A Noble Assassin

by Abigail Kay Harris, Abigail Kay

How would you protect those you love from the wolf in sheep's clothing?

It was impossible to escape The Wolf for long.

Stories of men captured and beaten were the only stories that spread of The Wolf.

No one lived past the snap of his claws, or so was the gossip on trembling lips.

None were brave enough to risk the ire of the assassin who had survived as the king’s lapdog since childhood.

Sebastian Quilian was raised in terror.

Now a man or more a monster, The Wolf lived his life carrying out the tyrant king’s order—to assassination the former royal Bellatrixian king and the Salvador family line.

Born to long ago forgotten parents, Sebastian grew up in the charge of Cassius Salvador, under the old man’s thumb Sebastian realized young that he would never find freedom while Cassius lived.

Secrets grew upon secrets until he couldn’t breath and all that was left of the young, lost, little boy who once dreamed of home was The Wolf.

The Wolf knew that soon the past would catch up with him, yet he didn’t expect it to happen with the past to come in the form of death and those who held a blood given right to the throne, he knew that the past was now lost, but could he find hope in the future?

He couldn’t help but want to protect those he has come to love as he searches for a way to rise above his past sins and mistakes after finding the Truth.

A Noble Assassin is a NA Christian fantasy Three Little Pigs retelling.
Book #7 in Cornerstone Series

Genres: Fantasy, Retellings, Christian, Romance

183 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 1, 2025

About the author

Abigail Kay is a daughter of the King, a sister to seven, with a homeschooling-real-estate-agent-and-do-it-all Momma, who taught her to do anything. Abigail's passionate love of the written word leads her to spend her time reading, writing, she's commonly found to be using sarcasm, and defining obscure words. When she’s not searching for words to fill a blank page, she enjoys going on walks, having tea, watching sunrises, learning new things, and spending her time in the outdoors, especially mountains, beaches, and forests.

In February of 2023, Abigail founded Beyond the Bookery; her small press, book store, and online boutique. She has assisted more than twenty authors in reaching their publishing dreams with her publishing lines, has shared five anthologies with the world, and looks forward to more releases in the near future.

You can connect with Abigail and find her books here: https://linktr.ee/authorabigailkay

Reviews

[Lindsey (Books for Christian Girls) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars, personally ✨ Christian Fiction - Fairytale Retelling

About this book:

“How would you protect those you love from the wolf in sheep's clothing?
It was impossible to escape The Wolf for long. Stories of men captured and beaten were the only stories that spread of The Wolf. No one lived past the snap of his claws, or so was the gossip on trembling lips.
None were brave enough to risk the ire of the assassin who had survived as the king’s lapdog since childhood.
Sebastian Quilian was raised in terror.
Now a man or more a monster, The Wolf lived his life carrying out the tyrant king’s order—to assassination the former royal Bellatrixian king and the Salvador family line.
Born to long ago forgotten parents, Sebastian grew up in the charge of Cassius Salvador, under the old man’s thumb Sebastian realized young that he would never find freedom while Cassius lived.
Secrets grew upon secrets until he couldn’t breath and all that was left of the young, lost, little boy who once dreamed of home was The Wolf.
The Wolf knew that soon the past would catch up with him, yet he didn’t expect it to happen with the past to come in the form of death and those who held a blood given right to the throne, he knew that the past was now lost, but could he find hope in the future?
He couldn’t help but want to protect those he has come to love as he searches for a way to rise above his past sins and mistakes after finding the Truth.”


Series: Book #7 in the multi-author series, “Cornerstone”. It does not seem to be connected to any other books, however. A stand-alone novel. Click on the books to be taken to that review: Book #1, Book #2, Book #3, Book #4!, Book #5!, and Book #6!


Spiritual Content- Isaiah 26:4 at the beginning & each chapter starts with 1-3 Scriptures; Prayers; Talks about God; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Sebastian isn’t sure he believes in God but catches himself begging an “unseen God” for forgiveness & for protection for his family; Sebastian comments that “faith means nothing when there is no protection against flesh and blood” and River comments that they will be discussing that thoroughly later; Both Heather and River witness to Sebastian and try to talk to him about God; River is concerned that Sebastian will find himself as not savable or worth salvation; *Spoiler* At half-way through, Sebastian asks for God to forgive him; Later, he makes a negative comment about God not caring to keep up the farce in front of someone else and feels guilt at the lie; Sebastian continues to ask God’s forgiveness during the rest of the book *End of Spoiler*; Mentions of God, trusting Him, the Truth, & forgiveness; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of churches & a preacher; A couple mentions of miracles; A couple mentions of becoming a Godly man; A couple mentions of a man who lived in “sinful willfulness” being saved;
*Note: Sebastian considers himself too steeped in the evil of the world.


Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dratted’, an ‘idiot’, and three ‘stupid’s; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Seeing deaths/murders, Fighting, Being attacked/beaten, Being kidnapped, Being tied-up, Being held at sword-point, Being poisoned, Pain, & Injuries (up to semi-detailed); Sebastian was molded to be the perfect assassin from a young age and kills people under the orders of a cruel king and also destroys places/homes by setting them in fire and kidnaps a young woman (barely-above-not-detailed); Sebastian believes that the king would kill his family in front of him and then drag out torturing him to threaten Sebastian to remain loyal to the him; Sebastian has a war inside himself about getting revenge on the person who made him an assassin; Many mentions of deaths, killing, assassins, ordered killings/deaths and plans to kill someone, & torture (including Sebastian being tortured from a young age and his concern over his younger brothers being tortured); Mentions of a war & fighting; Mentions of a poison & it causing horrible pain; Mentions of kidnappings & a young child disappearing and being assumed dead; Mentions of injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of fires & setting them (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of treason; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of a tavern; Mentions of hunting (rabbits); A couple mentions of executors; A couple mentions of bullies; A couple mentions of gossip & rumors; A mention of a robbery.


Sexual Content- A cheek kiss and two hair kisses; A few touches & embraces; A mention of a father most likely not being married to the mother of his child; A tiny bit of love, falling/being in love, & the emotions.

-Sebastian Quilian
-River Quilian
-Heather
P.O.V. switches between them
112 pages

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Pre Teens- One Star
New Teens- One Star
Early High School Teens- Two Stars
Older High School Teens- Three Stars
My personal Rating- Three Stars

This book had such good potential! I was lost for a bit going into this book, but I eventually was able to follow along well enough, I think. I did have more than a few moments where I feel like I missed something (such as the romance—when did that happen??) It felt a little jumpy because of the flashbacks throughout the book, but I did really like the message that was shown of never being too far gone for God’s forgiveness. I think this book could have used at least another hundred pages to make the story flow better, but at its bare bones, it still had a good message.


Link to review:
https://booksforchristiangirls.blogsp...



*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

[Jasmine (Jazzie) [Jesus Loves You!!] · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

”But are you really alive if you carry out the cruelty of a monster not even hidden in the shadows, but growing in the light of day?”

~My Thoughts~
I liked this book, and the fact that it was a Three Little Pigs retelling really intrigued me, but sadly did not live up to my expectations and the bar that the other Cornerstones books I've read set. It's not that A Noble Assassin was necessarily a bad book because it had a lot of potential, it's was just that the writing in the second half of the book got a bit confusing, and if I hadn't known that this was a Three Little Pigs retelling, I don't think I would have guessed it was one other than a couple of similarities between the wolf in the Three Little Pigs and The Wolf in this book.
Had A Noble Assassin been a full length novel, or even had 100 more pages, I think this book would have been at least a 4.5 star of more read because it just really needed a bit more time to let the characters develop and grow, and fall in love. I also think this book could have used another round of editing, too, but I'm not completely sure if because I am an ARC reader, if the version I read was the final version that will be sold, so….

But there was one thing towards the beginning that I thought I had predicted just to find out that that person wasn't who I thought they were, so that's a happy surprise I definitely wasn't expecting.


~Characters~
Sebastian AKA The Wolf: So, Sebastian is the main reason I think that this book needed to be longer because I felt that he needed more time for his character development to feel real, and to actually see him fall in love because it's said that he didn't and became some of these things, and we saw him living it out a bit after, but we didn't actually see it happen enough… but otherwise, I did like Sebastian.

Heather: She was nice and I liked her well enough, I just wish she had more page time to actually get to know her and see what she's like.

~Content Warnings~
(Warning! 🚨 Before you go any further, there is a chance that something I've said about the content could possibly be a bit spoilerish, so please proceed with caution!)

Trigger Warnings:
So, I'm not sure if this really counts as a TW, but I figured I'd add it here just in case it does actually count…
So it's said multiple times that Sebastian was tortured, even as a child, and once it's said that, basically, if something happened to him, his younger brother would be taken and tortured as much as he himself was to be raised as the next assassin, and so I don't if that could be considered child abuse (honestly, for me personally, I'd probably call it that, but…) and actually be triggering, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.


