3.5 Stars

<i>I received an ARC through NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own and left voluntarily. Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy.</i>

This was a fun fast paced read. If you like the likes of Elisa Kova and SJM you should give this one a try! altho short its a very gripping story with a really interesting couple that goes from enemies to kinda friends to finally lovers.

The sad thing is that being so short you really dont have time to really fall inlove with the couple or the characters on ther own. the story as a whole is fun like I said before and the whole point of it its achieved... <b> giving us a cute, heartfelt, fantasy romance </b>

The reason my rating is not that high is beacause at the end bnoth the worldbuilding, and the problem/ villain fetl very underdeveloped and the characters intentions felt lacking, almost self serving to the plot. If we had more time developing the world, both of the antagonists and the other points besdies the main couple I think this couldve been an even cuter story.


“I should have known you’d be trouble when the form you took was a swan.”

This is a very nice fary tale retelling of one story we dont see much of, The Swan Lake, which also gave it extra points for its originallity. The writing was very smooth and engaging.

Overall: I recommend it for anyone who is looking a fantasy romance that is very easy to read, heavy on the romance but no explicit by any means.

#TheSorcererandTheSwanPrincess #NetGalley

I have read many Lucy Tempest books, and I can honestly say, this was the best book by her I have read! I loved this book. I have been in a funk, reading subpar books, because... well thats all that I could find, and when I opened this and started reading my expectation was low, but I loved it so much I finished the whole thing in less than 24 hours, much to my adulting dismay. The story unfolded and at first, is was another spoiled princess and an upset sister, but turned out to be so much more. There was a lot of character growth and sacrifice and betrayal. It was a lovely book with a hint of romance, woven in a magical web.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lucy tempest for an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review. These thoughts are my own.

This was a cute fun tale, with a very wild opening that I appreciated. It was well written and is fun little take on a fairytale retelling.

A book that coaxes you through its pages into the fantasy realm where its characters entice you. Ava and Lina were the mirror image of each other,
but their characters were like two faces of a coin.
One was kind, caring, and loving, the other selfish, greedy and wicked. Lina’s hatred for her sister knew no bounds. She put her through a terrible ordeal with deadly and fatal consequences. Which only made Ava stronger and gave her the love of her life. A beautiful romantic story.

It's refreshing to see a retelling that isn't beauty and the beast or sleeping beauty.
The swan princess is a story I always forget about.
Since it's only.one book I felt like the romance was rushed.

I always love a retelling and seeing the way an author can craft a well known story and make it their own along the way. Swan Princess has always been a favourite of mine and it has been years since I have watched the film...this made me want to read it.

I enjoyed it as it was easy to read, fast paced...but I didn't feel a full connection to the characters, so that is why I give this a 3.5/5

In The Sorcerer and The Swan Princess, we follow Crown Princess Ava who is betrayed by her own twin sister. She is transformed into a swan and taken to a place of mystery and magic, where her captor, Dietrich holds her. Although she is taken away from her home and her duty, she gets to know Dietrich, the sorcerer who can cast magic. And so the story unfolds with elements of magic, dancing, flying, and romance.

I honestly had a bit of a hard time getting into this story. The characters, for me, felt very two-dimensional and hard to wrangle my interests or care about them, for that matter. But honestly, it was a good retelling but I was too distracted by how far out there this story was. Which I know is the whole motif, but that being said, the love interest, while I was ready to hate him, he really did pull through and I will be adding him to my book boyfriend's list.

“One where the hero and villain, destined to either be defeated or die at the other’s hands, instead wrote a new ending together.”

I love a good hero and villian/ enemies to lovers trope and fairytale retelling!

This YA HEA is a charming and inventive retelling of Swan Lake.

While the pace was enough that it kept me engaged throughout the novella, the depth was somewhat lacking. However, it was an adventurous, afternoon read! A sweet story for a young audience, lovers of ballet, royalty, sorcerers and a strong plot.

I loved how the ending provided a reveal as to how the story evolved and the ending was very cute!

3.75 stars

Thank you NetGalley, author Lucy Tempest and IBPA for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a review.

3.5 STARS

“One where the hero and villain, destined to either be defeated or die at the other’s hands, instead wrote a new ending together.”

