Blog Tour: Elle: An Erotic Fairy Tale by Tasha Blackston

A tangled web of love, magic, and seduction, this retelling of the classic fairy tale Rapunzel is not your mama’s fairy tale.
Elle has lived in solitude, high in the tower, her entire life. When Emmett appears on her balcony, poisoned from the vicious Witch Weed and close to death, she knows she must save him at all costs.

Her desire for him becomes unbearable, and when she realizes that he has also stolen her heart, she must decide—risk it all to be with him or let him walk away, missing her only chance at true love.

However, Elle's time is short and her life is in danger. Despina, an Enchantress posing as Elle's mother, needs the magic that lives in Elle in order to survive. Can Elle save Emmett, embrace the love that awaits her, and survive her mother’s dark intentions before it is too late?

 

Out of all the fairy tales that I read as a child Rapunzel was always my favorite. I would pretend that I was Rapunzel waiting in the tower for my Prince Charming, growing out my hair so that he could use my hair as a rope to rescue me.  I was thrilled when Disney made Tangled, it was one of the few cartoon movies that I was willing to go see at the movie theatre.  So I jumped at the opportunity to read Elle, I had high hopes and I was not disappointed.

Elle is the grown up version of Rapunzel. Well it’s the erotic version of the story anyway, and it was very nicely done. The last fairy tale erotica reduex that I read was the Sleeping Beauty Triolgy by Ann Rice, which was by far way heavy in the erotica and light on the romance. Needless to say, the author Tasha Blackstone did a fabulous job of creating a love story for Prince Emmett and Elle. My chief complaints however, was that it started off a slow, I wasn’t quite sure what was going on with the Enchantress and the Huntsman at first, other than realizing Elle’s bio mom was a bit of a snatch and her father was an adulterer who got what was coming to him. My other complaint was that I got the impression that there were outside forces at work to bring Elle and Emmett together, but it wasn’t really explained fully if it was fate or if there really were outside forces. I guess really, some of the explanations of why or who things came about were vague.  Don’t get me wrong that didn’t take away from the story at all.  My last complaint and that is purely because I had a eww, gross moment.  The whole Prince/King Jarek vomits in an alley, then kisses Elle’s mother...Um. GROSS!!! This was the second book I’ve read where post vomit ends in a kiss…without a proper mouth rinse.

“True to form, as Despina approached the filthiest tavern in town, she watched as Jarek, their new king, stumbled out into the alley, drunk from mead, and proceeded to spray vomit onto the streets. When he had expelled all of the bile from his guts, he stood, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and looked over in the direction of Despina…”

…“Finally, a whore I have not had…until now.”

“He pressed his mouth to hers, teeth clicking together, and shoved his tongue forcefully between her lips. He tasted of mead and vomit, and Despina stifled her urge to throw up on him.”

Again, GROSS! I have to give the author mad props though, I was eating breakfast while reading this part; her writing is so on point I could picture that dark back alley, reeking of vomit and stale beer. And that kiss, two words came to mind: Doritos and Christian Brother Whiskey, a truly disgusting combo. After reading that, I ended up giving Princess Fifi the rest of my scrambled eggs and took a dose of Pepto Bismol.

I liked that even though Elle grew up in a secluded tower, she wasn’t naïve and weak (read: gullible). She was well read and understood what was going on around her. She wasn’t completely oblivious to her mother’s dark side, how she came to have magical gifts and the reason for her instant attraction to Emmett.  I liked Emmett as well; he wore his royalty with swagger, but he wasn’t arrogant. He knew what he wanted, and went after it. Emmett and Elle’s honest reactions to each other were refreshing and romantic all at once.

 Despite my complaints, I really enjoyed reading Elle. Its sensuous enough to entice, although there aren’t many love scenes the ones you get are steamy and maturely written! Which I really appreciated, because there is nothing worse than to get into the moment with your characters, and have the author spring a corny description on you, you know the ones I’m talking about! “His raging bulbous man staff, eagerly anticipated pummeling her juicy woman’s cave”   Really?!  Anyway, I digress. The writing is vivid and the characters are well developed, I would definitely recommend Elle as a nice weekend afternoon read, you wont be disappointed.