who must wait for his princess and wake her with a kiss, and several other bizarre characters. Not really a spoiler, but I have to add this part. I must have a warped sense of humor because I found this just hilarious. Two sisters who tried to 'make the shoe fit'. One cut off her big toe, and the other chopped off a piece of her heel. They limp around town with bandages of their feet. By the way, forgot to mention, the main character's name is Mirabelle. How's that for a fairy tale name?The one part of this book that truly bothered me, Mirabelle, at 15 years of age contemplates having a relationship with an older man. He is Felix, the manager of a local casino. He is also a strange fairy tale character in this bizarre group of characters.. I know, I'm probably just a prude, but the idea of a 15 year old girl sleeping with a 21 year old guy just bothered me. Anyways, I loved this story. Loved the characters. They were colorful and downright fun. I had to laugh at Beauty and Snow White, while cringing at the character of the beast. I loved the prince who comes to the rescue, but.....my favorite character? Blue. Wait till you read his story. He's a funny, wise mouthed, snarky kid who tries hard to keep everyone at arms length. Overall, this is an incredible book. A wonderful story with an idea so different from everything else on the bookshelves right now!I think most YA and teens would love this book. The characters are wonderful, and the writing is just amazing.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Kill Me Softly is a bit predictable, but it is still a good read. I enjoyed the world that Cross created, and I hope to revisit it again soon in the future. I have no idea if there is a sequel to this book or not, but I feel that some loose ends weren't tied up as neatly as they could have been had this been a standalone novel. However, the ending was satisfying enough that if there is no sequel, I won't feel like the story is lacking an ending. The characters are likable and well-developed, and the plot is intriguing. I'd recommend Kill Me Softly to anyone who likes fantasy novels or would love to read a retelling of fairy tales. Mirabelle is a sweet character, and I liked her. She was immature sometimes. Also she was a bit too naive, , and I really wanted to smack her part of the time. Furthermore, every mistake she made was extremely predictable. I knew what she was going to do before she did, I think. Maybe that's because she was so sheltered growing up, but that was a bit annoying at times. Blue and Felix, the two love interests, were both very interesting. They weren't stock characters at all. At first, they seemed like they may be, but as with everything else in Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems. I don't want to go into more detail because I don't want to spoil the story for anyone. My favorite part of the book was the world that Cross created within Beau Rivage. This world is unique and mysterious. The world-building in this novel was fantastic. It wasn't overdone, but I understood everything that was going on. I felt like I'd stepped into the book and entered this strange universe that Cross has created. The plot was intriguing, but it was predictable. I had everything figured out long before Mira did. Also, there is a bit of insta-love, and I really hate insta-love. I just feel that the female leads need to be a little more independent and a little less boy crazy in most YA books anymore. This novel focuses a lot on the instant romance, and the plot almost revolves around it. I'm assuming that's the reason for the swoony female, and I'm not sure how it could have been done better. I just wish that the relationship had progressed some. The mysterious parts of the story were well done, but as I stated, I did have them figured out long before the big reveals. That's okay though because I do that with most books. The fairy tales stuck more to the original Grimm's Fairy Tales, which I loved. Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good fantasy, romance, or fairy-retelling. Cross has created a unique and enthralling world that you'll want to see more of.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This twist on not just one, but multiple fairy tales, makes for fun reading. I was surprised that Mira, the main character, wasn't more cautious and surprised by what she discovered in Beau Rivage - there were a number of weird things going on before she started asking questions. Over, this was a fun book and the ending made me more than ready to dive into the sequel.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5

    This review can also be found on Reading Between Classes

    Cover Impressions: The white rose dipped in blood speaks to innocence lost and is an image that stands out among the plethora of girls in pretty dresses that make up a huge chunk of YA novels today. However, I am not a fan of the title font. It seems a little too weak against such a stark image.

    The Gist: Mirabelle has spent her entire life listening to the rules and sanctions set forth by her Godmothers. Now, as her 16th birthday draws near, she is about to break their biggest one: returning to the place of her birth, Beau Rivage. Here, Mira encounters a world where fairy tales take a dark turn and everyone has a role to play, whether they wish to or not.

    Review: In Kill Me Softly Sarah Cross creates a fairy tale world that interposes with our own. It lies, just beneath the surface and can be seen by anyone willing to peer through the veil. However, these are not your disneyfied princes and princesses fending off colorful dragons and over-the-top Queens (though, don't get me wrong, Maleficent scared the CRAP out of me as a kid) instead, Cross takes inspiration from the original Fairy Tales which feature evil plot twists, casual murders, the hacking off of limbs and buckets of blood.