I believe this quote speaks for all of the retellings that give a HEA to the villain and I think this novel shouldn't be an exception , as it also belongs in the "A Villain's Ever After" series. In this story we have the classic fairytale of Swan Lake/Princess , but with a twist. The bad guy in this scenario is Lina, Ava's twin sister who hires the sorcerer, Dietrich Von Rothbart, to turn Ava into a swan, in order to take her place. Ava struggles a lot, but in the meantime she gets to know that Dietrich isn't who everyone thought to be.

On one hand, he was a sorcerer with a feared reputation who was commissioned by the wealthy to do questionable, if not terrible things, and was my abductor. On the other, he used the acquired funds to run this school, and had spared me from his contractor’s death sentence. Half devious, half noble, all confounding. What would I consider such a person?”

I really love this tale. In fact it's one of my favorites and I was so ecstatic when I found out this book in Netgalley. I really enjoyed the twist in this one and how everything seemed to fit perfectly well , even with the original tale or the Black swan referance. I loved Dietrich's character and he was a joy to read. However Ava took her sweet time until she grew on me. Plus she seemed a bit too immature for my taste, even near the end. I felt like this book had the potential to be even better, but it was still a pleasant story to pass my time.

“Men like me don’t get to be with women like you. We don’t get the princess and the happy ending. We get killed by the prince and become a cautionary tale for anyone who dares to reach beyond their lot in life, let alone dream of winning a love that defines eras.”

<i>ARC copy was provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Tempest creates a captivating retelling of the Swan Lake story in The Sorcerer and the Swan Princess (or a wonderful retelling of the Swan Princess films, for those of us who remember those movies more than the intended source material). By giving Rothbart a unique backstory and making our lead princess a twin, the story becomes captivating on its own while still maintaining the feel of the original story.

Personally, I do wish a few more aspects of the story were fleshed out, but then again, that may have detracted from the original story or changed it enough to make it less recognizable, which is clearly not the intention. Rothbart's motives still felt a bit...off... at times, but he grew more likable as the story progressed. I was a fan of our lead Ava, however, and enjoyed her perspective. I also enjoyed the poetic fate of our villainous characters.

(Also, any time a book uses the term petrichor, I find myself growing fonder of it right then and there. It’s one of the first vocab words I teach my freshmen in the second semester when we start our poetry and nature unit).

First of all, I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an arc of The Sorcerer and The Swan Princess

I really like the tale it's based on. Especially since the swan princess was one of my favourites animated movies growing up.
I really enjoy the story and the characters. I found the writing great and pleasant. However, I found that something was lacking... and it annoys me so much to not be able to find what it is.

In the end, I would give that book 3.5/5 stars.

Ps: Now I wanna rewatch the movies... and I have the soundtrack stuck in my head.

I got this as a Read Now option on Netgalley because I loved the cover, and the synopsis sounded fun! Basically, what if the sorcerer and the princess, who was cursed by said sorcerer into a swan, somehow fell in love? Before I even read it, I looked up the author's other work and came across two different series of fairytale retellings that, after reading this one, I'll definitely be checking out! Sorcerer and the Swan is part of Lucy Tempest's Villain's Ever After series, and I loved it. I loved our princess, Ava. She is rightfully terrified and angry with our sorcerer, Dietrich, at first, but I loved the growth she goes through, even if it is in such a short period. I loved her history with dancing and ballet and how that's factored into the story. Dietrich is definitely a book boyfriend. He seems almost too good to be true, but it works for the book. Their relationship does feel a bit rushed, but it's a short read and there is a lot going on. Overall, I really enjoyed Ava and Dietrich's story and can't wait to check out more from this author!

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC to read and review!

This book was alright-nothing to run home to tell mama about. It’s a retelling of the Swan Princess, all except it’s enemies to lovers and a princess with a disability, thanks to a ballet accident. It does have her sister pretending to be her, and the reveal of the supposed prince that got kicked out and is looking for someone to pretty much give him money so he can do whatever the hell he wants with it, and that just made me trickle the stars down from five to four.

