Dancing the Entwine

I found Entwined by Heather Dixon in the Goodreads giveaways sections.  No, I didn't win.  I bought it when it came out, though.  {It's a conspiracy, I'm telling you.  They let you enter the giveaway for a book you think looks interesting.  When you lose, you buy the book anyway and the bookstore gets their money (after the royalty from the publishers/producers/author, etc).  It's business.}


Goodreads Synopsis:  Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it.

The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. 

And so he extends an invitation.

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 love characters that have a creative passion.  You know, the writers, the scrapbookers, or even dancing, as in this one.

All twelve of the princesses are avid dancers.  Azalea is the oldest and the Princess Royale:  next in line to be queen.  Parliament will choose the next king, however.  Hopefully, they'll choose someone she likes.

Meanwhile, they're in mourning for their dead mother. They're not supposed to be dancing. But the Keeper's invitation is just too tempting to resist. So we have the crux of the plot.

But Keeper would like to be freed in return for allowing them to dance.

I gave it 4 stars. 

It kept my attention.  I'd recommend it to patient readers.  

I didn't give it a 5-star for two reasons:  

1 - the book ended 30-something pages after Mr. Bad Guy died.  I wasn't disappointed in the way Dixon ended the book at all.  I just wished she could've moved the scene up sooner.  The time that passes in the book between Mr. Bad Guy's demise and the end of the book is even a few months. 

2 - It was slow moving.  It's not that it wasn't interesting, because it was VERY interesting, but the girls don't meet Keeper until 60-70 pages into the book.

 I wish I had known the fairytale of the twelve dancing princesses before I read it, but I didn't.  Darn.  I'll read it soon.  There's another name for it, and I'll check my Grimms' Collection again.  If not, there's always Google. ;-P

The Entwine sounds like a cool dance, though.