"'I believe in magic too, Mitzi, but a different kind. An everyday magic, when people are their best selves and all things become possible.'"

This is one of those reads that makes me so glad to be a Netgalley member and being able to discover these treasures.

Mitzi Fairweather, who is a journalist, is surprised by the ferocity of storm Odile, which apparently is a weather anomaly. What surprised her next is witnessing a huge, beautiful white swan battling the storm and crashing head first through her window, getting itself cut by millions of shards of glass in the process. After a trip to the vets and an attempt to nurse the swan by herself, regardless of her lack of avian knowledge, she lets the swan rest in her home.
Next, she hears the sound of footsteps in the next room after coming to from a dreary slumber. Mitzi lets her ambitious, curious nature get the best of her and she goes to investigate. She is met by Odette, who has beautiful, pale skin, a grace deserving of royalty, an innocuous wonder in her eyes, and raven silky hair, that looks as soft as feathers.
Odette, in a broken, Russian accent, tries to tell Mitzi her origin, she is the swan that crashed through Mitzi's window and she is under a spell by the manipulative Baron, who traps her as a swan by day, and allows her to be human at night. Odette feels that Mitzi is kind, and seeks her help.

Odette is a modern adaptation of Swan Lake. In 1852, Odette was held captive by a spell that turns her into a swan by daylight, and human by dark, 166 years later, Odette finds herself carried to Cygnford by the storm, much to her fear and dismay. Soon, the swan princess has to meet the real world. A world of cynical doubt, prejudice, and self interest.

Over the course of the story, my heart literally ached for Odette. I felt that Jessica Duchen enforced the purity and naivety in her voice which in turn groomed my emotional investment in her. I desperately wanted her to have her happy ending.

I found myself happily rooting for each of the characters in turn, such was their authenticity. Mitzi with her good heart, Odette with her mystical, tragic past. Harry with his good nature and love for Shakespeare. They were each worthy of a readers admiration.

My favourite aspect of this novel is the writing. There is a genuine clarity and beauty to it that's really rare to see and completely necessary when retelling a fairy tale. There was a hauntingly ethereal quality to the prose that was as graceful as the curve of a swan's neck, and as fast paced as it's flight.
"The full moon would rise alongside the setting sun, but she would see it only from her lakeside haunt. She waited on the shore, wings folded, shivering, watching the fiery malingerer sink, the sky around it turning from aquamarine to gold to lilac, moment by slow moment."

I found myself flying through this book (get it? Flying? Swan reference? Clever, I know) it was completely enriching. I couldn't get enough. I absolutely adored this modern take on one of the most highly regarded fairy tales in the world.
"'We grow up with fairy stories and they stay with us throughout our lives. I don't believe, though, that they're just escapism. I believe that fairy tales, folklore and the traditional mythology of any and every world religion enrich us, help us learn life lessons and allow us to see the magic in our world, all around us, every day. Some people would even say that everything in this world is based on legends and myths - essentially, magical stories.'"

The smart use of magical realism was as enchanting as it was captivating. Obviously, swans mate for life so reading about Odette trying to find her footing a century after she had even interacted with anyone other than her captor the Baron, was utterly intriguing. Her high standards of love are inspiring and infectious. Odette is heartbroken at the casual, empty declarations of love that plague people in these times - her grief made me relate.

The ending was incredible. I was engrossed. Unashamedly reading this book during down times in work whilst slyly fielding one call after another so I could reach the peak. The Baron may as well have put me under a spell for a hundred years - that is how absorbed I was reading this book.

Thank you to Net Galley and Unbound for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a light and entertaining read. I do like retellings and Odette sounded great from the description.

I just recently finished A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer, which is a Beauty and the Beast retelling and loved it.
Odette was shorter and didn't entirely meet my expectations, which were pretty high I have to admit. It took quite awhile for the swan to actually crash into the window and I kind of wanted a bit more.
Still a cute contemporary read if you like your retellings not fantasy-heavy and long.

