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Showing posts from March, 2022

Review: Time Princess - Kingdom of Beasts

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A few weeks ago, I was looking forward to playing Time Princess's rendition of Catherine the Great , but then it got postponed, possibly for political reasons, though that has not been confirmed officially. There wasn't much time to mourn its loss before something completely different dropped to make us forget how much we were looking forward to it. Kingdom of Beasts, the new story, is unique in several ways. It is the first full-length visual novel in Time Princess that celebrates its LGBT love interest  in an open way instead of being discreet about it like previous books in this game . It also addresses hard-hitting issues like racism and slavery but does so in a visually stunning fantasy setting that doesn't get overly dark or depressing. Kingdom of Beasts tells the story of Dahlia, an inquisitive young woman who runs an underground network of spies. Dahlia must set off on an unexpected journey when her parents force her into an arranged marriage to restore their famil

Review: Hooked

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I'm not usually a big fan of "Peter Pan"  stories, but when I read the description for Hooked , I was, well, "hooked." This is the first book in a new series called Tales of Winberg by Annette K. Larsen . Though I was not previously familiar with her work, this story made me pretty curious about her other princess adventure tales. The series takes place in the same world as her previous series,  Books of Dalthia , which also contains a number of fairy tale retellings. This book is an excellent princess story that contains everything a great fairy tale should, but I would not necessarily recommend it to fans of Peter Pan  in particular, as it takes great liberties with its homage. Still, I have to give the author props for coming up with such a creative reimagining. Wendolyn spent most of her teenage years in hiding for fear that she would be discovered by the wicked captain her family tried to force her into marriage with. In order to hide her identity, she went

Is Snow White Still the Fairest of Them All?

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It's been a while since I shared my thoughts on a new Disney movie based on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."  Since then, Disney cast their leading lady as Rachel Zegler , who starred as Maria in the 2021 remake of West Side Story , and there has been an influx of controversy revolving around this film that has gotten too big to ignore. Snow White's casting is the most innocuous of these controversies. I have already shared my thoughts about how any girl can be a princess . Sure, it's a bit odd for a Latina person to play a character whose defining trait is having skin as white as snow, but Rachel is a talented singer and actress who would fit well into the role of any Disney Princess. A more recent casting controversy is the removal of the words "and the Seven Dwarfs" from the title of this ambitious  live-action remake  as well as Disney's response to complaints  about the dwarf characters not being politically correct enough for today's sta

Review: Before Beauty

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"Beauty and the Beast"  is the most popular source for the fairy tale novel adaptations that I've read, so it's no surprise that it was the inspiration for the first book in Brittany Fichter 's Classical Kingdoms Collection series. I was reluctant to read Before Beauty after seeing a preview of the first chapter and after my disappointment with several other books in this series. Now that I've read it, I do not have much motivation to read the two sequels as neither of the main characters were particularly interesting. Brittany loves torturing her characters, which was made very apparent in her Autumn Fairy  trilogy, and this book was no exception. Some people enjoy reading about characters who suffer. I am not one of those people. The preview I read a while ago for Before Beauty  involved a description of the young Prince Everard helping a petite girl at a public event before accidentally pushing her in front of a moving carriage that ran her over and perma

It's a Good Year to Be a Little Mermaid Fan!

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Disney has been very kind to my favorite fairy tale  over the past few years. It had an impressive 30th anniversary reception at the D23 Expo , a live televised concert , and an upcoming live-action movie that has unfortunately struggled with a few unexpected setbacks. Now fans of the redheaded Disney Princess have even more treats to look forward to. The Disney Wish , the newest Disney cruise ship setting sail this summer, will feature an all-new Little Mermaid stage show. Details  for the show have just been revealed along with an exciting new collection of Little Mermaid-printed merchandise from Vera Bradley . On top of that, Jodi Benson , the voice of Ariel, recently announced she will release her autobiography, Part of My World: What I've Learned from The Little Mermaid about Love, Faith, and Finding My Voice , this September! Sometimes it's hard to please a superfan, and I found myself sorely disappointed with the 2007 Broadway production of Disney's The Little Merma

I Channeled Moana and Went on a Hawaiian Adventure!

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Though not technically a princess , Moana lives an adventurous lifestyle that would be coveted by many other Disney Princesses. I wanted to do something special for my five-year wedding anniversary , so we decided to check out Hawaii and go on our own adventure! At first, I did some research on Aulani , Disney's hotel on the island of Oahu but ultimately decided against it when I realized that one night at the cheapest room there would cost as much as my entire round-trip plane ticket from Texas. Plus, lunging around a hotel isn't much of an adventure, so I set my sights on other options. My husband wanted to check out the volcanoes, so I looked into accommodations on the Big Island , which is the only one that still has an active volcano, Mt. Kilauea . In doing so, I discovered a really neat Airbnb called Lava Lookout , which is built directly on top of a field of hardened lava. What a way to start off our adventure! The best adventures involve an equal amount of planning and

Review: The Sultan and the Storyteller

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In honor of National Tell a Fairy Tale Day  last weekend, all of the books from the Villain's Ever After series went on sale, so I decided to add one more to my collection. The Sultan and the Storyteller  by Lichelle Slater  caught my eye because instead of doing the obvious choice of reimaging "Aladdin," it is an adaptation of One Thousand and One Nights , a myth that rarely gets much attention. Lichelle Slater's previous books  were just okay for me, so I wasn't too sure what to expect from this one. Still, I was eager to read something new. I found it adequate, but not as enjoyable as some of the other books in this series , considering that they are all written by different authors. In this rare adaptation of One Thousand One Nights , the role of Shahrazad is taken by a young lady named Shahira, who has the unique ability to prophesize the future by speaking it out loud in the form of a story. Such a powerful ability could allow her to change the world in a