A demon who desired earthly domination fathered an army of dark daughters to help him corrupt humanity...
As the children grew up, they all dreamed of a strange otherworld, which consisted of falling leaves, mists and fog. Here in Everywhere, the four girls all half-sisters, connected by blood and magic, begin to nurture their elemental powers together. Then at 13, the sisters were ripped from Everywhere and separated, and now five years on they are searching for one another while they are yarning to discover their supernatural powers.

Everywhere can only be accessed at 3:33 am on the night of the new moon , and the sisters must prepare for a battle that lies ahead. On their eighteenth birthday, they will have to fight their farther’s soldiers. If they survive, they will face their farther who will let them live only if the sisters turn dark. They have 33 days to discover what they truly are.....

This is a wonderful magical book and beautifully written. I loved all of the little stories in each of the sisters and the the little things that kept bringing them all together.
The countdown to the 33 days was excellent and so engaging! I was totally hooked from the first page and could not put the book down.

There is something truly magical about this book, it’s enchanting, empowering and a beautiful fairytale. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book and enjoyed every minute.

My thanks to Random House U.K. Transworld Publishers/Bantam Press for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Sisters Grimm’ by Menna van Praag in exchange for an honest review.

Although she’s written a number of titles marketed as Women’s Fiction with elements of magical realism based in Cambridge, this is van Praag’s first work of dark fantasy. Its main setting is also Cambridge.

“There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of sisters Grimm on Earth.... This is the story of four sisters Grimm – daughters born to different mothers on the same day, each born out of bright-white wishing and black-edged desire.”

The plot is complex and involves the demon father of the Grimm sisters creating a dimension, named Everwhere, that the sisters first enter while dreaming at the age of eight. There they discover each other and their magical powers. When they turn thirteen they are no longer able to journey there and forget each other and the powers they once had.

Things shift again when they come of age and on their eighteenth birthdays they will be able to return physically to Everwhere through special gates at a specific time and moon phase. Yet they are not aware of what will await them that night. They will have to fight for their lives against soldiers sent by their father to determine who among them is the most worthy of becoming his favourite.

It’s a pretty dark scenario and I wondered what benefit this drastic culling has for Demon Daddy.
Still knowing he is a demon is a pretty good indication that no matter how lyrical and beautiful the realm of Everwhere appears to be what awaits them, even if they survive their coming of age, isn’t likely to be life-affirming.

The narrative focuses on a 33-day countdown to their October 31 birthdays. The sisters begin to awaken to their destinies and reconnecting with each other. The novel moves between the viewpoints of the sisters both in the present and their younger selves. Another voice is that of Leo, one of the soldiers, who is focusing in on his assigned prey in the real world.

Each of the sisters is attributed to a different element (earth, fire, water, and air) and is loosely based on a fairy tale character. This is reflected in their names, backgrounds, shared stories, and a series of delicate illustrations that in the novel are created by one of the sisters, who is a gifted artist. These were actually created by Cambridge artist, Alastair Meikle.

While its lead characters are in their teens, ‘The Sisters Grimm’ has a dark plot and contains violence and mature themes. It’s a novel where warnings for content should be noted if they are likely to be triggering. These include sexual assault, self-harm, child abuse, incest, suicidal thoughts and the like.

In addition, some characters use explicit language though this was more evident in early chapters. I am hardly one to be overly delicate on this issue but it was at times jarring alongside the novel’s more elegant prose. To be fair its author and publisher are not listing this as a ‘Teen/YA’ title but it may find itself shelved as such in some instances.

I did a close reading of ‘The Sisters Grimm’ as part of a group read with members of The Pigeonhole. While I did find that I had a few quibbles with some aspects of the plot and characterisations, such as more than one case of ‘insta-love’, those concerns decreased as I continued reading and became caught up in the sisters’ stories.

Menna van Praag writes very lyrically and her descriptions of Cambridge and Everwhere brought them vividly to life. Although the jumping about between characters was at times dizzying, I didn’t find it particularly confusing once I got into the rhythm.

