Entwined by Heather Dixon

Entwined
by Heather Dixon
March 2011
Greenwillow Books

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in The Keeper's silver forest.  But there is a cost.  The Keeper likes to keep things.

Amazon has been telling me for almost a year now that I needed to read this book.  Every time I looked up a book, there it would be, sitting in the "Customers who bought this, also bought . . . " list.  Well Amazon, you're corporate and a little creepy, but you do seem to know me pretty well.  I absolutely love fairy tales that have been retold or rehashed in some way and this book is a cute, heartwarming rendition of the Twelve Dancing Princesses.

As the oldest daughter in a family of twelve princesses, and as the King's heir to the throne, Azalea has a lot of responsibility.  Keeping up with her duties has never been a problem, however, as long as she finds time to dance.  But when her mother dies, the kingdom is thrown into mourning and dancing is banned.  Wanting to honor their mother's memory, the princesses search for a place where dancing is allowed, and ultimately gain access to an enchanted forest with a strange keeper. Azalea thinks she understands the price of this new found freedom.  But she does not.

While I still prefer Juliet Marillier's Wildwood Dancing for my top Twelve Dancing Princesses pick, this book was charming and unique in it's own way.  Unlike many young adult books written today, the girls don't put up a fuss about being, well, girls.  They are very feminine and expect gentlemen to behave a certain way toward and around them.  I don't really have an opinion regarding the "rightness" of one view or another, but it was certainly a nice break from all the heroines that yell "What, you think I can't do it myself?!" when a guy opens a door for her.  Inner strength isn't all about who opens the door, regardless of gender.

This book also had a very nice message about families and helping one another, even when the other person is acting like they'd really rather you never talked to them again.  Overall, a cute, clean read with endearing characters and positive messages throughout.  Oh, and it gets a plus one for not being a part of a series.

For more books based on traditional myths or fairy tales, see this reading list.