The Storyteller’s Daughter

By: Victoria McCombs

Narrated by: Ellen Quay

Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

His shadowed face lit by flames,

Rumpelstiltskin is my name....

For as long as anyone can remember, every child in Westfallen has been born with a Gift, and these Gifts defined them.

Then Cosette is born, Giftless.

An attempt to hide her misfortune brings her before the King, who entraps her to use her Gift as a pawn in his war.

Caught in a lie, Cosette desperately searches for a power strong enough to free her. Intrigued by whispers of an old king and a dark curse, she calls upon Rumpelstiltskin and finds him trapped in a magic deeper than she bargained for. Now, Cosette must fight to reclaim her freedom from the King and break Rumpel’s curse. When time runs out, she’ll lose more than her heart. She’ll lose her life.

The Storyteller’s Daughter is a Rumpelstiltskin retelling that will satisfy fans of Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted, as well as Jessica Day George’s Dragon Slippers and Princess of Glass, and Cameron Dokey’s The World Above.

©2020 Machovi Productions Inc (P)2021 Machovi Productions Inc

Enjoyable Retelling

I enjoyed this book. I have a thing for fairy tales and rewriting them with a twist.
What I like best about The Storyteller's Daughter is that Cossette comes into her own strength and makes her own decision. She is not just trapped by Rumplestilskin and waiting for someone to answer a riddle for her. The end is twisty with some foreshadowing but only enough to give you an idea of what might happen without telegraphing it. Overall, this was well written.
I was given an audio version for review. I enjoyed the narrator. She does a good job of giving cossette real character instead of leaving her vocally flat.
Though I was gifted this book; all opinions are my own.

Creative

I enjoyed listening to this creative story. The writing was really well done and I liked the characters. The story had a nice pace. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Listened in one go!

I loved this! This was such a sweet fairy tale retelling, and the narration was very well done. This was a pleasantly fresh take on the story. I enjoyed watching Cosette develop and gain her confidence. She went from being very mousey to have spine enough to at least try to change her fate. She’s compassionate and lovely. There were a number of moments when I couldn’t help but say “Awwww, Rumple!” Because he’s just so sweet, and has plenty of his own problems to over come while assisting our heroine. I loved it! Will listen again!

I love a good Fairytale

To start I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book is really great if you are looking for a unique fairytale retelling. The setting was really well laid out and the plot was easy to follow. It's also nice that this is a stand-alone book so the story wraps up nicely at the end, but if you are invested in the characters there are other books by the author that are in the same world.

The narrator is adorable and I firmly believe she should be a princess. She didn't do voices for the different characters but I honestly didn't need it. She never did anything with a narration that pulled me out and that to me is testament to a good narrator.

There is romance but there is no smut so if you're looking for steamy sex scenes this is not the book for you.

Overall this is a lighthearted quick read with adorable characters and fairytale magic.

This next portion of the review contains spoilers.

I did feel like the author watched once upon a Time before writing this book because there was a blend of the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale and beauty and the beast in my opinion.
I really liked the lead female character. I definitely saw her grow throughout the book. I always say this but I felt like the book could have been a little bit longer to elaborate on her time in the castle, but that's probably just because I was really invested in her and I really liked the writing style.
I do wish that we could have been present for Conrad showing more of his true colors because I wanted him to be more of a villain than he ended up being. We are supposed to believe Rumpelstiltskin in multiple cases that Conrad is kind of a jerk but Cosette never sees that first hand so we never see it firsthand.
I am so happy that this book had a happy ending because it started to feel like it wasn't going to and I'm all about my happy endings.
overall I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes fairy tale retellings or like to the TV show once a time.

Love is the best gift of all

I truly enjoyed the story. It is well written with
Twists and turns that will surprise you. The
dialogue is well done between the characters.
An excellent retelling of Rumplestiltskin one of my favorite Fairy tales.

Beautiful

This was a beautiful retelling of the story of Rumpelstiltskin. I loved the new take on the classic story and the narrator was perfect!

LOVED!!

Such a sweet twist! Loved her rendition of this fairytale. Can’t wait to read more of her books