The Thirteenth Fairy by Melissa de la Cruz, ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read in November 2020

 Thank you to Netgalley for a free copy of The Thirteenth Fairy. This is my honest review.

I am a massive Disney fan and have heard a lot about Melissa de la Cruz so I was very excited when I got this ARC. Knowing it would be about storybook characters coming to life was the icing on the cake. 

The story starts off very reminiscent of Sleeping Beauty but Melissa de la Cruz puts her own spin on it. As she says, "the tales are wrong. The tales are twisted and untrue*".

And then we meet Filomena. A 12 year old not very socially outgoing bookworm with overprotective yet loving parents. She is eagerly awaiting the final book of a series that defined her childhood. This is describing me! I have a strong feeling we would be friends in real life.

Reading this was such an enjoyable adventure. My younger self would have loved reading this book. As a twenty something now, I am also so happy I picked it up because I spent a delightful couple of hours reading it. My only criticism is how quickly some characters accepted things and towards the end, I think too many fairytales were mentioned.

I can't wait to read more by Melissa de la Cruz especially if she returns to this world. 

If you like the TV series Once Upon a Time or twists on fairytale retellings, I think you'll like this and you should get a copy when it is published in December 2020.

[* uncorrected digital proof, page 6]

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