Kiss of the Swan by Natalina Reis – Review by Amy Brennan

Kiss of the Swan by Natalina Reis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This retelling of this combination of fairy tales was an interesting read, to say the least. I had yet to read anything by this author and was curious as I had heard plenty of positive reviews regarding her previous written works. I am quite glad that I did, as she is very apt in the art of creating a beautiful world, Swan Island, and building up the characters who we follow through this romance, being Cathal, Odhran, their grandmother, Cara, Eala, and her beautiful Swan family. “No good deed ever goes wasted,” (Harold S. Kushner) comes to mind while reading this novel, as Cathal is the kindest soul you could ever imagine, and saved Eala a decade ago who was in the form of her swan at the time, and neither of them had forgotten those couple of fateful weeks where he nursed her back to health, putting his own on the line.

Overall, I did enjoy this story quite a bit, however, I did find it to be very slow going at times, and there were a couple of times that the same thoughts and ideas were brought forward, making it a little long winded. The family ties, chosen and blood, and the inner turmoil felt throughout the story line was endearing, and elicited feelings of sadness, heartbreak, hope, and love, and I love when fairy tales are told in a different light than the original. I am excited to see if this author visits more fairy tales in the future and will be reading more by her soon. Very good read!

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