Synopsis: SWEETLY is a modernization of Hansel and Gretel and a companion book to SISTERS RED.
Twelve years ago, Gretchen, her twin sister, and her brother went looking for a witch in the forest. They found something. Maybe it was a witch, maybe a monster, they aren’t sure—they were running too fast to tell. Either way, Gretchen’s twin sister was never seen again.
Years later, after being thrown out of their house, Gretchen and Ansel find themselves in Live Oak, South Carolina, a place on the verge of becoming a ghost town. They move in with Sophia Kelly, a young and beautiful chocolatier owner who opens not only her home, but her heart to Gretchen and Ansel.
Yet the witch isn’t gone—it’s here, lurking in the forests of Live Oak, preying on Live Oak girls every year after Sophia Kelly’s infamous chocolate festival. But Gretchen is determined to stop running from witches in the forest, and start fighting back. Alongside Samuel Reynolds, a boy as quick with a gun as he is a sarcastic remark, Gretchen digs deeper into the mystery of not only what the witch is, but how it chooses its victims. Yet the further she investigates, the more she finds herself wondering who the real monster is, and if love can be as deadly as it is beautiful.
Review: I stayed up until 1am last night JUST so I could finish Sweetly. It certainly surpassed the hype for me, I really loved this read.
It’s surprised me in many ways, same as Sisters Red. Since these are a part of the Fairytale Retelling series, honestly I went into Sweetly with the story of Hansel & Gretel in my mind, and I was waiting… waiting.. waiting for the moment the witch would strike. I think Jackson Pearce knew that her readers were anticipating it, because her writing style completely alludes to the fact that if you just wait, you will get what you came for.
I really love how Jackson goes into these stories. She bases her books so loosely on the original stories. The foundation if you will.. and then rather than simply retelling the story, she creates this whole new situation, in a way that when you read it, you know you’ve never heard anything like this before. She is a gifted writer!
The characters were easy to get hooked on. Ansel and Gretchen have always been the super close brother and sister since Gretchens twin sister was killed by a witch. Now due to a series of unfortunate events, they find their car broken down in the middle of a small almost deserted town when they meet Sophia, a chocolatier who owns a store in the woods. She seems lovely and sweet on the surface, but she is hiding a terrible secret.
Keeping in mind that I don’t want to spoil this book, I do want to add how much I adored the fact that Jackson found an absolutely amazing way to tie Sisters Red in with Sweetly. They are both companion books, so can be read in any order, but that consistency throughout the books was so clever and something that to be perfectly honest I wasn’t expecting - but loved!
This is going on the bookshelf next to my copy of Sisters Red. Sweetly has reinforced my fan girl status of Jackson Pearce’s work.
Rating: 5 out of 5
