| Title | : | Witches, Princesses, and Women at Arms: Erotic Lesbian Fairy Tales |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1627782281 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781627782289 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 212 |
| Publication | : | First published April 18, 2017 |
| Awards | : | Lambda Literary Award LGBTQ Erotica (2018) |
The stories within Witches, Princesses, and Women at Arms are masterfully crafted to lead your mind down unexpected paths to your favorite fantasy adventure, from the classic fairy-tales of Little Red Riding Hood to Rapunzel to the modern marvel of Game of Thrones . They will wash over you in an epic sea of words meant to entice and embolden your inner princess, heroine, or both.
Enter a time where you may be abducted by bandits or seduced by witches one second and find your heart spellbound by a dryad the next. But be warned, gentle traveler! With this new, provocative collection edited by Sacchi Green, the stories may begin with "Once upon a time", but they will leave you coming back, time and time again.
Witches, Princesses, and Women at Arms: Erotic Lesbian Fairy Tales Reviews
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Fairy tales are not really for kids. They capture the archetypes that define our human experience: the strong, valiant, virtuous hero; the trickster who distracts or tempts him, delighting in chaos for its own sake; the malevolent witch, thriving on a diet of cruelty and succulent children; the sweet, patient heroine imprisoned in the tower, awaiting the happy salvation she deserves; the wise mage, offering guidance and occasionally tipping the scales in favor of the good. Tests and quests await the hero and heroine, who must prove their worthiness for the happily-ever-after that is the sine qua non of (Western) fairy tales. Ultimately evil is vanquished and virtue prospers, reassuring us of the order in the world.
Fairy tales touch us emotionally, partly because of this satisfying resolution, but at least in part because they speak to our simpler, less civilized selves. Often they take us back to our primeval wildness, leaving us to wander in trackless forests populated by beasts and magical beings.
Thus, it is not surprising that many of the old stories have been given erotic interpretations. Sex is a force of nature, as well as a kind of magic. Most erotic fairy tales, however, have maintained the traditional gender distinctions of their sources. The brave, energetic princes are male; the yielding, nurturing princesses are female. The archetypes have become stereotypes.
Sacchi Green’s new anthology Witches, Princesses and Women at Arms offers a welcome exception. The book collects thirteen (I wonder if the magical number was intentional) marvelous stories in which it is women who carry the swords, complete the quests, cast the spells, outwit the villains, and rescue captives from terrible fates.
A few of the contributions, like Michael Jones’s “The Miller’s Daughter” and Emily Byrne’s “Toads, Diamonds and the Occasional Pearl”, are riffs on familiar tales. I particularly enjoyed Brey Willows’s “Penthouse 31”, a retelling of Rapunzel in which the long-haired captive escapes to join a muscular window washer who recognizes her imprisonment. This is the only story in the book that features a contemporary setting; I found the change refreshing.
Many stories feature new plots and characters, though they offer traditional fairy tale themes and environments. Salome Wilde’s “The Princess’s Princess” is one of my favorites. A spoiled and petulant princess is forced to serve as hostess to the visiting daughter of a neighboring king, and discovers she has a lot to learn from the woman she initially resents. Annabeth Leong’s “The Mark and the Caul” is a delicate, complex exploration of what it means to be different. Sacchi Green spins old myths about trolls into a surprising, original yarn in “Trollwise”. “The Prize of the Willow” by H.N. Janzen portrays the lifelong love between a human woman and a dryad.
Most of the sexual activity in these tales is sensual rather than explicit, in keeping with their dream-like tone. Nevertheless, there’s plenty of heat. Two of the most exquisite examples are A.D.R. Forte’s “The Warrior’s Choice” and Lea Daley’s “The Sorceress of Solisterre”. Both stories do a beautiful job evoking the ache of unconsummated desire, the magnetic attraction between kindred spirits, and the transcendent release when that fated connection finally occurs in the flesh.
Overall, this is a fine anthology, another feather in veteran editor Sacchi Green’s cap. My only complaint is leveled at the publisher. I’ve worked with Cleis myself and I know they strictly limit the story length. In my opinion, this would have been an even stronger collection if there had been more variety in this regard. All the stories are on the short side (probably less than 4000 words). Although the authors do an excellent job spinning fairly complicated plots within these constraints, I would have enjoyed more variation.