I came to care very much about three of the sisters. The fourth not so much; even understanding the factors that shaped her I found her attitudes and violence towards animals went too far for me. Still, being the daughter of a demon and a full-blood Grimm girl, who had survived her own coming-of-age, meant that both nature and nurture was stacked against her.

Overall, I felt that Menna van Praag wrote beautifully and wove into her narrative some very original ideas about fairytales. I was pleased that one of the sisters was an African immigrant and that the author didn’t shy away from exploring her experience of racism as well as weaving in aspects of Ghanaian culture. I also enjoyed this same sister’s use of the Tarot and how she wasn’t an instant expert but struggled with the interpretations. It felt authentic.

So yes I had a few quibbles though I am glad that I didn’t let these overshadow my enjoyment. Certainly I felt that van Praag brought the various plot threads together for a powerful and very satisfying conclusion.

Although I understand that there is a sequel in the works, ‘The Sisters Grimm’ is complete in itself. I have already obtained one of her earlier novels as I am a fan of magical realism and look forward to her future projects.

This book should come with major trigger warnings for trauma/content. It contains: child abuse, sexual abuse, self-harm, depression, suicidal thoughts, incest, injury, dementia, loss, fat-shaming, slut-shaming, racism – yes that’s a lot and I’ve probably missed some.

Please head over to my blog to read my full review: https://geeking-by.net/the-sisters-grimm-review/

As a lover of dark fairy tales, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that the word Grimm was not the first thing that grabbed my attention. I’m also a fan of the TV show Grimm so I was curious to see another work of fiction that seemed to be using the term as an identifier. Did these Sisters Grimm have anything in common with the Grimms from the show? Were they monster hunters too? Or was there something else happening here? I had no idea but I wanted to find out!

My feelings towards this book were quite ambiguous throughout; I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t love it either. I continued reading eagerly to know what was going to happen, to follow the trail and find out how the mystery ended. However, at about 60% I began to realise that it was going to take a monumental showdown, and a massive twist at the conclusion to redeem the book in my eyes – and The Sisters Grimm failed to do that.

There were a few clever twists at the end that I didn’t see coming but overall it ended as I expected and that is not a good sign for me. I like to be surprised, I like to be shocked and have my heart torn from my chest, thrown to the ground and stomped all over. I don’t like reading a book that makes me roll my eyes and sigh at yet more trauma, more drama being thrown at the poor characters once again.

As the book went on I found it increasingly difficult to connect with it. The characters themselves were flimsy, based on and named after fairy tales in a way that reminded me of my time as a role player. They all have a Mary-Sue quality to them; the naive blue-eyed golden-haired girl, the fiery redhead, the token immigrant and the promiscuous Latino. The inconsistencies did not just stop with the weak characters either; it dips and dives between first/second person and past and presence tense, and the timelines are all over the place, darting from the present to the past without warning with multiple authors (7 at my counting).

The Sisters Grimm is the author’s first foray into fantasy, however, I would argue heavily against classing this as a fantasy novel. For me, it is magical realism rather than fantasy or urban fantasy. It's also being put forward as a fantasy novel by the publishers and it’s is the first book in a trilogy which is honestly baffling to me. While I have many issues with the book the ending wasn’t one of them; there were no loose ends, everything was wrapped up and it reads like a perfect stand-alone novel.

Trauma was the biggest theme of this book, which is why I’ve ended up devoting an entire sub-section of the review to the topic. It was quite troublesome to find so much trauma in this book because a) it’s supposed to be a fantasy novel and b) you’re someone with PTSD and mental health conditions. While I’m no stranger to fantasy novels including forms of trauma – after all you’d need to be living under a rock not to at least be familiar with the violence and trauma present in Game of Thrones series – I don’t expect it to be at the forefront of the novel. Fantasy to me is about the theme of fantasy, the world-building, the magic, and anything else is character development. Take all that away and you’ve just got contemporary fiction, possibly chick lit. Either way; not fantasy and certainly not something I would have read if it hadn’t come attached with the fantasy label.

