I won't put a review for this one on Goodreads or the library website as I stopped reading at about 30%. I just couldn't handle the tone - the narrator was a bit woe-is-me for no reason all of the time and while that was sort of played off as snark, it just wasn't doing it for me. That, and there were several obvious connections that the main character refused to make, which led to completely avoidable problems arising (as the kids probably are no longer saying, she was TSTL). I kept with it until we got to fairy tale world, but as I found those characters to be arguably more annoying than our regular earth characters, I decided to abandon this one.

While I didn't like it, I will absolutely recommend it to younger teens who like fairy tale retellings or Rachel Hawkins' books. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't for me.

This book was received as an ARC from Inkyard Press in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I see a lot of modern fairy tales trending with the new up in coming YFantasy novels but I have never read a story that had a modern take on the prequel to the most classic fairy tale of all time. I loved how the whole tale was a struggle against good and evil and how much she wanted to escape the temptations of the darkness and how it overtook her life and everything she had ever loved. Also, you ever wonder how strong a prophecy really is and what it really meant to be and why it has to happen.

We will consider adding this book to our YFantasy collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

If you liked Once Upon a Time you will love Gena Showalter's, "The Evil Queen." A creative twist on the mythology of fairy tales. Everly and her twin sister were raised as modern-day mortals. At the age of seventeen they discover, they were whisked away from another dimension as babies and must now return to Enchantia. Everly felt no love or acceptance in the mortal world except from her sister, mother, and step-father, humans were frightened by her strength and bravery. In Enchantia she meets Prince Roth who is instantly drawn to her like she is the missing piece of his puzzle. As in any good fairy tale the story includes lots of battles, intrigue, and romance. Once you get started you can't put it down!

I wanted to like this, but just couldn’t.
I found the beginning of the somewhat childish, and the rest of the book dull.

I have some mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed it enough but there were parts of it that felt so juvenile. Which is strange considering the book is older YA.

The premise was great and I spent the entire book trying to figure out who played what role. That part was really well done. I enjoyed the characters and each individual arc.

Where I was lost was the narration of the book itself. Everly felt very immature to me. Her personality and thought processes made me cringe on multiple occasions. And not in a good way.

Overall, it was a decent book. Nothing special in my opinion.

The Evil Queen is a young adult retelling of Snow White. It has a really well plotted synopsis, yet it seems to delve out the characters well in this one. I like the though process of where Ms. Showalter was going with this novel. I think young adult will enjoy the dark nature of it.

I had such high hopes for this book. The description contained so many elements that I absolutely love: a magical realm, Princesses raised in our normal world, fairy tales, true love, etc. Unfortunately this one fell a little short for me. The main character, Everly just wasn't particularly likable for me. I wanted to like her. There were times that I absolutely was rooting for her, but overall I just wasn't that invested in her. The way this story unfolds you need to be 100% invested in her because some messed up stuff goes down. Honestly I wish the story was not even about Everly and her peers, I thought the story of her mom and the other women that ate the magical apples would have been far more interesting. As it was, we meet all the children of the apples, but only Everly is really given any attention. She and the Prince are the only characters that are given any time an attention to the detriment of the overall story. There were so many other characters whose actions had huge impacts on the story. but they just seemed tossed in like plot grenades. I wanted to know more about all these other characters and their motivations, but none of that information was ever shared. It was occasionally a fun read, but I was equally frustrated with it and yelling at the characters for willfully making poor choices. Overall a bit of an up and down emotional roller coaster for me, but I would be particularly interested in a prequel.

The story has an excellent start and I liked that it was told in first person. Unfortunately, my expectations were a little too high and ended in a DNF.

What worked:
- I liked that we dive right into the story from the get-go. A lot happens, which is also its ultimate downfall for me.

What didn't work:
-The timelines move back and forth at warp speed making it confusing. It was like listening to someone with a million thoughts speaking a mile a minute. You had to keep up to follow.
- Because there's so much going on with alternating timelines, the story doesn't properly unfold. Before one portion of the story finishes, the next one begins.

The final straw for me was when the story takes place in the mortal world. The narration went from classic fairytale to contemporary YA. It was like I was reading an entirely different story.

There others who enjoyed it, I just wasn't one of them..sorry..

Thank you Netgalley & Harlequin teen for my ARC.

Oh, this was deliciously good! I've been a fan of Gena Showalter's for years so I just had to get my hands on this and it did NOT disappoint.

The Evil Queen is my first read by this author. I have heard amazing things and wanted to discover a new world to get lost in. This book certainly did that for me. While it is listed as a YA book, I feel can be read and enjoyed by any readers. I am rating it at 3.75 stars.

This book read to me like a classic fairy tale with dark twists and a bunch of riddles. It starts out instantly, without easing the reader into this new world so I was a bit lost and slightly put off for a few chapters. There is A LOT going on and it took some time to get comfortable with the story. Once I got the hang of the story, however, I enjoyed it. It’s a fresh and new turn on a classic fairy tale. The characters are well developed and deep. I liked the use of common items, ideas and thoughts but in a new and different way. It was enjoyable to get the “other” side view of such tales.