If you enjoy lesbian fiction with a lyrical bent, I highly recommend this book. -
It's sad when something you always wanted to read (lesbian fairytales, come on) turns out to be disappointment. Some of the stories in this book were great. Others were just simply terrible. First three almost made me give up on this book. I keep wondering what the editor was thinking starting with them.
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An absolute delight! The thirteen f/f stories in this treasurable Sacchi Green-edited anthology are, without exception, nothing short of superb. One is impressed not only by the consistent high quality of the writing, but dazzled by the sheer breadth of imagination here on display, and, time and time again, utterly astonished by the very realistic depths of these engaging fantasy characters.
There’s more than enough variation in mood and style to avoid the sort of creeping disaffection one too often experiences with overly ambitious specialty collections. On the other hand, one detects a strong but sympathetic editorial hand quietly at work throughout, keeping everything taut and focused. (Readers do not encounter those glaring inaccuracies in language, careless apposition, or amateurish plot detours sometimes indulged by editors of a more laissez faire frame of mind.) Green has arranged the stories to achieve and maintain maximum interest.
If this collection can be said to have a unifying theme, it might best be summed up as “love overcomes all”. Curiosity gets the better of suspicion, understanding makes the heart grow fonder, the ice-melting fire of lust leads to an endless springtime of delight, the call of duty ultimately defers to the call of the blood, happily for now, if not always happily ever after. (I would not characterize any of these stories as ‘romance’ per se.)
In Cara Peterson’s Steel a deposed princess seeks the aid of a witch in order to slay a dragon and reclaim her throne, but finds that neither is possible until she can outgrow her own deep-seeded prejudices. Madeleine Shade’s Robber Girl is a fast-moving, action-packed shifter story with the author’s characteristic eye for interesting detail. Salome Wilde’s The Princess’s Princess gives us a stylish f/f variation on the ‘spoiled princess’ meme, though in this case our princess learns a charming lesson about love and sex from an outsider, who, it turns out, is every bit her equal. On the lighter side, readers are treated to Emily L. Byrne’s wonderfully whimsical Toads, Diamonds, and the Occasional Pearl, and the snarky banter of SWF Seeks FGM by Allison Wonderland, which turns the story of Cinderella’s evil stepmother into a wickedly delicious romp with the Fairy Godmother, the language steeped in puns, alliteration, and sprung rhymes like some old-time late-night radio host channeling her inner beatnik.
Brey Willows’ Penthouse 31 is a clever contemporary updating of the Rapunzel legend, that does not eschew the scarier elements of the tale. H.N. Janzen’s The Prize of the Willow is a simple, beautiful, poignant tale of loneliness and longing overcome. In The Mark and the Caul, the always-interesting Anabeth Leung gives us a classic fairy tale of lovers overcoming their supposed ‘handicaps’, while A.D.R. Forte gives us a sweeping mythic “call of fate” story in Warrior’s Choice. Sacchi Green’s Norse-flavored Trollwise is marvelously constructed and perfectly satisfying with its sly wink of a surprise ending. Lea Daley’s wonderful The Sorceress of Solisterre combines cool palace intrigue with blazing sensual tension in the story of a politically astute princess and her young court seer and counselor.
Probably my favorite stories in the collection are Michael M. Jones’ scintillating, brilliant, lyrical Rumpelstiltskin redux The Miller’s Daughter, and M Birds’ powerful, memorably atmospheric Wood Witch. This exquisitely-crafted story draws on the archetype so familiar from legends like Mulan or folk songs like Sweet Polly Oliver and Bold William Taylor in which the young would-be warrior woman must don a man’s armor and pass as a soldier in order to fight for what she wants or believes in. Birds does not blink at the gruesome inhumanity of war, while gradually bringing the main characters into focus through the blood and smoke of battle. A truly stunning achievement…as is this anthology altogether!
Enthusiastically recommended! -
some stories were better than others but frankly, I found this boring and not very racy. Too many princesses and not enough witches I guess.
