Review of Entwined by Heather Dixon

Entwined, 2011

by Heather Dixon

Greenwillow Books, HarperTeen

472 pages

All I can say is, be careful google imaging "Entwined" hahaha.

Entwined is based on the fairytale of The Twelve Dancing Princesses.  The book begins like a Gail Carson Levine book:  these are the princesses, these are their cute names, and these are the adorable things that they do.  Halfway through the book, though, it becomes very dark, very much like Coraline by Neil Gaiman.  The premise of the story is that Azalea, the oldest princess, is charged with taking care of her 11 younger sisters upon her mother's death bed.  When the castle is goes into mourning, the princesses still long to dance.  Azalea discovers a magical place within the castle where they can dance without the King finding out- however, this place is maintained by the mysterious Keeper.  As the book flap says, "Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.  But there is a cost.  The Keeper likes to keep things."

I absolutely loved this book, although it was more romantic and traditional than I anticipated.  The title comes from a dance called the Entwine, which a man and woman dance together with a sash between them.  They must each hold on to an end of the sash, and the man attempts to ensnare the woman's hands within the sash, thus trapping her, while she tries to evade capture.  After three minutes, if the woman has not been "entwined," she has won the dance.

The supporting characters are charming, including not one but three romantic heroes and eleven adorable sisters including the feisty Bramble, the beautiful but shy Clover, and the contrary Delphinium.  It was fun to see how the sisters all have their strengths and weaknesses, but they ultimately love each other very much.

This is Heather Dixon's only book right now, but I hope that she will write more!  You can view the trailer here.

4 stars for a delicious, romantic fairytale!