Entwined is the re-telling of the 12 dancing princesses' fairy tale, and it does quite well in that aspect. Azalea is princess royale to a charming but poor King, and when the Queen dies, the entire household goes into mourning, and that means there's no dancing. This is heart-breaking news to Azalea and her sisters so when a stranger, the Keeper, offers them a place every night to dance, they are easily tempted. But the Keeper likes to keep things and the princesses may have gotten in way over their heads this time. 
 Nixon's writing is beautiful, and I truly felt like I was in Azalea's time. I felt her sadness when her mother passed, her anger when her father had to tend to royal businesses instead of his daughters; all her different emotions. The writing is rich and lush and emotions run deep in this story. I do have a gripe and that's about the story being way too long. I can definitely see it shorter by about another 1/4; the sight of the novel itself can be quite daunting so better editing next time, hopefully. 
 The story is a good one. It's not a strict-retelling per se so there's quite a lot of interesting plot lines thrown in as well. I quite like Azalea's sisters, though there's too many of them to remember. I quite like Bramble; I think she has a lot of spunk for someone her age in her era. 
 Romance plays a small but important role in Entwined. It goes slow, which is no surprise as they're in a time where men court the women, so if you're looking for those passionate relationships, you're out of luck. I like the romance here and it did keep my interest in the novel for quite a bit. :) 
 A great debut effort; I do look forward to more of Nixon's writings.