Faith based/Christian:
Praying to God, thinking of Him, it's said that a character has tried multiple times to talk to this other character about the Lord in the past.

Other Religious Content:
None.

Violence:
Multiple mentions of having killed someone, and having to kill people (I'm pretty sure they weren't described, but there was a time that you find out The Wolf was going to kill someone with a knife). A lady slapping a guy (not detailed, and it was mentioned in passing, I think). Many mentions of blood (not detailed to slightly or semi detailed, I guess? Like, it'd mention blood streaming down a face or a bloody hand or something that's coated in blood).

Sexual Content/Romance:
A couple of cheek kisses (not detailed), a kiss on the hair (not detailed), a kiss on the forehead (not detailed and it was a mother kissing her young son, so does that really need to go here?). Hugging (not detailed), embracing (not detailed).

Magic:
None.

Bad Language:
None.

LGBTQ+:
None!

Drugs/Alcohol:
None, but a tavern was mentioned multiple times.

~Other Notes~
If anyone knows of any other good Three Little Pigs retellings, I'd love to hear what they are because it's definitely a story I don't see often, and one I'd like to try reading again sometime in the future.

~My Age Recommendation~
I'd recommend this for readers 16 and up.

~Will I Read the Rest of the Series/More from this Author?~
Yes, I most likely will.

~Will I reread this book at some point in time?~
Yes. Eventually, I'd like to read the whole Cornerstone series in order, so while doing my rereads and first-time reads of the other book, I'd reread this book as well.





Pre-read:

I got the ARC!! I've never read a Three Little Pigs retelling before, so I'm very excited to see how this one turns out to be!!


*I received a free copy of this book from the author for my honest review. A positive review was not required. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Kaytlin Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This was such an interesting story, the writing style reminds me of classic medieval tales and over I really loved Sebastian and River!

Characters:
Sebastian, Seb, The Wolf, was such a conflicted and interesting character. The more I read and learned the deeper I wanted to go with his story and to fully understand him.
Heather was nice...I never really relate to female characters, but her actions were heroic.
River might be my favorite. XD I loved how unafraid he was of Seb even though other people were terrified of him. It gave Seb a more human feel to him and helped build compassion for someone who by all rights seemed to be a monster in the beginning.

Themes:
No one is too far gone for salvation.

Language:
N/A

Magic:
N/A

Romance:
Very light and subtle.

Violence/Gore:
Mentions of being raised in abuse, mentions of murder, fires, and poisoning...nothing detailed.

Overall:
This was an intriguing story. One with many layers and what felt like a lot going on at times...but I did enjoy it. I got tripped up a few times between mentions of the tyrant king and the king that was dead...and at a few other spots with other characters, but the theme of the book was beautiful!
The twist at the ending was cool as well!

Recommend for ages 13+

[Chantel · Rating 4 out of 5]

redemption for the assassin

I love redemption arcs and misfits creating a family and this story has both of these things included in it!

[Sisters Three · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[ChildOfGod💜🙌🏽 (for God I live and for God I die) ~ in my Christian pop era · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 🌟

First reaction:

Can I just say the concept of this book is genius!! And a 3 little pigs retelling 🤔🙂‍↕️ pretty cool if you ask me!

Anyways…

FRTC

[Edge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! 🤩 I may have… ahem…perhaps just a teensy bit got distracted while reading it?? And I probably should reread it… but anyways, it’s a great story! And I really did enjoy reading it.

*Thanks, Abigail, for letting me read the ARC for this!! And to y’all, these are my own, honest thoughts…as you can tell. 😜

[Ami Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

twisty

This was an interesting story. It combined the language of old English with modern day euphemisms. The action and pace were quick and clean and there were No graphic or explicit scenes. I did think that sometimes it was hard to follow some of what was going on, and figure out who was talking. I really enjoyed the Christian themes and the twisty plot!

[Katja Labonté]

This one just wasn't my cup of tea; but I love the idea of a Three Little Pigs retelling, especially told from the POV of the Wolf! And we all know I adore redeemed villains. ;)

*I received a complimentary copy of this book for promotional purposes. I was not required to write a positive review. These are my honest thoughts and opinions.*

[Theplacesihavebeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the premise of this story and they different ideas that were intertwined in it. The first half was easy to read and follow. However, the writing did start to get a little disjointed towards the end, almost like a few details we're missing or the author ran out of time. Despite this, I did enjoy this book, and it is one I would read again later. I received an advanced copy of the book and was requested but not required to provide a review. All opinions are my own.

