⭐️3.5

Magic Casements is a series of magical short stories. Many magical characters and elements within are ones you are likely already be familiar with and had the feeling of classic fairy tales with a twist.

Overall thoughts:
- I liked the cover
- The writing was good - I wasn't distracted by poor writing
- I wasn't always aware what kind of creature the narrator is
- When the second story connected to the first story, I became VERY excited that eat short story would connect with the previous one. Sadly, the pattern ended after the second story, but the disappointment lingered through the rest of the book.
- Overall, nice, imaginative read

The Short Stories:

1. After Ever After
- Poem
- Uneven sentence structure, but it did rhyme
2. The Faun and the Fae
- Ending was kind of dumb, the romantic in me wanted a more concrete ending
3. The Midnight Hour
- Celestine from The Faun and the Fae
- Alludes to: Cinderella
4. Confessions of a Magic Stove
- POV of a stove
- Alludes to: Hansel and Gretel, the Goose Girl
5. Forsaken
- Alludes to: The Little Mermaid
6. Casefile 10: Binnorie
- Alludes to: Binnoire, a Scottish ballad
7. The Knight of the Gillyflower
- POV: a captive musician and a knight
- If it’s based off something, I don’t know
- LGBT
8. Fatal Flowers
- Alludes to: Blodeuwedd, Welsh goddess
- TW: Adultery
9. Through a Glass, Darkly
- Alludes to: Snow White, Alice and the Looking Glass
- Adultry
10. Nine Lives
- POV: cat
11. Catspaw
12. Coda
- Poem

What do those fairies of our fairytales do, when they’re not seen through our mortal eyes? Through this series of short, sweet stories, Magic Casements offers us an answer…

I enjoyed the opening poem - an apt window onto Fairyland, although the meter doesn’t stick consistently - I’ll assume this was a deliberate choice.

Two sweet romances are followed by a tale told by the stove itself: an enjoyable twist in perspective, although there’s nothing new for those who are familiar with classic fairytales.

Next, a pointed story highlighting the faults of the prince in the Little Mermaid; then a droll narration of The Twa Sisters by the hapless clean-up team… and then an exciting rewrite of what I think is William Morris’ “The Gillyflower of Gold”, which plunges you straight into the tourney itself.

“Blodeuwedd” is another familiar story retold sweetly and poetically, whilst “Through a mirror darkly” was excellent and ended far too soon. “Catspaw” was also delightful and I seem to recognise the term of the story as one born from a tumblr prompt…

These are witty, pretty little stories, not as drenched in blood as many fairytale retellings are - rather something light and refreshing and sweet. I have rated 3 stars for something I enjoyed, but won’t remember next week. The stories that were full retellings or with a twist were more gripping than the others.

If you enjoy short stories and fairy tale retellings, and some new adventures then this book is for you. As I found with most short stories is the ones I enjoyed I want more than just a short story and I feel cheated but then the ones I don't enjoy I'm glad I don't feel like I wasted time on reading it because it was so short. I think most people will enjoy this book.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book interesting but it really wasn't one that I read again and I am really not sure if we want to start any books or series by this author. If more patrons would start to request this book than I would look into possible start ordering books like this.

Magic Casements, by Pamela Sherwood is a delightful collection of stories that echo the tropes and themes of fairy tales while still being fresh enough to feel new.

This is a solid group of stories overall, but I did have favorites, including “The Knight of the Gillyflower,” which bends the traditional ideas about what women can do. I also loved “The Magic Stove,” because it’s told from the point of view of the stove, and I love that kind of thing—anthropomorphizing is extremely appealing to me, and this stove lives a varied and useful life. My third favorite is “Nine Lives,” which journeys through time to show us how cats have a varied and remarkable (magical) connection to humans.

Sherwood also has a strong poem at the beginning of the book called “After Ever After,” which offers the reader a thoughtful focus on some of the most famous fairy tales. I also enjoyed a chapter near the end of the book called “The Story Behind the Story,” which explains how each story came to be.

I didn’t love every story, of course, because that’s the nature of such collections. “The Faun and the Fae” was sweet, and eventually, I enjoyed it, but it suffered from large paragraphs of dialogue that functioned as info dumping. “Fatal Flowers” was hard to follow, and even though I adore cats (and stories about them), “Catspaw” just left me confused and uninterested.

