Entwined

I love the tale of The Twelve Dancing Princesses by the Grimm brothers - so needless to say, reading Entwined was a "must" for me. Ms. Dixon not only uses the tale as the backbone of her story, but she cleverly gives the story a twist to make it unique, engrossing and just downright fun.

Azalea and her eleven sisters, along with their kingdom, are all mourning the loss of their mother, the queen. Donning black dresses, staying in doors, allowing no dancing, or the prospect of suitors... nor anything remotely fun, the girls are depressed. The king is heartbroken over the loss of his wife and marches off to war leaving the girls, including their newborn sister, on their own. It is while he is away that the girls discover an enchanted show more staircase leading far beneath the castle to a world where they dance and dance... and dance. They literally dance their shoes to shreds every night. But beneath its lovely facade, there is danger lurking in this world.... and if the girls don't get out before it's too late, they might have to give up more than just their dancing shoes.

Told through the eyes of Azalea, you learn of their kingdom, of her sisters whom are all named after flowers starting with Azalea (the oldest) to Lily (the new addition). Oh but, I loved Azalea and her sisters. I liked how they each had their story - although not all got the same attention, you still knew who each sister was and how their stories entwined. I loved their sisterly bond and the love they had for one another was really joyful to read about.

Ms. Dixon has a sense of humor - with laugh out loud moments, you could really see her wittiness shine through. I loved those silly moments where I found myself giggling or with a big goofy grin on my face. It really gave this story - which from previous re-tellings I've found dark and gothic, to be something fun and carefree.

All in all, Entwined is a beautiful fairytale, riddled with music and dancing, romance and sisters and love ... in many forms. I found myself swept away by its beauty and magic. show less

This is such an enjoyable story. I decided to read it based on some positive reviews and a gorgeous cover, and I’m so glad I did. It tells the story of twelve princesses, who tragically lose their mother at the beginning of the book during the birth of the last sister. The oldest daughter, Azalea, is left to look after her youngest sisters, and even makes a promise to do so at her mother’s bequest.

The death leads to the entire household being in a state of mourning for a year, which makes the girls even more sad, because this means no dancing, which is the one thing that makes them happy. When they find a secret entrance in the castle that leads to an enchanted forest where they can dance in secret, they are elated. The only flaw show more is that this forest is watched over by a mysterious man called Keeper. What is he going to want from them?

I did find that the story had a slow pace in the beginning, but I promise that it does develop into quite the edge-or-your-seat climax. I reached what I like to call the ‘point of no return’ towards the last 1/4 of the book, which is that point where you literally cannot stop reading.

As for the writing itself, I must say that I thought [a:Heather Dixon|386042|Heather Dixon|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1314682998p2/386042.jpg] did a wonderful job with this story. I’m not a dancer at all, and the scenes where the girls danced were written in a way that I was able to see in my mind exactly what they were doing and feel the emotion behind it. I loved that. Also, a story with twelve sisters...? They could’ve been left to be bland and unimportant, but Dixon gave them some rather distinct personalities. I absolutely LOVED the second-oldest girl, Bramble. She was adorably sassy! I also really had a soft spot in my heart for Clover.

Overall, I thought this story was absolutely lovely. I found myself wishing that I had just bought it rather than checking it out from the library, because I know I’m going to want to re-read it sooner rather than later. show less

Dixon, H. (2011). Entwined. New York: HarperCollins/Greenwillow. 474 pp. ISBN: 978-0-06-200103-0. (Hardcover); $17.99.*