    Against this backdrop of Happily Ever After gone wrong, Mira meets Blue, a boy who does everything to push her away and his brother, Felix who does everything not to. As a character, Mira is a little difficult to like. She is often rude and ungrateful, which seems completely out of character for a person who, up until now, has blindly followed her Godmother's orders. It feels a little unreal that a character who is so quick to anger, did not question these rules or show any sign of rebellion prior to her slipping away in the middle of the night. Blue, on the other hand, is a character who does everything possible to make Mira dislike him but she (and the reader) cannot help but root for this wounded hero. Whenever I hit a section where Mira was spending time falling in love with Felix, I found myself itching to turn each page, hoping that Blue would be waiting on the other side. The "love" that Mirabelle claims to have for Felix, feels forced and wrong but shows it's importance by the end of the story (much like Romeo's "love" for Rosaline).

    The plot is interesting but more character based than action based. Because Cross weaves together a number of fairy tales (some of which are less likely to be recognizable to most readers) we have a vague idea of where the story is headed, but are still able to be surprised by plot twists. I do believe that the novel is a stand-alone and I hope that this is the end of Mirabelle's and Blue's story. However, I thoroughly enjoyed my walk through Beau Rivage and would very much like to read the tales of some of the other characters. This world is simply too interesting to let go of so easily.


    Teaching/Parental Notes:

    Age: 16 and up, this one is NOT for your 12 year old!
    Gender: Female, though some males may enjoy the clever re-working of well known fairy tales
    Sex: Intimate touching, talk of sex
    Violence: Loss of limbs, murders,
    Inappropriate Language: Bitch, Shit.
    Substance Abuse: Underage drinking. Smoking.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Things I enjoyed about Kill Me Softly

    Fairytale Retelling: freaking love them
    Includes fairytales that aren’t redone very much.
    Bad boy with a good heart
    Friends that will help you regardless of their problems
    Empowerment of sorts
    Characters that don’t want to fate or destiny to determine their lives
    Realizing the weight of choices made
    The cover!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Before Mira's sixteenth birthday, she runs away to try to find her parents' grave. She lands smack into a city of fairy tales and is quickly enraptured with boys. Yes, boys plural.

    I enjoyed the plot line and the nods to the Grimm brothers. It's not difficult to love the main characters, Mira and Blue. Except Mira's confused feelings about love were rather eye-rolling inducing. Love triangles are more frustrating than any other kind of romance because there is never enough development to justify the "love" between at least 2 of the characters. Make up your mind, girl. So to be perfectly honest, I only loved the fairy tales woven into the story. In the end, this story is a 100% romance novel - that's the entire plot line. While Blue is sufficiently distracting and the world is intriguing, that the entire plot line centers around romance bothers me because Mira essentially ignores the reason why she goes to the city in the first place to fall madly, deeply in love with boys she knows for a week. .... typical teen romance protagonist, hmm?

    Unfortunately the book glosses over secondary character development and also fails to tie up loose ends concerning major plot lines, which demoted the review to 2 stars instead of 3. Secondary characters seemed to be introduced only to show off fairy tales, rather than moving the plot along. Seeing no resolution for their stories simply made their presence in the story worthless besides giving Mira a heads up.

    Definitely not worth a reread, especially the more I think about the book the more I dislike it. But I had an amusing time brainlessly skimming through this one through.