I think any lover of fairy tales will find at least half of the stories worth reading—but probably more. And, while there are stories I didn’t love, there isn’t a true dud in the collection. I will definitely be on the lookout for other work by Sherwood.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book.

3.75 stars

This was a lovely, quick and fun collection of fairytale-inspired stories of varying length. As with any similar collection, some of the stories worked better for me than others, and I definitely thought some of them ended a bit abruptly or could have done with a bit more depth, but for the most part I enjoyed the twists that Pamela Sherwood put on the traditional stories, and I would be interested in trying some of her longer work now.

Standout favourites were:
- 'The Midnight Hour' - an interesting take on the Cinderella story from the Fairy Godmother's perspective, and a meditation on whether all stories/heroes deserve happy endings
- 'Confessions of a Magic Stove' - a stove recounting its life, having been witness to a number of fairytales including Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, and The Goose Girl. This was definitely the most creative story and interesting concept!
- 'Catspaw' - an original fairytale that was fun and quirky, with several fun cat companions!

It is hard to give an overall review of this book because I loved many of the stories in this book, but found a couple that I felt ended rather abruptly band needed more development.

Overall I enjoyed most of the stories and enjoyed them for a bit of light reading.

I would recommend this collection for readers looking for a collection of stories to fill in moments where they just want some hours of enjoyable light reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me a copy of this book in return for my honest opinions. All opinions expressed are my own.

I was pleasantly surprised by this collection of short fantasy stories! While most of the stories are based on a familiar fairy tale, Pamela Sherwood makes them her own through the perspective of a different character. One of my favourites was "Confessions of a Magic Stove"; this is the one that, with its position near the beginning of the book yet after the cinder stories, truly caught my attention to the creativity of alternate-perspective stories. This is a collection of wonderfully creative side retellings.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

Magic is just the right description for this collection of short stories and poems Lovers of fairy tales and magic are sure to recognize some characters but they've definitely left their old stories behind. This collection is delightful, entertaining, and definitely worth your time. Can't wait for the next book in the series.

A shy young faerie befriends a faun in spite of prejudices against him. A fairy godmother contends with an imp over the fate of Cinderella. A stove recounts its life, from being purchased by the witch that tried to eat Hansel and Gretel, all the way through to ending up in the palace of a king whose daughter-in-law turned out to be The Goose Girl. A young princess charges her far too numerous suitors with befriending her favorite cat and getting from it a key to her study in order to be judged worthy of her hand in marriage.

These are a few examples of the delightful tales that Pamela Sherwood has assembled in this, her second collection of short tales. The stories have obvious links to fairy tales of yore (with the possible exception of the first tale) but Ms. Sherwood turns them on their head, or adds a twist nearly every time. I enjoyed immensely her take on popular tales like Cinderella, as well as her inventive responses to certain other tales. The only fault I have to find is that a few tales do contain feminist ideals and they can be applied with a slightly heavy hand, but I nevertheless found something to enjoy even in those tales, and this is really just a small nitpick in the overall collection. The author even includes a very interesting section at the end that details where she got the idea for each tale, and I enjoyed perusing this as well.

This is a book I could easily recommend to any adult or older teen lover of fairy tales or short stories. I think that they will find that Ms. Sherwood has done an excellent and entertaining job. Thank you so much to Netgalley and Blue Castle Publishing for the advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to begin by thanking the team at NetGalley for allowing me early access to this novel - 'Magic Casements'.

'Magic Casements' is a collection of short stories surrounding various fairytale characters - many concerning finding love and a happily ever after. In general, this book is very short and the short stories are very concise and to-the-point. However, personally, I would have liked to see a bit more depth within each of the stories - as I felt like many lacked substance.

Overall, this collection was light-hearted and a very easy read - due to its fast pace nature and lack of intense story line within each story. I would recommend this to a much younger audience or anyone who wants to read something very light and not too time consuming.

This is a super short read as far as books go, however, it is worth it. I would label this is a cup of tea read; one you'd pick up on a lazy Saturday and finish in one setting.

The stories are sweet and varied and will keep your attention. I like that I can go back and pick and choose what to read over again and again.

I love short stories when they are done well and I felt like this book was beautifully written. The author does such a fantastical job of building the story and world in such a short span of time that you never feel like there is not enough to keep your interest or that anything is lacking. If anything, this was a sweet taste of each story that left me wanting so much more of the world and characters involved.

