Once Upon A Western......
Reading blogs, one finds so many wonderful hidden book and movies. Sometimes by the blog writers themselves! So it was when I was reading Hamlette's Soliloquy (a very lovely blog) that I discovered that Rachel Kovaciny, Hamlette herself, had written and published not just a fairy tale retelling, but a western fairy tale retelling. I thought to myself "What could be better? I should definitely read this!" but didn't get around to it until a couple of days ago. I think I took so long because I was subconsciously worried it wouldn't be that great and then I might have to write a negative review and that would be awkward, and yeah.... But *Spoiler Alert* I had nothing to fear. After all, if I loved a blog written by one person, why would their writing talents suddenly disappear when they penned a book? No idea why. Anyway, on to the review →
We all know the tale of Little Red Riding Hood (at least I hope we do), but Cloaked puts its own twisty twist on it (not a twisted twist, don't worry) and a whole helpin' of western flair! Mary Rose O'Brien (she likes to be called 'Mary Rose') leaves her stuffy home in Illinois to visit her grandmother, whom she's never seen, out in Wyoming Territory. Jubilee O'Brien owns a ranch out in the country and Mary Rose is thrilled to be able to spend her summer in the much fabled 'Wild West'. While on the stagecoach ride to her grandmother's ranch, Mary Rose meets the handsome but strangly unsettling Mr. Connor Linden. It turns out that Mr. Linden is going to stay at Jubilee O'Brien's ranch himself, as he is her new financial adviser. As time progresses on the ranch, Mary Rose enjoys herself immensely as she learns to ride a horse, becomes friends with a real live Indian (well, half German, half Cherokee, but still pretty cool) and meets a very charming, tall and sweet deputy sheriff. Mary Rose should be having the time of her life, and she would be, if it weren't for the uncomfortable presence of Mr. Linden. He seems to follow her everywhere she goes, his sharp eyes watchful as a wolf's. What does he want? Is he as charming as he makes out to be? Or is there a vicious presence lurking under his smartly tailored sheep's clothing?
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Before I tell you what I liked/loved about this book, I suppose I should get the worst over first. That's right, there are cons. Here we go.
Con #1. A slightly favorable view of Regency England. Although I myself enjoy watching a little Pride and Prejudice as much as the next person, I don't care if men kissed ladies hands and were polite to people they didn't even like, I still hate Regency (and Victorian for that matter) England society. So stifling!!!
Con #2 Like Grandma Jubilee's hair, this book is too short! LOL I wanted more!
And yeah, that's pretty much the only negative things I have to say about this story. Pretty lame, I know. On to the pros! →
I read this book in two short days, but I wouldn't be surprise if you read it faster. It's exciting the whole way through! The true meaning of the word 'page-turner'. I'm always wondering what's gonna happen next, and since it's based on a familiar fairy tale, it's always fun trying to figure out what the western parallels are to the original story.
Another important thing to note is that all the characters (excluding Mr. Linden. His name is under 'creep' in the dictionary) are charming and fun to be around. At least, I imagine they would be fun to be around if they were not just on a page. Depressing thought, I know. Mary Rose is a realistic teenager ( which probably explains why she's not my favorite character 😄), but she's kind and has plenty of grit. I like her grandmother a lot, and of course Mr. Hauer is too cool. And let's be honest here, Deputy Small is a guy we'd all like to meet.
A neat thing I noticed in this book is that near the end Mary Rose reflects on how when she's in her most terrible trials and tribulations, her faraway parents' words come back to her and comfort her, despite the fact that they never did get along. Parents aren't just annoying figures to get in the way of your independent dreams and desires, they're actually pretty cool and have feelings too. Who knew.
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| Disclaimer: This illustration is not in Cloaked, it's just to add to the vibes of this blog post. |
One last thing I want to mention is that I was utterly delighted when I took it into my head to look up what the name Connor's true meaning was. This was after I had read two-thirds of the book and realized that Mr. Hauer was the woodsman who killed the wolf in the original fairy tale. Like, it told us in the first chapter that he was chopping down trees for Grandma O'Brien. You think I would've made the connection, but I didn't. Anyway, I thought it was kinda cool that Linden was a kind of tree and Mr. Hauer cut him down, in a manner of speaking. Don't worry, it's not as gruesome as it sounds. So I got to thinking and I looked up Connor and it means hound or wolf lover! I love Easter eggs! And get this: Hauer means hewer or cutter in German! I should've known this, since Mama's German, but I didn't. So cool.
And there you have it. My review of the western fairy tale 'Cloaked'. I encourage you to go out and buy this, and then read it (duh). It really was super enjoyable. I look forward to reading more of Rachel Kovaciny's westerns (like Dancing and Doughnuts) and I hope more are forthcoming. Audios til next time!
~ Irene
