{Reviews} Twisted Tales 1 & 2 by Maureen McGowan

Cinderella: Ninja Warrior by Maureen McGowan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

GENRE: YA Fantasy
THEME: Wizards
RECEIVED: Copy from Baker & Taylor Publishing Group
AUTHOR: Maureen McGowan Site
PURCHASE: Buy on Amazon

ORIGINAL REVIEW ON MY BLOG: Review Here

REVIEW BLURB: 
I’ve always loved the story of Cinderella and her fairy godmother, in the end her evil stepmother and sisters get what they deserve and Cinderella lives happily ever after with the prince. But in this tale Maureen McGowan takes Cinderella and adds a twist of ninja skills mixed with wizards to bring an original aspect to an old tale.




Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer by Maureen McGowan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

GENRE: YA Fantasy
THEME: Vampires

RECEIVED: Copy from Baker & Taylor Publishing Group

AUTHOR: Maureen McGowan Site

PURCHASE: Buy on Amazon

BLURB:

In this thrilling story full of adventure and romance, Sleeping Beauty is more than just a lonely princess waiting for her prince—she's a brave, tenacious girl who never backs down from a challenge. With vampire-slaying talents that she practices in secret, Sleeping Beauty puts her courage to the test in the dark of night, fighting evil as she searches for a way to break the spell that has cut her off from her family. In a special twist, readers have the opportunity to make key decisions for Sleeping Beauty and decide where she goes next—but no matter the choice; the result is a story unlike any fairy tale you've ever read!
Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer is an entirely new type of fairy tale–one that will keep today's kids guessing and offer them hours of magical fun.

REVIEW:
I have to say after reading Cinderella Ninja Warrior I was pretty excited to see how Sleeping Beauty Vampire Slayer was going to be. Sleeping Beauty the Disney movie has my all time favorite Villain Maleficent; I was interested to see how McGowan was going to portray this baddie.

The story keeps the same feel as the original, except instead the villain is a vampire who puts the curse on Sleeping Beauty aka Lucette of Xandra. The curse this time would be that at night Lucette will be awake while everyone in the kingdom will be asleep and vise versa during the daytime. She must find true love to break the curse.

Lucette was a great strong lead, she was determined to make the best of the situation and really fought to protect her kingdom from vampires. She wants to become a slayer and she gets the help of some fun characters. There is romance; of course, she needs to find her true love! I loved that there were two boys in this keeping who was going to be chosen a real mystery.

The only part that really bothered me was Lucette’s parents. They were too childish, mostly the father. He annoyed me to the end of days. I’m sure that was the purpose of his character but it really didn’t sit well with me.  I felt that the Villain Natasha wasn’t as scary and mean like Maleficent; I have higher expectations since she is my favorite.

The story keeps its fun little twist where you can help chose the path for the character to go. I love the idea of being more in control of what the characters decide. The choices were not as straightforward as in the first but I still enjoyed it.

Even though I liked the princess much more in this book, I liked the first book and story better.  I’m still recommending this series because it’s still an enjoyable quick read with lots of quirks and fun scenarios.

RECOMMENDATION:
This is a Young Adult novel suited for any age. Fans of Alex Finn and Carolyn Turgeon will definitely enjoy this!

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