Thank you Netgalley and Unbound for providing me with an eARC. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

It was a well written charming book that was quite entertaining. Mitzi is a likeable character who believed in fairies. One day, a swan suddenly crashes into her window. She’s injured and Mitzi takes her to the vet, then brings her home to look after. In the morning, the swan turns into a woman :) And it becomes their adventure to go through city life with a swan/woman who has no idea about many things.
If you’re looking for a comfortable, entertaining contemporary read with a bit of magic, it’s a good choice.
My only criticism for the book is, although it’s a short read, it took relatively longer (around 20%) to get to the point where swan crashed the window. Nevertheless it was a solid, fun read.

Thanks a lot to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

I found this to be an interesting mix of reality and fairytales as the story of Swan Lake is recreated in a modern setting, although I did find the story a little rushed at times and would have loved more background into Odette and Mitzi as they were both fascinating characters.

When a swan crashes through the window where Mitzi is living she is shocked to say the least, and even more shocked when that swan turns into Odette! When they start talking she discovers a magical world where Odette has fled from and does all she can to help her in the modern world she finds her in, while also trying to let her learn things on her own.

This new world is completely alien to Odette so se's eager to experience as much of it as she can, which does lead to some awkward situations at time. Mitzi is also suffering her own problems with work and romance so it does make for a nice blend of scenarios that the women find themselves facing.

An easy to read book full of escapism and fun!

A magical modern day retelling of Swan Lake , Odette by Jessica Duchen is an enchanting and entertaining read. Journalist Mitzi is shocked when a swan flies through the window of her rented apartment, but that is nothing compared to her stupefaction when night falls and she finds a strange young Russian woman and no trace of the swan. Despite her initial disbelief, she eventually comes to believe Odette's tale about a magical curse and an evil magician, and decides to help her, not just to navigate a strange world so different from anything she has known, but to try to find a way to break the curse.
The book is well written and I loved the way the story was updated , I thought the culture clash between Odette's life in Russia and her experiences in modern England was really well done, and added to my enjoyment of the book. I liked the pacing too, though I did feel that the ending felt a little rushed in comparison to the slower build up, which was especially evident in the first half of the book.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I have loved the story of Swan Lake ever since I was a child. Of course, it was coupled with the music of Tchaikovsky and the brilliance of pointe shoes and followed by the animated movie The Swan Princess, but it's a story dear to my heart. I feel like Jessica did a decent job of modernizing the story, though I felt disappointed that Odette wasn't exposed more to present day society. Mitzi seemed to abandon Odette for Rob far too quickly. It was also fairly obvious that Harry was a poor choice and Chris was a better one so I wish the story had turned in that direction.

I was provided an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The writing is fantastic, elegantly descriptive without being lurid, and the characters are nuanced. A lot of important social themes come up naturally, from pursuing your passions to xenophobia to philanthropy to moral dilemmas; a lot of it is well-trodden ground, but the topics are still extremely relevant and the tone isn't preachy. There's also much more emphasis on friendships than on romance, even while keeping the male-centered conditions of Odette's curse at the forefront of the plot.

Possibly my favorite thing about this story is the way it's been adapted: beyond simply retelling the fairy tale with a contemporary backdrop, Duchen has actually incorporated modern concerns and attitudes (leasing terms, bureaucratic paperwork/police concerns, the nature of interpersonal relationships, etc.), making the narrative unique and memorable. The ending was a little bit abrupt, but I think it works well with the tone and setup.

And the characters are terrific too. Mitzi is a complex protagonist, balancing Good Samaritan impulses with her own financial struggles, pursuing her career while trying to keep sight of her personal interests, worrying about her actor-hopeful little brother; she's easy to relate to and sympathize with. On the other hand, Odette displays the typical sheltered-princess-discovers-reality culture shock: she's innocent and wide-eyed and optimistic in a way that charms everyone around her, but this card is played sparingly enough that it's not grating — just enough to demonstrate how it influences her understanding of the world and her interactions with others. (There's potential "othering"/exoticism issues with her poor English, but in addition to being Russian she's a hundred-plus-year-old princess, so I wasn't bothered by it, but others may feel differently.) You can't help but want to protect her, just as Mitzi does, and to feel her longing for freedom warring with her love of flying.

