Never Let You Go: (inspired by "Hansel and Gretel") (A Modern Fairytale Book 2)

Based on the popular fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel”, this book by Author Katy Regnery contains issue of child abduction and abuse. Set mostly in West Virginia known as the land of rugged mountains, the author successfully captured the right elements needed to invoke a sense of fear, danger and grief to the readers as they read the first chapter “Escape”. The story begins as Holden and Griselda, two foster siblings-barely at the age of thirteen-tried to escape from their abductor after 3 years of captivity and abuse. Running barefoot through the cornfields, the two children rushed up towards the Shenandoah River with the deranged mad man and his dog on their tails. "Stone to stone. I jump, you jump." But the story didn’t end there. One of them is left behind, and there begins their painful and heartbreaking journey to find healing and redemption. As heartbreaking as it is beautiful, this book will blow your mind in the same way that it will touch the deepest part of your heart. This is one of the saddest yet most powerful book I’ve ever read in my entire life. Watching the characters break and barely survive with so much agony and pain, it was truly heartwrenching. These two kids were taken when they were only ten years old. With no one else around, they depended and protected each other against the man who kept them chained outside during the day, and locked them in the dark cellar at night. They lived and breathed for each other to survive. Through the author’s spellbinding narration I was able to picture the story well. Enough to make me feel like I was there as a witness. I can’t count the times that I felt like my chest would explode because it felt so real and it was achingly devastating. Readers will wonder what actually happened at the Shenandoah River. Why they were taken after all. What truly happened to Holden after all the years. How will they find each other and how different they are now from what they once were. How death, grief, and rage change a person and how much pain people can endure before they truly break. "Ask me if I’m whole…" Told in Third Person POV, it alternately narrates Griselda’s life and Holden’s. There were lots of flashbacks from the time they were at the man’s farm and it was during those moments that the readers will see how their bond deepened. Despite their difficult past and present lives, I loved these characters and the difficult choices they made. Never Let You Go is an intense, powerful book, stunning, and achingly beautiful. It has so much feels I could hardly contain them all. It broke my heart into pieces but in the end it was all worth it. I absolutely loved it. Definitely one of the best books I’ve ever read and perfect for readers who wants romantic stories with just enough suspense, stories that break and mend hearts. Friendship, survival, sacrifice, forgiveness, finding redemption and the capacity of human heart–no matter how it had been deeply broken–to be able to love and accept love in return… to be whole again. This story will stay with me for a very, very long time. I don’t think I will ever forget it. I don’t want to. Please read this book. I can't recommend it high enough.

How do you find the will to go on when all hope feels lost? Oh my heart! What an absolutely fantastic story this is! Filled with trust, hope, selflessness, love, strength, and survival; this story will capture your heart. "There is some pain in your life that, when you experience it, you're shocked to the core that it doesn't kill you. It feels like it should kill you, like your heart should stop beating and your lungs should stop breathing and your eyes should stop seeing. Everything should just...stop. With pain that profound and regret that unfathomable, it should be impossible for your body to stay alive." The amount of heartache mixed with immense love is overwhelming. Holden and Griselda have been through hell. They have spent the last 10 years just going through the motions. They are hurting so terribly and they need so badly to heal. Through each other they can mend each other's wounds and be whole again together. I just kept hoping throughout the story, and through every hurdle thrown at them, that they would finally find their peace and their happiness together, as they'd always hoped and dreamed. "You're my savior. My angel." The writing is captivating. The events that transpire will have you hoping and anticipating throughout this heartfelt story. The author makes you feel everything Holden and Griselda go though and continue to go though: their fears, their struggles, their love. It's raw and intense. It's written with passion and care. The secondary characters will also steal your heart. They all hold a special place in this story. "Loving you is like breathing for me. I can't live without it." A heartfelt, touching story. I can't wait to read more from this author. "Are you whole or broken?" "I'm whole." "You make me whole."

"Never Let You Go” 's path to paradise begins in hell! For me “Hansel and Gretel” have always been one of the darkest and most terrifying fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, but Katy Regnery's adaptation teaches us fear - as Stephen King could not have written it better. About the story: Griselda's natural, childlike wariness of strangers is untermined by the foster care program, which requires from childen to entrust themselves to the "care" of utterly stranger “mothers” and “fathers”. That's why Griselda commits a fatal mistake based on a misunderstanding - for which she will torment herself all her life. Abducted at the age of 10y, Griselda and her foster brother Holden endure the unimaginable. They help each other through years of torture, terror, and agony. In order to escape certain death, they try to flee. But the Shenandoah River becomes their Acheron. Who of the two enters the realm of the dead that day? Whose soul lives in eternal damnation? Katy Regnery leads us into hell. A hell that is swept into the souls of the two lost children by the floods of the Shenandoah River, and poisones their lives, drownes their spirits. < Spoiler > Until, in a fairytale-like way, they find each other again, and the love - which carried them through years of imprisonment - leads them back to life, because "You came back from the dead and brought me back from the dead with you." And this love is so great, so endless that as soon as "he lined up his heart over hers" we readers melt away (sigh)! What an overwhelming, amazing, and excellently written love story, which let its characters "go to the ends of the earth for you ... to make you feel my love". A wonderful fairy tale about “second chances, finding what you want and losing what you love”. In evil as in good - 5 stars!

“She loved him like the tide loves the sand – trapped together, one lost without the other, pushed and pulled, but never ripped apart.” What a beautiful, emotive and well-written novel! Holden and Griselda are foster children and are abducted during an outing with their foster family. Caleb Foster is not quite right in the head and thinks they are his sinful twin brother and sister. They spend three years in captivity, mistreated and beaten, until, one day, they make an escape bid, running through the cornfield and across the Shenandoah River. However, only one of them makes it across safely. Ten years later, Griselda is dragged to a bare-knuckle fight and her world tilts off its axis, again. Holden and Griselda are fantastically drawn characters. Both survivors, they are alive but not really living. When they are reunited, the love they had for one another as children burns into something brighter, deeper, and intensely sexual. The belief and devotion they had for one another left me breathless. Holden is absolutely all in from the moment he realises that she’s truly alive. He wants to be a better man and live a better life for Griselda. Griselda, having lived all her adult life with a barrier between herself and the rest of world, is beyond thankful and happy to find Holden again, but their situation is not without complications. Living with guilt of having survived without Holden, she also has to learn to accept that people can love her unconditionally and truly. So much happens in this novel – it really kept me on edge, and it really keeps you wondering if they’ll ever get their happy ending. Holden’s unwavering love for Griselda was a real anchor for me. There were so many heart-wrenching and beautifully-written passages – SO MUCH FEELING!!! This book is an absolute must-read (especially if you’re a fan of Mia Sheridan).

I don't know what to say. I was glued to this story from start to finish. I cried and laughed, hurt and cringed with H & G. I loved every moment. I wanted to scream at H to run faster and jump with G but he just didn't have the strength. I cried. And everything he went through with CF omg. I still feel like he should have killed him. So happy when they found each other. Freaked when S&R where found at her school. Like omg. OK enough, I could keep going because I really loved it. I live the ending and I was very sad to see it end. I cried so much at the end and I would love to read it again. Thank you Katy for such a awesome story. Hugs Carrie

The story was heartbreaking at times. Also the trauma that they experienced and the impact was nicely captured. It got a bit heavy here and now but happy to see how everything came together at the end.

A story that is poignantly heart wrenching at times and other moments pure delight filled with the wonder of love. There are challenging scenes in this novel and with it the reality. But Regnery also lets us see the marvellous strength of love. Amazing story.