Spirited (Once upon a Time)

CONTAINS SPOILERS:Right. Well, Holder knows how to set a scene. I bought the book on the strength of the first few pages, when the main character, Isabella, rides with her father through the autumn woods of New England. She's enchanted, and so was I. And when her little escort is attacked, it brings to mind scenes from the 'Last of the Mohicans' movie, which, given the dedication, seems deliberate. And that's alright; good movie, that was.The trouble I had with the story came with the developing relationship between Isabella and Wusamequin, her captor. The story is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, so I was expecting romance, and it's there. Problem is, it seems contrived, even considering the outlines of the original story. The main thing that Isabella and Wusamequin have in common is their mutual ability to heal people using spirit medicine. And that's a big thing, but they're up against some fairly big factors: the mutual enmity of their people, culture shock, personal violence, and war. Holder tries to get around this using the 'soulmates drawn mysteriously together' thing, along with what looks like a large helping of Stockholm syndrome, but it feels entirely too fast. There's a lot of "I like him/her and I don't know why;" truth told, I don't know why either. Both characters are likable, in their own ways; both are honorable, and fairly believable (if very heroic) on their own. It's the romance that feels forced. And in a story that is fundamentally romantic, that's wrong, somehow. A little extra time for them to get to know each other would not have gone amiss.Read this book on a rainy day. Read it again a year later. It's not the best book you'll ever read. But you know, it's not the worst either.

Spirited: Knowing that it was a smash up of the last of the Mohicansand beauty & the beast might help going into it, but then again...not so much. Lots of violence. Lots of blood thristy men.blech ! Then they throw in leprechauns!!!The story was drawn out and pretty strange.***SPOILER**** Not sure how the reader is supposed towarm up to a hero who is a scary violent savage... was married,had a child & lost them in a horrific slaughter.Y'know it doesn't matter if he's good looking...unless you're the kind who goes for the creepy, dark brooding typePass on this. I'm giving up on this author !

I rarely throw a book away - I liked the other book Snow but this one was kinda awful I’m not even donating it

I really have enjoyed this series and even own all the books! While this was a very interesting story, it wasn't my favorite. Still, totally worth reading :)

I have read other books in this series, and realize that they are written by different people, but I was really disappointed with this book. I felt that the plot was a little hard to follow, and the characters didn't have any traits that made you attatched-or pulled you in.

During the height of the French-Indian War, Isabella and her father, who is a doctor with the British army, are making their way to a new fort through the New York wilderness. In the meantime, Wusamequin, a native-American brave who is looking to revenge the death of his wife and child has a vision of soldiers crossing through the lands of his people. In a fit of rage Wusamequin leads a party of warriors against the English.Impressed with the way Isabella fights back, he spares her life and takes her into his home as his slave, though soon both of them begin to realize that they are becoming much more than servant and master.I liked the idea behind the story of Spirited, I love stories where Native American tribes take in settlers and the settlers learn that all they have been taught about "Indians" is wrong. It's a classic theme I know, but I can't help really liking those kinds of stories anyway. The hitch with Spirited however, is that Nancy Holder decided to insert lots of different kinds of magic and folklore into the plot.For example, Isabella has little fairy beings come to her while she is a prisoner in camp and they help her learn the language and keep her safe from those in the tribe who would do her harm. Now, some little touches of magic in a story are fine with me. I mean, it did take Spirited from the "historical fiction" category into fantasy, but Holder took it to the next level.Once vortexes started to open and Isabella and Wusamequin started fighting off evil spirits in the dream realm Spirited jumped from "interesting" and into the ridiculous. I get that this was supposed to be a YA book, but really? It's like I was reading two different books. Spirited started off as a great historical fiction with a little native magic throw in and became a sci/fi fantasy that happened to be set in the 1800s. It reminded me of that episode of "The Big Bang Theory" where Sheldon is walking around a Renaissance fair dressed as Spock. The two just did not go together.To top it off, in the epilogue Holder says that Spirited was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I must be a bigger idiot that I thought, because I totally didn't get that at all. In fact, I was baffled when I read that last part. If I flip through Spirited page by page, yeah OK, I can kind of see the similarities, but a retelling? That's stretching it. A lot.I guess my conclusion is I didn't get Spirited. The plot left me confused and kind of upset at the end, I found the characters to be very one-dimensional even for a YA book, and I put down Spirited feeling very unsatisfied. I have a couple more of these "retelling" books in my pile, but after this one I might shove them towards the bottom.A very generous 2 stars.