YA Fantasy: Golden by Cameron Dokey (and a Read-a-Thon challenge)

Series: Once Upon a Time
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Date: 2006
Format: paperback
Acquired: purchased from the Wall Street Book Exchange
Read: for the Once Upon a Read-a-Thon
Pages: 179
Reading time: two hours

From GoodReads: Before Rapunzel's birth, her mother made a dangerous deal with the sorceress Melisande: If she could not love newborn Rapunzel just as she appeared, she would surrender the child to Melisande. When Rapunzel was born completely bald and without hope of ever growing hair, her horrified mother sent her away with the sorceress to an uncertain future. After sixteen years of raising Rapunzel as her own child, Melisande reveals that she has another daughter, Rue, who was cursed by a wizard years ago and needs Rapunzel's help. Rue and Rapunzel have precisely "two nights and the day that falls between" to break the enchantment. But bitterness and envy come between the girls, and if they fail to work together, Rue will remain cursed...forever.


My review: Whatever you expect out of a Rapunzel retelling, you probably won't get it here. I was wondering when I started reading this how Dokey was going to make the story interesting - I mean, how much can you do with Rapunzel, a pretty straightforward fairytale? Hmmm...make Rapunzel bald and NOT the princess stuck in the tower! The story of what "really" happened, not how the tale went down in the books! It works quite nicely. As usual, this addition to the Once Upon a Time series is enchanting and a lovely twist on the classic tale. Dokey's introduction  of twenty-first century sarcasm into the characters' dialogue was amusing, and she also threw in some other incidents to make readers laugh. The only problem with Golden is its length - too short! I wish everything past page 100 had been more fleshed-out, because it came across as rushed instead. But, despite this issue, Golden is a short, delightful, sweet read.

My second challenge for Once Upon a Read-a-Thon; this one is hosted by The Bookish Type:
Pick any book from your readathon pile and write a fake synopsis based solely on the cover. The synopsis does not have to be related to the actual book at all, just the pretty, pretty cover.


Golden by Cameron Dokey:
Raised by the witch Melisande, Rapunzel has been brought up as a bookish herbalist - an identity with which she is quite content. But then her father, the king, shows up, wanting his daughter back so he can marry her off to the nearest prince. Rapunzel refuses, and the king has her shut up in a tower as punishment. It's not really punishment for the princess, though, because now she has all the time in the world to read! Too bad some bumbling prince appears at the base, claiming that he must rescue her to prove his worth...is there any way Rapunzel can help the prince without forfeiting the control of her life back to her father?