This was actually the most deliciously lovely thing.
This is the kind of book where the gorgeous cover thoroughly promises what you’re going to find inside. It was so good, OK?! I completely fell in love with the characters, the vivid world building, thE PASTRY APPRECIATION, and all the characters’ snark (despite them being about to die). Quality content right here thank you I will take 7 more of these books.
OK but where to even start?! (I FLAIL)
The setting! The world! The exquisite descriptions!
I freaking love Paris. I have I been? No. But that doesn’t stop me being a teeny bit obsessed with it. And the descriptions were gorgeous and vivid so it’s like the bookworm trip to Paris! Also Parisian pastries are keeping this world together, so 10/10 here for the appreciation they gave to them.
The descriptions are the kind that are very sensory and really pull you in with the taste of things and colours and the scruffy details of someone’s coat — I LIVE FOR THIS.
I loved that it’s from the perspective of the animals who are enchanted into humans.
You know?! Like in the Disney Cinderella movie where the fairy godmother turns mice into men, etc. THAT is what a “grim lovely” is. (They also call them “Beasties”.) So we have this witch and her 5 enchanted servants (she treats them as slaves too) but when she’s murdered they have 3 days to get someone else to cast a new humanising spell on them or GOODBYE.
Also we don’t know what their animal forms original were, but the 5 of them are: wolf, owl, cat, mouse, and dog.
So obviously we have a huge ticking time bomb here, which I looooved. Makes the pace fast! And stressful! Of course bookworms love stress haha, our grey hair and bloodshot eyes mean nothing, carry on.
I totally fell in love with Anouk as the story went on.
She’s so timid and demure to start with, and she doesn’t suddenly — ZAP — change into a saucy fighter or anything. She stays quiet and calm…but she gets confidence and she fights back and she believes in more than what she’s spoon fed. I LOVE HER SO MUCH. We need more soft™ protagonists! Her arc just ahhhhhh. SO good.
Also the cast is BIG and amazing and I feel all the things for them.
- CRICKET: She’s like the badass older sister, made to be a thief, and she loves flowers and skulls and lipstick. Love her.
- BEAU: So of course we must have a love interest (although it’s good that it’s the “we already knew each other” romance because otherwise a 3-day romance is always too hard to believe)…and I admit I DIDN’T LIKE HIM. He’s very overprotective of Anouk. Aka “no no Anouk you can’t do anythinggggg” and I wanted to slap him. I didn’t really see their chemistry? But he drives cars fast so I’ll give him that.
- LUC: He’s actually missing when the book starts, but he’s the Big Bro figure and they all love him so bad.
- HUNTER BLACK: he’s the trained assassin and actually starts off an enemy of the rest because he’s super close to the witch’s son. I feel many things for Hunter Black. Ugh the antiheroes get me every time I can’t even.
- VIGGO: he’s NOT a beastie, but the “witch’s boy”. Basically a kid she stole to use as a blood bank (you need blood for magic) but also spoiled rotten and super rich thanks to the witch. He is AWFUL and we HATE him but by thE END….WHAT HAPPENED WE DON’T. GO VIGGO!!!
They have all the dysfunctional family vibes and I freaking LOVE IT.
Ok so a lot of people have expressed concerned over the Bury Your Gays trope appearing. I’ll put my thoughts in spoilers but I DON’T spoil the book. I’m just talking about the trope’s use:
So Pls Prepare Yourself For
☆ magic and witches and enchantments but in a modern setting
☆ Paris!!
☆ staying to eat pastries > running for your life
☆ dysfunctional family squad dynamics
☆ villains grudgingly doing good omg
☆ softest sweet hufflepuff being badass
☆ wickedly beautiful world building
☆ m a g i c
☆ sneaky evil plotting by people you think are sweet
☆ fashion appreciation, especially of epic jackets
☆ LIES AND MURDER
Yes I’m thoroughly in love with this one! It totally captured my imagination, from all the unique twists on old magic, and the fairy tales it wove in, to the gorgeous lush setting and the characters I wOULD DIE FOR. I’m chill as a person, for sure. I’ve wanted an intoxicating magical fantasy for a while and this !! is it !!
THANK YOU TO HMH TEEN FOR THE ARC. Grim Lovelies by Megan Shepherd is out October 2nd, 2018!
Seventeen-year-old Anouk envies the human world, where people known as Pretties lavish themselves in fast cars, high fashion, and have the freedom to fall in love. But Anouk can never have those things, because she is not really human. Enchanted from animal to human girl and forbidden to venture beyond her familiar Parisian prison, Anouk is a Beastie: destined for a life surrounded by dust bunnies and cinders serving Mada Vittora, the evil witch who spelled her into existence. That is, until one day she finds her mistress murdered in a pool of blood—and Anouk is accused of the crime.
Now, the world she always dreamed of is rife with danger. Pursued through Paris by the underground magical society known as the Haute, Anouk and her fellow Beasties only have three days to find the real killer before the spell keeping them human fades away. If they fail, they will lose the only lives they’ve ever known…but if they succeed, they could be more powerful than anyone ever bargained for.
