I didn't enjoy this nearly as much as I'd hoped. This is the review I wrote for Goodreads.

Eeek I don't know how to rate it. It's probably a 2 but one of the stories was a 4 and it was the longest so I'll go with a 3 for now.

I've been wanting to read this book for ages. I bought a used copy years ago, promptly buried it under other books and about a decade later forgot about it and bought a new reprint. I also somehow ended up with a copy from Audible. Ugh, why do I do this?

I should've loved this dark and haunting and beautifully written book but I also should've read it when I bought it the first time.

I did not love this dark and haunting and beautifully written book much at all. I don't know if it just hasn't aged well or if I've read too many dark and haunting and beautifully written fairytale retellings but I was mostly bored and annoyed. The first story, The Bloody Chamber, started things off right and it was the only one I enjoyed. It has a lovely gothic feel and the heroine, though a little annoying at times, was also nosy and headstrong and her mother? Well, her mother was amazing.

The other stories were meh to bleh and I'm really sad about it. I went back and forth between the audio and the paperback when I found myself drifting away too easily from the audio. The problem for me was the constant focus on virginity and beauty and smart young ladies who often get stuck with idiot, brutish, or ridiculous men while so many of the older ladies are painted as ugly hags and crones. I get it. The ladies often take their sensuality into their own hands but so much of this just didn't live up to the feminism title people give it here in this year of 2024. I really should've read it a decade or so ago.

I also have to say I despised Puss in Boots. Damn what an insufferable story. The cat is annoying and I love cats, they’re one of the best things on this planet but this cat as the narrator was insufferable and so was the nitwit who owns him. I guess this was supposed to be amusing but I'm too grouchy for it and thought it was ridiculous. What an idiot elaborate scheme these two concoct so the fool guy can have some sex with the beauty he’s fallen in insta-love with after seeing her once 🙃 He was “burning with the fever of love”. Satan save me. This fool was right up there with that other fool Erik from The Phantom of the Opera (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). And don't even get me started on the cats having sexy time, ffs.

Anyhow, I realize I am an outlier when it comes to this book but nothing anyone says will change my mind. My two paperbacks are headed straight for the Little Free Library.

I left this book inside the Little Free Library today.

If you've found it Welcome to Bookcrossing! I hope you enjoy it and thanks for making a journal entry. When you are finished reading it please click "new journal entry" again and add any comments you'd like to share. If you decide to keep it that's fine by me, if you decide pass it along, please click "release book" so we can both follow its journey. You can leave it wherever you choose. I have decent luck leaving my books on top of drive-by mail boxes (with the flat tops), on benches, in lobbies and at gas pumps but I also pass many on to fellow readers. If you'd like to join bookcrossing I'd be thrilled if you'd use my BC name, BarkLessWagMore, as the referring member.