Dewitched: The untold story of the evil queen: EL Sarnoff

The Evil Queen is sentenced to what appears to be life in prison/the dungeon for the attempted murder of Snow White. After serving some of her time, Jane Yvel, also know as the Evil Queen has someone take pity on her and instead of staying the dungeon she is sent to Faraway. Jane thinks she is being sent to a spa, but what Faraway turns out to be is Evil Rehab for fairy tale characters.

Jane works through her issues, makes friends, and actually starts to care about others so she is sent back into the world. Her biggest fear after rehab is facing Snow White and pain that she caused her. But, that pain may cost Jane more than she ever realized, but there could be other influences at play that Jane has been suppressing for years.

There are some spoilers in the review, so if you don't want any spoilers be warned, but I shall try to keep them vague as to not give away the whole plot.

One of my favorite lines from Wicked the musical, but I love the novel too.
"Are people born Wicked? Or do they have Wickedness thrust upon them?"

I think this plot is really looking at this quote in relation to Evil. Is Jane and the other characters who visit Faraway Evil/Wicked, or do they just not know better or have been trained that way, following examples. They just need redirection to learn or be shown something new and different and then they can be the person they are meant to be or can at least now be a contributing part of society.

So, Faraway shows them another way to look at things and contribute to society. Bring out the best part of the characters and helping them be who they should be? Or changing their fate? I think the characters all have to learn something much like many of us all have to learn something and how our past effects or changes us.

With that I will leave you with the rest of the wicked quote "After all, she had a father. She had a mother, as so many do..." and I think this is important to consider that is what comes next.

This was an enjoyable read for me. I would give it 4 stars. I feel like the plot have a creative way to deal with complicated issues that many people deal with. While it also keeps the plot moving and light hearted and as an enjoyable read. I look forward to more from Sarnoff and hearing more again Jane and I think Sarnoff has given us an interesting ways to consider fairy tales.

This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.

Connect with EL Sarnoff!

http://www.elsarnoff.com/

http://www.facebook.com/ElSarnoff

https://twitter.com/elsarnoff

elsarnoff@gmail.com

Buy the Book!

http://www.amazon.com/Dewitched-Untold-Story-Queen-ebook/dp/B0089YA7W0

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dewitched-el-sarnoff/1112316812?ean=2940044729957

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/178067

http://www.amazon.com/DEWITCHED-Untold-Story-Evil-Queen/dp/0615673163/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345914940&sr=1-6&keywords=Dewitched

In my Bag 8/26-9/1

Reading:
A Game of Thrones: George R.R. Martin
And the Winner Is: Erin Brady
and depends on what comes in at the Library

Up for review:
Dewitched: The untold story of the evil queen: EL Sarnoff
Don't Le Me Go: Catherine Ryan Hyde

The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D.: Nichole Bernier 

The Next Best Thing: Jennifer Weiner 

Showbiz, A Novel: Ruby Preston

Scarlett Savoy had been the assistant of Margolies "King of Broadway" for the past four year. Getting through the day to day time, by telling herself that she is training herself and learning to be a producer herself. She is finally start to get somewhere with her own producing project. Unfortunately, it falls as the same time as Margolies biggest project ever is coming to a head.
The head theater critic at the main newspaper in town commits suicide and secrets he has been coving for years are threatening to coming out and definatly getting harder for those who know them to hide. A theater gossip columnist is up to replace the critic and when he and Scarlett start something, they are each finding themselves on other sides of secrets that could be enough to break the relationship they are forming.
Everyone has to make some choices about what they feel is important and how they want to proceed with their career and lives.

I personally really enjoyed this novel. Theater is a large part of my life (my husband and many of my friends are actually stagehands) and it is one of my other hobbies. So, I was able to relate to this book on levels that others without theater background might not be able to relate too. That being said, it was also written in a way that if you didn't know theater you can follow what is going on and happening.

When you read the initially description of this book it appears to be set up kind of like a mystery. I tried to drop most of that from my summary because I just didn't feel like that was the focus of the plot and there wasn't much of a mystery for the reader as both sides were being shown and it was easy for the reader to piece it together. The characters were able to quickly put the pieces together too and just needed the proof that they had to work at. So, seeing it as a novel with a plot of characters out to prove themselves and to grow this plot fits better.

I would give this book 4 stars as it isn't really what you exact at first it is a good developed lot that builds characters and had a plot with good movement. I think this is defiantly a good start of series where we could see more of the characters and I want to know more about the characters. I hope that Preston keeps writing and making parts of theater more accessible to the general public.

This review is part of chick lit plus blog tours.

I was provided a copy of the book for review, but the summary and thoughts on the book are mine.

Ruby Preston guest post

I was recently given a chance to read and be  Show Biz: Ruby Preston and I will be posting my review of that tomorrow, but today we get a guest post from Ruby. 

The Intersection of Broadway and Books

By Ruby Preston

When I first made the decision to write a book I knew I’d have to tackle a learning curve. After all, the publishing world and the Broadway world are worlds apart, right? Wrong! It turns out that, while there are some simple logistical differences, Broadway and books actually have a lot in common.

For one thing, the same rules apply for success: talent, persistence, and luck! In both writing and theater you have be good at what you do, stick with it through thick and thin, and be in the right place at the right time.

Writers and theater people are all faced with impossible odds for capturing people’s entertainment time and dollars. And yet, both books and theater have the power to transform lives and make a life-long impact if done well.

The interesting challenge for me was switching which side of the table I was on, so to speak. As a Broadway producer, a big part of my job is to read through piles of script submissions to find something I can run with - much like publisher does with manuscripts. It’s a difficult job because there are a million factors I have to take into account when I evaluate a script and I sometimes have to turn down shows that I think are wonderful.

Being suddenly in the position of submitting my work as a writer, I found a refreshing new perspective that is very much informing my approach to producing. I’m getting a much better sense of how I want to communicate and constructively interact with the theater writers who are offering up their work for my consideration.

Whether Broadway or books, I’m thrilled that I get to play in two such exciting communities of dedicated, creative and brilliant artists. Both industries are facing big challenges and even bigger opportunities and I’m happy to be along for the ride.