[Emma | meadowroselibrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted so bad to fall in love with this one, but I struggled the whole time to find the purpose of the story and characters. It jumped between characters a lot, and I just struggle to stay on track when a book does that.

I did like how Sebastian found who he was meant to be, and the love he discovered through it, and I smiled many times from a couple side characters. 🩷

All the books in this series have been amazing so far, so still give this one a try if you've enjoyed them, it's just my personal opinion of it not being my cup of tea. 🩷

This is a perfectly clean, faith-filled medieval book that I would definitely recommend if you enjoy a quick clean read, and Three Little Pigs retelling! 💕

*I received an e-ARC, copy all opinions are my own

[☆ serethiel ☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Noble Assassin by Abigail Kay Harris is Book Seven in the Cornerstone series. Loosely retelling “The Three Little Pigs,” this novella follows Sebastian — an abused assassin called The Wolf — and Heather — a young woman acting as a lost princess’s decoy. Sebastian is tasked with assassinating the lost royal family, but several of them are still missing. Unaware of her deception, Sebastian takes Heather hostage and sets out to find the rest of the family members.

Things I liked about A Noble Assassin:
• It was short. I’m a slow reader, so short books tend to both keep my attention and help me feel more accomplished when I can get through several in one year.
• Although a nonmagical Christian romantasy, this book wasn’t afraid to talk about violence. When I first saw that an assassin was the primary character — knowing the subgenre — I was nervous that The Wolf would be an assassin who never actually assassinates. I’m happy to report that I was wrong! (Obviously, I don’t want violence in the real world, but, in a fantasy setting, violence seems to be a key feature of plot progression and character growth.)

Things I didn’t love about A Noble Assassin:
• The writing. Harris is a skilled storyteller in that she was able to keep me curious about the plot and characters. However, her writing in this book was all over the place. Every sentence was an info dump, and, to be honest, I don’t think anything was edited.
• The suddenness of the Sebastian x Heather romance. Going into this book and knowing its subgenre, it’s clear that Sebastian and Heather will end up together. However, there is no indication of romantic interest between them until the very end of the book, when the plot is wrapped in a neat little bow and, suddenly, Heather is running into Sebastian’s arms as he calls her “my love.” If anything, there did seem to be romantic interest between Heather and River (Sebastian’s brother). So, knowing this book’s summary and subgenre, it was clear that Sebastian and Heather would be endgame… but nothing in this book indicated that.

Overall, A Noble Assassin has its flaws. I don’t think it’s well written — but it does have entertainment value. If you’re looking for Christian themes and a simple yet adventurous plot, I think A Noble Assassin might be a good fit.

Disclaimer: I received and read an advance reader’s copy (ARC) of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

[Crystan M.]

I am really struggling to write this review. I wanted to love this story so much, but the character development and arcs just weren't there. it started off so well with the introduction of The Wolf. He was a great villain that I wanted to know more about. But, his redemption became a shadow of what it could have been, becoming almost unbelievable. I feel the author had so much potential in her world and characters, but did them a disservice by rushing the plot into such a short story. Abigail Kay Harris shows great potential for writing amazing characters, and I hope to get the chance to try another story written by her.

[Arjaye-Rose Brewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of redemption and finding family. It was quite an interesting story packed with action. There was no graphic scenes which I was really glad about.

I loved the twists and turns and Christian themes in the book. I liked the characters in this book the medieval feel it has.

A beautiful Christian retelling of the three little pigs and a clean read.

[funkelbunt.liest · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really intriguing story. I was so excited to read a story about a redeemed assassin. And a Three Little Pigs retelling ..? I don’t think I have ever heard of one!

There were a lot of things I absolutely loved about this novella and I want to start with those.

First I really liked the writing style and the world building/atmosphere. The danger and darkness were tangible, you could feel the despair, darkness and especially Sebastian’s hopelessness through the pages.

I also loved the characters, especially River who is technically a side character but honestly kind of the star of the show. He saw through the “monster” Sebastian seemed to be and never gave up on his brother. I’m a sucker for great sibling relationships, so the author kind of had me there.

