Today I finished two wonderful books: Sweetly by Jackson Pearce, and The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Both were wonderful in their own, unique ways (obviously they were totally different, one being a YA about werewolves and candy, and the other about racial complexities in 1960's Mississippi, but I loved them both). Today was a good day for me, since I usually don't finish more than one book in a day. But I was torn between wanting to finish them both ASAP, so I spent the past week going back and forth between the two, and both made me cry. I only cry when I really love something. This review is about Sweetly since it is a newer, less-read book, and I want to get the word out about how enchanting it is-- yes, that's right, I said ENCHANTING.
Jackson Pearce, the author of Sweetly, is the author of two other published books, As You Wish and Sisters Red. The latter is the first book in her fairy tale retelling series. Sweetly is not a sequel of Sisters Red, but a companion novel. There are some of the same elements in the two books that tie them to the same world, but you are fine if you haven't read one before the other.
Sweetly is an imaginative retelling of the fable, Hansel and Gretel. Gretchen and Ansel are brother and sister whose family was torn to shreds the day that Gretchen's twin sister vanished in the forest behind their house while the trio was searching for the "witch" that lurked in the trees. The young siblings ran for the lives as they were chased by someone with yellow eyes, only to find when they got back home that Abigail, Gretchen's twin, was gone.
After both of their parents eventually succumbed to the grief of the loss, teenaged Gretchen and Ansel find themselves searching for a new life on the opposite side of America, in an attempt to start over on the coast of North Carolina. Their Jeep breaks down in the small town of Live Oak, and Ansel takes a job as Sophia Kelley's handyman so he can pay for the repairs.
Sophia is a young, beautiful woman who took over her father's chocolatier after he was brutally killed by wild animals. Gretchen and Ansel both soon become enamored with her, and they stay in Live Oak a little longer than originally intended. They move in with Sophia, who quickly becomes like a sister to the emotionally battered Gretchen. But Gretchin begins to wonder about the secrets Sophia is keeping from her after finding a hidden picture of Sophia and her unmentioned sister. Why would she not tell Gretchen about her missing sister when Gretchen herself had confided the long buried mystery of her own vanished twin sister?
Not to mention that almost every person in Live Oak blames Sophia for the eight girls that have gone missing after attending her annual chocolate festival. And then there are the sea shells that keep appearing on the front porch, which send Sophia into panic every time a new one shows up. Gretchen knows there is something strange going on, but her brother is falling in love with Sophia and she is just so darn charming that Gretchen can't help but love her too.