This was a book of missed opportunities and contained content that left me feeling a bit uncomfortable. It tells the inter-linked stories of Goldie, Bea, Scarlett and Liyana - the eponymous Grimm sisters - as they approach their 18th birthday and prepare to fight their father in a battle for Everwhere.

The Positives: The basic premise here is fascinating and really intrigued me from the start. The prose is lyrical and has a real fairy-tale feeling about it, which was great.

The Negatives: The premise was completely wasted for me. Instead of a book about sisters preparing for a battle against evil, 90% of this book follows the day to day of each girl as she navigates her life. I felt that the characters read much older than their age (17) and the interactions they had with men left me very uncomfortable, bearing in mind that there are sexual encounters with much older men. These encounters were never challenged, which just felt wrong to me. Also, there is a suggestion of incest - again, never challenged.

Overall I just really didn't connect to this story at all.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

DNF - unfortunately I wasn't gripped by this book with the first quarter. There was a lot of POV switches with differing 1st/2nd/3rd person that made it difficult to keep on track with everything that was happening.

I was given a digital version of this book for free in exchange for an honest review - this one has been on my read list for a while. Thank-you Netgalley and Random House UK!

What to say about this book? In all honesty, I struggled with it. The beginning was a bit slow. I did start feeling invested in some of the characters, but not all. The first protagonist perspective introduced I found a bit dull, but I now understand this was done on purpose as she is technically 'the most powerful' (?) Leo totally bewildered me... Why is he a fallen star? I didn't get that bit - maybe I was just missing the mark.


It was definitely an enjoyable read overall - I loved the dark edge it had and the new light it shed on Grimm stories and concepts. The sense of heroine-ism, female empowerment and feminism was enlightening. The romance interweaved within the story was cheeky, in a good way. Undercurrents of sexual tension made the read exciting. I didn't quite understand Papa Grimm as a character and his motivations for wanting his daughters to all fight but I did really enjoy getting the chance to view different characteristics and perspectives of the daughters. It was definitely fantastical in vibe.

Maybe not an instant reread but definitely WORTH a read.

Thanks for providing me with a free copy in return for an honest review.
I got through to 36% of this book and gave up. Nothing has really happened by this point and for a book that's 500 pages long I'm not really interested in staying along for the ride.
I find I don't really care about any of the characters. This is probably because narration shifts between around 5 or 6 different points of view, which would be fine usually, but it's only for a few paragraphs then you're dumped into another characters story. You never read about someone long enough to get to know them. I kept forgetting who was who.
The story also flips between 1st, 2nd and 3rd person narration which is jarring. Also it was hard to tell when we were reading about the past or the present, again the flip flopping was confusing.
The story was intriguing but at 36% none of it makes sense. Why does papa Grimm want his kids to fight and kill each other? Why is Leo a fallen star? Why do they get booted out of Everwhere at 13? How are there still Grimm girls if they're all getting killed so often by these soldiers? Plus a million other questions. I could read to find out but unfortunately I'm just not gripped enough to get through the rest of the book.

I really liked this compelling, intricate fantasy that puts an original spin on tales that you think you know. I felt like Praag captured that dark edge that the original Grimm tales had, yet added her own unique flavour to them that drew me in.

As children, Goldie, Liyana, Scarlet, and Bea dreamed of a strange otherworld: a nightscape of mists and fog, perpetually falling leaves and hungry ivy, lit by an unwavering moon. Here, in this shadowland of Everwhere, the four girls, half-sisters connected by blood and magic, began to nurture their elemental powers together. But at thirteen, the sisters were ripped from Everwhere and separated. Now, five years later, they search for one another and yearn to rediscover their unique and supernatural strengths. Goldie (earth) manipulates plants and gives life. Liyana (water) controls rivers and rain. Scarlet (fire) has electricity at her fingertips. Bea (air) can fly.

