In Alex Flinn's retelling of Snow White, Violet Appel discovers she's a witch and uses her magical gifts to get everything she desires, particularly beauty. Years later Violet marries her late rivals widower and finds herself in competition with her stepdaughter Celine Columbo.
This book provides examples of:
- Adults Are Useless. Played straight with Greg, as he doesn’t believe Celine when she tells him that Violet is out to get her. Averted with Kendra and Goose’s parents.
- Alliterative Name:
- Celine Columbo
- Goose Guzman
- Minor character Gennifer Garcia.
- All Witches Have Cats: Violet gets a cat who she names Grimmalkin.
- Alpha Bitch: Jennifer Sadler.
- Animal Motif. Birds for Violet. She is introduced to Kendra when the later is taking the form of a crow. Gennifer describes an elementary school aged Violet as looking like a balding parrot. Finally, after burning their house down, Violet turns into a bird and flies away, never to be seen again.
- Beauty Is Best: Violet believes this, noting that her school teachers preferred her prettier classmates and thinks that being beautiful will give her everything she wants.
- The Beastmaster: Violet.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Violet specifically mentions giving herself a 34C bra size.
- Cats Are Mean: Violet's cats Grimmalkin and Sapphire don't like Celine all that much.
- Disappeared Dad: There's no mention of what happened to Violet's father. Celine's dad Greg later dies in a car accident
- The '80s: Violet's narration of her adolescence takes place during this decade.
- Embarrassing First Name: Goose's real name is Mauricio and rock star Jonah Prince's real first name is Joshbekesha
- Even the Girls Want Her: In Goose's narration, he notices that a lot of men and a few women had their eyes on Violet.
- Everyone Can See It: Violet, Kendra, and even Jonah can tell that Goose is in love with Celine.
- Expy: Music sensation Jonah Prince sounds like a English rocker version of Justin Beiber.
- Friend to All Children: Kendra, as evidenced by her interactions with Violet and Celine, seems to be fond of young people. Celine in turn takes to Goose’s brothers and sisters who adore her.
- Glamorous Single Mother: Violet's mother is this.
- Generation Xerox: Celine and Lauren are best friends, as were their mothers: Jennifer and Gennifer.
- Genre Savvy:
- Kendra warns Violet to make any changes to her appearance with magic subtle and gradual. Making any changes to frequent or too noticeable would arouse suspicion.
- Celine getting away from Violet for her own safety brings up much of this, to the point where Mr. and Mrs. Guzman worry they'll be accused of kidnapping if they take her in, and Kendra posing as Violet to pull Celine out of school for a "transfer"
- Happily Adopted: Celine has a happy life living with Goose and his family even though she misses Laurel. She's also this when Kendra becomes her legal guardian.
- High-School Sweethearts: Greg and Jennifer had been together since middle school and later married at some point after high school graduation.
- Hot Witch: Kendra, depending on what appearance she takes.
- I Just Want to Be Beautiful: Violet
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Greg Columbo
- Informed Ability: Celine claims she's "way ahead in Spanish" but we never get to see her using the language.
- Karma Houdini: Violet is never punished for poisoning Celine and she makes her escape by burning their house down, turning into a bird and flying away.
- Kick the Dog: Any of Violet's actions towards Celine, most notably giving her a sore throat so she couldn't perform as the lead in Oliver!
- Known Only by Their Nickname: Goose Guzman.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Kendra explains that unless a witch reveals herself to someone, they can't cast spells on someone without the same thing happening back. Violet learns this the hard way by giving herself a pigs nose just by doing the same thing to Jennifer
- Like Father, Unlike Son: Violet states that she did not inherit her mothers good looks. In personality, Celine Columbo is nothing like her parents and is disgusted when she learns that they were in high school, they were just like the popular classmates she hates.
- Limited Social Circle: Violet's only positive social interactions are with Greg and Kendra. Celine is only seen with True Companions Laurel and Goose.
- Meaningful Name:
- Violet's first name takes several meanings:
- It refers to her being a Shrinking Violet in her childhood.
- It also alludes to the Elizabeth Taylor-esque eyes she magically gives herself.
- According to the Secret Language of Flowers, violets mean "watchfulness" and she's definitely watchful towards Celine, though not with good intentions.
- Her maiden name Appel is Dutch for "apple" which is the very fruit used to poison Snow White.
- Goose's real name Mauricio, means "swarthiness" and he's mentioned being olive toned a few times
- Violet's first name takes several meanings:
- Missing Mom: Celine's mother Jennifer died when she was eight.
- Mr. Exposition: Kendra, first introduced in Beastly, takes Violet under her wing and fills her in on everything about magic and being a witch in general.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Kendra lampshades this and speculates that Violet might not have turned out as she did if she hadn't allowed her to change her appearance too much.
- One-Steve Limit: Two of Violet’s classmates are named Jennifer and Gennifer. Not surprisingly, the two are best friends.
- Our Mages Are Different: As Violet learns; witches are not usually born to other witches, spells are not typically used to perform magic, and witches can be killed but they cannot age once they reach adulthood.
- Redheads Are Uncool: Violet. She later evolves into Evil Redhead as an adult.
- School Play: Celine tries out for her school's production of Oliver!.
- Shared Universe: With Beastly and presumably Towering, Cloaked, and A Kiss In Time 2009, to name a few.
- Single-Target Sexuality: Violet had it bad for Greg ever since they were kids and she never showed interest in anyone else besides him.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Celine falls for her friend Goose.
- Sins of the Father: Violet resenting Celine for her looks is only the tip of the iceberg. She’s punishing Celine for being the daughter of her biggest school bully, and for her actions and events that occurred long before Celine was born.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Celine is described as looking like her mother Jennifer and having her blue eyes, but she got her hair color and complexion from Greg.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Mangoes for Celine.
- True Love's Kiss: Played straight.
- Twice-Told Tale: For Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
- Urban Fantasy: Takes place in modern day Miami, Florida.
- Unkempt Beauty: Celine doesn't use makeup or wear nice clothes, partly because of Violet's magic against her, but also overlaps with Indifferent Beauty.
- Vain Sorceress: Violet.
- Verbed Title: Snow White reference, given how a Magic Mirror starts off that plot.
- Where Did We Go Wrong?: Kendra towards Violet in the present day chapters.
- Wicked Stepmother: Violet when she realizes that Celine could surpass her in beauty.
- World of No Grandparents: Violet doesn’t mention any grandparents during her youth. It’s also prominent with Celine because she only has Violet after her parents die, and there’s no mention if Violet’s mother was ever a grandmotherly figure towards Celine.
- Would Hurt a Child: Violet towards Celine.
