Nettle & Bone

I was unsure of this one going in for two reasons. 1) The overused A&B title format which just signals blandness to me and 2) I had my big fairy tales but for adults phase all the way back at Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, so I'm hard to please in this area. My hopes were raised when I found out that T. Kingfisher is actually Ursula Vernon whose graphic novels I've enjoyed for many years, and her style and flair really saved the book from the mire of grown up fairy tale tropes. It's a good story, that suffers maybe a little too much from deux ex machina plot devices, but the characters and writing make it feel part of the world and not a cheat. Overall enjoyed it and would recommend to people who love a dark fairy tale and people who used to love them but have lost faith in a tired subgenre.