A review by bookishly_faith
Grim by Rachel Hawkins, Julie Kagawa

4.0

My rating is more like 3.5 stars. Some of the short stories were good, but there were a few that weren't great. And may I say, this book has the prettiest cover ever? This a strokable cover, guys! It has a wood-grain texture and some pretty pink foil for the title and graphics. There is a pink ribbon bookmark inside as well. (sorry, I had to mention that...)

The Key- Sure, it was fast-paced, but I didn't find a point to the story. There was no time to form any ties to the characters so I kinda was disappointed with this one. I didn't even know what story this was one was based on. I only found out from other reviews.

Figment- This was really cool! Why isn't this one the first short story?! This one also has a modern day setting. In this short story, everything was fleshed out nicely and made sense. I don't know what this one is based on, but I liked it! It kinda reminded me of [b:Every Day|13262783|Every Day (Every Day #1)|David Levithan|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356993940s/13262783.jpg|18464379], because the main character was someone who was genderless.

Twelfth Girl-I kinda liked this one too. It put a modern twist on the classic, The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

Raven Princess- This short story is set as a historical fairytale. I don't even know how this a retelling, but it was okay. This was bearable, but not one of my favourites.

Thinner than Water- I didn't like this one too much. I was really disturbed by the idea and I was so bored.... I liked the ending, but ugh....

Before the Rose Bloomed- I hated this one with a passion. The only verse I have read is Shakespeare so this format was very confusing to me. I was annoyed with how long it was and the historical feel to it drove me nuts. This short story just made me angry.

Beast/Beast- This one made no sense.... I can't even remember what happened... I just know I hated it.

Brothers Piggett- I liked it. This was very good for a three little pigs retelling. I want to say it was modernized. You'd think there is nothing left to say about the pigs, but this story might just prove you wrong.

Untethered- Another one that made no sense. None at all. how was this a fairytale again?

Better- This is a twisted fairytale. Something to do with cyborgs, so a futuristic one at that. IT WAS GREAT!

Light It Up- This was a modern twist on Hansel and Gretel. And a good one!

Sharper Than a Serpent's Tongue- I kinda liked it. It was a modern tale, but I found it also ended quite abruptly.

A Real Boy- This one was GREAT! Another futuristic one that would have been awesome as an actual full length novel. Go cyborg Pinocchio!

Skin Trade- This was pretty bad as well. Try cramming a romance in a few measly pages. It just didn't work. I didn't understand the mythology of it at all.

Beauty and the Chad-I kinda liked this one. Well, I liked it a lot better than the other Beauty and the Beast retelling. This one was a modern retelling (well kinda). It was a little confusing at points, but it was intriguing.

Pink- This short story just left me feeling meh. It felt too long, maybe because it didn't feel like a retelling. But, I don't know the actual story so maybe I'm missing something.

Sell Out- This was a Snow White Retelling. I liked it well enough, but it also was a bit abrupt at the end. It was modernized and I think it would have been great if it was longer, even as full length novel.

I liked quite a few of this, but I was a little disappointed that other stories weren't touched on. I mean, there was a few repeated so my question is, could no one write about something different? Like Red Riding Hood or Cinderella or rapunzel? I mean come on! Something cool could totally come form that!