The Poison Apples by Lily Archer

We all know the stories of Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel. But have you ever heard of Alice Bingley-Beckerman, Reena Paruchuri, or Molly Miller? Of course you haven’t. Not yet. What these girls have in common with their fairy tale sisters is this: they are the stepdaughters of three very evil stepmothers. And they’re not happy about it. They think they are alone in their unhappiness until they arrive at Putnam Mount McKinsey, a posh boarding school located in lovely rural Massachusetts. Here is where they will plot their revenge. But first they have to meet.

I’ve got some mixed feelings about this book. The cover and summary of this book sounded intriguing, but I was disappointed to find it a mediocre read in my opinion. The first few chapters were great, when the characters and their evil stepmothers were introduced-character development was one of the successes of this novel. But once the girls arrived at their boarding school, things started to go sour. First off, it took them a while to find each other and actually form “The Poison Apples”. They spent too much time crushing over boys (and falling in love way too quickly) and teachers (I am so sick of the student-crushes-on-teacher scenario!). What was most annoying was that when the girls finally hunkered down to “cast their spell” on their stepmothers, the book was almost over, and their “spells” were extremely half-hearted. Those women were horrible and needed to be taught a lesson! The Poison Apples ended with barely any resolution, and it was difficult to tell if a sequel is in the making. If there is, hopefully it will bring some of the “oomph” that was missing from the first book.

P.S. I do want to give props to the cover artist. That cover is sweet!