The Odd Sisters

*May contain some spoilers for those who haven’t read the series.* WOW! What an astounding tale! After finishing Mother Knows Best, I was quite anxious to learn the fate of the odd sisters. Serena Valentino took me on a journey of incredible discovery. The Odd Sisters is the story of Circe and Snow White and their search for answers about Circe’s mothers. Circe must decide the fate of Lucinda, Ruby, and Martha, and Snow White wants to make sure Circe knows the whole story. Their journey takes them to “The Beginning,” described as “a celestial landscape filled with stars and swirling constellations.” The Beginning sounded so beautiful that I closed my eyes so I could go there – even if only for a moment. Circe knows that all the kingdoms have been touched by her mothers’ evil. Circe also feels responsible because her mothers, in their minds, felt that everything they did – all the death and destruction – was justified because they were doing it out of love for Circe and their desire to keep her for themselves. Throughout their search for answers and solutions, Snow White reads everything she can, especial The Book of Fairy Tales. Snow White comes across a story titled “The Mourning Box.” As she reads, her heart aches for Gothel. “The Mourning Box” puts Mother Knows Best into perspective. Unfortunately, pages have been ripped out of the book to keep the truth from being discovered. Snow believes that she must find the missing pages in order to truly understand not only Gothel’s story but also that of the odd sisters, and ultimately Circe. Circe and Snow return to Gothel’s house to check on Mrs. Tiddlebottom and to see if Snow can find the missing pages among Gothel’s books and journals. What they discover is even more surprising – and unexpected. Primrose and Hazel, Gothel’s sisters, have awakened from their death sleep after many, may years. Mrs. Tiddlebottom tells Circe and Snow that the sisters went home. Circe and Snow have no choice but to return to the dead woods. As Snow searches the library for the missing pages, Circe finds Hazel and Primrose outside their crypts reading the words Jacob had inscribed. “Sisters. Together. Forever.” The sisters were expecting Circe and were happy to see her. They also reassure her that Jacob would want her to wake him, so she does. Jacob is visibly shaken when asked about the missing pages from “The Mourning Box.” After all, “The Mourning Box” is a tragic story of a love that wasn’t lost, but was violently ripped away. This is Jacob’s story, and his story explains everything. The Odd Sisters broke my heart. “The Mourning Box” was especially heart breaking. In discovering the truth about the odd sisters, I developed a much better understanding of Gothel and her mother Manea. Mother Knows Best makes much more sense to me now than when I read it. I know I’ve said this in previous reviews, but Serena Valentino is a very talented story teller. The way she has connected the back stories of all these “villains” is so very unexpected. She brings elements to these characters that make the reader feel bad for the villains. Maybe Maleficent isn’t the only villain that is incredibly misunderstood. Maybe some of them aren’t villains after all. Another aspect of Serena Valentina’s writing is her word usage. I cannot think of another author (at least at the moment) who uses words like “discombobulated” and “skullduggery.” The Odd Sisters starts out as a fun read. As I read further into this fairy tale, I became intrigued. My emotions were all over the place with this book. (At one point I was wishing Nanny would throat punch The Fairy Godmother just once.) Serena Valentino’s The Odd Sisters took me on the kind of journey I want to take every time I pick up a book.

Ok I'll be honest, after reading the first few books leading up to this one, the characters I liked the LEAST were the odd sisters. To the point of having to fight with myself not to skip the pieces that were centered around them in previous books. Not sure why, but I didnt like reading any of their stories, doings, speech or thoughts. So getting this book was almost something I planned on skipping. I couldnt stand the thought of a whole book filled with their staggered sentences! But I didnt want to kiss anything in later books that may be tied together with this one, so I begrudgingly got it. I am SO glad I did!!! This book is by far my favorite in the series so far. Seeing where the sisters came from along with thwir dear Circe, plus backstreet and connections of other characters was so much fun. I was captivated by this book so much that I read whenever I had a few minutes until it was finished. Excellent writing, great plot twists and turns, seemingly effortless connections to many other characters and storylines... I truly enjoyed this book. All I can say is wow! I hate that it's over! Would and will definitely recommend!

I have enjoyed all of the books in the villain series so far but this one is my favorite. I couldn’t put it down.

Bought this as a gift and it arrived in great condition!

I loved this book as I have loved all the books in this series. The odd sisters have been characters always sparking my curiosity in the other books so it was very nice to learn more about them. I finished this book right before I was going to go to sleep and I'm very tempted to just start the next one!

The previous fairytales from all the previous books come together in this book to culminate the story behind the Odd Sisters' actions. It is a story of sacrificial love and loss. It gives so many answers to questions behind the Odd Sisters origin and how even the darkest can come to reflect through love.

This is definitely what I thought there story would be like so many twist and turns! It was amazing as always! I’m not going to GIVE ANYTHING AWAY! READ THE BOOK!

Since I started this series The Odd Sisters have always been there causing chaos but never really getting to know them. This story dives into their story and fills in the missing pieces. At that ending left me speechless. I hope we hear more about The Odd Sisters in Serena’s next book.

Me encantó cada página de este libro, Serena tiene una forma de escribir increíble de modo que me atrae cada palabra. La historia es fascinante, intrigante y las ilustraciones de verdad hermosas, el final fue demasiado épico y ya espero la siguiente novela para seguir descubriendo los oscuros pasados de los villanos y su relación con las hermanas.

Bra och spännande bok.

Gut

Love this fun original series, fast delivery and good price from amazon

One of my favourite books in a series I simply adore! I’m so glad I discovered it during a random walk through my local bookstore. I was immediately drawn in and have read 10 of the 12 books in just 4 weeks. I highly recommend reading them in order as they refer to each other throughout. There is a common thread that ties each story to the next.