I picked up The Sisters Grimm as one of my first library books. The blurb and cover reeled me in, so I figured it promising. Also, how bad could it be if it was in a rural county library?

(This review contains spoilers that also serve as a content warning for anyone interested in reading this book. ✨)

What’s surprising is that barely 50 pages in — and on the page with a library property stamp — is an allusion to a minor pursuing an affair with her teacher. It’s not like Pretty Little Liars, either. It’s a 17-year-old on the cusp of her 18th birthday, having seduced a married adult so that she could get what she wanted. Seduced is the wrong word, but this is the gist I get.

I went around reading reviews, even though I’d decided not to, after this realization because I was so baffled.

Apparently, the men these girls have been sleeping with is their father, in human form.

More than that, I’ve counted 5 different perspectives within 40 pages. There’s one first-person perspective. Leo’s perspectives are always the shortest, and it is sooo cliche that he is immediately smitten with the first character introduced.

I can’t read stories like this because I can’t keep up with them. Also, minors having sex with adults like it’s nothing isn’t favorable. And when those adults turn out to be their father? 🧐😵

I’d want to read the original Grimm’s Fairy Tales first. If I stick with them, I might circle back to The Sisters Grimm. 🤷‍♀️

As for being in the library, I was surprised. I couldn’t find any LGBTQ+ books, though.

The Sisters Grimm by Menna van Praag
Series: The Sisters Grimm #1
Published by Harper Voyager on 6 February, 2020
Genre: Fairy tales, Fantasy, Fiction, Retelling, Young adult
# pages: 430
Source: Borrowed
Goodreads

As children, Goldie, Liyana, Scarlet, and Bea dreamed of a strange otherworld: a nightscape of mists and fog, perpetually falling leaves and hungry ivy, lit by an unwavering moon. Here, in this shadowland of Everwhere, the four girls, half-sisters connected by blood and magic, began to nurture their elemental powers together. But at thirteen, the sisters were ripped from Everwhere and separated. Now, five years later, they search for one another and yearn to rediscover their unique and supernatural strengths. Goldie (earth) manipulates plants and gives life. Liyana (water) controls rivers and rain. Scarlet (fire) has electricity at her fingertips. Bea (air) can fly.

To realize their full potential, the blood sisters must return to the land of their childhood dreams. But Everwhere can only be accessed through certain gates at 3:33 A.M. on the night of a new moon. As Goldie, Liyana, Scarlet, and Bea are beset with the challenges of their earthly lives, they must prepare for a battle that lies ahead. On their eighteenth birthday, they will be subjected to a gladiatorial fight with their father’s soldiers. If they survive, they will face their father who will let them live only if they turn dark. Which would be fair, if only the sisters knew what was coming.

So, they have thirty-three days to discover who they truly are and what they can truly do, before they must fight to save themselves and those they love.