THE DAUGHTERS GRIMM

Author: Minda Webber ISBN: 9780505527714 7/2008 PARANORMAL/HISTORICAL Publisher: DORCHESTER
Time Period: Georgian, 1786

In eighteenth-century Cornwall, life as a Grimm sister could be…well, grim. With six siblings all obsessed by fairy tales, it was hardly possible for a girl of delicate sensibilities to meet a prince, no matter how many frogs her brothers put in her bed. But when an aunt invited the self-proclaimed beauty Rae, and Greta, her literary-minded sister, to the Black Forest, things started to shape up. Rae met a widowed baron and his children who made Schortz work of all her marital misgivings, and Greta fell for…a less-than-charming prince. Still, even with all the paranormal oddities cropping up, life in this forest was better than being two Corny hens, and the hairier their situations got, the clearer it was to both sisters that, like Little Red Riding Hood, they’d stumbled onto a couple of wolves…and would love every minute of it.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Are you in the mood for a light-hearted, sometimes silly but well-written story? If you are, I suggest  you pick  up a copy of THE DAUGHTERS GRIMM. Minda Webber's latest paranormal romp isn't dark, serious or even remotely contemplative. It is pure fun, a fast read that is designed to entertain and amuse. It does precisely that.

It's 1786 and Rae Grimm is one of the daughters of the famous Grimm family. Alas, in her time the family has yet to become famous and Rae, although pretty, intelligent and a wonderful prospect for any man looking for a bride, has no dowry. Her father the Baron is impoverished, so Rae decides she'll stay with her parents, two younger brothers and trio of sisters rather than marry beneath her. Even a poor Baron's daughter has standards, it seems. Some time away from home with Greta, one of the sisters, brings this unusual tale to a boil and from there on out, all kinds of weird things happen.

Werewolves, a corpse-stealing vampire, children howling at the moon and saintly, hovering, ghostly first wives are commonplace among THE DAUGHTERS GRIMM. The author's writing is clean and polished, and so engaging that even the often ridiculous scenes came vividly to mind. And although Rae is portrayed as delicate and lovely, she turns out to have a backbone, something I was relieved to see. In the end, despite the lunacy of her life, Rae Grimm finds happiness. And really, isn't that how every fairytale should end?

Kay James