But let’s talk about the characters. Aventina is crowned the Grand Duchess of Oopona, and when she’s kidnapped and turned into a swan, she really, really hated Dietrich Morgenstern. She thought that he was bad, he treated people horribly, and he only does evil shit. Instead, as she says at the Mondosee School of Magic…she sees that he’s caring, sometimes strict, and he can also turn into a barn owl.

A barn owl.

A BARN OWL.

When she went to see the students’ rehearsal of a winter play they were going to put on, she went and actually performed a little dance when she could do ballet. Dietrich did help her with his magic, turning her arms into swan feathers, and then they flew together. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever read, and I cried. There was that once instance before all of this that she did fly away to see if she can go back home-and she did. Only for the love her life to try and kill her, which sucked.

But I’m glad that she fell in love with the big, bad sorcerer who took care of her, got mad when she told him that her leg never healed, and that the castle never gave her rehabilitation for her leg, thus leaving her limping and with a disability for the rest of her life, which sucked but I understand, including Dietrich, who turns out was like Sebastian de Poitiers from Reign: he was the son of a dancer, concubine, something like that, and the queen didn’t like him so she banned magic and also kicked his father’s son out while giving his other two sons titles and all of that, which was terrible by the way, so I hate this queen now. But at least they went to the wedding and exposed the two liars and turned both of them into swans, which was very good and smart of them, by the way.

At the end, Aventina got her crown back, the winter recital was a success, and on top of that she threatened her man to marry her. Jokenly. But other than that, I liked it, it was really good and I wish there was more, but hey, at least it was good and enjoyable.

I liked this book. I really enjoyed the different viewpoint from the traditional fairytales. I finished this book quickly and have already recommended it to a friend. This could be used to help students learn to evaluate how everyone has different reasons for their actions and that no one is all good or all bad.

Cute Retelling of the Swan Princess.

I did like the premise and the changes the author made to the story, it was very unique. However, the Romance went a bit fast, and I would love have learnt more about day to day of the school. It all felt a bit too rushed, and seemed like it lacked a bit of character development.

Perhaps I am just not in the age target for this book - just can't help being a sucker for Retellings lol - but I can see someone younger enjoying it more :)

So this had something going for it, in that it's a retelling of Swan Lake, and that doesn't happen very often, and that we had the twist that Rothbart is the romantic interest in the end, but it suffered heavily from poor writing, both in prose and some plot/characterization.

Overall, I'm not upset I read it but I can never see myself coming back to it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for this copy.

This was an incredibly quick read and I read it in one sitting. I think this was well written and I liked the way the story unfolded. I also liked the changes from the original story. Putting a spin on the villain was a nice touch. Villains are almost always my favorite characters. I like how the character’s motivations are slowly revealed throughout the story. Even though this is short, I do feel like the characters did have complete arcs.

With this being a short story, I feel like some things were brushed over and the plot felt rushed. I don’t feel like we really get to know the characters because the story is so short. I would have liked to see them as more fully formed characters. I wish that this had been a full length novel because I think it would have been even more amazing.

I would definitely read something else by this author. I will be picking up the rest of her retellings too. I’m excited to see what additional spins she adds to the original stories.

Swan Princess was always one of my favorite tales, but this was so much better!! In telling a beautiful story in a magical way, Lucy has outdone herself and you will feel as if it is the first time you are hearing this story. This story pulled many surprises out of me, but I am amazed at how well everything turned out. The speed at which I fell in love with this was certainly a surprise to me, but I'm 100% certain that you will fall in love as much as I have with Ava and Rothbart!

This is an incredibly well written, easy to follow, easy to get lost in story. There is just enough fantasy, magic and romance.

I really liked Aventina as a character, I felt for her and the betrayal she suffered at the hands of her twin.

The writing was lovely and lyrical, descriptive and not overly complicated - just right.

Dietrich was the perfect villain to begin with, and I loved the progression of his and Aventina's relationship. As the story unfolded, I found myself more and more fond of him and I was very happy to see his growth.

I would have liked a little more insight into Aventina's relationship with her sister, and I also thought everything resolved slightly too quickly at the end. I get that Lina was jealous and she did end up punished, I simply thought the motive wasn't quite enough and that it wouldn't be as easy for Ava to regain her place in her life.

This is a short and pleasant book; I think possibly it could have been a little longer to go into more detail in certain parts though.