Forever Obsession: Review: Ash and Bramble

ISBN: 0062337947
Pages: 464
Source: Library
Publication Date: September 15, 2015
Appearance:

A prince.
A ball.
A glass slipper left behind at the stroke of midnight.
The tale is told and retold, twisted and tweaked, snipped and stretched, as it leads to happily ever after.
But it is not the true Story.
A dark fortress.
A past forgotten.
A life of servitude.
No one has ever broken free of the Godmother’s terrible stone prison until a girl named Pin attempts a breathless, daring escape. But she discovers that what seems to be freedom is a prison of another kind, one that entangles her in a story that leads to a prince, a kiss, and a clock striking midnight. To unravel herself from this new life, Pin must choose between a prince and another—the one who helped her before and who would give his life for her. Torn, the only thing for her to do is trade in the glass slipper for a sword and find her own destiny.

Hello everyone! So it's December 26 and I've failed terribly for 12 Days of Christmas. I didn't feel the urge to blog this past week with the anticipation for break and the massive amount of work teachers were trying to finish. So I failed...but we always have next year right? Anyway, with that being said, let's get into my review~

This story caught my attention because of it's super dark premise. I remember reading the prologue of this story and freaking out because it sounded so cool and disturbing. The general premise of the school is so intricate and complex that it's hard to follow sometimes but that doesn't stop it from weaving a fantastic story that grabbed my attention. The setting of the Godmother's castle reminded me of the Winter queen's from Rebekah L. Purdy's Winter People trilogy (which I adore). It's spooky and run by a strict domineering female antagonist. The setting is super dark and creepy that sends shivers up your spine and I have to confess I absolutely loved it.

Pin and Shoe are such interesting characters that have a lot of depth and dimension to their personalities. It was so cool to see Pin's fire at the beginning of the novel where she is trying to discover who she was before she woke up in the castle and then compare that to the puppet she becomes for a short period of the story. The sheer power of the Godmother and her ability to take away memories and meld people to fit the desires of Story. Essentially, she momentarily becomes a slave for Story and the struggle she goes through to regain her identity was just really well crafted. Then we have Shoe who went through one of the biggest character growths ever. He started off as someone who feared the Godmother's power to someone who is willing to fight for who he believes in.

I can't say that I felt really connected to the characters which is usually a big thing for me to like a book but this novel just had that amazing overall feel to the story that drives the plot. Some aspects of the story seemed to drag on for a bit but I didn't find myself minding as it contributed to the buildup of the anticipation that the climax brought.

On a bit of a tangent, the cover is...I don't even know how to put it. There are so many people ranting about the cover and I kind of have to agree. I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but this one makes me sad. It's not a terrible one by any means but that body looks very

unproportional to the point of it being uncomfortable. However, the inside of this book is gorgeous with its headers and chapter headings. It definitely makes up for the cover.

Overall, I enjoyed the creepy and dark premise of the story and how everything turned out. Definitely recommend you guys to check this out!