REVIEW: DIAMOND by Kirsten Fichter!

Hey everyone!  Today's post is a review for Kirsten Fichter's Diamond, a Rapunzel retelling that was just released last week.  You probably know this by now, but I'm a huge Rapunzel fan - and equally, I can be a bit picky about retellings because I love the story so much.  While Diamond is a pretty short book (my guess is novelette length?) I sincerely enjoyed it, and the plot progressed smoothly.  

I also loved the character of Seth Stendahl, who was recently interviewed on a blog post HERE in case you missed it ;) -- and of course, the leading lady was lovely.  The story did pull from the original Rapunzel fairytale for some elements, but in the same breath it introduced its own twists in a fresh and fantastic way.  I also noticed some Easter eggs from other Rapunzel stories (one of which I'm a rabid fan of, I bet you can't guess which....[hint for those who haven't been afflicted by my endless discussion on said movie...check the first word in my blog name]).  So those were fun to stumble upon!  

The characters were easy to relate to, and the book's pacing was nice.  Fichter also does a really nice job of dropping hints about Diamond's true identity along the way without giving anything away too easily.  Again, there were a lot of unique features in this retelling, so it's almost in and of itself an original story with a bit of flavoring from the Brothers Grimm fairytale.  The ending, to me, felt a smidgen abrupt, but that's probably because I wanted to keep reading.  Oops.  

So this one definitely gets 5 stars from me.  It's a fun and sweet take on Rapunzel, and if you enjoy fairytale retellings or the story of Rapunzel, I think you'll have a good time reading this book.

You can check out the link above for a synopsis and purchase links!

Have you read Diamond yet - or plan to?  What are your thoughts on fairytale retellings?