To realize their full potential, the blood sisters must return to the land of their childhood dreams. But Everwhere can only be accessed through certain gates at 3:33 A.M. on the night of a new moon. As Goldie, Liyana, Scarlet, and Bea are beset with the challenges of their earthly lives, they must prepare for a battle that lies ahead. On their eighteenth birthday, they will be subjected to a gladiatorial fight with their father’s soldiers. If they survive, they will face their father who will let them live only if they turn dark. Which would be fair, if only the sisters knew what was coming.

So, they have thirty-three days to discover who they truly are and what they can truly do, before they must fight to save themselves and those they love.

There are quite a lot of perspectives in this book, creating a sometimes tangled narrative but I loved being lost in Praag's prose. It's somewhat fragmented and confusing but just sweeps you into this web of words. Her writing was just beautiful. Every character did feel distinctive, especially the four sisters and how their representation of the different elements fed into their personality. 

I really liked how she incorporated astrological elements, dreams and really well-imagined fairytales into one magical story. It very much felt like a love letter to womanhood and the power that comes with that, weaving together our collective magic to unite those we'd thought to be lost. This is a deeply feminist story without becoming preachy and I really enjoyed it! 

Also, Praag's world-building was excellent, imaginative and rich, so I'm keep to explore more of this world in the sequel.

Full review will be up on my blog on Monday.

I got to about 16% of The Sisters Grimm before finally giving up. It felt like I've been reading it for ages, but in truth it was only a couple of days. When this title appeared on Netgalley I really got excited because of the pretty cover and because the blurb sounded like something I'd be interested in. Even though I'm not especially a fan of retellings or female protagonists... But still, I reasoned that a book that will be published on my birthday can't be anything less than good.

Unfortunately however, I completely failed to connect or even care about any of the characters. In fact, I found them unlikeable. The head hopping in some parts and the sudden changes of tenses were confusing. I tried to make myself push on, but when you feel like doing anything but picking up your kindle to read your current book, then that's a sign that maybe it's time to move on. I've seen several glowing reviews for The Sisters Grimm and I'm happy it found it's audience, but sadly I'm not one of them. Maybe next time.

I really struggled to start / continue / finish this book. It was very slow to start and didn’t grip me.

I wasn’t particularly invested in what was happening to any of the characters. I was really hoping for something good, the description gripped me and I was hoping for the book to hold my attention but it just didn’t.

Not a bad book but not one I would reread either.

The Sisters Grimm was an absolutely fantastic read. The Sisters Grimm was a brilliant book. It was even more special to read as someone with sisters, about the magical story of a family of girls. The story behind it was very well thought out. The magic of each sister is linked to the Earth's elements: water, fire, earth and air. The sister's grow up separately and do not remember each other, They come together to unite all of their powers.

This book was beautifully written, slowly unravelling the plot points themselves to us. There were mysterious and mystical vibes throughout.

I must admit that I couldn't put the book down and read it over a matter of hours. I found myself feeling drawn to the sisters and protective over them.
Highly recommended.

I was super excited for this book on the premise of the blurb and its initial pages.
And I felt quite let down.
The book is rather intricate but it feels like it skims the surface of being dark, it mentions darkness, and death and all four girls have not led happy childhoods, but it is almost like the books did not quite want to be a horror and maybe it would have fitted better within those constraints.

The magical realism seems well thought out at a glance, the idea of girls being more powerful, holding on to that power and finding solace in Sisterhood sits well with me.
The initial insights to the book of the fight between good and evil, the sisters being separated and having to find each other, and the boys that are meant to fight them all looks great on paper and the book starts off strong introducing you to the sisters and to Everwhere who almost becomes a character on its own.

However, the constantly shifting POV is a bit confusing, as well as the switches between 1st, 2nd and 3rd person. I don’t really understand why that shift is necessary. We follow Goldie in 1st, Everwhere in 2nd and the third remaining sisters in 3rd. Why not stick to one tense and make sure the sisters are easily recognisable?

