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Ash & Bramble is the perfect embodiment of everything I love about fairy tale retellings. It is a wildly imaginative take on not only the classic story of cinderella, but also on the fairy tale world in general. I love the dark atmosphere, and all of the moving parts to Ash & Bramble. There is a whole lot going on, but they all fit together in such a fascinating way. The reader is given just enough information to be tantalizingly confused. Not overwhelmingly so, just enough to make you want to get to the next page a little bit faster. And as with all of my favorite retellings, there is a wonderful mixture of classic fairy tale elements put into a wonderfully imagined world, and spun around and mixed up to show the authors creative take on it all.

I loved the main character Pin. I love how inquisitive, brave and independent she was. And I love that her bravery and spunk inspired Shoe to be braver. That is the kind of main character I love to see in stories. Her spirit was infectious, which I think is what scared the Godmother so much. (not that she would ever admit that.) There is a bit of a love triangle, for reasons that become very evident in the course of the story, but it didn't feel like a traditional love triangle to me. (and no I can't tell you why, because that would be a spoiler, just know it makes sense with the story and if you are not a big fan of love triangles, I do hope you will brave this one because I think you will like it.) Pin and Shoe are great, and I loved that the story was toldin phases; some of which they are together and some separate.

Ash & Bramble drops you into a pretty bleak world, where no one has any memories of their past, or their "before". They are given a role and that is that. No questioning, no opposing their place. Insert Pin, who loves to ask Why and you have an issue. I am sure that there are some spoilery reviews out there for this one, and I can see why- it would certainly be easy to spoil. Especially since so many of my favorite things are spoilers, so I am going to try and keep this one short and sweet. Your takeaway should be this: If you you like Fairy Tale re-telling, Ash & Bramble is a must read for you. I so hope there will be another book. It is not completely clear from the ending if there will be, but I think there is so much more that can be done with Story. And I want so much more. I am totally in love with the idea of this world that Sarah has created. Ash & Bramble is one retelling that you do not want to miss.

This review was originally posted on Book Briefs