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Who doesn't love a good anthology? And this is a good one. I don't think that the title needs to have the word "erotic" in it...just some good old fashion Lesbian Fairy Tales; some stories do get steamy, and some don't. Really the only thing that bothers me about this collection as a whole is that there are 13 stories...why not 12 or 14? Just my OCD flaring up.
I read a 3-star review on this anthology that stated "I didn't love all the stories." That's so silly. There are 13 different stories, with different topics and author styles. There is something for anyone who enjoys lesfic + fantasy.
My favorite out of the whole bunch was the first one out of the gate: Steel by Cara Patterson.In hindsight , it was the worst night’s sleep Sianna had ever had.
That was saying a lot for someone who had spent her life on the run , and had slept in hedges , and under carts and a thousand other cold and hard places that did not have a warm , slender witch’s body curled against hers.
It was not something that had troubled her before , but then , no one — woman or man — had looked at her as the witch did: as if she were worth looking at.
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A pretty solid collection of sapphic erotica filled with lady knights, magic, and subverting societal expectations. I do think this collection could have benefited from more diversity - all the stories are European, and I think all the characters are either explicitly white or vaguely brown (read: could just be tan).
This collection is supposedly about lesbians, but I think there's at least one or two bisexuals here so I wonder if the editor is using the term "lesbian" in its older definition of "any woman who has sex with other women." I do feel like there was a missed opportunity to portray trans and nonbinary sapphics. My favorites stories were Woodwitch, The Sorceress of Solisterre, and especially The Miller's Daughter. Individual reviews below:
Steel by Cara Patterson ★★☆☆☆
A solid start to the collection, but nothing particularly memorable.
Robber Girl by Madeleine Shade ★★☆☆☆
Based off of the Snow Queen, this short story expands on the sapphic undertones of the relationship between Gerda and the Robber Girl. Unfortunately I don't think this one was really for me - the sex was very sudden and read more like a porno than a fully formed story, and there wasn't much story besides, well, sex.
The Princess's Princess by Salome Wilde ★★☆☆☆
A sweet simple story about a Princess falling for another Princess. I was a little uncomfortable with the descriptions of the love interest, who is coded possibly non-white and seems pretty exoticized.
Woodwitch by M Birds ★★★★☆
I really enjoyed this one! A princess masquerading as a soldier falls for a witch caring for the fallen. Good subversion of societal expectations and a pretty solid sex scene too.
The Prize of the Willow by HN Janzen ★★☆☆☆
A farmer loves a tree spirit. This one felt like it lacked purpose beyond being a sad love story. I love a good tragic romance, but so many of the elements of this one felt too random to truly earn my sadness.
Toads, Diamonds, and the Occasional Pearl by Emily L Byrne ★★☆☆☆
Really loved the premise of this one - a princess knight falling for a princess cursed to produce toads and jewels when she speaks. But the actual plot wasn't particularly clean and the final confrontation was underwhelming.
SWF Seeks FGM by Allison Wonderland ★☆☆☆☆
An evil stepmother (Single Wicked Female) puts out an ad for a fairy godmother (FGM) lover. This is one of those tongue-in-cheek, genre aware stories that references other fairytales and is usually pretty fun. It's got lots of puns and wordplay, which I enjoy, but it also has some terrible rhymes and was so long that after a while the jokey writing style got irritating instead of funny. This is the only story in the collection I almost didn't finish. Also, this sentence felt vaguely fetishy: "Ariel, our mouthy mermaid, was discovered muffdiving in Princess Tiana's Black Sea". Besides making me uncomfortable, this sentence also suggests this magical world isn't just one where all fairy tales exist simultaneously, but is specifically one where DISNEY fairy tales exist, which is a pretty big can of worms to open in a short story. Oh, also, the evil stepmother says nonmonogamy is "amoral" which is pretty gross towards polyamorous people! It's honestly hard to find something positive to say about this one.
The Mark and the Caul by Annabeth Leong ★★☆☆☆
Interesting premise - a baby is prophesied to wed the princess, so the king keeps trying to kill her - but the execution didn't do much for me.
