Little Miss Red

by Robin Palmer

I love a good fairy tale retelling, and they're actually seeming to pop up more and more lately. However, this book is based on one of the lesser common stories - Red Riding Hood.

Sophie is a good girl, but she's tired of everyone thinking they know everything about her. For example, she loves that red cowboy hat she spotted in a store window, even if all her friends tell her that it's "not her". When Sophie has to go visit her grandmother during her spring break, she's not exactly thrilled about it. However, on the plane ride to Florida she meets a mysterious, romantic stranger (just like Dante from her beloved Devon Devoreaux books) who invites her to take a walk on the wild side.

Sophie is a funny character to read about, although sometimes being inside her head is cringe-inducing. In nearly every instance of her life Sophie compares it to some occurrence in one of the many books about Devon Devoreaux. It's not as annoying as you'd think, mostly it just gives you a better understanding of Sophie's "head-in-the-clouds" state of mind. Plus it was amusing to read the many many titles and summaries of these books.

I was close to giving this book 5 stars, however the ending wasn't as great as I thought it was going to be. The wrong people were villains, the right people were not, and the hero just wasn't quite heroic enough for my taste. I was hoping for something a little more dramatic and a little less ordinary - after all this IS a book. :)