There are also triggers for Sexual Assault, abuse and self harm, and all three gets glossed over when they are not on the page. They don’t mean anything to the story they are just there?? They do not further the plot, they just scar our main characters and it feels unnecessary and cruel and not like something well thought out.

I thought the character of Leo was a gorgeous moment, and his introduction chapters kept me captivated. And then he became side lined and I felt cheated in that sense.

The characteristics of each girl (other then Liyana who I would have much rather followed up close) felt rather one dimensional and run of the mill (Scarlet with red hair and fire powers really?) I will admit to linking the contrast between the girls and the many different family dynamics (absent parents, alzheimer’s, f/f relationship, mental health and so on) but the overwhelming repetition of Everwhere in every other chapters and the choice they have to make between good and evil – just pushed the representation to the back burner.

I’ll be honest and say the more I think about this book the closer to a one star it becomes. It is saved by its beginning chapters and by its occasionally beautiful writing. But overall I wouldn’t know who to recommend this to, nor would I read it again.

I will say that the shifts in chapters may be more easily managed in a print version.

The premise of this book was interesting and at first I was intrigued, but as I started I found the different characters perspectives really confusing. It went between 5 characters povs, and then all the same characters when they were younger before cycling around again, and the short bursts didn’t allow me to get a good understanding of each or allow me to thoroughly understand the plot till maybe halfway through. I enjoyed the world building, but didn’t feel like it really build up to something - rather just kept building and stopped, and ended very suddenly. I had to push myself to finish it up hoping the ending would be worth it, but I was a bit disappointed. Overall the writing quality was good, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the plot lines.

Unfortunately this book was not for me, although I think it will be perfect for fantasy-lovers! It was more fantastical than I was expecting and I DNF'd it at 25%.

I knew straight away that I would love this book, I adore Menna's writing style from her other books and this story felt so original to me that I was immediately interested in this story.

I always love books that are told from different perspectives and have multiple characters, I find it a really fun way of telling a story and it's fun to know other people's perspectives before the other characters do.

The world building of Everwhere was beautiful and so magical, and well thought out. I loved how we got to understand the perspectives of how all four sisters had experienced Everwhere when they were younger, and we were following them through their adult hood to their 18th birthday.

The ending really stood out for me and there were definitely twists that I did not see coming and how it was wrapped up at the end was just beautiful

Synopsis: This is a book about four sisters who learn they have elemental magic when they’re children and can visit another world. When they hit thirteen, they forget all about it until their eighteenth birthday when they’re expected to fight for their lives, and for their demonic fathers approval.

The Good:

1) Have you seen that cover art? It’s absolutely beautiful. This book is a gorgeous addition to any bookshelf. Stunning.
2) The characters, Liyana, Bea, Goldie and Scarlet, are all unique and from very different backgrounds and walks of life. Plenty of representation, both POC and LGBTQ, in this book.
3) The inclusion of some well known fairy tales with a little twist, and the images that go with them. Beautiful artwork, it’s a shame there’s only three pictures.

The Bad:

1) Liyana is black, rich girl. She assumes every white person she meets is going to be judging her badly by her skin colour, although this might be in character with her low self esteem, the book is written in such a way as to imply that she’s right. —she knows that if she were white and her sister black, this conversation would be developing very differently— She also casually disregards a job at Tesco as terrible and soul-crushing because she’s used to money. I found it incredibly privileged (which she is designed to be), but it made me dislike her character quite a lot.
2) Both Goldie and Leo have story-arcs that make murder look like a forgivable trait. Leo is a serial murderer, but he decides to change his ways and we’re supposed to forgive him and fall into the blooming romance between him and Goldie. Goldie, meanwhile, is responsible for premeditated murder of her own, but we’re supposed to believe she’s naive, goodness and light. Not sure I’m buying it.
3) Bea is arguably the ‘coolest’ of the sisters. She’s dark and moody, swears a lot, breaks the rules, and engages in casual sex with a teacher frequently. Her character is confident and strong, so it sort of sends the wrong message when she starts self-harming. —She’s discovered that the opening of old wounds is far more painful than the opening of new ones— Her character makes it look like a cool, dark thing to do. —It is rage she must expel which means inflicting it on herself, lest she embark on a killing rampage across London.
4) I didn’t like the fact that there were no good men in this entire book. We have the soldiers who are all plotting to kill the girls, even the newly changed Leo is a murderer at heart. There are also arrogant, sexy men with nothing else on their minds, and abusive older men who like young girls. The only males in this entire book without any huge red flags Goldie’s little brother, Teddy, and the unfortunate Vali.

