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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
This is the second book I read by this author. I only read this to give the author a second chance, and I still wasn't impressed. Too dramatic, too ridiculous. I won't be continuing with this author.
I recently read Beastly and I loved the whole book, it was very sweet so I wanted to give this one a try. I liked Johnny, he is a down to earth guy who was genuinely nice to everyone and cares about his mom, and works up to 16 hours a day along with his mom to provide for them after his dad disappeared long ago. Johnny's friendship with Meg is the best relationship in the book. I enjoyed how they have been best friends for many years and are in the same position by working so their families could just survive. It is a great story!
- This was a really fun book. I love the modern fairy tale stuff.
- Johnny is a likable fellow, but he is pretty dense at times.
- I'm glad Meg went along for the ride. Johnny needed her, and I like everything her character had to contribute to the story.
- I loved all the fairy tales! There was The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Six Swans, The Firebird, The Frog Prince, and couple others. They way all the fairy tales fit together was very clever.
- I forgot that Johnny and Meg were teenagers. They seem more like adults, especially when they were both working full time. They didn't talk about school much or anything. They seemed more in their 20s than 17.
- I liked the way everything wrapped up. The ending flew by. I couldn't believe how much I had read in a short time. In fact, the whole book was so fun and flowed. It didn't take me long to read.
- Johnny is a likable fellow, but he is pretty dense at times.
- I'm glad Meg went along for the ride. Johnny needed her, and I like everything her character had to contribute to the story.
- I loved all the fairy tales! There was The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Six Swans, The Firebird, The Frog Prince, and couple others. They way all the fairy tales fit together was very clever.
- I forgot that Johnny and Meg were teenagers. They seem more like adults, especially when they were both working full time. They didn't talk about school much or anything. They seemed more in their 20s than 17.
- I liked the way everything wrapped up. The ending flew by. I couldn't believe how much I had read in a short time. In fact, the whole book was so fun and flowed. It didn't take me long to read.
Johnny Marco works at his family's shoe repair shop in a fancy Miami hotel. It's tough work, but he has to do it to help his mom pay the bills for their apartment. Then one day famous Alorian princess Victorianna stays at the hotel and asks Johnny to repair her broken shoe. Upon returning it to her, she asks him to help her find her kidnapped brother. Johnny finds it hard to say no to the beautiful princess and agrees to help. But this is no ordinary case, and Johnny gets a lot more adventure than he bargained for! With the help of some magical items and his best friend Meg, Johnny travels all over Florida and back in search of a prince-turned-frog.
If you've never read Alex Flinn, but you love a good fairy tale retelling, start with this book! She has previously written Beastly, a high school version of Beauty and the Beast (and a soon-to-be-movie), and A Kiss In Time, a modernization of Sleeping Beauty. I totally loved those two books and got swept away in this one as well. Cloaked includes many fairy tales, but the big ones are The Frog Prince and The Elves and the Shoemaker. A combo that works out surprisingly well! There was plenty of whimsical magic and non-stop action. Putting the old fairy tales into modern day Miami was fantastic and well thought out. The voices for each of the characters were excellent, their accents sometimes making me laugh. I thought all of the different fairy tales would add up to be too much, but they were small and sweet and added to the adventure as a whole. Flinn ties up all loose ends into a neat little package that left me feeling feeling complete at the end of the book. A fun read!
If you've never read Alex Flinn, but you love a good fairy tale retelling, start with this book! She has previously written Beastly, a high school version of Beauty and the Beast (and a soon-to-be-movie), and A Kiss In Time, a modernization of Sleeping Beauty. I totally loved those two books and got swept away in this one as well. Cloaked includes many fairy tales, but the big ones are The Frog Prince and The Elves and the Shoemaker. A combo that works out surprisingly well! There was plenty of whimsical magic and non-stop action. Putting the old fairy tales into modern day Miami was fantastic and well thought out. The voices for each of the characters were excellent, their accents sometimes making me laugh. I thought all of the different fairy tales would add up to be too much, but they were small and sweet and added to the adventure as a whole. Flinn ties up all loose ends into a neat little package that left me feeling feeling complete at the end of the book. A fun read!
