UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn

This was a good idea that wasn't executed particularly well.  Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it, I just found myself getting really frustrated with the characters and the events.  The lack of subtlety was also an issue.  There was also a tendency to beat the reader over the head with the significance of a small act.  However, that said, the premise of a curse running through a family because The Story demands it is a good one and it made for an interesting twist on the Fairy Tale Genre.

The real problems come with the characters rather than the plot.  Wilhelmina Grimes is a major pain in the proverbial.  Yes, I get that the whole clumsy, socially inept shtick is there to juxtapose against who she really is and what she will have to become to beat The Story at it's own game.  Unfortunately, this means that she comes across as alternately arrogant, rude, obnoxious and very, very needy.  Not exactly personality traits that you want in your protagonist.  Maybe the intention was to make her a strong, modern teenage girl but she comes across as the one you would actively avoid because she is toxic.

There's a lot of peril thrown in, but most of it in places where it would make no sense for Mina to be written out of the story so it loses it's impetus and just seems to be a way to get her together with that holy grail of teenage girl existence BOYS.  Yes, there is a lot of Mina mooning over boys.  I get it puberty makes you dumb and those raging hormones make your preferred gender all but irresistible but it does start getting very old, very fast.

So, why did I scrape up the 3 Stars for something I clearly have issues with large parts of?  Quite simply the whole premise of the book is a strangely good one and the explanation behind how the Grimms came to be cursed and what that means for their descendants is really well thought through and explained.  The balance between the Fae World and the Human World is excellently handled and there are some quite chilling moments when they intersect - I don't think these are necessarily where, or what, the author intended but more happy coincidences.

At the time of reviewing this book there are another 4 in the series.  Would I rush to read them?  Sadly, no.  Initially I did think that this could be a wonderfully immersive series but by the end of the first book I have lot patience with Mina completely and the thought of voluntarily subjecting myself to more of her shenanigans is a non-starter.