But Sebastian is of course also a great character with a more than wicked past. While seeing the horrible things he has done, we still see him as a person, a human being dealing with a lot of hurt, anger, guilt and grief. I always say your past can explain a lot of things but is not an excuse for sinful behaviour. And I think it applies here. Abigail never tries to rationalize Sebatian’s absolutely awful wrongdoings. He is guilty and there is only One who can take this guilt away. I loved reading about such a flawed main character and his redemption, even if this redemption came a bit sudden.

The spiritual content was really great. The message, that no one is too far gone for God’s love and forgiveness, was clear and strong. I think the potential for hearing the Gospel was always there - as in Sebastian wasn’t as closed off to the concept as he wanted to appear - and he very obviously had a change of heart along the story. Him being conscious of his own guilt and shame played a huge part in that, as did River and Heather, who both showed him grace, empathy and forgiveness.

Heather was also a very sweet character, although I never felt that I got to know her too well.

And this is part of the reason the novella didn’t completely hit the mark for me. Because while I liked both main characters and could see potential for a romance between them, they hardly ever interacted at all, so their love story came kind of out of nowhere. I can understand why they had compassion for each other, but there was nothing indicating a romantic interest.

I think the romance got a bit lost in everything else that was going on. I feel like this book could have really benefited from at least 100, better 200 pages more, because there was simply too much happening.
While I initially saw the elements of the Three Little Pigs fairy tale, I wondered if this thread also went missing somewhere along the way..
I can’t put it any other way - it’s just a bit much. I found myself scrolling back quite a few times because I didn’t remember who was who and how the characters were connected. It felt like this was maybe a sequel to at least a lengthy novel or maybe even more a Fantasy series, where we would have gotten to know all the other characters, the kingdoms and how everything is connected.

I really enjoyed this novella and am looking forward to reading more from the author. Maybe there even is a series coming set in Correx/one of the five kingdoms where I can get completely immersed in this fantasy world and grasp all the intricacies and little details Abigail incorporated in her work.

* Thank you to the author for letting me read an advanced copy of this book. I leave this review voluntarily and the expressed opinions are my own.

[Rosalyn Nightshade · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty good. I loved all the spiritual themes and faith elements and I really enjoyed reading a Three Little Pigs retelling (the first one I've read). Abigail Kay Harris did a really good job incorporating lots of elements from the original fairy tale and twisting them in her own, unique way. The plot was interesting but I wish that the romance between Sebastian and Heather could have been explored a little bit more. I don't even know how they fell in love when she was his captive and he barely spoke more than ten sentences to her. I also have no idea when he actually realised that he loved her until somewhere around the end of the book when River referred to Heather as "his love" and he hugged her. Also, the reunion between Sebastian and his brothers could have been a bit more detailed and the ending could have been more climatic. However, it was still a really well-thought through book, obviously written with a lot of love and care and attention to the setting, details, and messages that the author wanted to convey. I will definitely be reading more of Abigail's books.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Noble Assassin by Abigail Kay Harris
What I liked about this book:
🙏 A boy raised in terror
🙏 Lots of secrets
🙏 Protecting those you love
🙏 From fear to faith
🙏 Very mild romance
This is the Three Little Pigs retelling a standalone on the Cornerstone series, a multi author series of Christian fairytale retellings. While the bare bones of this story were good I think it needed a little more work on the execution side. I feel this would have been better as a full on book rather than just a novella. With 300 pages instead of 100 there would have been a lot more room for depth and character development. I spent a lot of time confused on who was who and while the Big Bad Wolf was easily evident I didn't see much else of the original tale. There were just too many characters and too few of them were fully fleshed out. Could have used some more editing as well (I read the KU version).
Favorite scene: Heather with Sebastian's brothers
Favorite character: River (one of the main male character's adopted brothers)

[Natasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting spin on the fairy tale with a very huge dose of Christian values

One thing a reader can expect from this novella is unapologetic Bible-based approach to the story. Every chapter has a reference to the Scripture as you see it unravel.
The main character is quite interesting, and with all the evils he’s known for, one can’t help but compare him to the Apostle Paul before his conversion. It’s truly a story of the prodigal son, enemy to God becoming a child of God.

However, there are also things I found lacking: I felt the plot was not well-developed; some of the characters were not defined, a few moments were truly confusing, and the writing style a bit heavy. I felt the story had an incredible potential and just needed a bit more polish in style and plot.

I received this book free from the author for promotional purposes. No reviews, positive or otherwise, were required. All opinions expressed are purely my own.

