KILL ME SOFTLY

A girl struggles to escape her fairy-tale fate in this suspenseful fantasy.

Mira will turn 16 in a few days. Though she loves her godmothers, she wants to return to the city of her birth and find her parents’ graves, one of the many things that her godmothers forbid. She runs away and travels to Beau Rivage, not knowing that the town is magical and that she risks death by returning. She quickly meets a boy she instantly dislikes, Blue, who has blue, spiked hair and seems to enjoy insulting her. But Blue’s older brother Felix charms her and gives her a free luxury room in the family’s casino hotel. Mira can’t understand why everyone warns her not to spend time with Felix, and she quickly falls in love with him. Finally, Mira learns that she, with the other teens in the story, is cursed to live out fairy tales. She finds herself caught in not just one foretold fate that threatens her, but two—and the second could kill her. Cross, who knows her fairy tales, weaves a number of them into her story, giving them interesting twists as she applies them to her vulnerable and rebellious teen characters. Earnest Freddie, cynical Viv and captivating Felix all stand out as the archetypes they’re supposed to embody, and as individuals as well.

Clever fun.