Penthouse 31 by Brey Willows ★★★☆☆
I was really looking forward to this one cause so many reviews mentioned it, but I thought it was a little underdeveloped. This modern Rapunzel retelling has a window washer fall in love with the girl at the top of a high rise, but the magic is underdeveloped and there was no erotica in this story at all. Still, a fun read!
The Miller's Daughter by Michael M Jones ★★★★☆
Really enjoyed this one! A female Rumplestiltskin falls for a girl who supposedly can turn straw to gold. The sex scenes are handled well here and have a clear understanding of consent, and the magic is descriptive and enjoyable. The ending is also very satisfactory.
Warrior's Choice by ADR Forte ★☆☆☆☆
The writing style of this one made it very hard to relate to or care about the characters and story line. I honestly couldn't tell you what really happened here because it was written in such a vague, distant way.
Trollwise by Saachi Green ★★☆☆☆
A loose retelling of the three billy goats gruff, I think? At least, there are trolls and mention of goats? But really what's memorable about this one is the Nordic setting, a nice change from a collection that is mostly just vaguely European. That being said, the story itself is unnecessarily long-winded and the characters are pretty flat.
The Sorceress of Solisterre by Lea Daley ★★★★☆
A good note to end your collection on! A Sorceress helps her Queen find a suitor, although she secretly loves her herself. A little long-winded, again, but the writing is good, the two female leads are likable, and there's a triumphant dose of fighting the patriarchy too.
My average star rating was about 2.38, but I'm gonna round up cause overall I enjoyed this collection. None of the stories felt painfully long (well, except maybe SWF Seeks FGM), there was good variation in subject matter, and the sex scenes were mostly well written. I do wish there was more diversity, but if you want a European fairy tale collection, this fits the bill. -
Like a 3.5, probably?
Woodwitch, Penthouse 31, The Miller's Daughter, and The Sorceress of Solisterre were by far my favorites in this collection. SWF Seeks FGM was also a standout for its use of humor and puns.
The remainder of the stories were all either decent to really meh with the exception of Robber Girl which I uhh...did not like at all. -
Ratings by Story:
Steel by Cara Patterson - 5/5
I LOVED this one. I connected with both characters and would honestly read an entire series set in this world. Will I be looking up Cara Patterson and hoping she has written more published work? Hard yes!
Robber Girl by Madeleine Shade - 0/5
I am a Red Riding Hood kind of woman. And I could not stand this story. It read like a bad piece from Literotica. I'm really shocked it made it into the anthology and had this been the first one, I likely would have DNF'd this one.
The Princess's Princess by Salome Wilde - 3/5
The MC is really hard to deal with for most of the story. Once she stopped being quite so irritating I really liked the story.
Woodwitch by M. Birds - 4/5
Confession time: I really like the King Arthur movie with Kiera Knightley. Historically accurate? Gods no. Entertaining and visually pleasing? Absolutely yes. This short story felt like an improved version of that world. Cohesive storytelling, engaging characters, and romantic chemistry set in a world I would love to read more of. The only reason that it's 4/5 and not 5/5 is that I felt it left too much unsaid. Basically I need more!
The Prize of the Willow by H. N. Janzen - 4/5
This one is so, so good. But it ends on such a heartbreaking note. Not the kind of heartbreak I was afraid of in queer romance. But still heartbreaking all the same.
Toads, Diamonds, and the Occasional Pearl by Emily L. Byrne - 3/5
This was one of the more fun stories in my opinion. A little bit of rivalry, a little bit of love.
SWF Seems FGM by Allison Wonderland - 0/5
There's clever and then there are so many puns that it's bad writing. This was the second option. I rarely say this but I hated this story.
The Mark and the Caul by Annabeth Leong - 5/5
A story like something straight out of Irish mythos. I loved every single page and will definitely be looking for more from this author!
Penthouse 31 by Brey Willows - 5/5
This one didn't feel erotic but honestly I don't care. I loved this story. I could read a whole saga about these women. And frankly who doesn't a strong, dashing woman riding in to the rescue?!
The Miller's Daughter by Michael M. Jones - 3/5
The Rumpelstiltskin retelling you've always wanted!