The first part "After Ever After" was fun! I really loved how it brought together multiple fairytales and is just overall a great opening to the rest of the book.

"The Faun and the Fae" was adorable. I desperately need more of Lilac and Silvanus in my life. Not just more of the two of them and their blooming connection, but I would love to see more of their individual stories. To see their adventures when it comes to being a godmother and a guardian.

"The Midnight Hour" was a cute play on Cinderella. This one is significantly shorter than the story before it, but it was concise and flowed well.

"Confessions of a Magic Stove" The title and initial feeling made me think of all the anime coming out that are like, "this thing happened and now I'm reincarnated as this random object in this crazy world" which made me hesitant at first. Overall, it was a unique take at seeing different fairytales unfold from the point of view of the stove and I loved this stove by the end.

"Catspaw" was equally cute as the first story and it was interesting to find out it was inspired by a tumblr challenge!

I could keep going about all of the stories and how well they were written, but to put it simply, I loved many moments of this book that I do highly recommend it. The only reason I would not give it 5 stars is that there were 2 or 3 stories that I either didn't understand or felt like they were missing something.

(Note for Netgalley: This book is not currently on Goodreads, so I am unable to review it there. I tried reviewing it on Amazon, but Amazon says that it is unavailable to be reviewed at this time, probably because the book hasn't been released yet. I plan on leaving a review on Goodreads as soon as it is actually on there. I see that many of the author's other books are on there. I will also leave a review of this book on my Instagram tomorrow so that may least my review is out there. I just don't want to post now as it's currently late in the evening and I've noticed posts do better if posted midday for me.)

"What happens, once "The End" is finally said? Perhaps the start of still another tale."~ Magic Casements by Pamela Sherwood

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Victory Editing Netgalley Co-op for the eARC of Magic Casements by Pamela Sherwood! I usually review books on Goodreads, but this book is not currently on Goodreads. I am hoping that it will be added soon so that I can leave a review of it there as well and add it to my read books list of 2023. :)

I would like to start by saying that I enjoyed this book. It was very fast paced, which was just what I needed right now. That being said, I would rate this book a three out of five stars. It was an enjoyable read, but did not blow me away. I categorize three star books as ones that I liked enough to recommend them to others who enjoy this genre, but also as books that didn't do enough for me to leave much of a lasting impression. This is far from a bad collection of short stories. But it isn't mind blowing by any means either.

My very favorite story from this collection has to be The Knight of the Gillyflower. I feel like this one has the potential to be more if it wanted to be, but that it also works very well as a short story. The main characters were cute and I was invested in the outcome.

A couple other honorable mentions would be Catspaw and The Fawn and the Fae. I enjoyed both of these stories a lot, but felt like they relied a bit heavily on cliches.

My least favorite story in the collection would have to be Fatal Flowers. This story was extremely confusing to read. In "The Story Behind the Stories" where the author explains what motivated her to write each of the tales, Fatal Flowers is explained a little and the story became a bit more clear, but this explanation section wasn't really a part of the book. It was more like an acknowledgements section, which not many people read. Apparently, Fatal Flowers was based on another tale, but I have never heard this other tale before and so this short story just came off as a very confusing mess for me. It is my opinion that the author should assume that her readers have not read the more obscure tales. I feel like this one should have had some extra explanation directly in the actual story to make it make sense for all readers.

Two other stories that I didn't much enjoy are Casefile 10: Binnorie and Nine Lives. I feel like both also suffered a bit from not being explained well enough, but that both were still understandable enough to figure out the main point before the story ended.

As a whole, I did enjoy this collection, though. I found most of the stories cute and relaxing for a not very serious read. If you love fairy tales, you might enjoy this collection.

Would I read another book by this author? Yes, I think that I would. I enjoyed her writing style overall; I just feel like this collection in particular could have been a bit more put together. Some of the stories felt mismatched and out of place in this collection. The overall theme of the collection was a bit broad for my liking. But, as I base my star ratings on my enjoyment alone and I had fun reading this book, I feel like three stars is a suitable rating for this cute and quick read. Again, I am very grateful for the chance to read this book for free ahead of the release date. Thank you Netgalley and Victory Editing Netgalley Co-op!