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sweetcreature89's review
4.0
I wanted to read this book for a while. I'm really big into retellings and I enjoy seeing how the author will twist them, where the story will go, how they will make it their own.
Sweetly is a retelling of Hansel and Gretel, a fairytale about a brother and sister that find themselves face to face with a witch.
I think Jackson Pearce did a really good job with Sweetly. Honestly, it was really different than I expected it to be, but it was still really good. I liked the setting of Sophia's chocolatier and the whole town of Live Oak. Living a rural Kentucky, you see a lot of towns like it and it was relateable. I would definitely read this one again and I really want to read Sisters Red!
Sweetly is a retelling of Hansel and Gretel, a fairytale about a brother and sister that find themselves face to face with a witch.
I think Jackson Pearce did a really good job with Sweetly. Honestly, it was really different than I expected it to be, but it was still really good. I liked the setting of Sophia's chocolatier and the whole town of Live Oak. Living a rural Kentucky, you see a lot of towns like it and it was relateable. I would definitely read this one again and I really want to read Sisters Red!
shalenaimathews's review
4.0
Definitely an improvement over Sisters Red, Sweetly captivated me. While I still had some pacing issues, overall the book was a great read with solid characters and a fantastic ending. I'm excited to see where Pearce takes this fairytale inspired world next.
*8.5/10*
Find my full review here.
*8.5/10*
Find my full review here.
kelsenator's review
4.0
Originally posted on my blog Kelsey's Cluttered Bookshelf
The characters were pretty interesting. Gretchen is terrified of forests and dark areas, ever since her twin sister never made it out of one when they were kids. She blames it on herself and even though she tries to move on she always remembers that incident. Her bother Ansel is very supportive of her and will do anything to protect her. When they both get kicked out of the house by their stepmother, they go on a road trip and end up in Live Oak. It’s a small place but there’s much more going on there than you’d think.
Sophia, the candy maker, lives in a small place in the woods, away from most other people. They end up staying with her and doing small chores at first until they decide to stay. After a while Gretchen can tell something is up. Many girls have gone missing in the years past and it’s getting close to the time when Sophia hold her party yet again, and it doesn’t help that people in town blame Sophia for their daughters leaving town.
I liked how Gretchen got stronger and willing to face her fears as this book went on too. She became strong because she didn’t want to be that scared little girl anymore and so she could protect everyone, especially so no more girls would go missing in a town that’s already falling apart.
I was actually expecting this book to be a little different than it was. Let’s just say the witches aren’t what they seem and there’s links to the first book Sisters Red. I was kind of disappointed in that aspect of it, I was hoping it would be completely separate and a lot darker like the first book was. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked this book, I think my expectations were just high and I thought it was going to be different, closer to the original Hansel & Grethel fairytale. I did like where the author took it, but it wasn’t what I assumed.
Recommended for those that like fairytale retellings!
The characters were pretty interesting. Gretchen is terrified of forests and dark areas, ever since her twin sister never made it out of one when they were kids. She blames it on herself and even though she tries to move on she always remembers that incident. Her bother Ansel is very supportive of her and will do anything to protect her. When they both get kicked out of the house by their stepmother, they go on a road trip and end up in Live Oak. It’s a small place but there’s much more going on there than you’d think.
Sophia, the candy maker, lives in a small place in the woods, away from most other people. They end up staying with her and doing small chores at first until they decide to stay. After a while Gretchen can tell something is up. Many girls have gone missing in the years past and it’s getting close to the time when Sophia hold her party yet again, and it doesn’t help that people in town blame Sophia for their daughters leaving town.
I liked how Gretchen got stronger and willing to face her fears as this book went on too. She became strong because she didn’t want to be that scared little girl anymore and so she could protect everyone, especially so no more girls would go missing in a town that’s already falling apart.
I was actually expecting this book to be a little different than it was. Let’s just say the witches aren’t what they seem and there’s links to the first book Sisters Red. I was kind of disappointed in that aspect of it, I was hoping it would be completely separate and a lot darker like the first book was. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked this book, I think my expectations were just high and I thought it was going to be different, closer to the original Hansel & Grethel fairytale. I did like where the author took it, but it wasn’t what I assumed.
