Entwined

Entwined is a fantastical book and the world within is riddled with magic, love, and darkness. This book written by Heather Dixon is a beautifully created fiction novel. Entwined is about 12 sisters, all of whom love to dance, and just happen to be princesses. Every last one of them, even down to the very youngest one who had just been born. In Entwined the 12 sisters learn about love, friendship, loyalty, and what evil really is.

Entwined starts out with a ball. This ball, is the annual yuletide ball the royal family of Eathesbury hosts. in fact it is the only ball the royal family hosts. Usually Azalea's mother hosts the ball, but since she is with child and too sick to attend, Azalea, as the Eldest of the 12 princesses, is given the responsibility of hosting it in her mother's stead. That night, the festivities are shortened at the news of the queen's death during child birth.

After his wife's death, the king becomes sullen, mean and snappy. The royal household enters a state of mourning. In this state the princesses cannot wear color except for black, and go outside. In addition, the girls cannot even dance. The girls a furious at these new rules, and insist on dancing still. Soon Azalea finds a hidden, magic passageway through a silver forest to a small dancing pavilion. The girls are elated. Now they can dance in secret without anyone ever knowing. But dancing there doesn't come without a price. The keeper of the pavilion likes to keep things even if it is not his. Soon the girls realize that dancing every night may not be as fine and dandy as it seemed at first. They also discover that Mr. keeper is not as friendly and handsome as he seemed. He may only ever defeated by silver and Azalea's bravery. Entwined spirals into a suspenseful end with unexpected romances, dark secrets uncovered, sad deaths, and families reunited.

I loved Entwined. The story line was very even paced until the climax, where naturally it became a little faster paced. After I had gotten about 3/4ths through the book, it speed up. In fact I actually read the whole last 1/4th of the book in one night because it was so exciting and enthralling. Some parts of Entwined were a bit predictable though. Such as the romance with Clover. I completely saw that one coming. Also, when ever Azalea described a tall dark gentleman with deep brown eyes, I immediately knew she was talking about Mr. Bradford. I think Azalea was kind of slow in the part that she didn't even fully realize she was in love with Mr. Bradford until the last half of the book. Especially because when she first meet him at the Yuletide ball at the very beginning of the book, she described him as very handsome and manly. I also thought the age differences in Entwined was a bit weird. For example, All three of the older sisters, Azalea, Bramble, and Clover, fall in love with guys at least 10, 15 years their senior. OK, maybe Azalea's man is only a bit older than her, but still I've got a point. In addition, there wasn't a single swear word in the entire book. Not one! I really liked that.

Over all, Entwined was a spectacular book. It's thrilling conflicts and tangled romances were very interesting to read about. I would definitely would recommend this book to anybody. (well maybe not certain boys who don't like romance) Entwined should for sure go on your "must read" list. A+