My favorite fairytale as a child was Little Red Riding Hood because I always found her mysterious and mystery always intrigued me. Red by Kate Serine is the retelling of this marvelous fairytale that packs all the mystery and fun in a grown up version.

Red is a crass and brassy fem fetal, is on the hunt for the perpetrators who are murdering tales. Nate, who has given his heart to unpure Red, teams up with her to uncover the mystery.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and loved the great character development by the author. I will definitely be reading more of the transplanted tales series. ( )

4.5
Book source ~ Gifted

Tess “Red” Little lives in Chicago and works as an Enforcer for the Fairytale Management Authority. See, ever since a magic spell went wonky and fairy tale characters have been crossing over into human reality, there needs to be some kind of governing body to keep them in line. For the most part they behave themselves or the crimes are petty. But every once in a while Red is called in to track down and apprehend a murderer. When characters are being murdered in a particularly gruesome way and the suspect list contains Red’s former lovers, her boss assigns Detective Nate Grimm to help her with the case. Red works alone and she really doesn’t want the sexy mysterious Reaper riding her cloak, er coat. In the end though, Nate more than proves his worth, but will a happily ever after be attainable?

First off, I’ve been enjoying the fairy tale retellings that have been popping up lately. Some more than others, but I have to say that this one is top of the stack. The plot, world, creativeness, characters, writing and the humor are reasons aplenty to keep me reading. Red is tough yet vulnerable. She’s not perfect, but she does the best she can. She’s had a rough past and she’s a loner, but she’s smart and funny, too. Nate is just yummy. Who doesn’t love a sexy Reaper? Ok, that sounds a little looney, but hey, he’s fictional so it’s ok, right? I’m going with hell yeah! The mystery was enough to keep me guessing and did I mention the humor? I love humor sprinkled throughout a book. I’ll definitely be continuing with this series. ( )

This was a cute play on storybook characters. I liked how the author incorporated them. I kind of wish there'd been more to the romance than what occurred, but I enjoyed the book. And got to love that title and font. ;) ( )

~ 3 Red Stars ~

Red is book one in the Transplanted Tales by Kate SeRine. We get suspense, intrigue and a unique portrayal of fairy tale characters.

Tess Little, aka Red. She is just ok! She was supposed to be bad ass, then she does something stupid like sleep with an ex-boyfriend who is a suspect in the investigation. The women seems to still be a scared little girl running.

Nate Grimm, aka Death or Reaper. He is attractive, but I kept thinking of the TV show Grimm when I read his name. So maybe the show was not around when the author wrote the book, but it kept distracting me.

We get a crazy cast of fairy tale characters that are interesting in Red, but they where lacking and needed more development, as for Red and Grimm, you can tell that they are meant to be together, but for some reason it takes the whole book for them to hook up. The plot is mystery/suspense which I enjoyed. That is probably what kept me going along with the author’s sense of humor. I really did enjoy the retelling of the fairy tale characters and how they are more then their story. It was interesting, but not outstanding.

Red was fun and enjoyable. It did not wow me, but I still enjoyed it. I am hoping for more character development in the series when I do read on.

( )

Really liked this world! Disappointed that the series doesn't continue to follow Red and Nate though. Kinda weird that it isn't continuing with them considering how the story ended. The mystery was sufficiently interesting, though it was pretty easy to figure out from the beginning. Liked Red and the different characters that were pulled from literature and tales. One thing that bothered me was Nates character. He was built up to be this serious and introspective guy but he never came off that way to me. He was way too leading and airy for his descriptions and others perceptions to make sense to me. ( )