Mundie Moms

Monday, February 24, 2014

GRIM edited by Christine Johnson; Blog Tour: Short Story Mini Reviews & A Giveaway!



Welcome to the next stop on the GRIM tour! I'm so thrilled to share my mini reviews for books 10, 11, & 12 in this exciting anthology, which features the stories by Shaun David Hutchinson, Kimberly Derting and Grim's editor, Christine Johnson. Along with today's mini reviews, I've also included what TV series I can see this short story being featured on. Before I share those, here's a little bit about the book:


About Grim:
Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today:

Short Stories

  1. The Key by Rachel Hawkins
  2. Figment by Jeri-Smith Ready
  3. The Twelfth Girl by Malinda Lo
  4. The Raven Princess by Jon Skovron
  5. Thinner Than Water by Saundra Mitchell
  6. Before The Rose Bloomed: A Retelling of the Snow Queen by Ellen Hopkins
  7. Beast / Beast by Tessa Gratton
  8. The Brothers Piggett by Julia Kagawa
  9. UnTethered by Sonia Gensler
  10. Better by Shaun David Hutchinson
  11. Light It Up by Kimberly Derting
  12. Sharper Than A Serpent's Tongue by Christine Johnson
  13. A Real Boy by Claudia Gray
  14. Skin Trade by Myra McEntire
  15. Beauty and the Chad by Sarah Rees Brennan
  16. The Pink: A Grimm Story by Amanda Hocking
  17. Sell it Out by Jackson Pearce 
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I liked the concept of this story. Girl is created for the sake of being an experiment to find a curse to to save the human race. She's constantly told she's not real, yet she feels everything, and believes she is real. Lucky for her, the only other person besides herself that sees her real is Levi, the doctor's son. Oh yeah, throw in a romance into the mix of you've got yourself a short story that packs a big punch. The fabulous twist at the end that makes me wish this story was just a little bit longer. Hutchinson's BETTER is a story who's concept seems a bit twisted, and GRIM. I would say it's a little bit sci-fi, a little bit Frankestein, and a little Romeo & Juliet, and a whole lot of messed up mixed into the whole story. 
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Where I can see this story featured on:

 I think Hutchinson's BETTER is a story that would be perfect for The Twilight Zone. With it's little bit of sci-fi feel, and mix of Frankenstein, and a little Romeo & Juliet, this story would fit right in to this epic series of twisted stories. 


Kimberly Derting does a fabulous job at taking creepy, and upping it to the next level.
Take an evil deranged step mother, a wealthy father dying of cancer, and his two kids who stand in the way of said evil mother's fortune and you've got yourselves the motive for her up and leaving her kids behind in the middle of the woods after a supposed family camping trip. But wait, it gets much darker. 

Greta and Hansen, the sister and brother who were left abandoned in the woods, stumble upon the home of a Park Ranger. Looking for help, the last thing they thought they'd find is the sick and deranged, and I mean that literally, Park Ranger. This story that makes the Witch from Hansel and Gretel look tame.  I may never look at Park Rangers the same again after reading this GRIM story. This story takes sick and twisted to a whole new level.

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Where I can see this story being featured on:










This is a story that I could totally see happening on CSI,  Law & Order, a show I used to love watching called Without A Trace, or one of those crime shows. This story is so twisted that at first you think there's only one villain / bad person in it, but as the short story goes on, you quickly learn that there's even a more sick & twisted person than the first. No joke, this is a story I could totally see happening on an episode of one of these shows. Only I'm not sure the cops/detectives/good guys would get to those in need of help at the right time. Because what I'm not telling you is, I have a feeling things were about to get a whole heck of a lot more complex if this story hadn't ended when it did. Now I want to know if what I think would happen, does. 

