The Entwined Fairy Tales - Book Two - A Unnatural Beanstalk - Brittany Fichter

Okay, Brittany Fichter has been in my to-read-eventually list for ages.  What a better time to be introduce to her writing than with this Entwined Fairy Tales series?

An Unnatural Beanstalk is the second tale in the series and is based off of Jack and the Beanstalk.  Obviously.

While one of the lesser known tales, Jack and the Beanstalk has one major plot line despite the many variations.

 Jack has to go sell the family cow and is offered Magic Beans.  Jack, probably thinking more about what can be done with the beans, accepts the trade.  His mother, angered, flings the beans out the window.  Overnight the beans grow and grow and grow up into the clouds.  Up to a kingdom of giants.

Here is where the tales I've read vary.  Jack defeats the giants.  He also rescues a princess or a golden goose.


Fichter's version adds a welcome twist to this original story.

Eva - younger sister to Rynn from The Goose Girl (Book One) was granted a magical gift from their Fairy GodFather.  All she did was a good deed and was granted a curse in the guise of a gift.

Talented harpest, now she can cause plants to grow or wither based on her mood and the mood of her music when she plays. 

After receiving 17 proposals on the day of the "gift" she's sent to live with a distant cousin in a different country. 

There she captures the attention of Jack.  And a Duke.

And of course the Duke kidnaps Eva...


Truthfully, I can't see any cons in picking up a copy of this tale.  Even with Jack and the Beanstalk not being one of my favorite tales, I enjoyed Fichter's version.  We see the side of the captured 'princess' - in this case the captured woodcutter-now-wealthy-merchant's daughter.  We see why Jack would remain with his overbearing mother. 

Even the characterization of the villainous Duke was amusing.  This was probably because I'm not the imprisoned Eva.   It was interesting how the Duke used emotional abuse and magic to try to break Eva.

Does it work? Can Jack save Eva before she's forced to marry the Duke?  Get a copy and find out yourself.

This book, and the entire series - eventuallu, is available on Kindle Unlimited.

Happy Reading!

Alicia