Review: Grim by Christine Johnson

Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today:

Ellen Hopkins
Amanda Hocking
Julie Kagawa
Claudia Gray
Rachel Hawkins
Kimberly Derting
Myra McEntire
Malinda Lo
Sarah Rees-Brennan
Jackson Pearce
Christine Johnson
Jeri Smith Ready
Shaun David Hutchinson
Saundra Mitchell
Sonia Gensler
Tessa Gratton
Jon Skrovan

Kindle Edition, 480 pages

Expected publication: February 25th 2014 by Harlequin Teen

(info grabbed from GoodReads)

GRIM is an anthology of short story retellings of fairy tales.  This is true.  However! not every story is as dark as the blurb promises.  It was a nice surprise to me that the stories are all mixed up: you have dark tales and funny tales, urban fantasy and science fiction.  GRIM ended up being a delightful collection in how eclectic it was.

I'm not going to go through every story's ups and downs individually; each story in the collection was enjoyable (though to varying degrees).  Some highlights for me where Julie Kagawa's THE BROTHERS PIGGETT, an awesomely dark tale, and also Sarah Rees Brennan's BEAUTY AND THE CHAD, which had me laughing out loud.  And although I personally didn't enjoy SKIN TRADE by Myra McEntire, it definitely made my skin crawl, and I'm sure there are those out there where that is exactly what they're looking for.  And that is my point: there is something for everyone in this anthology.  There was a lot of variation from each original story, but also from each story within the anthology.

All in all, a great collection of short stories perfect for anyone who wants to revisit some familiar tales, but each with a twist.  The authors are truly talented and packed so much emotion and fun into their stories.  It was a fast read and surprisingly easy to read in one sitting.  Each tale stood on it's own and didn't blend into one another while reading.  I'd recommend it to anyone and everyone, because who doesn't love a good fairy tale now and again?

This review is also posted on GoodReads