Blind Beauty and Other Tales of Redemption

By: Meredith Leigh Burton

Narrated by: Becky Doughty

Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

A blind beauty...a slave girl...a lonely daughter. Immerse yourself in three stories that are unique but reminiscent of tales as old as time.

Blind Beauty

Jenna has lost her sight as the result of a traumatic accident that caused her mother's death. When Jenna's father's life is threatened by a horrible beast, she is determined to save him. Can Jenna's lack of sight help her see beyond the beast's ugly appearance to the cursed young man beneath? Magic hides in unexpected places, and things are not always what they seem.

Crossing to Afendia

Faluri, a young slave girl in a brutal land, may be the only one who can save her people from a malevolent evil that lies closer than one might think.

Hart Spring

Bianca's stepbrother is dying. Bianca possesses a unique gift that may be the only thing that can save her stepbrother's life. But, when Bianca's stepmother seeks to possess Bianca's gift for herself, hidden secrets about Bianca's father come to light. Will Bianca find the courage to face her true enemy and find a home? Enter worlds where trees transport you to enchanted castles, evil lurks in mysterious places, and the earth tells of buried jewels. The earth sings.... Will you listen?

©2018 Meredith Leigh Burton (P)2018 Meredith Leigh Burton

Heart-wrenching, poignant tales

Blind Beauty is a collection of three short noble-dark stories where three different heroines fight to overcome great evil with love and forgiveness. In Blind Beauty, every character has their own struggle with anger and bitterness, but each has the opportunity for a fresh start. Each person’s actions affect everyone else. Even the most villainous has reasons for why he does what he does and gains the reader’s sympathy.
Crossing to Afendia and Hart Spring show the evil of slavery and greed but that change can come when people stand up for what’s right. They both begin rather bleak, with so many characters feeling powerless to change their situation, but once the first person takes a stand, others follow. Afendia reminded me a little of Pilgrim’s Progress in parts, with a theme of sacrifice. Hart Spring is a creative take on the Snow White story without romance. I enjoyed how the villain got his comeuppance.
These stories are told from an omniscient POV, which is not for everyone, but it worked for this book. If you love the flavor of the original Grimm fairy tales and John Bunyan’s work, you will enjoy Blind Beauty.

Well written, beautiful, tales of redemption

I received a copy of the audio version of this book from the author in exchange for a review. A positive review was in no way required. This review is my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed this little collection of short retellings by Ms. Burton. The first is a Beauty and the Beast retelling, the second retells a fairytale with which I am not personally familiar (if I find out, I'll come back and edit this review to add it), and the third was a retelling of Snow White.

As suggested by the title of the collection, all three stories featured redemption in some way, which was my favorite thing about all of them. They were also each very creative. I've never read retellings quite like any of them. With Blind Beauty I liked the twist that the main character was blind, as the author is, and that I learned a little historical fact about the development of brail in the process.

Crossing To Afendia, while not my favorite story of the collection was interesting in that it was a totally new story to me, in a very unique world that I thought was surprisingly deep for such a short story. There were times that I got a little confused about what was happening since I had no context as to the story being retold, but I hope to find out at some point what it was so maybe I can read the original and then revisit this retelling with a new perspective and appreciate it a bit better.

Hart Spring is tied with Blind Beauty as my favorite of the collection. The setting was so different from the original Snow White tale, and yet all the important points where there and I loved the heart behind it.

The only thing that could have made this collection better for me would simply be for the stories to be a little longer because I would have liked to spend more time in these worlds and maybe slow the pace just a little in certain places. As it stands, though, I give Blind Beauty and Other Tales of Redemption a solid 4 stars. I hope Ms. Burton will write many more stories in the future as I think she is very talented and creative and good at imbuing her stories with deep themes and beautiful heart.

#ownvoices #retellings #fantasy

What an awesome book!

I would recommend this book for anyone. I actually went to school with the author. I remember sitting in our dorm room reading Narnia together. She is an awesome lady. I hope to see more from her.

I thoroughly enjoyed it

I wasn't sure how I'd feel reading fairy tales as an adult. I thought I'd feel silly or...something, but I really enjoyed these retellings. They all were unique with likable characters. Also, the narrator did an excellent job. 5 stars all the way!:)

Imaginative Retellings!

This is a lovely collection of fairytale retellings that make you feel--in a good way--like a child again, snuggling in to hear a captivating tale. The narration is lilting and beautiful, the stories are creative and clean. Definitely worth a listen if you are into retellings!

Yes, adults should read fairy tales!

While I was skeptical of reading a book of fairy tales, since it wasn’t even something I did as a child, I actually found myself enjoying each tale and getting lost within the stories. The writing style is very engaging, as it is very descriptive and it easily pulls you in. Becky Doughty does an excellent job narrating, bringing each character to life with her voice. I believe anyone who is looking for something reminiscent to childhood, while wanting to stay on the same page as an adult, will enjoy this.

Exotic but Relatable

As I read this book, I found myself so enthralled by the vivid settings, lively, realistic characters, and intriguing plot twists, I could hardly believe Meredith Burton was making her debut contribution to the literary world.

The three stories in this book are fresh, modern takes on familiar fairy tales. Full of vivid sensory details and beautifully drawn characters, the stories kept me fascinated from beginning to end. The worlds may be populated with witches, strange beasts, slave girls, and enchanted flowers, but the themes of guilt and forgiveness, love and loss, life and death, and the longing for the unknown are as real in the realms of magic as they are in the humdrum grind of everyday life. So the stories are somehow exotic and completely relatable at the same time. The characters, though they may be magic or mystical, are also as evil, as loving, as painfully, extraordinarily human as if they lived on your own street, under your own roof, in your own body.

Besides that, the blind heroine fits so perfectly and seamlessly into the first tale, her story is one of the best examples of a strong female disabled protagonist I've seen recently. This world needs competent blind characters in literature who are neither damsels nor heroes, so that society might begin to understand that blind people are just human beings whose eyes don't happen to work.

Congratulations, Meredith Burton, on a debut book that is a worthy contribution to the world of literature! I look forward to more of your beautiful writing in the future.