Triggers: Sexual abuse of a minor, workplace sexual harassment, self-harm

Conclusion: I don’t think this one was really for me. I didn’t much enjoy the lyrical writing style, or the flitting back and forth between the characters which was too quick to gain any real insight to each of them. I thought the only character with any real depth was Bea.

My Thoughts

‘I hope that by the time you finish this tale, you’ll start listening to the whispers that speak of unknown things, the signs that point in unseen directions and the nudges that suggest unimagined possibilities.’

Having read a few of Menna’s books, I was anticipating this new read - such a beautiful cover and with its connections to fairy tales and magic I was excited knowing she writes so well. Sadly, this would prove to be not the book for me, however, loving Menna’s creativity and writing the way I do makes for very hard reviewing.

The premise here is brilliant - dreams, fairy tales, real world and dreamscapes - with strong themes of life, love, growth and development in the real world and the world of Everwhere. Menna’s thoughts and writing are incredibly poetic and beautiful as ever. A multi layered story of four sisters finding their purpose and each other, facing an onslaught of challenges.

‘I wanted to be different, special, exceptional. No doubt everyone felt the same, excepting the seven people on this planet happy exactly as they are. I wasn’t. I’d wanted to be extraordinary ever since I was old enough to know I was not. I suppose that’s why I liked sleeping so much, because in my dreams I was spectacular.’

However, through execution the potential became lost. Far too many points of view that proved a challenge to keep up with (even dual points of views for the sisters as a child and present day). Slow repetitive character and world building that left only a small late portion of the book that was gripping. So whilst the whole mythology and fantasy elements were well considered, the structure did not lend itself to embracing it fully. It is really hard to get into the story and develop empathy for the many characters and situations, as they go in so many directions with a narrative that appears all over the place at times.

I persevered to the end and found the conclusion fulfilling. It’s just a shame that the slow moving, repetitive and scattered narrative throughout was unable to embrace the wonders of the world building, elemental aspects and some valid relationship tales. Many readers loved it and I wish I were one. Yet I could only feel that the overall theme of female strength and empowerment was lost in a jumble of multiple storylines.

‘You think you’re ordinary. You never suspect that you’re stronger than you seem, braver than you feel or greater than you imagine.’





This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

I DNFed this at 75% - I honestly tried to give it a real shot, but after 380 pages I had had enough.

Short review: Incoherent mess. The premise isn't bad, but it's just weirdly written and snail-slow.
Add confusing storytelling, a lot of incest and overwhelming details, random pacing, no actual worldbuilding and well, that's why it's 1 star.

Trigger warnings: sexual assault, child abuse, self-harm, suicidal tendencies, incest, also some bad language and explicit content.

My advice: if you’re not hooked by page 50, just stop. It’s more of the same.

Long review, no spoilers:

Plot:  A demon named Wilhelm Grimm has thousands of daughters (I’m not quite sure if spiritually or physically as well), they have the ability to travel to Everwhere (an imaginary magical forest) from age 8 to age 13 where they mingle. After that they are banned from there for no reason, and start to forget about it. Also some of their mothers may be sisters as well (it’s never explained properly).

Anyways at almost the age of 18 they start to remember their childhood and try to find each other and become stronger (they have elemental magic) because on exactly their 18th birthday they are destined to join him in evil or be murdered by him or his other sons who are falls stars (what?). In essence, we follow 4 of these daughters/sisters trying to find their way before time runs out and they turn 18.

