I did not think I would have to start this review with a trigger warning, of all books, but here we are. Trigger Warning: Suicide (There is a line in this that really rubbed me the wrong way.) Fat shaming a child.

---

About the suicide, the line is "She had never seriously contemplated suicide before. Oh, of course she’d thought about it; every girl does from time to time. But never seriously. To her quiet surprise, she found it was going to be the easiest thing in the world."

Every girl does? What is that even supposed to mean? This line makes suicide sound like a silly fad, a phase that "every" girl goes through, but only when she is feeling emotional.

Every few chapters, the author, William Goldman (who is pretending not to be the author) breaks the fourth wall and talks about his life and why he cut this and that from the "original" novel. In a lot of these fourth wall breaking segments, he talks about his "fat" son and "cold" wife, he even talks about almost being tempted to cheat on his wife. I get that he is trying to go for a style and pass this novel off as something some great S. Morgenstern wrote, but what is the point in talking so horrible about your son and wife? Is that really how you treated your family? Please tell me those parts were fiction, too.

I skipped the last part "Buttercup's Baby." So in that sense, I DNF'd this book. This is a rare case where the movie is better. Oh sure, I liked this book. It had the same heart as the movie, but Goldman's interruptions really ruined my enjoyment. I don't think I want to read anything else by him.

Don't fat shame your children, please. Don't body shame, in general! This line comes from the book: "Oh. Daddy, I'm ugly and I've got no friends and all the girls laugh at me and make fun because I'm so fat."
I had to blink back tears myself -- because it was all true, y'see." (Goldman talking to his son.) Why is this even relevant to The Princess Bride? I don't get it! This is gross. Just gross.

I have a bad relationship with food because all through my childhood, my stepdad mocked my weight, doctors put me on diet pills at 16...etc. Guess what, I look back and I wasn't even obese, bigger than the average kid my age, maybe, but not big enough for diet pills, or big enough to "diet". What is "too big" and what is normal? As a child, I shouldn't have been thinking I was wrong because I had a few more pounds than other classmates. Now I'm an adult with body image issues, weight "problems", depression, anxiety and I always put myself down, hate on myself.

Thinness does not equal happiness. Fatness does not equal sadness. Goldman said that now his son is ripped and gorgeous and now he is popular. What kind of message does this send to anyone?

Also, I want to point out, I did not really care about the way Fezzik is treated as not smart just because he is a large guy.

Sorry I went on a rant here.

I'm reading the kindle verson, which I beleive is still $2.99!!

I like it so far. Of course, I know the story (from the movie, and I think I might have read some of the book as a kid.)

I enjoyed this romance. I received this for free and I voluntarily chose to review it. I've given it a 4* rating. The heroine in this goes back and forth so much, it's hard for anyone to tell what she will do. In the meantime the hero is almost clueless in what she wants to make her happy. Once she allows him to talk more, they finally find out. Interesting couple. A little bit too much sexual scenes for my taste but good story.

This story took some time for me to get into. The concept was good. The story was sweet. The characters were interesting, Luc more than Brianna, and the conflict was strong. You don’t see who the villain was until the very end. Brianna was a bit silly and spoiled acting in the beginning until Luc starts to see the real her. It was like once he saw her depths was when the reader was also able to see that how she behaved, in the beginning, wasn’t the real Brianna. I did have trouble sticking with this one though. There weren’t a lot of tense moments or emotional turmoil until the very end, when their love and the seal to the one Keep Luc wanted from the very beginning, was revealed. The best part of the story was the mystery of who was the murderer, where the real Rose was located, and who was next to die or be harmed. I did enjoy the mystery and watching the characters solve the crimes committed. I needed more from my female lead character and the passion was kind of lacking until after the marriage. This definitely has an old romance vibe about it. Less passion more fairy tale, which is enjoyable, but a bit tame.  I have read the Bride Quest II trilogy and enjoyed them, so I will definitely see what the other two books in this original Bride Quest series has to offer.

A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book and my comments here are my honest opinion.

This is a literary treasure and one that I can not recommend more highly. Let me start by saying that prior to reading this book I had probably seen the movie version a dozen times or so and ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!! I only mention this so that you know where I'm coming from in case you are not a fan of the movie as I think if you like one you will like the other and, conversely, if you didn’t like the movie, the book may not appeal to you as much.

As for the book, I was AMAZED at what a superb adaptation of the novel the movie was. Along with the Lord of the Rings trilogy and No Country for Old Men, this may be the best adaptation of a classic novel that I have ever come across. This may lead you to ask whether it is even worth it to read the book given that much of what is in the book is on the screen. My answer to that would be a resounding YES!!