A Thousand Perfect Notes - C.G. Drews

A Thousand Perfect Notes

C.G. Drews

SPOILER WARNING

Where to Purchase: Amazon, Book Depository

Official Blurb: An emotionally charged story about the power of dreams, and how passion can turn to obsession.

Beck hates his life. He hates his violent mother. He hates his home. Most of all, he hates the piano that his mother forces him to play hour after hour, day after day. He will never play as she did before illness ended her career and left her bitter and broken. But Beck is too scared to stand up to his mother, and tell her his true passion, which is composing his own music - because the least suggestion of rebellion on his part ends in violence.

When Beck meets August, a girl full of life, energy and laughter, love begins to awaken within him and he glimpses a way to escape his painful existence. But dare he reach for it?

As a Retellling: Like Cinderella, Beck has been abused and isolated by his mother. He is then later offered a chance out by his kinder, much richer uncle, which he doesn't accept at first. Parallels to the life of Beethoven come in his name, the fact that he is driven to compose music, and becomes deaf at the end. I would also argue that this is a Rapunzel story in the fact that there is a heavy emphasis on music and August's rescue is a gradual reaching-in to someone who's been isolated their whole life, thus giving him the eventual strength and hope to accept his uncle's offer.

Arista's Thoughts: Drew's writing is simply art, and if you're in the mood for a contemporary that will break your heart and give you hope, this is it. Joey, Beck's younger sister, is adorable, and August is such a violent ray of sunshine, and Beck ... oh, Beck. I don't recommend it to everyone, as it deals with heavy themes, but it has a special place on my shelf. (Also, as a note, the author is Aussie and the book is set in Australia, so don't get confused by the seasons seeming to be backward.)

Inspired by - Cinderella, Beethoven
Unintentional Retelling - Rapunzel
Contemporary
Genderswap

Alternative Covers:

Have you read A Thousand Perfect Notes? If so, leave a comment below with your own short review to help future readers!

Beast Hunter - Michelle Israel Harper

Beast Hunter

Michelle Israel Harper

Beast Hunters - Prequel

SPOILER WARNING for "Arista's Thoughts"

Where to Purchase: Amazon

Official Blurb:

Ro’s people are starving. A curse has overtaken her land, blackening the soil, wiping out crops, and bringing ruin to all. She doesn't know what to do.

The only people who thrive are the huntsmen, brought in by the mysterious Gautier to stem the flow of ravenous creatures looking for food.

When Ro accidentally kills a wolf, an idea begins to form. Could she become a huntress? Earn enough livres to feed her family?

But her world is shattered when her father promises her to a beast in exchange for his own life. If she doesn’t go, a curse will fall on her family worse than the one destroying their land. But Ro is determined to save her family another way.


Will Ro have the courage to seek her own fate instead of the one pressed upon her?

As a Retellling:

This is basically set-up for Harper's full-length novel Kill the Beast, but it does cover the first act of the original fairy tale - with the twist being that instead of our heroine's demure sweetness, Ro is quite resentful of the hard times that have overtaken her family, and she also has more than her fair share of Rebellious Princess Syndrome, and instead of going to the beast to save her father ... she runs away in search of the means to save her land. The Red Riding Hood parallels come up in the fact that there are Hunters who kill wolves (the book actually opens with Ro killing one accidentally), and the climax involves Ro meeting with a "grandmother" character who's not who she seems.

Arista's Thoughts: 

I really love the concept for Kill the Beast, and this prequel hasn't turned me off from my goal of tracking that book down and reading it ... but Beast Hunter suffered for being, well, a prequel. There was a lot set up in the book that wasn't really resolved, and the climax happened when there was still a bit of book left, leaving the final act feeling a little underwhelming. Ro was also a very inconsistent character and had no real growth. I feel that these issues could and probably will be resolved in the main book, but I just couldn't connect with this prequel.

Prequel - Beauty and the Beast
Inspired By - Little Red Riding Hood
Twisted Tale
"I'll Save Myself"
Traditional European


Have you read Beast Hunter? If so, leave a comment below with your own short review to help future readers!