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A review by bellatora
Sweetly by Jackson Pearce
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.”