I recently hosted author Tia Nevitt on my blog, and she gave away an e-copy of her book, The Sevenfold Spell, to a commentator. The person who won the book was Laurel, and she was nice enough to offer up a review:

Since I’ve got my blog-won copy of The Sevenfold Spell here, I thought it might be nice to offer a public thank you to Jennifer and Tia for the very enjoyable read!

You know how fairy tales used to be grimmer and a bit naughty before the Victorian era scrubbed them into stories for children? Well, The Sevenfold Spell is a throwback to the older tradition and all the richer for it.

Talia is our heroine. But not the princess. She’s not even pretty. If you asked her mama, she’d tell you the same thing. Talia and her mother scrape out their living as spinsters and Talia manages to accrue enough for a dowry. She’s even got herself a fella, Willard, who is just as plain as she is.  Then the evil fairy casts the fateful curse and everything comes undone. Talia’s livelihood is destroyed on orders from the Crown and her marriage prospects unraveled by Willard’s father, who ships him off to the monastery. Nobody wants an ugly girl with no money. Chaos and ruination come to the peasants for the sake of a princess they’ve never seen. And thus the story begins.

There were so many things to like about this book. Talia is fully developed and relatable, a practical sort who picks her way through a life distorted by the edges of the curse. The way she grows and changes through the story is organic, not forced, although the circumstances dictate a lot of her choices.

The author isn’t afraid to let things get a bit salty, but there is no superfluous or particularly graphic sex. It reads as part of the story instead of “insert erotica scene here”. And my very favorite thing: nobody has an out-of-body experience on their first trip to the rodeo.

All the usual suspects are there but not in the way you’d expect. An idiot-savant princess, a handsome prince who is helpless to rescue anyone, the spinster crone who takes on a fairy, and a very satisfactory ending that takes into account the entire scope of the story. The finish is romantic but not so sweet you need an insulin pump when you put it down.

The Sevenfold Spell is a short read but very intricate. It’s an artful combination of a nod and a sly wink to the fairy tale trope in general. I liked it so much that I already called my sister and told her to put on her Nook at the first opportunity. Congrats to Tia!

Thanks to Laurel for the review. 😉