The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: Feathered Thief

Series: All That Glitters #8

Author: J.M. Stengl

Genre: Young Adult, Clean Romance, Retelling, Fantasy

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review:

Stolen apples. Divided lovers. A bungled curse.

Young Princess Helena of Kielce despises her tormentor, Prince Kazik of Ostrów, until the day she realizes the boy actually likes her and true friendship blossoms. In time, their royal parents arrange a betrothal, but first the princess vanishes, then the prince, and the entire region falls under a strange curse.

Five years later, a girl known as Lenka the Archer tends a lonely golden-apple tree and wonders who she really is. Serving in the King of Trinec’s magical garden is a worthy position, but how did she and the tree come to be there? When golden apples go missing and the king’s two sons fail to identify the thief, the task falls on Lenka, who catches a golden bird in the act. Instead of shooting it, she receives from the bird one golden feather and a promise.

After the princes go in search of the elusive bird and vanish, the king orders Lenka to bring back the golden bird, the apples it stole, and the two missing princes. While disguised as a man and guided by a talking fox, Lenka takes on impossible challenges in unexpected places . . . and absolutely nothing goes as planned.

Will the stolen princess find her true self and her beloved prince? Can she rescue her homeland from its hopeless tangle of magic and mayhem? – summary from Goodreads

This book was amazing!

Feathered Thief is a retelling of The Golden Bird by the Grimm Brothers. This is an obscure fairytale and one I have never heard of.

This book follows Princess Helena and Prince Kazik from childhood to adulthood. They were rivals in their childhood until Helena realizes that Kazik actually likes her and a friendship blossoms. Eventually a betrothal is arranged between the two of them, but then Helena vanishes, then Kazik, and a curse falls over the land.

This was a fairytale start to finish. It had that strong fairytale vibes that is usually absent from retellings. I loved that aspect. It was also super cozy. I don’t love cozy books, but this one was one I will read again.

The writing was well done. There was a lot that happened, but there wasn’t any confusion about where you were at in the story. I will say the only confusing parts of the book were where they discussed the curse and magic. I struggled to follow that part of the story.

I loved both Helena and Kazik. They were amazing characters, with an adorable relationship. They were amazing on their own and together, which is a huge selling point for me.

Kazik was so sweet and dedicated. He never wavered in his love, which was just amazing. I wish he was in the story more during the second part of the book, but I understand why he wasn’t.

Helena was a strong, determined, but kind main character. She was also a lot of fun to read, as both Helena and Lenka. I enjoyed how the story was split up and her character had changed over time.

I also really enjoyed the adoption side of things. It wasn’t an official adoption, but it was well done. There also wasn’t any doubt that the adoptive parents loved the character and would do anything for them. This was just something small that I noticed, but I loved it.

This book had some good body positivity messages, too. Kazik was short and pudgy, especially in his childhood. Helena was super tall and narrow, with no curves. This caused a lot of self-consciousness for both of them. In the end, they really didn’t care what the other looked like, which is a great message!

I also enjoyed the magical creatures in this book. Who doesn’t want a golden bird and horse?

The romance and fairytale vibes were the biggest draws for me in this book! There were some politics happening, but the romance was the main thing.

I really hope there is going to be a sequel!

Feathered Thief is a clean romance, retelling with magic, romance, curses, and fairytale vibes perfect for a rainy day!

*I received an ARC copy from the author and all opinions are my own.