Kill Me Softly

Title:  Kill Me Softly

Author: Sarah Cross

Standalone 

Number of Pages: 331

Date Read: 2/28/13

Genre: Fairy Tales, Fantasy

Rating: A+

Synopsis (Found on Goodreads.com)

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.

My Review:

*Contain Spoilers*

So I really loved this book. The story is about Mira (Mirabelle) who lives with her 2 godmothers. Mira was told that her parents had died in a fire and that she was never to go back to her birth city. Of course that is what Mira wants to do. She "escapes" her house and goes to Beau Rivage, her birth city to find her parents graves. Once she gets there she meets a boy named Blue in a casino. Turns out his father owns the casino and his older brother Felix runs it. When he meets Mira he tries to kick her out of the casino, telling her its for her own good and to keep her away from his seducing older brother. Well of course Mira meets Felix and things go on from there. 

What is cool about this book is how the fairy tales are incorporated. The mythology behind the way the tales work in this book is amazing. This book is not really a fairy tale retelling. Its like a twist on the old fairy tales. In Beau Rivage, certain people have a birthmark on their lower back that is in the shape of something like a heart or a apple. These marks are related to the fairy tale that the person embodies or belongs to. The people with the marks calls them their curses. For example a person with an apple shaped mark has the Snow White Curse, where they are destined to live the lives of the fairy tale (ex: They have a wicked stepmother and they know that some time in their lives they will fall into a deep sleep only to be awakened by a prince. And the thing is that there is not only one person with an apple shaped mark. Many people in Beau Rivage have apple shaped marks. So there is not only one snow white; there are many. 

It was fun guessing the character's fairy tales and I got most of them right. Mira ends up having the sleeping beauty curse. There are also people in the city called Honor-Bounds which means that they are meant to break curses. Freddie is an honor bound sleeping beauty prince who is destined to wake up Mira. His brother Caspian is an honor bound mermaid prince and his other brother Wills is an honor bound Cinderella prince. It works the same for females. Layla is a honor bound "princess" in the beauty and the beast tale. The only curse I could figure out was Blue and Felix's. Turns out that they are the Bluebeard tale and are called romantics. They are basically like incubus'. where they feed off of the love their beloveds feel for them through kissing and other touches. They have a secret room that they must give the key to their beloved and tell them never to enter it. If their beloved betrays them and enters the room they have to kill them. So basically Blue and Felix's curse is a villains' curse. The reason people are cursed in the first place is to punish the forbidden union between a fairy and a human. Its all very complicated and fascinating to read. 

I liked Mira's character. She was spunky and funny. She is also kinda stupid. In the book she first falls for Felix who is 21 (umm jail bait anyone?) who falls for her too and she begins a relationship with him much to Blue's dismay and warnings. I don't like the relationship between Felix and Mira. Besides it being gross (what 21 year old finds a 15 year old attractive?)Mira acts like a completely pathetic love sick puppy. Even after Felix almost kills her when he kisses her, she goes back to him and overlooks what he did. And the only reason she even knew what happened to her is because Blue told her to find out about his and Felix's curse to protect her. So she finds some things out and still decides to be with him. Please. And her feelings were so obvious about Blue that I wanted to slap her to wake her up and realized that she loves him. Her interactions with Blue were hilarious especially when they were insulting each other. It was obvious that Blue loved her from the start and wanted to keep her safe. 

Now on to Blue. Ahhh what a guy. I immediately fell for him. I like him a lot because he is not selfish like his brother. Felix is all about himself and he lives up to the Bluebeard curse while Blue is constantly fighting it. He knows that he could kill someone he loves with a kiss so he pretends to be a jerk and pushes girls away so that he doesn't feel anything for them. He doesn't want to be a villain or a murderer. Also if he doesn't feed on love he will eventually die. He would rather die than hurt someone that he loves, which makes him loyal, protective and brave. Of course he loves Mira but he is a jerk to her to keep her away from him. It works in the beginning. She hates him but after awhile she ends up seeking him out to spend time with him. He goes between being sweet and loving to her to being a jerk to protect her from himself. Which makes him a hero in my book.

The ending was awesome. Parts of it I totally called chapters before it actually happens. Other parts were complete surprised, probably because I didn't figure out Blue's curse until it was revealed in the book. If you are familiar with the Bluebeard tale them you would probably have guessed that he was part of that tale from his name and description alone. He has blue hair, eye brows and eyelashes. Now that I think about it, I'm like Duh how could I not have known. But anyway, I wonder if there will be a sequel because the ending did not totally answer all the questions that I still have. Obviously I am leaving out a lot of information and parts of the plot but I don't wanna give anymore spoilers away. If you want to know more READ the book. Its awesome and you won't regret it. That's my opinion anyway :D

Favorite Quote of the Book~ P. 23

"Life didn't have to be perfect to be wonderful. It Just had to be Real."