My Thoughts: Entwined by Heather Dixon

Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it.
 
The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation.
 
Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.
But there is a cost.
 
The Keeper likes to keep things.
 
Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.





Believe it or not, but I don't know the fairy tale of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. So when word of Entwined got out, and people were saying it was a retelling of the fable, I was like great. I did like the sound of it, and I was curious about the story, never mind the beautiful cover. 

I grabbed this book from the library a few months ago, and tried to read it, but I wasn't really in the mood for it, so I gave up, but I knew I was going to try again. I wanted to know what this book was all about. I picked it again a couple of days ago, and boy am I ever glad I did not give up on this book. I really enjoyed it. It was funny, and sweet, and sometimes it freaked me out (Keeper on the ceiling, anyone?), other times it made me tear up.  It really was a pleasure for me to read.

We have Azalea the eldest daughter of the Royal Family, who has just lost her mother in child birth. So, unexpectedly her and her 11 sisters are forced into mourning. Mourning means the curtains are drawn, the girls are not allowed outside, there are no visitors, and absolutely NO dancing for one year. For these girls this is tragic. Dancing was the one thing they had that could connect them to their mother. On top of that, their somewhat strained relationship with their father is further damaged by his own grief, and sudden departure from the girls' life. So these 12 girls are lonely, suffering with the death of their dearest mother. But, somehow they found refuge with a secret passage that leads from their room to a grand pavilion where they are given the opportunity to dance, and dance they do. However, it's not for free.

The thing that I loved the very most about this story was the family dynamics.  The relationship between the sisters and all their varying personalities. They were a lot of fun to read about, and I'd imagine a lot of fun to write. I really enjoyed their father, The King. In the beginning he grieved the loss of his queen, and did not know how to deal with his sorrow, nor the sorrow of his daughters. This was very sad. The family needed each other, and they couldn't be there for one another. The family needed to heal, and they needed each other to heal, and that's partially what this story was about. It really was a great story. 

The characters that Heather Dixon created were very well rounded, and very well developed. I thought Keeper was one creepy dude, and I loved that. He would do the weirdest things,  that would royally weird me out. I did not trust him from the very beginning, but I was not expecting what I got.  Lord Teddy was one of my favourite characters. He was really funny. I laughed at everything he did, and when it came to Bramble, well that was a lot of fun.

There were a lot of different elements in this story, and I loved that. It meant that I was never bored, and I always had something to look forward to. So many different things happened, and I really enjoyed that. I would recommend that everyone read Entwined. It is worth the time.

~Happy Reading Everyone!