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I would *l0ve* to see more YA set in Greece — especially Ancient Greece. So many books utilize Greek mythology, but apart from that, there’s so very little out there. I think that would be amazing! (But it would have to be done RIGHT.) GRIM LOVLIES is definitely one I’ll be picking up eventually (you know, when the tbr allows it). Magic and fariytales are 100% My Thing.
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Ohh agreed! I mean apart from Percy Jackson, it seems like no one else really does things with Greek mythology?! I hope you enjoy this one too 😍it feels like such a fresh take on the usual fairy tales.
Fantastic review!
I think I would have to sit and just eat as I read this book haha. I am *here* for soft Hufflepuffs,
Cora | http://www.teapartyprincess.co.uk/
Cora @ Tea Party Princess recently posted…Book review: Light Years by Kass Morgan
Actually this book for sure would be 100 x better to read while eating croissants.😍
Aaaaah this sounds like a great book! Also the plot??! It’s so unique (at least to me). The characters also seem like I would loveeee them!! I’ll add this to my tbr.
Oh oh agreed! It felt like a really unique and fast-paced epic plot to me too. LOVE LOVE.
OOH this sounds so good!! I haven’t ever actually read the synopsis, so I thought (based on the title) it was going to be a retelling/about the Grimm brothers. AH THIS SOUNDS AMAZING.
IT IS REALLY GOOD !! TOTAL RECOMMEND. And based on the cover I should’ve noticed it would be set in Paris but…I didn’t.😂
Ohhh I’ve heard so much about this book and it sounds so amazinggg! I added it to my (very long) TBR list a while back and will probably get to it in 2-3 years (whoops – my TBR is too long!) I looove reading dark and twisted fairytales, they’re so much fun to read – I honestly wish there were more gender-bent fairytales out there because those are THE BEST!
Fantastic review as always Hun 🙂
Grace Louise || http://www.gracelouiseofficial.blogspot.co.uk/
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Long TBRs are like our bane ahh haha. Although if we DIDN’T have enough books to read, we’d probably also freak out too, right?!
And YES to genderbends! I am trying to fill that gap here.😂My second book is a goldilocks genderbend!
YEP, this was quite a good one. Paris was basically its own character, and I am absolutely here for that! I also agree with what you said in the spoiler section, like fully. Just based on the way the book went. I definitely appreciated Anouk’s character development too. Seriously, we DO need more characters who aren’t just innately “badass”, right? AND. I did not like Beau either. Not as a love interest certainly, but barely as a character. I kind of wonder if we are even supposed to like him? That’d be a fun twist!
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PARIS IS GREAT. I WANT TO GO. I could be a witch and eat croissants and enchant people, like c’mon I was born for that life tbh.
And yesss I liked that Annouk also didn’t just turn into like a competent weapon either. AT the beginning I was annoyed with how weak/innocent she seemed, but then I was like woah hold up.😂It’s OK to be that type of person too!! (But what the heck with that romance lmao. It would’ve been better without it. Beau can go eat a leaf.)
Aah, you know, I didn’t fancy this one. I think the description I read made it sound like something completely different. I’m sure it said they wanted to get back to being animals again, and that sounded kind of more like MG and not my bag. But it actually sounds a lot darker, and really up my street! And I love the idea of a new take on fairy tales, too! I’m so intrigued! I might have to keep an eye out for it. So thanks for the review, Cait! I would have passed this by otherwise,
I do like fairy tales from different angles! I’ve recently bought Damsel by Elana K. Arnold, and I’m so excited to read it! Deals with the tropes of a damsel being saved by a prince, and it’s very feminist and ragey, apparently! I’m so excited to read it!
Aww I’m glad I convinced you!! And yes definitely YA. Not like super super dark, but it was bloody and stabby enough that I was happy heeh. I just heard about Damsel recently too and I’m excited for it!
Okay so when you said this book was told from the perspective of humans who were once animals, and also set in Paris I was like: YES, GIVE IT TO MEEEE. Like the Loki GIF.
But then you said the only character that dies is a gay character, and now I’m not okay. I won’t pick this one up until it’s confirmed that the character isn’t dead. But even so… it’s still not okay. Because they still died… and they were still the only character that died. I am 10000000% over authors doing this. Just please. Stop.
So I’m keen and not all at once for this. I guess time will tell if I actually get around to reading it because STOP BURYING YOUR GUYS, YOU COWARDS.
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GAYS, DAMMIT
Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity recently posted…The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee: Not About Piracy
I’m just confused why, in this day and age, a really well-established and famous author would do that?? Like it’s very oblivious in privilege if they really thought it wouldn’t be an issue. But my BIGGEST warning sign is the character doesn’t die on page. So I am just ?????? The character gets attacked and Anouk is just like “oh they’re dead” later on. Hence I haven’t totally been angry at it. It felt like the fakest “death” ever. If that makes sense. But I get not wanting to read it anyone. It is a trope that makes me so angry.