Friday is an optimist and content with her life. She loves her family and her work as a talented seamstress. Her life is full.
But even gentle Friday has to admit that her younger sister Saturday made an egregious error when she broke the world and called an ocean to the previously peaceful (and landlocked) borders of Arilland.
While Saturday goes off to seek her fortunes on a pirate ship, her family is left behind to deal with the aftermath. Friday, in particular, soon finds herself in charge of an army of wayward children not to mention dealing with an increased need for laundry, clothes and food within the kingdom.
Friday’s problems increase tenfold when she finds seven cursed brothers in the highest tower of her sister Sunday’s palace. When Friday sees Tristan, she knows she has found her future. But with a curse to break, an errant ocean, and other demands everywhere, there is no guarantee that Tristan and Friday will ever make it to that shared future in Dearest (2015) by Alethea Kontis.
Dearest is the third book in Kontis’ Woodcutter Sisters series. It is preceded by Enchanted and Hero.
Kontis once again takes what could be a formulaic story and moves it in a dramatically unexpected direction with this latest installment in her delightful series.
As the rhyme goes, Friday is the “loving and giving” sister which makes Friday a uniquely content heroine. Throughout the novel she remains hopeful, optimistic and above all determined. While Friday’s hopes and dreams grow to include Tristan and his siblings–Friday is a refreshingly satisfied and flexible character willing to take life as it comes.
With elements from traditional fairy tales and myths, Dearest is the most romantic Woodcutter adventure yet. Both Tristan and Friday add a new element to the overarching story with their narrations in this story that hints at bigger things to come for the entire Woodcutter family. Readers will also be rewarded with more of Kontis’ now familiar humor and madcap pacing in this latest satisfying installment in the Woodcutter Sisters series.
Possible Pairings: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, The Selection by Kiera Cass, Entwined by Heather Dixon, Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George, Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix, Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale, Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale and Chris Hale, The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy, Princess of Thorns by Stacey Jay, Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones,Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier, The Accidental Highwayman by Ben Tripp, A Well-Timed Enchantment by Vivian Vande Velde
You can also check out my interview with Alethea about Dearest!
*An advance copy of this book was acquired for review consideration from the publisher at BEA 2014*
Miss Print 