Emerald Bound – Teresa Richards

A princess, a pea, and a tower of mattresses. This is the sliver that survives of a story more nightmare than fairytale… Maggie Rhodes, high school junior and semi-reformed stalker, learns the tale’s true roots after a spying attempt goes awry and her best friend Kate ends up as the victim of an ancient curse. At the center of the curse lies an enchanted emerald that has been residing quietly in a museum for the past fifty years. Admirers of the gem have no idea that it feeds on life. Or that it’s found its next victim in Kate. Enter Lindy, a school acquaintance who knows more than she’s letting on, and Garon, a handsome stranger claiming he knows how to help, and Maggie is left wondering who to trust and how to save her best friend before it’s too late. If only Maggie knew her connection to the fairy tale was rooted far deeper than an endangered best friend. – Goodreads.com

I received a copy of this book free from the publisher via Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

I am still pretty new to fairytale retellings, so I was pretty excited to be accepted to review Emerald Bound, especially as it steps away from your typical Cinderella or Snow White type stories and instead ventures into one of my favourites, The Princess and the Pea.

I was hooked immediately by the very casual feel of the protagonist, Maggie, and the great bond of friendship she has with her two best friends, Kate and Piper. Something about strong female relationships always really gets me into a story, I guess because I can imagine myself and my best friends in their shoes and it makes it all a bit more relatable no matter how fantastical the plot!

Emerald Bound jumps straight into the action, which is fantastic, as I’ve been struggling lately with books that seem to go nowhere for the first 200 pages. We all know by now how impatient a reader I am, if I’m reading something with action, I wanna see at least a bit of it immediately or have some good suspense build up. This novel didn’t disappoint!

It bounces back and forth (very clearly) between a couple of points of view, showing how the present came to be and giving insight into the characters. The flashbacks aren’t short on action or emotion, either.

This novel comes together perfectly at the end. No loose threads, no questions left unanswered, and just a little hint of mystery. I couldn’t have imagined a better ending.