Recommended for those that like fairytale retellings!
kerrithebookbelle's review
5.0
THIS WAS SOOOOOO GOOD!
i loved the characters. the relationship btwn gretchen and ansel wasnt as good as btwn rosie and scarlett, but i loved them nonetheless. sophia was great and i loved loved loved the mystery behind her. and samuel...well, i fell in love with him even more than i did with silas. samuel all the way for me :) characters: A+
the mystery was fantastic! i loved the 'is she/isnt she' that surrounded sophia the entire time, and everything about the festival was great. the action sequences were awesome, and the end was fantastic! plot: A+
and the romance, of course. personally, i prefered this romance more than in sisters red, because it was much slower. sisters red's seemed to happen way to quickly, but sweetly's was the perfect pace. and i just like samuel's tough-on-the-outside-but-sweet-on-the-inside character. romance: A+
GO READ THIS BOOK! but i would suggest reading sisters red first, because there are ties and some crossover stuff, and sisters red explains it all much better than sweetly. you'll understand it a lot better if you read sisters red first. but i probably like this one just a SMIDGEN more than sisters red.
i loved the characters. the relationship btwn gretchen and ansel wasnt as good as btwn rosie and scarlett, but i loved them nonetheless. sophia was great and i loved loved loved the mystery behind her. and samuel...well, i fell in love with him even more than i did with silas. samuel all the way for me :) characters: A+
the mystery was fantastic! i loved the 'is she/isnt she' that surrounded sophia the entire time, and everything about the festival was great. the action sequences were awesome, and the end was fantastic! plot: A+
and the romance, of course. personally, i prefered this romance more than in sisters red, because it was much slower. sisters red's seemed to happen way to quickly, but sweetly's was the perfect pace. and i just like samuel's tough-on-the-outside-but-sweet-on-the-inside character. romance: A+
GO READ THIS BOOK! but i would suggest reading sisters red first, because there are ties and some crossover stuff, and sisters red explains it all much better than sweetly. you'll understand it a lot better if you read sisters red first. but i probably like this one just a SMIDGEN more than sisters red.
pavsbookclub's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
bellatora's review against another edition
4.0
This wasn’t as nearly as good as [b:Sisters Red|6357708|Sisters Red (Fairytale Retellings, #1)|Jackson Pearce|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1291052720s/6357708.jpg|6544454]. For one, while that felt like a modern and fresh retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood,” this felt like it was "Hansel and Gretel" in name only. There wasn’t even a witch! It was like a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy.
Ansel and Gretchen & Gretchen’s twin sister (Abby) wander into the woods one day and Abby gets eaten by a werewolf (or, as Gretchen calls it, a “witch”. But it’s not. JUST CALLING YOUR VILLAINS WITCHES DOES NOT MAKE THEM SO PEARCE). Running away from the werewolf, the kids follow the yellow candies spilled on the ground. Later G/A’s stepmother kick them out of the house, whereupon they end up in a little town with a grisly secret, and a sweet but morally lacking girl who is a candy maker. So there is no witch, and the tale of going in the woods and following breadcrumbs and a witch with a house of candy is all chopped up into two different incidents. I just don’t think it works.
Also, Ansel doesn’t work. He doesn’t do anything. He is a bit in the protector role, but that goes away pretty quickly. Then he is Sophie’s dupe and one of the things tying Gretchen to Sophie. But he had very little personality.
Gretchen – once she stopped obsessing about being trapped in the metaphorical woods – I liked. But I don’t understand authors who make their characters HAVE NO FRIENDS EVER. That doesn’t even make sense. You know what happens when someone has never had friends? They are so awkward as to be actually painful and so wretched they do not function properly. Gretchen was way too socialized to be friendless. Why can’t Gretchen have even one friend, who went away to college and that’s why she can be outcast with her brother with no support network? I know the point is to make the character so isolated/alone, but it’s just stupid.
The general stupidity going around was astounding. No one made the connection that ALL the girls that were eaten were 18? All wore red dresses? No one checked up on these “outsider boys” who came to the party where the girls vanished? Everyone in the town accepts the explanation their daughters are just running away? 8 of them? No one tries to call in the police or the feds? Really? Really? And while I’m at it, why did Gretchen not carry a gun after learning how to shoot one? She’s in danger! She shouldn't expect the wolves to play nice and only attack her in the woods/at the party (even though I guess she did). AND WHY WOULD YOU WANDER DOWN A DARK ALLEY BY YOURSELF AFTER THE FORTUNE TELLER JUST WARNED YOU OF DANGER AND YOU KNOW WEREWOLVES ARE PROWLING AROUND THE TOWN. Seriously. And Samuel - I love you, but you couldn’t have shouted Gretchen's name or given her some kind of verbal heads-up before putting your hand over her mouth in a dark alleyway when she is all alone? It wasn’t like they were hiding from anyone. Seriously, it is never the best course of action to make a girl think she is about to be stabbed/raped/eaten because you are chasing her down an alley instead of being all, “Hey Gretchen! How ya doin’?” Also, it took everyone way too long to figure out
P.S. Apparently I managed to get all the way through Sisters Red without realizing Jackson was a girl. Saw her picture in this book and was just like “Oh. So that’s why she can handle romance.”
