Actual rating: 3.5 
 First line: "We always know before the change comes." 
 This is not a mediocre book by any means. It reads and feels so much like an actual fairy tale in every aspect of it - the setting, the writing, the characters, the magic, the stories within the story itself. 
 I really wanted to love this more but it took too long for it to reach the point at which I might've, and by then it was over. The pacing was the biggest struggle for me and I had to push through to find that moment where I was all in. I think if I had been able to sit down and read it for bigger chunks at a time and become fully immersed that I would have fallen completely in love. Unfortunately, though, I wasn't able to, and that makes me sad. 
 I'd happily recommend this story for anyone in search of a pure, magical feeling. This story delivers it in spades.