Title: Betraying Korth

Series: Legends of Neverland #3

Author: Mary Mecham

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Retelling, Romance

Rating: 4.5 stars

Review:

Traitorous spies don’t deserve happily ever afters. Dahlia has always known her life would end at the bottom of a hangman’s noose. But treason seemed a small price to pay if it meant a chance to free her people from the iron grip of their oppressive sultan. Dahlia can’t fail the rebellion now. Dahlia’s time playing the role of obedient handmaiden to Odette, the sultan’s entitled daughter, comes to an end when Odette is sent to marry her betrothed and Dahlia strikes without mercy. After a swift mutiny en route to Haven Harbor, she forces the sultan’s daughter to trade places and upon arrival, masquerades in her mistress’s place. If she can ensure Haven Harbor’s loyalty to her rebellion, the sultan’s tyrannical reign could end. But the princess’s fiancé, Korth, isn’t the man she expected, and her original plan of using and disposing of the prince becomes ever more sickening as she begins to fall for him. Continuing the façade will force Dahlia to betray Korth, but to reveal the truth spells her own treasonous demise. Is a life of lies better than no life at all? – summary from Goodreads

Betraying Korth is a villainous retelling of the Goose Girl with hidden identities, a rebellion, and romance!

The Goose Girl is one of the first retellings I ever read and has a special place in my heart. I absolutely loved this take on The Goose Girl! It was incredible and really well done. I highly recommend this book!

The world building was well done, and I think the author found her stride with this world. The first book, the world was still being set up, but the last two books the world building has been solid and engaging. In this book more than the last we get a sense of the political climate of the world and are starting to explore other countries. I really enjoyed seeing the differences between Ebora and Haven Harbor and how that played out throughout the course of the story.

The story was also really engaging, and I really enjoyed the plot. I do love retellings that follow the true princess, but I really enjoyed seeing the handmaiden’s perspective this book. I also felt like the backstory and reasoning to the handmaiden made sense and I could emphasize. Mecham does a wonderful job of twisting classic stories on their head, and this book was no exception.

Dahlia was a wonderful narrator! I loved her so much! She was very determined and believed in justice and freedom for her people. She also liked to have fun and laugh, which I enjoyed. Dahlia had wonderful character development. She really grew to follow her moral compass, tell the truth, and accept consequences for her actions. One of the things that I really like about this book was that Dahlia admitted her wrong-doings and accepted the consequences for them.

Korth was also amazing! He was so rigid and such a rule-follower. It was also nice to see a shy MMC. He went through some character growth as well, which I liked. I really liked his character.

The romance between these two was absolutely adorable! It did start with secrets and lies, but it grew into a sweet relationship that I love. They are so cute together! The brought out the best in each other. I also love how they bonded over simple things in the beginning.

This book was full of action and there was some on page death, which I was not expecting. I will say that it was not graphically described. The rebellion side of this story was incredibly engaging, and I really liked how it all played out.

The side characters were really well done, as well. I liked the fellow rebellion members, but I do wish we got to see a little bit more of them. I also love Tess and her relationship with Korth! I love seeing positive sibling relationships in books, and their relationship is so sweet. Godfrey was Dahlia and Korth’s chaperone, and I loved this character so much! He was so stuffy and uptight, as well as interrupted every moment between them. He often had me laughing! Odette and her father were truly awful and obnoxious. Mecham did a wonderful job showcasing their terrible side.

I do wish Treva and Bayne made more of an appearance, as well as Hook and Tinkerbell. Peter Pan was a more prominent character in this book, especially in the latter half. I’m enjoying seeing how this story is being set up for the future, and I am excited to see where it’s going.

Betraying Korth is a fantastic villainous retelling of The Goose Girl with rebellion, romance, and royalty!