Thank you to #NetGalley for this ARC of #Odette

This not being my typical genre, it took a moment to gain perspective on the story. This novel is proposed as a modern day Swan Lake, however, the author truly offers something a bit unique. While Swan Lake itself is the center of what the plot weaves around, it is not at all what the fairytale being offered or rewritten. Duchen creates an entirely new narrative evolving around love, friendship, and trust with new characters and an altogether new ending. For what it is, this book is a enjoyable read, 4 stars.

I asked for this book in desperate hope...
A modern day Swan Lake? Odette potentially not falling for the 'obvious' choice? Please, I wished, as I pressed request, make it lesbians!

Alas, my hopes are dashed. This remaining is, in a word, boring. Although it's in modern era, the tropes remain the same. I wish more authors wrote lgbt books in this vein, as it would be truly subversive, new, a modern take on a stuffy tale. Odette falling on the mercy of a kind woman? Their friendship growing and evolving as they become closer? Odette, frantic to break the spell, doesn't see what's right before her eyes, and, as they kiss, finally, the spell is broken. She exclaims, 'but the wizard told me only true loves kiss, my Prince, could break the spell!' - our kindly heroine says, baby, its 2018 - that sh*t don't matter like it used to.
True love lesbians! True love trans relationships? True love asexual lover???

No. Instead it's boring old boy meets girl blah blah blah. And frankly, the writing just doesn't make the standard to make such a common story sparkle. See T. Kingfisher or Naomi Novik for amazing reimaginings.
If it's a freebie on the kindle store, and you like swan Lake, then go for it. Otherwise, it's a miss from me.

When a swan flies through and breaks a window in her apartment, Mitzi's life turns entirely upside down. Much to her disbelief, the now injured swan that she has taken upon to nurse back to health turns out to be an enchanted princess from Russia whose lived over a hundred years through the deaths of everyone she's ever loved. A <i>Swan Lake </i>retelling, I was rather excited to read this modern take on one of the most beloved stories of my childhood. The story follows a journalist as she navigates the new world and stranger who has come into her life by the mere circumstance of the weather. And I easily inferred quite a bit from the synopsis, believing this to be a story with a romance between two women. Unfortunately, that is not the path this book took.

Here's the thing, I had a really hard time rating <i>Odette</i> by Jessica Duchen. The book wasn't exactly <i>bad</i>, perse, but I just really hated everything about it. The story begins with Odette, but quickly moves to the central character, Mitzi, and spends the first two chapters just dragging on and on about her life without giving me any reason whatsoever to give a damn about it. This was frustrating enough, of course, without the rest of the frustrating plot to follow.

While there were aspects of it that called to the original story, leaving me with a nostalgic love for those pieces, the purported 'modernization' of the tale kind of ruined it for me. I wasn't prepared for a story about a princess who'd been trapped as a swan for over a hundred years, but rather for one about a new princess in modern day. Additionally, the turn from romantic love to the love of friendship was just monumentally frustrating especially when the blurb describes it as a woman teaching Odette that she does not need a man to pronounce his everlasting love in order to be saved.

Add in pointless characters that I literally could not bring myself to care about in the slightest--ironically, the main character Mitzi was the one I hated most--and the book became more of a chore to read than something I was actually interested in. But I trudged on, hoping that there would at least be some semblance of a believable love story between the two women but eventually found myself giving up on that piece, too.

And then, as if to top it all off, the villain was painfully predictable and there was really nothing unique to the story aside from the disposal of Odette's prince and the inclusion of awful characters, though believable, weren't even the least bit likable. Well, except for Chris, I suppose. But his purpose in the story was literally to just be a red herring and open up an opportunity for Odette to remember how much she loves being an actual person.

I just feel like the book was a lot of leading on and a lot of disappointing which ultimately leaves me feeling like I should have given it a much lower rating, but I suppose I can accept that perhaps this book simply wasn't meant for me.

<i>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. </i>