I loved how Alex Flinn brought so many fairy tales together! The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Frog Prince, The Six Swans, The Golden Bird, The Valiant Tailor, The Salad, and The Fisherman and His Wife! Amazing.
I liked it, but it wasn't my favorite. The story was all over the place. I'd recommend it for younger readers, since it read like a middle-grade book to me. It was cute, I just didn't fall in love with it.
I’ve been trying to reread all of Alex Flynn’s retellings. It’s been a while since I’ve read a few of them and there are definitely some that I haven’t read. Cloaked is one that I haven’t read, though I thought I’d read it already for some reason.
Cloaked follows Johnny, who runs the shoe repair business that’s been in his family for many years. It’s located in a well-known hotel, which is how he ends up meeting a princess. This princess asks him to find her brother, who has been turned into a frog. So, it’s a princess and the frog retelling. But one of my favorite things about this book was that there were a bunch of lesser-known fairytales included. I thought they were done well and didn’t overwhelm the overall story.
I also really liked the conclusion of the story. The only thing I didn’t really like was that the princess was trying to motivate Johnny to help her with offering to marry him. There’s something that just didn’t sit right about using marriage as a motivator with a bunch of teenagers. So, I was happy to see the conclusion and how that was handled.
Overall, I enjoyed this story. I liked the character growth and thought it was well done. There were definitely some dumb teenage boy moments. But they were actually pretty funny and helped (eventually) Johnny figure out what he really wanted. If you’re a fan of retellings, I think this is one you’ll like.
Cloaked follows Johnny, who runs the shoe repair business that’s been in his family for many years. It’s located in a well-known hotel, which is how he ends up meeting a princess. This princess asks him to find her brother, who has been turned into a frog. So, it’s a princess and the frog retelling. But one of my favorite things about this book was that there were a bunch of lesser-known fairytales included. I thought they were done well and didn’t overwhelm the overall story.
I also really liked the conclusion of the story. The only thing I didn’t really like was that the princess was trying to motivate Johnny to help her with offering to marry him. There’s something that just didn’t sit right about using marriage as a motivator with a bunch of teenagers. So, I was happy to see the conclusion and how that was handled.
Overall, I enjoyed this story. I liked the character growth and thought it was well done. There were definitely some dumb teenage boy moments. But they were actually pretty funny and helped (eventually) Johnny figure out what he really wanted. If you’re a fan of retellings, I think this is one you’ll like.
This was a cute book. I didn't really know what to expect through this book. I really loved the movie Beastly so I thought a little more of it. But it was an enjoyable read.
- Johnny
Johnny was a strong character. He was pretty slow at figuring out a few things, but he was intelligent. I respect that he only really agreed to marry the princess and take the challenge to help his mother.
- Meg
I really liked Meg's character. She was mysterious, intelligent and hilarious. I took Johnny a very long time to understand her and the way she felt about him. All the signs were showing in the beginning and he only got them through the ending, boys.
Overall, this was an alright book. I liked the adventure but it wasn't something I absolutely loved.
- Johnny
Johnny was a strong character. He was pretty slow at figuring out a few things, but he was intelligent. I respect that he only really agreed to marry the princess and take the challenge to help his mother.
- Meg
I really liked Meg's character. She was mysterious, intelligent and hilarious. I took Johnny a very long time to understand her and the way she felt about him. All the signs were showing in the beginning and he only got them through the ending, boys.
Overall, this was an alright book. I liked the adventure but it wasn't something I absolutely loved.
Although this book is fine if you're just looking for something to read, I can't say that it was one that kept me up at night. Many of the "surprises" in the plot were made obvious much earlier than when they were actually revealed. I do enjoy modern twists on fairy tales, it seemed that there were far too many stories jammed into one book.
I don't think this one really did much for me. I always like the ideas that Alex Flinn has, but the execution isn't always the best. I'm not a particular fan of how his books are written, and many details of this story seemed far fetched, even considering all the sci-fi/fantasy I'm exposed too. I was excited to read this when I heard it was coming out, and I'm glad I waited to get a library copy instead of buying it because I don't think it's worth it if you have other books you could read instead.