My one issue is that this book reads like this is book one of a serial series and all the world building is in this book alone. This story was so deep and involved it took longer than usual to read it as it felt so long. I don’t think I have ever read a story with so much going on, yet not. There is no traditional HEA, as I said, I feel like this is only book one.

While this book was enjoyable to read, I am not sure I will read the rest of this series (that is purely on me, not this book) because rather than an escape it read like task. I received an ARC via NetGallery and am leaving an honest review.

From the bestselling author of the Intertwined series and The White Rabbit Chronicles, Gena Showalter brings us a new series that’s rich in fairy tale lore and will set us on a new course of the stories we only thought we knew! The Evil Queen is the start of a new series called The Forest of Good and Evil. This was a remarkable start to the series and I cannot wait to see what will happen next.

The story starts off like any other, once upon a time in a land far, far away live two girls and their parents—except we soon learn that Everly and Harley are average girls living average lives…until all that changes. Naturally, the girls aren’t so average after all. They learn that their family heritage isn’t like normal kids’, they are tied to a magical world that has living incarnations of fairy tale characters. Fate says that Everly will the evil queen from Snow White while Harley’s role isn’t clear. Everly is more than willing to journey to this new world, anything to escape the world she lives in.

Everly makes some startling revelations about herself and family upon coming into this new world known as Enchantia. She soon finds herself among new friends, one of which is named Roth Charmaine, who she soon realizes must be Prince Charming with that kind of name. As Everly searches for someone who is connected to her true identity she must learn to navigate a world where magic exists and not everyone can be trusted and there’s danger at every turn.

I’ll admit that this book had a rough start for me. There are books I always seem to struggle with when on a Kindle and I think it’s due to formatting issues. Who would’ve thought formatting was such a godsend for understanding the story in the beginning chapters? Things weren’t quite clear in those early chapters that seemed more like a predecessor for what was to come. One chapter I did catch onto like that, but the one before that seemed more like a prologue that wasn’t so aptly named, but I digress. These are just little me issues based on how I was reading this one.

Since I pretty much love fairy tales of all kinds, including retellings and reimaginings, I was super excited to get into this one! One that seemed to be more like an Evil Queen origin story. While it is that in some ways, it’s also so much more. This book will make you look at fairy tales different from here on out. What makes a villain and what makes a hero? Who gets to give these titles out anyway? Perhaps the Evil Queen was always the heroine of the story and Snow White was there to ruin everything…in a way, the TV series Once Upon a Time did this too and you find yourself rooting for Everly whatever her role in this world may be. She questions it endlessly as well as the other people who are in her new life.

This book felt rather long while reading on a Kindle, which is partly why I don’t like reading on my Kindle as often. Lol. Though the hardcover says it’s 384 pages, it felt longer when reading with no actual pages to turn. That being said, I do feel like the pacing is a bit rough. There were a lot of ups and downs, let’s say that. But I never found myself wanting to thrown in the towel, the story was compelling in that way.

There was a bit of romance too! I loved how bold and brash Everly was. She was an unexpected surprise to Roth who was used to girls fawning over him and while Everly was attracted to the prince, I wouldn’t say she swooned. She told him like it is and was just filled with so much sass. I’d definitely be besties with this girl.

And like most fairy tales of old, this story got pretty dark. Everly was falling more and more into the role that fate chose for her and at times, you just kind of wanted her to go all at it! Like with many twisted villain stories, you see that Everly didn’t have it easy from the moment she came into Enchantia and everyone was pretty much against her because of her destined role to come. I felt for the girl, let’s say that.

By the end, when you expect for the magical fairy tale ending to come, it does, but it doesn’t end with “and they lived happily ever after,” in fact, there seems like there is still a lot that needs to be done. I am puzzled by this as I initially thought I heard that this series of undetermined length would focus on other fairy tale characters as well. That’s not to say that it still can’t turn out that way. I could see there be more of a gathering when the grand finale comes into play. I guess we will have to wait and see what time will tell us.

The Evil Queen is the book meant for fairy tale fans! This was one of the most intriguing and compelling retellings I’ve read in a while. It wasn’t without its flaws, but I think that adds to its charm as well. I cannot wait to see what Showalter will do next with this sure to be a hit series!


Overall Rating 4/5 stars


The Evil Queen releases June 25, 2019

Wow! Amazing! Holy Moly! Grazy Good!
I loved this book! It had everything in it that I love. I am so grateful to be given this chance to read this book early by one of my favorite authors, Gena Showalter. The Evil Queen is fantastic and I can't wait to read what she has in store for us in the next installment.
Everly and Roth are great together! I love them!
This is going on my keeper shelf and I will recommend this book to any who will listen.
Bravo, Gena, bravo! Well done on this one.

