She’s gone over the river and through the woods, but who will protect her from the Big Bad Wolf?
Rojita is in trouble; all she needs to do is get her grandfather’s will to Abuela in Everland, but she’s being chased by El Lobo, one of the West’s most notorious gunslingers. It isn’t until she’s thrown herself head-long into danger that she realizes the old adage about frying pans and fires … fires applies. She’s in desperate need of a protector, and hires the first man who comes along to get her safely to Everland.
Bounty hunter Hank Cutter is more than ready to retire to a lonely little cabin in Arizona, to hang up his gun and find peace. He’ll begrudgingly help the reckless young woman get to the nearest train station, because he figures she’d get into even more trouble on her own. But when El Lobo struts back into his life—Hank still has the scars from their last encounter—he knows that he can’t leave Rojita at the gunslinger’s mercy. Maybe he’s nobler than he’d thought, because he’s soon setting a trap to save the lovely, impetuous Red. The only problem is that she’s still keeping a secret that could destroy his trust.
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The Brides of Everland, Ever After
Step into Everland, Wyoming, where the people on the street are more than what they appear, and there’s just a hint of magic in the air. From evil villains to mysterious godmothers, handsome cowboys to hidden princesses… welcome to Everland, Ever After.
LITTLE RED (Rojita and Hank)
ELLA (Ella and Ian)
BEAUTY (Arabella and Vincenzo)
Heat Level: 1/5 (some spicy language)
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Loved this grown up fairy tale! Caroline Lee brings the children’s fairy tale characters to life in an adult version. I love how she uses the same characters as the children’s version with an adult and more modern twist. Can’t wait to read more from this series and author.
I particularly enjoyed this retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. I thought it was a refreshing take on the age-old fairy-tale and was written pretty well. Perhaps my favorite part of this book was Hank’s conversations with himself. They especially made me laugh whenever Hank is trying to convince himself that Red and him should stay separate, and wait, oh darn, there Red is with a few men around her and I better go save her. I’m not completely sure why it amuses me so much, but you know, that’s how I roll.
If you’re bored, or perhaps a bit down you should read this, if not for the amusing inner dialog then the Happily Ever After.
Cute but been done and done better. It was a short story with no more depth than the original tale. The wolf’s perspective would have made it a little more interesting and less innocent. Yes even an encounter in the woods can be innocent if told by Red’s perspective. Why she has to be innocent is my question, nothing says Red can’t be a man eater. In fact, the idea of the big bad wolf and the woodsman thoroughly taken in by the guise of innocence only to much mistaken would be a really good twist.
I’ve read better fairy tale retellings, but I’m hard pressed to say I’ve read worse. Bits of the writing was okay, the idea behind the plot was okay, but the finished product? Meh. Lobo isn’t fully developed and he should have been. Hank & Rojita are more developed, but not enough.
The only reason I stuck with this was because of it’s brevity and the fact that I needed a quick read to get me back on track with my Goodreads challenge.
An unique telling of other classic fairy tales.
I’ll admit, I really do love a fairy-tale adaptation. I grew up reading fairy-tales. Looking back I can’t really say I was drawn to the princess finding her happily ever after with Prince Charming per se. Rather, I loved the locations. The adventure! Growing up in suburban Ohio, basically any story that took me to another part of the world was a plus. When it came to this adaptation of the classic “Little Red Riding Hood” tale, there was an added unique feature of the story being transported to the Wild West. Gunslingers and all! It was such fun to see the mention of other classic fairy-tale characters as well, from Aurora to Snow White! Then when our main characters arrive in the small town of Everland, we see classic elements drawn into the names of streets and houses too. So cute!
I will say I thought it was extremely unique to adapt a fairy-tale into a good ole’ western romance, with a bounty hunter, gunslinger, not to mention an orphanage that needs saving! I also enjoyed the interesting twist to catching our wolf. In this adaptation we see grandma is the one who dons the disguise instead of the other way around. That being said, I do feel that unfortunately some of the essential elements of the original story were lost in the adaptation.
When I think of the original “Little Red Riding Hood” tale I think of two primary characters: Red and the Wolf. If I put more thought into it I remember the grandma. If I reaaaally push it I remember in some variations you have like, a huntsman, who helps Red kill the wolf and rescue grandma. In this version you have Rojita as Red, Hank as our manly hero, and grandma is, well…grandma. One character was noticeably absent though for a rather large portion of the book. The wolf!! Infamous gunslinger, El Lobo, is our villain, but he’s only in a few scenes and doesn’t actually appear until a large portion of the book is already finished. Kind of disappointing.
It was a very good book. The only thing I didn’t like was the occasional curse word. Other than that the book was great. I absolutely recommend the book for those who loved fairy tales as a child, but know as an adult would like a different take on the characters and their stories.
Sweet wild West retelling of Little Red Riding Hood
I read this quite some time ago but I remember enough to know I enjoyed it and read a couple if this author’s other books.
Great romance!!!!!
Really enjoyed it
You never know when you will find love,and there it is!
Good for a short read, questionable realizm.
I loved the quirky little town. And I think it was a cute twist between a western and magical realism.
A different take on Little Red Riding Hood with romance and sex thrown in for good measure !
Enjoyed the story of love at first site between Hank and “Red”.
Not a lot of real imagination
Repetitive and lacking imagination
very good
Easy to read