Tear You Apart

Gr 8 Up—An otherworldly spin on the "Snow White" fairy tale and a companion novel to Kill Me Softly (Egmont USA, 2012). Seventeen-year-old Viv Deneuve is the Snow White figure in this tale. A dark-haired beauty with blood red lips, Viv is a sitting duck. If her jealous stepmother doesn't poison her first, then her cursed boyfriend Henley is charged with hunting Viv down and cutting out her heart. Her only chance of survival is to stay as far away from Henley as possible, but that's hard to do when she is desperately in love with him. When Viv is invited to an underworld club by the same prince who is supposed to break her curse, she wonders if she can leave Henley and her heart behind. But Prince Jasper isn't Prince Charming. And once Viv enters the underworld, Jasper's father isn't going to let her go home. The protagonist decides to take her fate into her own hands. Cross deftly takes the all-too-familiar Disney fairy tale tropes (fair maiden, handsome prince) and turns them on their heads. These tales are dark and sinister (Viv worries her prince has a dead girl fetish) and filled with a diverse cast of characters. At first, the protagonist isn't all that likable. She's abrasive and bitter and almost resigned to her fate. But once she sets her sights on freedom and justice, she becomes a more powerful heroine. A great read for fans of the television show, Once Upon A Time.—Kimberly Garnick Giarratano, Rockaway Township Public Library, NJ