Entwined

Entwined

Written by : Heather Dixon

       When  Azalea's mother, the queen, dies, she is left with the responsibility of caring for her 11 younger sisters. With her father rejecting them and attending to Royal Business all the time, Azalea's and her sisters have to fight for themselves. First of all, the sisters all love to dance, and all have a special talent for it. But while in mourning, the girls can't dance, can't know the time, and have to wear all black. Before their mother died, she taught them  many dances and made sure they mastered all of them. Just before the queen died she gave Azalea a handkerchief with silver embellished initials. Azalea doesn't know what to think, but she is grateful for the gift.  

         The king leaves on Royal Business for a year, leaving the princesses in the care of the castle staff. These princesses are very depressed. They can't go outside and they can't do the thing that they love most, dance.When Azalea presses the silver handkerchief to the D'Eathe mark, a secret passageway appears. Now I know what your thinking, "Oh wow, another cheesy story with princesses and secret passages." NO! This book is not cheesy at all. The passageway leads to a forest. They hear music, and see people dancing under a huge pavilion. They want to join so bad, but decided they should have an invitation first. Just as they were about to leave, a very handsome and mysterious man appears. His name is Keeper, and he asks them to stay. They accept, and dance the night away. When they return the next morning to their room, they are all exhausted, but that doesn't stop them from going back the next night, or the next. They continue to go to the pavilion for a long time. But one night, Keeper asks them to look for a magical object. He tells the sisters that if they destroy this object then he will be set free, and can go above ground. Azalea accepts, and begins looking immediately.

          The book continues to tell of their struggles to find this magicked object, but they cannot find it. Azalea becomes desperate, and eventually the Keeper becomes mean, and forces them to look harder. He begins taking their things and keeping them, hence the name Keeper. A huge battle takes place in which many of the men that the girls love fight Keeper. The book has a quirky twist at the end, you wouldn't expect some people to fall in love with some people. I really did enjoy reading this though.  It was different enough from the average twelve dancing princesses books that it kept me involved and excited. It was very entertaining, and will stay up there in my favorite books list.

          I loved this book. It was really great and really entertaining. This book brought up some themes. One of the biggest ones, in my opinion, was to never give up fighting on what you believe is most important. Azalea and her sisters always do what they think is best, or always try to right their wrongs in whichever way possible.

         All in all, this book was amazing. I would suggest Entwined for 13-17 year-olds. There is nothing inappropriate, and there really isn't any intense violence either. Entwined was beautifully written, and gets and A for sure!