It took me a little while to get into this book, but once I did, I quite enjoyed it. It is a beautiful fairy tale. It has fantastical elements that are still rooted in the real world. It is very well written. In the tradition of The Night Circus, this book transports you to another world. I highly recommend.

I need more of this! Joshua's adventure both broke my heart and filled me with joy. Although the book has magical elements it mostly resides here in our own little reality including events from actual history. This made it believable and really easy to immerse yourself into the story line and grow attached to all of the characters. I do have to say though I wanted to eat so many s'mores while reading this book just because of the marshmallow shop! It really is charming, addicting, and beautifully written for anyone that enjoys YA books.

The description hit this book right on the mark. It is whimsical and sincere. Most of the times fairy tales are German, but this one was French. It added a different magical quality to the regular world throughout. It showed how magic can be in both the world of fairy tales and our everyday world. I love how untraditional this story is, by that I mean it is a fairy tale and is historical fiction. The story comes together in different times and different perspectives. Sometimes it is confusing but it pulled itself together so well and I love how it tied itself up. I love the way that the worlds come together, magic, World War II France and the exciting world of the reader. The fairy tale magic is present throughout and every aspect of the story is thought out. It stayed true to a fairy tale's definition with there being no rhyme or reason for certain actions, and it brought fairy tales into our world differently than any other book I have read. The way that all the worlds intertwined through this one story gave the reader a purpose in the act of reading. The romantic aspect of this book really sparked the rest of the story, because they had a passionate love, but it also shows other important aspects of a relationship such as loyalty, respect and devotion. The love story aspect of this book was sweet and original. It was not a typical romance and it showed how magical love can be. I would recommend this to any fan of fairy tales and anyone looking for a new type of fairy tale.

The Book of Pearl is a hauntingly beautiful fairy tale that ties together a kingdom ravaged by Ian: a petulant, power crazy King, and 1940s France in the middle of the German invasion. A young prince is banished from his kingdom and from his fairy love by a genie that would rather see him gone than dead. The fairy convinces the genie it’s in his own best interest to allow her to go with the prince, but the genie sends them to a land devoid of fairy tales and magic, our world. She is unable to allow her prince to even lay eyes on her as it will permanently separate them. Ilian, the young prince, spends his life hunting tokens of magic, believing that they will break the spell and allow him and his Olia to be together again. A young man stumbles upon Ilian in his cottage as an old man, surrounded by the relics he’s spent his entire life collecting. He gets swept up into the tale, having laid eyes on the fairy himself. True love, magic, the betrayal of family, Nazi Germany, and fairy tales all combine to make this one of the most moving tales I’ve read in a long while. The writer’s style is effortless, even through one main narrator carrying the tales of three people. A must read!