This atmospheric, slightly gothic retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses is an intoxicating, moody fantasy that captures the spirit of the original but adds several fresh new twists. Azalea is both vulnerable and assertive. Her sisters each have distinct and real personalities. The Keeper is delightfully mysterious and increasingly creepy. He provides Azalea and her sisters the room in which they are able to dance, but all the while there is this undercurrent suggesting that the cost of this dancing will be much higher than Azalea expects. This mystery involving what the Keeper expects, moves the narrative forward show more and keeps the reader eagerly turning pages. The relationship Azalea has with her father develops as the story moves forward; readers gradually understand that Azalea’s portrayal may be somewhat ignorant of her father and the many years he has lived in this very strange castle. Certainly those familiar with the Grimm fairytale will not feel betrayed by Dixon’s story. At its core, Entwined is a book about learning to embrace those things in life we love, whether they are dancing or family or a safe place to live. The writing is lush, blooming with detail. The romance is not the Disney contrived nonsense that we see in movies; it is very believable, which is something of which Dixon may be justifiable proud in this retelling of a classic fairy tale. Pair this one with The Phoenix Dance by Dia Calhoun. Purchase this one for both middle school and high school libraries. show less

I'm always up for re-told tales of lesser known fairy tales. ENTWINED happens to be a re-telling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses", which seems to have picked up in favor in the last few years (I do believe this is the third or fourth novel I've read based on it!), which pleases me since its one of my favorites.

There's a charm to the novel that I found entrancing as Dixon weaves not just a story about 12 Princesses forced to dance night after night, but 12 Princesses who find peace in the dancing. Who at first welcome it because its a means of staying close to their deceased mother who taught them to love it. Grief plays a large part in the book as it blinds their father (the King) and blinds the Princesses to the danger they so show more willingly embrace.

Azalea, the oldest, is nominally what the book focuses on, but in truth Dixon tries to give the girls as a collective center stage. They are a tightly knit group despite their large number, given to petty childish grievances and sibling slights, but dependent on one and other just the same. I liked that there was a unity to their characters, but also a spark of individualism as well. Bramble with her quick smiles and quicker wit, Clover with her serious nature and Azalea who strives to be just like her mother.

The romance is understated and treated with modesty; the plot concerns itself more with detailing how the girls respond to their mother's death, the change in their lives and how Azalea's Faustian bargain effects them. I admit I wanted more romance, but therein is the catch--Azalea begins the book concerned with dancing, parties and worry over her future husband. Its not that she's flighty or immature, she takes on the responsibilities of her being her father's hostess and role model to her sisters while her mother wastes away from sickness. She is however a young woman, with only one certainty in her future--she'll marry whoever the Council decides to be King. Dancing gives her a joy and parties mean dancing.

There are amusing moments, sad moments and grim moments, but the book ends itself on a happier note. A happily ever after is achieved for a fair amount of the girls, despite some eye-brow raising (like Clover's suitor) and I was satisfied that the girls were not just pretty pieces of fluff waiting to be rescued. show less

Just when Azalea is of age to fully enjoy the beautiful gowns, the dancing slippers, the balls, charming young suitors and everything else that comes with being a crown princess it's taken away.

With the entire palace in mourning and the girls not allowed to dance, Azalea is trapped. Not allowed to leave or even go outside, she's also charged with looking after her sisters. Sisters who wish to dance.

Keeper has somewhere the girls will be able to dance and not be seen. Locked away in an enchanted passage that's long since been forgotten about, Keeper hosts dances for the 12 young princesses every night.

But Keeper likes to keep things and the girls might not find out just how high the price of admittance to his silver forest is until it's show more too late.


Heather Dixon's Entwined is a true fairy tale--not a faery tale which there have been quite a lot of lately, but a fairy tale of which, after reading this, you might just decide there need to be more. There are princesses (a whole lot of them! but thanks to a brilliant naming scheming on the author's part, they're easy to keep straight), a King, the royal household, suitors, etc.

Anyone who grew up on Disney movies (the true ones with princesses and balls and talking mice or teacups) should love Entwined. It is a re-telling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale and seems to follow the tale pretty closely but is greatly expanded and so, so much more enjoyable because of that.

Heather Dixon's Entwined is like a Disney version of one of Grimm's fairy tales meets a little bit of Lewis Carroll.

