Flattery: A Frog Prince Story, by Sonya Writes
As the last story in her fairy tales retold collection [1], this story feels like a wrapping of fairy tales so that not one is missed. The story itself is told as a frog prince story, with a twist that it would be uncharitable to reveal. I wrote a frog prince story myself as a fourteen year old and I chose a different twist. In this story, though, the amount of fairy tales retold in its short 70 is somewhat dizzying. There is Jack and Jill, Jack and the Beanstalk, Goldilocks & The Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, and Hansel & Gretel, and I am sorry if I left out any others. With such ambitions, the pace of this story is rapid, and one is jarred by the many fairy tales enough that trying to keep track of the essential core of the story is difficult.
It is, however, a core that is worth keeping a hold of, as it is one that is highly relevant to teen and young adult readers. Two decent young people are pushed towards marriage, and both of them are reluctant about it, even as they have to deal with the machinations of others who try to interfere. Yet, after taking the time to get to know each other, and see each other’s character, they want to marry each other after all. Often, our resistance in life is based out of ignorance, and we struggle to get to know others as they are, so that we may fairly respond to them and not to what they represent because of the behavior of others. This is an immensely worthy point, one that I am frequently reminded of in my own life, and one that would be worthwhile for many others as well. This is a fitting end to the series, at least for now.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2015/01/05/book-review-transparency/
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2014/09/29/book-review-disparity-a-rumplestiltskin-tale/
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2014/09/13/book-review-vanity/
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/book-review-remedy-a-sleeping-beauty-story/
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/book-review-liberty-a-rapunzel-story/
Edge Induced Cohesion 
I’m glad you found this book to be worthwhile. Another reader made a similar comment about the pace; I didn’t intend for it to be dizzying! I think this one is actually my favorite out of all of them. It certainly has a different tone than the others.
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I agree that its tone was different, but if it had been longer it would not have been so dizzying :).
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That’s what the other reader said too! I’ll definitely have to keep that in mind the next time I read it. I don’t find it dizzying but that’s possibly just because I wrote it 😛
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I have often found that to be the case for myself in my own writings.
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