*TV series images via Google*


This is a great twist on the the French Fairy Tale called, Diamonds and Toads. Though a little darker and set in now days, Christine Johnson does a great job at incorporating the same elements from that Fairy Tale, into her GRIM short story. Johnson's story centers around two girls who's alcoholic mother has them doing things for the old women across the street to earn money to put food on their table. This time when Clara goes over, something happens (which I won't say), and her neighbor grants her a promise if she doesn't say anything. From the time forward flowers and jewels spew from her mouth. When her sister Dina finds out what happened, she does what I would have done, confronts the old lady and her grandson, only to be cursed with having serpents and toads fall from her mouth when she talked. This a darker tale than the original fairy tale, but still a good short story none the less. 
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This is a short story I could totally see pictured on GRIMM


This short story has all the elements that make it a great fit for the TV show, GRIMM. It's a modern day fairy tale with a dark twist, which is exactly what this series is all about. I've not watched much of this series, but now I'm curious if this is a fairy tale they'd incorporate into their series. I'm just saying, Christine Johnson has already given them a story line they could easily add more to and build off her plot line with. *coughs*

*Image for Grimm found via Google

My Over All Thoughts

If you're a fan of dark, twisted stories I'd recommend picking this anthology up. I've not read every short story yet, but I plan on doing so soon. From the ones I've read, I would say I'd recommend this to the old YA readers. There are some sensitive issues that are addressed in some of these stories. They're not graphic, but there's enough mentioned to know what happens. 

The Giveaway



Each tour stop is offering up a copy of GRIM! 1 winner will receive a fantastic Grand Prize Package including the following Harlequin Teen titles: 
  • 2 copies of GRIM
  • a copy of WHITE HOT KISS by Jennifer Armentrout
  • THE SECRET DIAMOND SISTERS by Michelle Madow
  • THE QUEEN’S CHOICE by Cayla Kluver 
  • an ARC of  LET’S GET LOST by Adi Alsaid. 
*Giveaway is open to US/Canada and ends March 7th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule 
 Monday, February 17th - Harlequin Paranormal Blog 
Tuesday, February 18th - Stories 1, 2 and 3 - Two Chicks on Books 
Wednesday, February 19th - Stories 4, 5 and 6 - Book and A Latte 
Friday, February 21st - Stories 7, 8 and 9 - Fiction Freak 
Monday, February 24th - Stories 10, 11 and 12 - Mundie Moms 
Wednesday, February 26th - Stories 13, 14 and 15 - Bumbles and Fairytales 
Friday, February 28th - Stories 16 and 17 - Fiktshun  


22 comments:

  1. Christina R. in the rafflecopter

    Love how there are fairy tales that aren't well known :)

    Lots of awesome authors participating!!

    Thank you:)

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  2. The book Grim... The two different but completely awesome Beauty and the Beast stories.
    The show Grimm... Everything!

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  3. Omg how amazing! A wonderful giveaway!!

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  4. I always enjoyed the Grimm tales and can't wait to read how these are changed up a bit :).

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  5. I've been following the tour and I definitely need this book! Thanks for sharing! :D

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  6. I love reading retellings of fairy tales. My favorite fairy tale is Little Red Riding Hood :D

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  7. Thanks for the giveaway! I am really looking forward to reading the Grim tales. :)

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  8. I love all things Grimm including the TV show. The book sounds awesome!

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  9. Looks fantastic! Thanks for the giveaway. =D

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  10. Wow, thanks for the opportunity to win any of these! This is an awesome giveaway.

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  11. I love everything Grim about Beauty and the Beast! I think it's incredible how there have been more retelling of this fairy tale from the past year and this year. I can't wait to see how other authors twist the story in the future :D

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  12. I haven't read this book but I've seen it around and by the looks of the cover, it seems interesting.

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  13. I actually haven't read any Grimm fairy tales so this would be perfect to get me started! Thank you for the chance!!

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  14. With such a great group of authors together I can't wait to read their take on these fairy tales!

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  15. (This is Darith L)

    Fairytales? Yes, please! :D

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  16. Fairytales are for ever. One can never be too young or too old for them.

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  17. I love fairy tale retellings, the darker the better, even though I’m a huge Disney fan. :)

    I’ve enjoyed the few episodes of the Grimm television series that I’ve seen, so much that I recently checked out the DVD of Season One from my local library. I’ve also really liked the anthologies of fairy tale retellings for adults that are edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.

    This anthology, though written for the YA market, is of great interest to me. Several authors within it have written other YA stories that I’ve enjoyed, and I’m excited to read their stories in Grim and the stories of the other, new-to-me, authors. :)

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  18. Thank you for this amazing giveaway! :)

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