A re-telling of the little known fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses by the Brothers Grimm that has been set during Prohibition in New York City. Twelve sisters have been held hostage by a wealthy, business minded father who cared only to have a male heir. Disappointed by his multitude of daughters, he has kept them practically locked up in their large house, not even bothering to learn all of their names or see their faces. After their mother dies, the eldest sister, Jo is placed in charge of the girls. In order to keep the girls satisfied, Jo sneaks them out at night to go dancing at select speakeasies. Known only as the princesses, the sisters revel in the anonymity and freedom of the dance until their father becomes suspicious and wants to marry them off.
I enjoyed this story, although I had a hard time relating to the characters. The Jazz age in New York City was a wonderful setting, the different underground bars, dresses, dancing shoes and the variety of dances created a magical atmosphere that made the twelve sisters disappearing into the night very believable. The story focused mainly on Jo, but was written in the third person and bounced around to all the characters (it also had a ton of parenthesized thoughts from the characters, which was something different then I'm used to). This didn't really bother me, but I didn't feel like I really connected to anyone, even near the end when there were a lot of emotions. Overall, I did enjoy this fairy tale retold as historical fiction, but the point of view didn't work for me.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
I enjoyed this story, although I had a hard time relating to the characters. The Jazz age in New York City was a wonderful setting, the different underground bars, dresses, dancing shoes and the variety of dances created a magical atmosphere that made the twelve sisters disappearing into the night very believable. The story focused mainly on Jo, but was written in the third person and bounced around to all the characters (it also had a ton of parenthesized thoughts from the characters, which was something different then I'm used to). This didn't really bother me, but I didn't feel like I really connected to anyone, even near the end when there were a lot of emotions. Overall, I did enjoy this fairy tale retold as historical fiction, but the point of view didn't work for me.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
