Review: Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

Book Description via Goodreads:

e-ARC, 331 pages

Published April 10, 2012 by EgmontUSA

Mirabelle's past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents' tragic deaths to her guardians' half-truths about why she can't return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined.

In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who's a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.

But fairy tales aren't pretty things, and they don't always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy tale curses of their own... brothers who share a dark secret. And she'll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns.

Source: Netgalley & Egmont USA (Thank you!)

My Thoughts:

All Mira wanted was to know more about her parents. But she would get more than that in Beau Rivage. She’s a likable, determined character who can deal with her own issues and can handle messy situations (aka Blue.) However, I'm sad to say that I seemed to like other characters more than Mira.

Blue and Felix were two gorgeous brothers. Blue was the blue-haired, irritating, cocky rocker guy. At first, I didn’t like him. But as Mira got more and more involved in his life, he unveiled his dark, vulnerable side. He was actually nice and sweet underneath all the sarcasm. It was a relief to know he wasn’t really a jerk. Although the reason why he acted like that broke my heart into a million tiny pieces. Felix was the irresistible, gorgeous guy. He didn’t give mixed signals. He only gave one kind of signal: desire. Mira fell for Felix but it seemed that everyone was against him. He was the 'bad' guy. It only got more complicated from there.

In Kill Me Softly, there were three types of characters: (1) people like Mira who refused to surrender and kept on fighting fate, trying to get in control of her life, (2) people like Viv who didn’t like her fate but went along with the waves of destiny anyway because it was unavoidable and, (3) people like Freddie, the adorable knight in shining armor who was more than willing to rescue his princess, who embraced his fate with arms wide open.

Freddie was sweet. He was a perfect gentleman. He was the personification of ‘Prince Charming.’ Yes, he was definitely one of my favorite characters in Kill Me Softly. I was sad for him when he found out that there might not be a happily-ever-after in his future even though he was 100% willing and 100% ready to fulfill his role as Prince and Knight in Shining Armor.

Cross put her own twist on several favorite fairytales and changed the meaning of ‘fairytale’ forever. She delivered an eternal cycle of curses and blessings. I loved the concept. I loved the characters. I loved the plot. I loved the zing of magic, passion and intensity in the pages. The only thing that I didn’t like was the beginning. It was a bit slow for me and there were parts that stretched too much when all I wanted was to get a little more info that would make things clearer and more intriguing for me (aka the slightly big reveal.)

Kill Me Softly is bleeding romance, tragedy and humor. Kill Me Softly will hypnotize readers with its magical prose, unforgettable characters and engaging plot. I fell inlove, cried and had my heart broken. So be prepared. I highly this to fantasy and fairytale readers.

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