Ansel and Gretchen & Gretchen’s twin sister (Abby) wander into the woods one day and Abby gets eaten by a werewolf (or, as Gretchen calls it, a “witch”. But it’s not. JUST CALLING YOUR VILLAINS WITCHES DOES NOT MAKE THEM SO PEARCE). Running away from the werewolf, the kids follow the yellow candies spilled on the ground. Later G/A’s stepmother kick them out of the house, whereupon they end up in a little town with a grisly secret, and a sweet but morally lacking girl who is a candy maker. So there is no witch, and the tale of going in the woods and following breadcrumbs and a witch with a house of candy is all chopped up into two different incidents. I just don’t think it works.
Also, Ansel doesn’t work. He doesn’t do anything. He is a bit in the protector role, but that goes away pretty quickly. Then he is Sophie’s dupe and one of the things tying Gretchen to Sophie. But he had very little personality.
Gretchen – once she stopped obsessing about being trapped in the metaphorical woods – I liked. But I don’t understand authors who make their characters HAVE NO FRIENDS EVER. That doesn’t even make sense. You know what happens when someone has never had friends? They are so awkward as to be actually painful and so wretched they do not function properly. Gretchen was way too socialized to be friendless. Why can’t Gretchen have even one friend, who went away to college and that’s why she can be outcast with her brother with no support network? I know the point is to make the character so isolated/alone, but it’s just stupid.
The general stupidity going around was astounding. No one made the connection that ALL the girls that were eaten were 18? All wore red dresses? No one checked up on these “outsider boys” who came to the party where the girls vanished? Everyone in the town accepts the explanation their daughters are just running away? 8 of them? No one tries to call in the police or the feds? Really? Really?
Spoiler
WTF were Sophie/the wolves planning to do when ELEVEN girls disappeared this year? Two years you can get away with maybe. But 19 over 3 years? How long did they think this could go on? Why were they upping the numbers? If this was based on “farming” than they are shitty farmers – you don’t cull the herd so much you destroy your chances in the future.Spoiler
that Sophie was in collusion with the kidnappers. Why did everyone keep treating it like a coincidence that the disappearances occurred around the party? Why did they need Sophie’s permission to stop? Knock her over the head, tie her up, cancel the party and hold her until after the party date passes. You know she’s being sketchy as shit and probably endangering the lives of others – I think at that point you have permission to kidnap her.P.S. Apparently I managed to get all the way through Sisters Red without realizing Jackson was a girl. Saw her picture in this book and was just like “Oh. So that’s why she can handle romance.”
stitchandwitch's review
3.0
I love the concept of this book. Retold fairy tales are always fun. I found a few discrepancies however I'm reading an early release copy so it's possible those were solved before the book actually came out. I love the characters in this book, particularly the narrator and Samuel. Ansel, although sweet, I felt was lacking depth. Given his history, though, I'm not sure there really is more to him to tell. It was a good, quick, fun read.
l1brarygirl's review
5.0
loved it! gave me chills and had me thinking "what's her secret!?!" over and over! great novel
ilovereading_tn's review
2.0
This was a huge disappointment for me. I love her other books and was so excited to read this that I dropped everything that I was reading to start this. It was not worth my time. I found the whole book boring. I loved the whole idea of a new twist on Hansel and Gretel but this was just a flop for me. The plot wasn't great, the romance was lacking, and the characters were rude most of the time. I really think that you should judge for yourself if you want to read this or not. I don't recommend it, I am so sorry to say since I love Jackson's previous books, but I just felt there was something about it that wasn't pulling me in the way that I love to be "pulled" in to a book. So I am gonna say that this book was just "ok" for me. Not horrible, but not a "go buy it right away" book.
What I did like about this book is that after Gretchen and Ansel lost their sister in the woods, they were there for each other when no one else was. Even after they got kicked out of the house, since they were teenagers, they still stuck by each other and looked out for one another. The setting was awesome also. I love Sophia's house in Live Oak, SC. The scents that were described and treats that were made had my mouth watering for a bunch of sweets. I would love to live in a house like Sophia's and be able to wake up to those smells everyday. I just wouldn't like to live in the house with it being next to the woods, especially since there are werewolves in there. So I suggest reading a lot of reviews before you base your opinion on mine and don't even give the book a chance. You just might like it.
What I did like about this book is that after Gretchen and Ansel lost their sister in the woods, they were there for each other when no one else was. Even after they got kicked out of the house, since they were teenagers, they still stuck by each other and looked out for one another. The setting was awesome also. I love Sophia's house in Live Oak, SC. The scents that were described and treats that were made had my mouth watering for a bunch of sweets. I would love to live in a house like Sophia's and be able to wake up to those smells everyday. I just wouldn't like to live in the house with it being next to the woods, especially since there are werewolves in there. So I suggest reading a lot of reviews before you base your opinion on mine and don't even give the book a chance. You just might like it.