Book Review: Good Enough to Eat (Tales at Midnight: 2) by Gina Blaxill
Tales at Midnight 2: Good Enough to Eat by Gina Blaxill
Published: October 13th 2022 by Scholastic Press
Rating: ★★★★★ (5)
Genre: Young Adult // Fairytales, Folklore Stories
Quick Thoughts: A deliciously wicked tale that played on reminiscent fairytales with a darkened razor-sharp edge that keeps you reading into the night.
About The Book:
There is a witch in the woods and she likes to kidnap boys…
The village of Westerleen has been suffering a harsh winter, food is scarce and if you end up lost you may find yourself in the witch’s cottage and no one leaves there alive.
When Hansel and Gretel return from the woods, unharmed, everyone believes Hansel to have been the hero who has saved his sister. But it was Gretel who pushed the witch into the fire.
Gretel has never been accepted in her village, will she finally be rewarded?
- A thrilling tale with twists and turns at every chapter
- Perfect for fans of All The Better To See You, Dark Unicorns, and Disney’s Twisted Tales and Villains series’
- A second dark and irresistible twist on a classic fairy tale
First Thoughts
After I read Gina’s book You Can Trust Me earlier this year, I became a firm-fan of her writing. So when I was offered the chance—in October, the spookiest month of all—to read the second instalment in her Tales At Midnight series, I practically jumped. (Also, especially in person, this book is STUNNING.)
My Review
We all know the tale of Hansel and Gretel, the children that got swindled by the witch in the woods with the sugar-sweet cottage and almost ended up as her next meal, if it were not for Gretel saving her brother and pushing the witch to her death. But in this tale, we pick up after the children escape from the witch, traipsing back into their village that has been undergoing a brutal winter with food shortages. When the children get back to the townspeople, everyone naturally assumes Hansel saved his sister (how sexist, I know) but they both know she was the true hero.
Determined to be accepted and honoured for her heroic efforts and power just as much as anyone else, Gretel knows that to be a trailblazer she has to overcome not only the consequences that come with it but how the flashback events to how we got to the present, back before everything was changed and the nightmarish event took place, influence it all.
Overall, Good Enough To Eat was as delectable as it’s namesake, a true page-turner that felt like stepping into a fairytale so vivid and imaginative that I honestly got lost in it’s magic. Gina’s writing is like nothing else, emotive and captivating, and I loved the feministic aspect of the book and how much character development and strength she gave to Gretel. This was a deliciously wicked tale that played on reminiscent fairytales with a darkened razor-sharp edge that keeps you reading into the night—and that I did. Five glorious stars!
About The Author
Gina Blaxill has an English degree from Cambridge University and now works in schools liaison, helping teenagers puzzle out the mysteries of higher education. Between the ages of 11 and 15 she wrote an epic 36 part story featuring over 1,000 characters – she still remembers most of their names! Her first novel, Pretty Twisted, was published by Macmillan in 2011, her second novel, Forget me Never, was published in 2012 and won the Oldham Brilliant Book Award 2013. Gina’s book, Saving Silence, was published by Macmillan and won the Warwickshire Book Award. Her most recent book is YA-crossover thriller You Can Trust Me (Scholastic), that came out in April 2022.
Have you read Good Enough To Eat?
If you haven’t, don’t forget to add this stunning book to your TBR!
Let me know in the comments or on twitter @LittleMemoirs!
happy reading!