The Warrior's Choice by A. D. R. Forte - 4/5
Of all the stories in this book, this one feels the most like an oral tale to tell by the fire. I love the way it starts with a glimpse in modern times and then goes back to what once was. Beautiful and poetic in a way I don't normally see in short stories.
Trollwise by Sacchi Green - 2/5
I love the inclusion of trolls. And I love the Norse imagery. But I'm docking a solid three stars for the surprise het sex that took up as much 'page time' as the lesbian sex. It's not what I expected in this book and absolutely ruined my enjoyment of the rest of what had the makings of a good story.
The Sorceress of Solisterre by Lea Daley - 1/5
I wanted to like this story. I really, really did. I loved the world the author built. But one woman pining for another while having to hear her the woman she loves having sex with men is way too close to personal triggers for me to enjoy the story. It actually ruined my overall enjoyment of the book since it was the last story. Honestly I would just read Steel again and skip this one.
Book Rating Based on Story Average: 3/5 -
It was just ok. Though I will pay actual money to not have to see the vagina referred to as "a women's sex" ever again.
Steel: 3/5. Just fine. Kind of a tell rather than show story, moved really fast and the relationship didn't have room to develop.
Robber Girl: 2/5. Not entirely sure what the heck was happening in this one. It was messy and convoluted and felt just a bit racist in the way the dark-skinned character was described.
The Princess's Princess: 2/5. Another just...poorly paced one. Also seemed a little weirdly exotifying with the dark-skinned character.
Woodwitch: 3/5. Much more interesting worldbuilding and relationship building, but still just didn't feel like it had room to breathe with the amount of space devoted to it.
The Prize of the Willow: 3/5. Liked the premise, found it just a little meandering.
Toads, Diamonds, and the Occasional Pearl: 2/5. This one could have been workshopped more. I had no idea who was who or what the relationships of anyone involved were supposed to be.
SWF Seeks FGM: 0/5. An entire story of just really bad puns and alliteration in place of writing an actual comedic story? No thank you. I had to put the book down and stare at a wall because reading all of this absolutely inane alliteration made me want to throw things.
The Mark and the Caul: 4/5. This one was actually pretty good! It had that actual fairy-tale feeling to it that I enjoyed.
Penthouse 31: 4/5. Definitely the best one in the anthology, though I would have liked a little more worldbuilding space. I liked the modern take on the prompt and the characters felt a lot more real and their relationship was given more chemistry.
The Miller's Daughter: 4/5. Actually liked this one too; I'm feeling like these last couple of stories really should have been the openers for this anthology. Once again, was better because of the real fairy-tale feeling and just, overall, better writing and pacing with the space allotted.
Warrior's Choice: 2/5. I have no idea what is happening in this one.
Trollwise: 1/5. There's just, out of nowhere, and for no real reason, a dubcon sex scene that made me real uncomfortable.
The Sorceress of Solisterre: 4/5. This one was rather sweet and I think it did a really good job fitting the story and the pair's chemistry into the short story format.
Overall it was just kind of disappointing. I get that this is specifically an erotica anthology, but it really felt like most of the stories failed to take the time to really put their worlds and characters together so they could just rush onto the mediocre, repetitive sex scenes. There's really no point, in my opinion, to putting together a themed collection like this if the focus is going to be on writing PWP instead of actually writing lesbian fairy tales. Anyway, I can't say I recommend it unless you only read the handful of stories I recommended above, or you're just in the mood for some blah fairy tales with some sex scenes sprinkled in. Which, you know, is fair. The straights get to have all sorts of mediocre erotica, so I think the gays deserve some too. -
Some were better than others. I think I might have read too much "erotic writing" because the descriptions of physical acts do almost nothing for me (possibly just because I live in chronic pain at the moment which is very unsexy) but there was a sweetness to some of these stories in the old fairytale vein that is good escapism.
One of them was an absolute mess and I am not sure why an editor didn't pick up on it, but most of the stories had something to offer. The brevity of the stories meant the pacing for some was more like a summary of events than a story and then it slowed right down only for the sex scene (my bad for choosin erotica but I was more interested in the story itself and in some cases would have liked a slower pace with more development there). There were also some holes in the logic of the story (the prime minister in the final story needed to be developed a bit more to make his actions more explicable).