Entwined is full of dancing, humor, intrigue, suspense, some maybe love triangles, and even danger. (Of all of the books I've read this year--and it's somehow become quite a lot--this is one of the few that's actually made me laugh even while I was admiring it's awesomeness or worrying what would happen next.) And of course it makes you wish you took a formal dancing class (or paid more attention in the one you did take!) so you could go to a ball and know what you were doing!

Very much looking forward to more from Heather Dixon.

4.5/5 stars show less

The Twelve Dancing Princesses was one of my favourite fairy tales growing up, and Entwined was a great take on the story! Heather Dixon's writing was absolutely beautiful, as was the world that was created in Entwined and the story that was told.

One of my favourite things about this book was the lovely atmosphere and setting. Seeing as this book was a retelling of a fairy tale, you would expect the setting to have a sort of whimsical feeling, and it really did. While reading, I was really able to envision the rich settings of the castle and the silver forest. It all felt so enchanting and magical! I think that the amazing setting just enhanced the story and added so much!

I really liked alot of the characters in Entwined. The main show more character, and eldest sister, Azalea was such a caring, wonderful character. After the death of her mother, Azalea really becomes almost like a mother to her younger sisters, and I really liked that about her. She cared so much about her family and seemed to be like the family rock. I don't think that her sisters would have been able to cope as well as they did with their mother's death had Azalea not been there to comfort them.

Also, I actually really liked the character Keeper. Although he was the villian of the book, I was really intrigued and captivated by him and the mystery that clouded him. He was really interesting to read about and I found myself looking forward to the scenes that he was in! I also thought that he was kind of sexy hehe... I seem to have a weakness for the bad guys in books!

Because Entwined took place in a fantasy world with a society that seemed to resemble that of Victorian era England more than that of the society that we live in today, the romance side of the book was there, but a bit lighter that I would have liked. In Entwined, the characters didn't just jump into a romance with kissing, etc.. The romances had to involve courting and the courting part of the book, although sweet and romantic, didn't provide much room for kissing scenes (which I like!)!

Also, as I mentioned before, Heather Dixon's writing was beautiful, but I also found Entwined to be quite a slow read. Despite the lovely writing, it wasn't a book that I could sit down with and read in one sitting. It was just a bit too slow for me to be able to do that, in my opinion.

All in all, I really enjoyed this retelling of the classic fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses! I really liked alot of the characters (even the bad guy!) and just adored the rich atmosphere that Heather Dixon created with her words. She really has such a lovely writing style! Although I would have liked a bit more in the romance department and a bit of a faster pace, I really enjoyed reading this book and would definitely recommend it! show less

Twelve dancing princesses! I read this first during high school and absolutely loved it. Then while I was reading House of Salt and Sorrows, I kept thinking about the Barbie movie and trying to remember all those princesses’ names which were in alphabetical order from oldest to youngest. And that reminded me of this other twelve dancing princesses story I had read that also had alphabetical names, but these were all named after flowers. I couldn’t remember the title, but I googled it and managed to find this very familiar cover, so I immediately got it out of the library and read it again and I still love it!

Princess Azalea and her sisters all love to dance! It is a trait and skill instilled in them by their mother, but when she show more dies giving birth to her twelfth daughter, the King orders the household into strict mourning – which means no dancing for a whole year! Azalea is crushed: how can she grieve her mother when she isn’t allowed to do the one thing that makes her feel connected to her?

Then, miraculously, she discovers a secret passage in the castle that leads to a magical pavilion where she and her sisters can dance as much as they want every night! But it just might be too good to be true… The Keeper of the pavilion does not want to let them go without paying his price.

This book is my aesthetic exactly! I don’t know how else to describe it. The magic, the beauty of their enchanted dancing pavilion, but also that dark, sinister edge to it. The three oldest girls all have love interests, which are all adorable in their own ways, but none of it overshadows the main story and the most important relationship development is between the girls and their father.

Absolutely gorgeous in every way! show less