Once Upon a Tower by Eloisa James

Posted June 20, 2013 by Silvia in Books / 0 Comments

I received a free copy of this book from Publisher for an honest review.
This does not affect in any way my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.

Once Upon a Tower by Eloisa JamesOnce Upon a Tower by Eloisa James
Series: Fairy Tales #5
Published by Piatkus on May 28, 2013
Genres: Historical Romance
Source: Publisher
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four-stars

Once upon a time . . .
A duke fell in love

Gowan Stoughton of Craigievar, Duke of Kinross, values order and self-control above all else. So when he meets a lady as serene as she is beautiful, he promptly asks for her hand in marriage.
With a lady
Edie—whose passionate temperament is the opposite of serene—had such a high fever at her own debut ball that she didn’t notice anyone, not even the notoriously elusive Duke of Kinross. When her father accepts his offer . . . she panics.
And when their marriage night isn’t all it could be, she pretends.
In a tower.
But Edie’s inability to hide her feelings makes pretending impossible, and when their marriage implodes, she retreats to a tower—locking Gowan out.
Now Gowan faces his greatest challenge. Neither commands nor reason work with his spirited young bride. How can he convince her to give him the keys to the tower . . .
When she already has the keys to his heart?

Looking at this book, the first thing that pops in our mind is that it’s a retelling of Rapunzel. Well, don’t be tricked by it. It surely has something to do with the tale we know, but here Rapunzel sort of meets with Romeo & Juliet and everything takes more the shape of a Shakespearean play. Which I can only love, indeed!

It’s a refreshing novel with characters not perfect at all and, for that, more realistic. The lack of experience both Evie and Gowan have is what causes all the fuss in their married life, bringing up misunderstandings and conflicts that might sound “silly”, but they’re in truth understandable, especially considering the characters’ age and their habits. Sensuality is well mixed with that playfulness I can’t help but only appreciate when I read Eloisa James’ books. There’s a particular flirting that makes you grin and laugh at the same time, which is quite enjoyable.

The read just slowed down a bit for me after the first part, right in the middle, but then my reading was running fast again all of a sudden. So yes, I definitely had a pleasurable time reading Once Upon a Tower and I do believe the author did a fine job in taking bits of ideas here and there from two famous, immortal stories without being repetitive, but writing what ended to be a lovely, original story of its own.


Silvia

About Silvia

Through her creativity and blogging, Silvia has met people from different industries and collaborated with them on various projects over the years. Her strong passion for reading and her fascination for different cultures and languages have led her to develop a keen interest in the East-Asian continent. Off to see her? Follow the colourful book road . . . ♡

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