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    For older fans of retold fairytales.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Ah, yes. It’s that time of year: the crisp smell of cider…the warm, creamy goodness of caramel…and the god-awful skank costumes that hang in plain sight at the store, most of which not only desecrate the images of candy perfection, but insult the progress of women’s equality.Okay, so I’m a bit slow on posting this review, but I believe it is close enough on the time table that everyone will get my point. Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross is one of the more exasperating tales I’ve read in quite some time. Once again, I saw the title pop up on my book feeds time and again as the next big thing. Trying to purchase a copy also became a trial, making me think, “Wow, this must be a great story. Can’t wait to get my hands on it.” If I would have known the rancid smorgasbord ahead of me, I definitely would have stayed home for dinner.The main character, Mirabelle or Mira, begins the story as a seemingly innocent girl growing up with her godmothers. The scene literally mirrors that of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, with the fairy godmothers making a birthday cake. Mira immediately scams her way out of the house and into a strange town where her parents supposedly died. Although Mira claims she was raised without “dangerous” objects, adhering to strict curfews, yet not resenting her guardians, she dives head-long into questionable behavior without a second thought of remorse or rebellion—she just does it. Her self-proclaimed best feature is her “nice butt.” By the end of chapter 5 she is sleeping with a guy…but just sleeping. Does that really happen? Huh. There must have been a helluva lot of hormonal downturn with the 15-25 age range since I was a kid.The final straw, however, arrived in the form of a little red satin nighty…that she wore clubbing. And yes, she also wore matching whore heels. Mira would fit right in with the rest of the skanky costumes one finds at a frat party, all lacking creativity in the end game of I-just-want-to-get-laid. Do women really have to try that hard? This read belongs right there with the rest of the obscene costumes more evolved females must endure during the Halloween holidays…in the trash.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross follows Mira as she struggles to find the truth about her past, her parents, and just where she comes from. She’s forbidden to go to the town of Beau Rivage, so like any good teenager, what does she do? She runs into a motley crew of other teens, all of whom—similar to her—bear a strange birthmark. Turns out Beau Rivage is a gathering place of fairy tales, (somewhat) normal people. Some want to simply live their lives, others revel in their romantic, adventurous, honourable or sordid fates. When Mira runs into the brothers Blue and Felix, the fun really begins. I can’t say very much about the plot without spoilers, as the reader discovers secrets about Mira, Beau Rivage, and its inhabitants as Mira herself does.Kill Me Softly cam to be highly recommended, and I greatly enjoyed it. I love fairy tales, and it was a very interesting take to see them so… well, human. The fairy tales are treated almost as different species. For example (minor spoiler): Mira learns her category is a Somnolent, her role is princess, and her tale is Sleeping Beauty. It was fantastic reading about these teens just tossing such terms around, like how one is an Honour Bound from this tale, while another is a Princess from that tale.The characterization was excellent. Mira, Blue, and Felix are great characters in their own rights, but the crowd of secondary characters are what makes it a joy to read. Got to say, Henley the Huntsman is my favourite in all his pissy, brooding glory. At some points I had to wonder why Mira was taking certain paths, but Cross wrote her in a believable way. She came across as an occasionally confused, often stubborn girl, a typical teenager. I really like how she twisted her fate, using it rather than becoming a victim to it.My favourite part thought has got to be the humour. Cross writes it brilliantly, enough to make you snicker to yourself without descending into farce. The twitterpated animals fawning after Viv and Freddie always cracked me up.Overall, loved it, an excellent read. Good plot, great characters, excellent humour. I also quite liked the ending… Just enough of a twist to keep you happy and wondering if there’s more books coming for Beau Rivage!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    GoodReads Synopsis: 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.My Thoughts: I thought this was an incredibly clever book. Cross was able to create a world where fairy tales are played out in each generation…and we aren’t talking the Disney sanitized version of the fairy tales, and they are grim. As these tales are played out in each generation they are tweaked enough to accommodate the fact that it’s the 21st century. For example, Mira is walking through Beau Rivage with her friends when she notices two girls and as something catches her eye she sees both these girls have bandaged feet. She deduces that these are Cinderella’s step-sisters because in the original version of the story the sisters cut toes off their feet to try and fit into the glass slipper. I’ve never read the original Grimm’s tales, and this book, more than any other I have read, makes me want to do just that.There was the usual bit of “instant love”…but in this case, I think it helped the storyline with Felix. Felix’s curse is as a romantic, in other words women are supposed to fall head over heels in love with him. Maybe Mirabelle did it a little faster than most, but it helped the story along. And let’s be honest…the fairy tales is where I think the whole “instant love” thing originates from.The other characters are just fun. Did you ever wonder what Beast was like before he was cursed and became Beast? What about Prince Charming? I loved Cross’s interpretation of these characters before their curses kick in. As much as I complain about stories becoming series…I would love to see more from Cross along this line or with these characters. This book, “Kill Me Softly”, easily ranks as a new favorite of mine!