Review--Apples Dipped in Gold by Scarlett St. Clair

 

Orphaned at a young age, Samara is left under the care of her three, horrible brothers. Just when she thinks she cannot take another day of their abuse, a handsome prince offers for her hand in marriage.

Samara’s brothers agree in exchange for a large dowery but on her way to her new kingdom, her carriage is ambushed by Lore, the wicked Prince of Nightshade.

Samara believes that the fae has snatched away her chance at freedom to punish her for her crimes against his kind but punishment is only half of Lore’s plan.

The truth is that the Elven Prince has pined after Samara for seven long years. She is all he can think about—a toxin in his blood. Can the Prince of Nightshade, whose power over poisons rivals none in The Enchanted Forest, manage to find a remedy or will he succumb to her love?

I finally picked up Scarlett St. Clair's Apples Dipped in Gold, the second of her fairy tale novellas and it was just as enchanting and magical as I expected it to be! I love how these novellas are not exactly fairy tale retellings but drawing on multiple threads from different fairy tales and creating something entirely new that would easily fit into the fairy tales of old.

Samara is a young woman who must care for her three older brothers, who as you might suspect, treat her terribly. They are brutal and abusive and yet, Samara stays in their family home, not wanting to leave the place she grew up. Her parents are buried nearby and she has a beloved cat and horse she couldn't bear to leave behind. You might ask, why she just doesn't take the animals with her? Well, most days, the brother do take the horse for their hunting gig, and then there's still the fact that in the fairy tale world, women can't really make it on their own with no starting point. And poor Samara truly has nothing to her name.

But on the day that she feels like ending it all, she is rescued by a prince. A prince who proclaims to want to give her a better life, because yadda yadda yadda, he's falling in love with her. But Samara isn't your typical simpleton maiden. She agrees to go with him, but doesn't want to marry right away, and the prince agrees. He offers the greedy brothers a healthy bride price and when he sets to take off with his new bride to his palace, they are attacked by thieves and he is killed. But Samara is rescued by yet another prince...a fae prince.

Lore is one of our seven brothers that we met in Mountains Made of Glass. Although, I will admit, my memory is fuzzy on his behavior as I remember most of the brothers not being very likable when we first met them. But Lore is actually a bit kinder, for a fae. He's tortured by a broken past and he seeks to find a magical tree that grows golden apples that grant wishes. He's seeking to rid himself of love.

He and Samara come to an agreement, since he saved her life from thieves who would've killed her or worse, she's to help him find this tree. They are led by yet another magical creature, a talking fox who seems to know more than he tells and they set off to find this tree that only grows at a certain time of year.

While it takes sometime to come about, we learn that both Lore and Samara have a past where they were left heartbroken. They are going to have to come to terms with that past if they are to ever have hope for a future. Because, naturally, as with all fairy tales and all tales by St. Clair, there's going to be some romance brewing between these two. It is intense, like all her love stories are!

St. Clair draws from quite a few fairy tales I was not overly familiar with in this one. Yes, you have your typica Little Snow White theme with the apple motif going on. I enjoying reading her author notes in these as I learn more about the fairy tales outside Grimm and Andersen. Which, did not fully realize that the Grimms merely collected fairy tales whereas Andersen wrote them. Guess I never dug that deep into that aspect as a kid! I was just reading what I thought was the OG stuff! Lol. But I knew even then that most fairy tales are known throughout different cultures as something else and just share similarities to the story. I've always found that part interesting too! 

This was a relatively quick read and an enjoyable one too! It has that fairy tale atmosphere one would expect coupled with the occasional illustration that was just absolutely stunning! Truly, this book felt like one of those gilded hardback fairy tale editions that I adored reading as a child, albeit the content is definitely spicier now! If you're a fan of fairy tales in any fashion, this is definitely a series that's worth checking out! We're now two brothers into a seven brother epic saga and I cannot wait for the next one!

Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars