Girl Well Read

A special thank you to NetGalley and Open Road Integrated Media for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For those of you who read my reviews, you know how much I love Alice Hoffman's words.  Hoffman could teach a master class.  You know those online seminars that you see advertised on social media sites?  Well, Alice Hoffman should lead one.

Teresa's mother, Dina, fills her head with bedtime stories of an Aria—a dark-eyed fearless hero on a white horse who would come and rescue her.  Aria's are rule breakers and so is her brother, Silver, who Teresa comes to believe is one of these fabled men.  Instead of a fairytale, Teresa and Silver's relationship is dark and dysfunctional, not unlike her mother's relationship with her father, King Connors.  The women in this story are swayed by myth and folklore instead of realizing that they can rescue themselves and be their own hero.  It doesn't help that women can't seem to resist Silver, this only fuels Teresa's belief of him being an Aria.

This story may not sit well with all readers due to the incestuous relationship that is the underlying current of the novel.  There is so much more going on here, Hoffman explores when when fantasy collides with reality and its repercussions.  Teresa must change who she loves and rewrite her story into something real and not forbidden and taboo before she loses herself in myth and fantasy.