I was curious how many of them went with the 2 women having a baby together and how there were so many different ways of solving that problem. I think when I first came out I would have wanted that in the stories so I tolerated it even now. I also enjoyed the hate to love trope and the strong, chonky, emboddiment of some of the heroines as well as the age difference in some.
All in all there was more to like than not and most of the flaws were understandable for the genre (escapism, erotica, fairytale) -
Some of these were quite fun. Some of them I skipped or skimmed because I just couldn't take the bad writing about sex. But it was actually the editor's own contribution that I hated so much that my review plummets to one star. Sacchi Green's short story Trollwise involves both heterosexual sex (with dubious consent that was not disclosed upfront) and one woman manipulating another woman's fertility without consent. That is NOT the content I wanted from this book! I will stick to A03 where the stories are tagged appropriately, much of the writing is better, and I can tip authors as I please.
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this was a mixed bag! several of the stories had undertones of colorism, which never felt appropriate given the short world-building available.
one story in particular really reeked of orientalism to me — I don't know the authors background because it was a pseudonym, but regardless it exoticized and over sexualized an Arab/South Asian-coded nation. things like weird language quirks, specific sumptuous styles, and a brown woman introducing and teaching a white one about sex were fetishizing.
I would normally rely on the editor to call out these errors or not include the stories in the first place.
my favorite story had no sex in it! -
This is an anthology of fairy tales, some clearly recognizable. The twists, of course, are that the lovers are both women and that there's sex in just about all of them. So lesbian erotic fairy tales. It sounds better than it is.
Reading this anthology was a bit of a slog. I almost gave it up, but decided I just wanted to finish it in case maybe there was one decent story. Most of what is decent comes at the end, especially the last story about the queen and the witch.
Throughout, the sex isn't all that special or exciting and the stories just don't cut it. Pass this one by. -
I liked about half of the stories; a couple I'm on the fence about. My favorite was "The Prize of the Willow". I was disappointed when homophobia was used to spur on the plot. I felt like there could have been other motivations for the same actions. I preferred the tales with more emotional development between the lovers, made the sexy times better. I'm so glad this book exists and my library has several copies!
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I had so much hope for this anthology, but I was sorely disappointed. Though it was refreshing to read revamped fairy tales with a lesbian spin, and they were well written, I felt like they were either way too short or not very erotic. Some of them were funny in a tongue in cheek sort of way, but that’s it. There were only two or three stories that I truly enjoyed, and just about the same amount that had actually steamy love stories. All in all I felt lime I was mislead by the title.
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Lesbian erotica at its best
All these stories captured me in ones way or another but The Willow Girl made me almost cry with its story and love.
Yes most stories are raunchy but there's also adibing love throughout as these women fight for their rights to love each other and be accepted. -
There is a bit of homophobia in a few of the stories, but that’s to be expected (even though this is fantasy) Anyways, all the stories were good, but by far the most well written one and my favorite was, Warrior’s Choice by A. D. R. Forte which was written as dancing poetry. So if you like magic, knights, witches, magical beings, all that fantasy stuff, you should really give this a twirl.
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Finally...Quite Refreshing!!!!
Loved the heroines, knights and other fanciful beings were women. Some very bad ass at that. All the stories were good. But my favorite reads were Steel, Robber Girl, The Princess’s Princess, Woodwitch and The Prize of the Willow. -
3.5 - Too much of a good thing. I should have spaced it out more.
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Nice collection
This was a really great collecting with a wonderful variety of stories. There really is something for every different desire. -
Fine. Penthouse 31 is the only one I really loved.
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I’m giving the book 3.5, because some of the stories were mostly just sex with no relationship development, while others were really good and did focus more on the characters and plot.
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A favorite that got reread multiple times this summer
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I really enjoyed this anthology. Stories were engaging and fun and the twists were oh so welcome.
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ok não pensei que fosse chorar de tristeza com isso aqui
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I would love to love it, really but to be honest I was bored out of my mind and sadly very disappointed. Too much princesses and not enough witches or anything else besides princesses, plot twists you can see coming a mile ahead, jumping the bones right away, man... I hate writing bad reviews.