[Cintia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had many problems with this one, starting with the supposed redemption, it kept distracting me because it's so wrong, and this was really hard, nearly impossible to keep up with. It's a really short book but it has multiple points of view, jumps to the past and present-
And the future.
When I had read about 60% of this book, the author had already lost me. I had two options... Either I read till the end and hopefully understand something or go back to page one.
I didn't think the story was so great to reread the whole book, so I quickly read the rest of it, and I don't think it was worth it. I feel sorry because I'd never read a Three Little Pigs retelling and I was looking forward to it.
Maybe this just wasn't for me.

[Courtney Ranger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read my full review: https://penspagesandpulses.wordpress....

So apparently it's possible to turn The Three Little Pigs into an incredible nonmagical fairy tale retelling. I didn't know how Abigail would pull that off, but it was INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *SQUEALS* I expected it to be pretty good, but it BLEW ME AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE STORY, THE CHARACTERS, THE ROMANCE, THE THEMES............ I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!

Let's start with The Wolf, Sebastian. I LOVE him!!!!!!!!! He's just incredible!!!!!!!!!! Sebastian might try to act scary, but he's one big sweetheart. He is so protective of his siblings!!!!!! I love how he defies his orders to protect Heather; it's so cute!!!!! I also love how he's a total pushover when it comes to small ones!!!! AND *squeals* he has a favorite tool of his trade!!!!!!!! I loved that cute little detail Abigail threw in!!!!!!!!!!!

And then Heather!!!!!!! I love her!!!!!! I love her quiet strength and determination to do what she must to protect what's important to her. She was such a relatable character, and I wish I got more time with her!

My other favorite character was Renee. I'm going to try not to spoil anything too much, but let me just say men being nice to children is one of my favorite things ever in books!!!!!!!!!! It's so stinkin' cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, lots of writers struggle to write kids who actually sound like kids, but Abigail... wow! She can write children PERFECTLY!!!!!!!

This story was such a cool concept. I loved how it never tried to justify the bad actions of some of the characters and included such a beautiful redemption arc!!!!!!!!

Also, the theme of family in this book was just BEAUTIFUL!!! I loved watching the different family interactions and how the characters prioritized family. The epilogue especially made me so happy!!!

Overall, this book was so good!!!!! I bought a paperback copy as soon as it was available, and I got it in yesterday. My sisters have already been informed that they WILL be reading the book and they WILL love it!!!!!!!!!!

I received an advance copy of this book. My opinions are my own. A positive review was not required.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a wolf...

But where were the pigs? Or running from weak house to strong?

The bones of the story had potential. An intriguing plot, if not really a Three Little Pigs, and characters that could have been great. Renee was clearly supposed to be fun, but was more confusing in how she came out of nowhere.

But there were words missing all over, making it hard to read, and the passage of time was confusing, especially in the second half.
I wanted to like it, but I just barely made it through. If it had been longer, I might have DNF'd, which isn't something I do often.

[Rose Q. Addams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like it.

I think I would've liked it had not the author been rushed to complete it. I completely understand, given that she had a massive medical issue (for MONTHS) and still did her best to get the book out on time.

In its defense, it DOES have the bones of a great narrative, so while I don't call it my favorite, I look forward to a rewrite if she ever has the time or inclination! The characters were cool, the relationships grew nicely, and I gotta say... she does have a gift for tugging at the heartstrings. :)

[Mildly Mad Hatter · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF @ 67%
I tried; I really did. But I couldn't understand half of it. It would change povs so abruptly, it would skip scenes, and jump backward in time with no context. I really wanted to read this one because I've never seen a Three Little Pigs retelling before, and I loved the idea behind it. But how it was written made it kind of hard for me to get into it. I'm sorry, but I don't think I'll be able to finish this.

[D.T. Powell · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up to 3.

I appreciated the use of Scripture references at the opening of each chapter. It wasn't always clear what the connection was between the verse and the chapter though.

This book very much needed a line edit. Too much filtering and way too many super-long sentences. The prose also relies far too much on state-of-being verbs and needs a lot more variation.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun story concept. I enjoyed Sebastians' character arc and redemption.

[Ellie Hollows · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love that the author started each chapter with a Scripture Verse. I also value that the book was nice and clean, which can be hard to find these days!

I also loved the theme that we always have a choice to do right.

My only negative comment would be that there were parts that were somewhat confusing ...

But I love the characters! The names are so beautiful and definitely perfectly chosen 😍!

Renee was my favorite character and made me laugh with all her spunk, and the banter between the brothers and Heather was well-done and funny as well!

[Madisyn Carlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

RTC