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Review Courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales Quick & Dirty: Love, trust, and friendship are put to the test in this darkly beautiful modern take on fairy tales.Opening Sentence: Birthdays were wretched, delicious things when you lived in Beau Rivage.The Review:Sarah Cross blends fairy tales with reality, and illustrates what that means for cursed teens as they learn about themselves and those around them. Mira, the protagonist, is an orphan who lives with her two strict, but loving godmothers. Mira is not allowed to do lots of things, including visit her parent’s hometown of Beau Rivage. Mira accepts her godmother’s rules as caring eccentricities except for the ban on Beau Rivage. A few days before her sixteenth birthday, Mira runs away and heads to the one place that she knows her parents were before they died.Mira is stubborn and defensive, but just wants to feel like she belongs somewhere in the world. I think she uses scathing remarks to protect herself from getting close to someone who may one day leave and hurt her. She is also impulsive, and takes risks that might cause her harm. When she arrives in Beau Rivage with little money and no plan for what she intended to do once she got there, Mira hangs out in a casino until she can figure out what to do next. There she meets Blue and Freddie, two guys her age who warn her away from the casino that Blue’s family owns because he has a brother, Felix, who will take advantage of her situation as an orphan in an unfamiliar town. Mira scornfully rejects Blue’s pleas to leave, and hides out in the casino.Blue is named so for his blue hair, and comes across as a rebellious teenager who has friends, but keeps them at a distance. He jokes around to hide his emotions, and does what he can to make girls, especially Mira, hate him. We find out later that this has to do with what type of curse he has. Freddie, on the other hand, is sweet, innocent, and and fiercely devoted. His personality also fits in with what type of curse he has. It turns out that many of the citizens in Beau Rivage have some sort of curse tied to familiar fairy tales.There are all sorts of classifications of curses that play out over and over throughout history that Mira is confronted with. At first she doesn’t believe it, but she has a role to play like the others in town. Many of their curses are intertwined with each other. For example, one girl’s curse is to be hated and envied by her stepmother, and their gardener/general errand boy who loves and hates her will one day be ordered by the stepmother to cut out the girl’s heart. This is the classic Snow White tale for the modern age. The girl, Viv, treats the gardener, Henley with either disgust or admiration, causing mixed signals between them that may one day lead to her death. Mira learns that there are deadly consequences for choices she can make.While Mira is learning more about the hidden part of her past and the other cursed teens in Beau Rivage, Blue’s brother Felix has been successfully romancing her despite everyone’s warnings about him. Mira has never felt like she was wanted romantically before, which is why she falls head over heels for Felix. It is only near the end of the novel and when her life is in serious danger that Mira finally confronts the truth behind the rumors about Felix. Mira learns a lesson in humility as she realizes that she doesn’t have to go through life alone, and should realize that there are more people out there who care about her than she ever realized.Mira thinks that she can find out who she is by visiting her parent’s hometown, but instead is handed a new life that she never could have dreamed of, and it turns out for the better. I would recommend this novel for anyone who likes modern twisted fairy tales and vibrant, emerging romance.Notable Scene:“I want to show Mira.”“Show me what?” Mira asked.“Things you didn’t see before. Look between the cracks.”Mira studied the crowd before her,not sure what she was looking for. A band played at one end of the street, and little kids danced to the music, waving balloon animals and toy swords. There were couples out on dates, hands creeping up the backs of T-shirts to fondle bare skin. Vendors hawked nylon fairy wings, funnel cakes, lemonade, art. Men and women lingered on the thresholds of bars, calling to friends, cozying up to strangers.It seemed like any other place.But then a pair of twenty-something girls caught her eye. Sister, maybe? They walked with the same awkward gait–a kind of limping sashay–and had the same pert noses and cascading dark curls. They limped along in a open-toed sandals, perfect pedicures marred by the white bandages they wore.One girl’s heel was wrapped–and oddly shaped, like part of it was missing. The other girl wore a thick bandage where her big toe should have been.They were Cinderella’s stepsisters, Mira realized–and this was the aftermath of their curse. In the tale, the stepsisters each cut off part of her foot in hopes of fitting into Cinderella’s tiny slipper. Mira hadn’t thought anyone would actually do that–but the sisters flaunted their injured feet like they were proud of them.The sisters sensed her staring and glanced over, their eyes narrowing in unison. Blue waved hello, but instead of acknowledging him, they turned up her noses and hobbled away.“They’re still so snobby!” Layla exclaimed. “You’d think that amputation would have humbled them a bit.”“They thing they’re special because they avoided getting their eyes pecked out,” Blue said. “But really, it was just their stepsister being nice to them. She let them wear goggles to the wedding. It’s not that the birds didn’t try.”“Of course not,” Layla sniffed. “Birds are diligent.”FTC Advisory: EgmontUSA provided me with a copy of Kill Me Softly. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.