Have you ever been around middle schoolers and hear how they talk and just think to yourself, my god I’m old? That’s how I felt for 75% of this book.

“The Evil Queen” takes us through the twists and turns of the classic fairy tale as the board is set but the pieces are yet to be played as Everly tries to understand her role in the prophecy that describes her path in the world of magic and with each step she takes she finds herself asking the question is evil born or made?

The dialogue in this is so cringy! I could not handle how anyone in this book spoke, half the time it was in riddles and the other it was so absurd that I rolled my eyes so far in my head I thought they were going to be stuck. I’ve never heard anyone talk like these characters especially in a fantasy based story even though it crossed over with the real world bringing in some of that slang.

The entire first 20% was nothing but exposition. They threw so much world building, background info and everything that ties the rest of the story together so quick I felt like I was cramming for a test. There is a lot that goes into understanding the dynamics that will play out later in this story and the pacing never managed to make that an easy journey instead it would throw everything at you before backing off for character development, and that’s being generous here, before doing it all over again when the story moved some place else.

This book has all the elements for a great villain origin story and I’m sad it took so long for us to get to a point where it actually worked. At about 3/4s of the way in is when it finally hit its stride and came together with the plot and the characters actually being something to root for or against rather than something that appeared so juvenile you questioned finishing it altogether.

This is going to be a struggle for people to get into and I’m not sure the pay off is worth the effort but I’ll leave that for each reader to decide, as for me I’m glad it’s over and I’m not sure I’ll be revisiting the forest any time soon.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

Gena Showalter does it again. In The Evil Queen she crafts a new version of Snow White where everyone can be any of the characters in the fairy tale; it's all a matter of what you choose to do with your life and the situations that transpire around you. Everly was everything that I hoped for when it came to an Evil Queen and a Snow White. While she fits the Evil Queen bill better the situations that transpire around her make for a thrilling ride as she transitions from being a girl obsessed with mirrors to a girl fighting for her life in an enchanted world. Gena brings the magic of the fairy tale and the romance that she is known for and weaves it together to make an enchanted story that transcends the fairy tale and even the Disney version; creating an all new tale as old as time. I can't wait for her to transcribe other fairy tales into the world of The Forest of Good and Evil series.

I've been in a book slump for the past few months, and The Evil Queen has finally stopped the cycle. It was such a wild ride. There's deceit, love, death and much more. What's also nice about this story is that it focuses on not only love but the importance of friendship and family as well.

There are a lot of characters introduced to us in EQ, Everly being the heroine, and I liked basically all of them. Well, the good guys...or do I technically like the bad guys...I don't know, haha. That's what this book will do to you. You won't know who is good or bad, but you'll love certain characters regardless. They have a way of getting to your heart.

Insert Roth Charmaine- my love, my heart, and my new book boyfriend. Or one of them at least haha. He is literal perfection. He was really the perfect Prince Charming...well maybe a slightly dirtier version. His strength, loyalty, and charm had me sweating.

I also have a crush on Everly. Like, I want her as my best friend in real life. She stopped at nothing to protect her loved ones, and she was so funny! I actually laughed out loud multiple times. There's nothing better than a witty, sarcastic and fierce heroine.

I definitely recommend this book. Gena Showalter did a spectacular job.

I was given an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love fairy tales and I was so excited about this book when I read the description.

This was an amazing read with a plot that'll keep readers wondering until the very last page. I never knew what exactly was going to happen next and I was elated to find out.

This novel has magic, love, betrayal, plot twists, and action.

I loved the main character, and how brave and determined she was, as well as smart and kind.

The book puts a lot of twists to the fable while keeping true to the original.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoy fairy tales and when I read the blurb about this novel, I kept thinking about Once Upon a Time. This novel was all that and more! An excellent read that has the plot constantly twisting, never truly knowing what will happen next. Magic, love, betrayal, death, and more wrapped up in one amazing novel!
Everly Morrow has several abilities as a sorceress, but does not understand them until she leaves the human world and arrives in Enchantia. She loves those she cares for deeply, always struggling between good and evil. She understands the choices she makes, but has gotten hurt by many, yet she becomes stronger and more determined. Roth Charmaine, a prince, has his own abilities, and charming to boot. He is a warrior and protects those in his kingdom and those he considers friends. Everly and Roth have a love hat relationship, but their chemistry is off the charts! Both keep secrets, knowing how it will impact the other, yet they cannot stop the forces that keep pushing them together. The prophecy that hangs over their heads affects everyone, for everyone believes Everly to be the Evil Queen. Nothing is as it seems though. Each action and decision keeps one guessing at which fairy tale each character is fated to be. I am looking forward to the next novel in the series! A wonderful and compelling read!

Full review is up on Goodreads.

I devoured this book like a red juicy apple in one day! Amazing. I loved it. I loved the main character, Everly. She is confident, brave, determined, strong, kind and smart and she doesn’t let others get away with hurting those she loves. The love interest was great and the twist to the fairytale while not surprising was also fantastic.