Frog Prince

Title: Fairy Tale Collection: Frog Prince
Author: Jenni James
Genre: Fairy Tale
Source: Amazon, ebook
Rating: 3 out of 5 paws


Prince Nolan has spent the last few years writing letters to his betrothed.  The image he gets of the woman is less than desirable, a spoiled princess.  He decides to best determine her quality he disguises himself as a frog and spends a month with her.  He needed to see who she was outside of written letters.  Could he actually marry such a woman?  The only way to break the spell prior to the 30 days is for Blythe to kiss him in his frog state.  Will Nolan learn to look past his judgements and find the woman beneath the letter.  The true merit to Blythe.

I am kind of on the fence with this one.  It was a lot shorter than I thought, more of a novella instead of a novel.  Maybe have it included in a bigger book with two other stories.  I have not read any of the other books in the series and I am on the fence if I do.  I have her Sleeping Beauty one to read in the future.  It is a quick read and while I am familiar with the classic Frog Prince tale, I never actually read it so I don't have much to compare this to as I have with some of the other re-tellings I have read.  There were a few things that seemed a little off center like being called to tea time with a triangle, is that how royalty were called to tea?  The way the do on ranches.  While the setting is in a European castle (we aren't given an idea of a country), but the names felt more American, more modern than something that would have fit the time period.


The characters don't grow, they don't evolve much.  We see Blythe being a sweet young woman teaching children in the village when there is no schoolteacher, but she still remains quick to judgement.  He doesn't evolve at all beyond realizing what a jerk he is and self centered he is.  He remains this way, and even tells her he is still the same.  From the first moment he believed she was different than she thought simply because she said she mimicked his letters and she was pretty.


The writing was fair enough, but at times it was confusing and the sentence structure didn't seem to flow well together.  Not that it was bad, but that it could have been written differently.  I think more younger audiences would like this, younger than the young adult market.  It definitely wasn't something a woman in her 30s would turn back to time and time again.  But it does make me want to read what the original story was like.

Perrault's Fairy Tales

Title: Perrault's Fairy Tales
Author:Charles Perrault
Genre: Classic lit, Chidlren's lit
Source: Kindle Ebook
Rating: 4 out of 5


Collection of early versions classic fairy tales such as "Cinderella", "Puss In Boots," "Blue Beard" and more.  Each story contains a moral at the end to help readers know what the intention of the stories were.  These are the stories before they were touched by companies like Disney that changed things around to make them more....fairy talesuqe instead of the gruesome tales they may be.  Perrault is credited with laying the groundwork for fairy tales, and can be seen rewritten numerous times including the Grimm Brothers.

This collections holds about 8 or 10 classic fairy tales, some we know well some not so much.  Many we have seen reappear from other authors such as the Brothers Grimm and made into movies by the likes of Disney, but Disney changed quite a bit from these tales.  I liked being able to read the original versions of the stories and see how they became different throughout time from 1697 to now 2018 there are a lot of differences for example, Little Red Riding Hood does not get rescued, but devoured by the wolf.  Each of the stories have some sort of gore to them, not intended to really scare the children, but for the ew factor, though I do admit some stories I wondered how they were considered children stories.


Some of the stories I have read before in Brother's Grimm, other stories like Puss In Boots, I have not read before and enjoyed finally getting the chance to read them in their original format.  Children do enjoy stories with ogres and things and in the years that follow the publication of this book, children are protected more from things people think might be too scary like an ogre eating children, not to mention to tell the morals and convey the themes involved some of the stories needed to have a little gore and what some would consider adult themes.


While the author included morals of the story, they do seem to be morals that HE thought the story told and have room for each reader to form their own opinions of what the fairy tales are supposed to convey.  Some people may say classic fairy tales are no longer relevant especially with the movies and adaptations we've seen throughout the years, but I believe they are still relevant and convey the same if not different morals to an audience in today's society no matter how different things may be.


I recommend everyone read this collection, it may open your eyes to some beloved stories you thought you knew or rekindle a love for a story you loved as a child.  Pick up a copy from amazon.