Book Review: Bewitching by Alex Flinn

Bewitching: The Kendra Chronicles
by Alex Flinn
Release Date: February 14th, 2012
Publisher: Harper Teen
Genre: YA Paranormal
Format: ebook, 336 pages
Source: ePubBud
ISBN: 978-0-0620-2415-2
Get a Copy: B&N | Amazon 

Goodreads Summary: Bewitching can be a beast. . . .

Once, I put a curse on a beastly and arrogant high school boy. That one turned out all right. Others didn't.

I go to a new school now--one where no one knows that I should have graduated long ago. I'm not still here because I'm stupid; I just don't age.

You see, I'm immortal. And I pretty much know everything after hundreds of years--except for when to take my powers and butt out.

I want to help, but things just go awry in ways I could never predict. Like when I tried to free some children from a gingerbread house and ended up being hanged. After I came back from the dead (immortal, remember?), I tried to play matchmaker for a French prince and ended up banished from France forever. And that little mermaid I found in the Titanic lifeboat? I don't even want to think about it.

Now a girl named Emma needs me. I probably shouldn't get involved, but her gorgeous stepsister is conniving to the core. I think I have just the thing to fix that girl--and it isn't an enchanted pumpkin. Although you never know what will happen when I start . . . bewitching.

Cindy's Review: 

I really love Alex Flinn's retellings. The first book I read of hers was Beastly and that was really entertaining. Beastly was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I didn't realize it was part of a series, The Kendra Chronicles. 

So Bewitching is the second book in this series. The first book was about Beauty and the Beast. This second one is mainly about Cinderella. But there are two stories in between, like a memory from Kendra, about Greta and Hansel um yeah. I think I forgot their names. Omg. I forgot a fairy tale name. What did I tell you about my memory. and The Little Mermaid. Greta and Hansel was about Kendra herself. She is Greta and her younger brother is Hansel. And there was also a retelling of The Pea and the Princess, or something like that. I think that's what it's called. Yeah. I may love retellings of fairy tales, but I'm not too good with fairy tales itself. There were too many versions and I get all confused. 

The Little Mermaid and The Princess and The Pea retelling both had a bad ending. Not necessarily a bad ending, but not a very successful one, according to Kendra.  Bewitching is basically Kendra telling a story. It started with Greta and Hansel retelling with Kendra as the narrator. Then, Kendra introduces about Emma from the Cinderella retelling. In the middle, Kendra cuts in with a retelling of The Princess and The Pea. The Princess and The Pea is told in the prince's POV. Then, Kendra continues on with the Cinderella retelling. The Cinderella retelling is told in Emma's POV. Next, Kendra cuts in with The Little Mermaid retelling with the mermaid as the narrator. At last, it the Cinderella one again. And Kendra speaks in between all the transitions.

Since the main retelling of this story is Cinderella, I'll tell you Emma's story. Basically, Emma is the step-sister. Not a evil step-sister. Lisette is the Cinderella. I think I haven't gotten this wrong. But Lisette is evil. Emma's mother had married Lisette's father. He is a very nice guy and he loves Emma like his own until Lisette came in. At first, Emma thought Lisette really just deserves some father-daughter time since they had been separated for so long, but then Lisette started stealing Emma's stuff, making friends with the snotty popularity queens and claims all of their dad's attention. Emma's mom had warned her, 'Watch out for Lisette.' but Emma had always thought Lisette was just trying to fit in. 

But then later on, when Emma realized Lisette isn't as innocent as she is, Lisette pulled the 'My mom just died card' on her, making her a bad person. Taking her dad, her clothes, and her life apparently isn't bad enough, Lisette even had to take Emma's boyfriend, Warner. Yep. Lisette's basically the evil Cinderella. And the main character of the story is the step-sister. 

In the end, Emma finally confronted Lisette. Emma had met Kendra and all, but according to Kendra, Emma had outwitted Lisette all by herself. With no help from Kendra's magic.

Alex Flinn writes really entertaining retellings. So if you love those fairy tale retellings, I must say, Alex Flinn is the author for you! ;D

The Rating: (1-10): 8~9

Happy Reading~