This is a sort of multi-fairytale retelling, featuring these main characters: Goldie (Goldilocks and her stealing habits), Scarlet (the redhead with a Grandma and a Mr. Wolfe), Bea (Beauty and the Beast - Vali and her constant reading about philosophy) and Lyiana (The Little mermaid? I have no clue, she likes swimming soo yeah). We also have Leo, he is a fallen star, one of the father’s soldiers/sons (the lion king? Yes? No?).

Writing style / prose:

The pace is all over the place, swapping timelines and POVs every 2 pages. Yes, every 2 pages. It's so excessive that I found it impossible to connect with any character, we barely become captivated in a part of their lives when we suddenly again have to shift  perspective to someone else.

In this book we have first, second and third person, we have past, present and future tense, and to top it off, it’s incredibly confusing because they change constantly, without much warning. Example of a chapter: Goldie first person present – Leo third person past – Forest (yes the forest has a speaking part): second person future tense. And you need to figure this out yourself. What a mess.

The chapters represent a countdown to their birthday, but the addition of exact hours at the start of every POV was redundant.

I have nothing against lyrical writing, but when 5 different similes are used to describe someone's eye colour in the same paragraph, you're trying too hard. Utterly unnecessary descriptions of everything - just added word-count and no value.

Worldbuilding/ magic system: we have no clear explanation of this.

Characters: These girls have no fathers, their lives being filled with tragedy, mental illness and unexplained events. They have distinct personalities and familial dynamics, which was a plus. But sadly their (and Leo’s) stories are very repetitive and become stale quickly.

The representation is done well – sexual orientation, racial diversity and mental health are present and showcased without prejudice. I appreciated especially the mention of Alzheimer's.

Positives:

-        I liked the message: the empowerment those girls discover (they are 17, yes they are girls), the sisterly bond and support, finding their voices and strengths, each of them unique.

-        There's a lot of mention of money, expenses and salaries which I found to be both surprising and refreshing. This isn't something often approached in novels, especially whimsical ones. The struggle is real and should be discussed.

Problems:

-        Goldie: We keep being told by the sisters, by the father, by Leo that Goldie is the most powerful Grimm daughter of the last 400 years, but we have absolutely no proof.

-        Goldie is beautiful but she doesn't know it. If I had a penny for every time I've read this, I'd be rich enough to write and self-publish my own novel in which such garbage is never uttered.

-        Poor Vali shall forever be remembered only as the fat guy. Helluva complex character, body positivity ftw.

-        Unrealistic romance - Goldie and Leo dating for 14 days and said they love each other. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This was meant to be magical realism - instead it's a delusional fantasy.

-        Bea saying she loves Vali, even though they spent one night together after a one-week tentative friendship.

-        On page 217, the father mentions that Leo is his favourite son, thus making the soldiers/fallen stars siblings with the Grimm sisters. Leo + Goldie = thanks for all the detailed incestual relations, I don't feel icky at all.

Climax: I did not get that far. I’m just being honest, I struggled reading thus far, being confused, disinterested and frustrated from page 1. Even if the ending is fantastic, it would change nothing.

Overall, this just really needed to be better edited and shortened. The potential is there, it's twisted and horrid, the representation is excellent (if a bit on the nose), but I couldn’t enjoy it due to all I have mentioned, I kept hoping it would get better, more refined, but it did not.

"The Sisters Grimm" is a fairytale for grown ups about the nature of sisterhood and the light and dark within all of us. There are multiple points of view (and timelines) throughout which can be a little tricky at first. Many of the themes are as dark as those in the original Grimm brothers' stories. Overall I enjoyed the book and hope we are going to see an adaptation for screen at some point. And a custom tarot deck!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for this advanced reader's copy. My first book by Menna van Praag. I found the premise intriguing and while the timelines were a wee bit confusing, overall I enjoyed the book.