Reviewer: Izzy
Sixteen-year-old Breena never thought anything could be worse than being forced to leave the faerie realm. Then she got stuck with a fairy godmother. But if she has to choose between the two, she’d leave the Faerie Realm over getting bossed about by a faerie with a pointed stick any day. Unfortunately, her attempt to evade her fairy godmother gives her growing pains in the form of fur, whiskers, and a tail.
Turning into a cat is the least of her worries, though. The potion wasn’t meant to bring out her inner feline, it was meant to put her to sleep. Forever. If Breena wants to make it to her Happily Ever After, she’ll have to accept that sometimes a fairy godmother really does come in handy, after all.
(Amazon product description)
I felt as if I was watching a Disney movie when I read this, and while it was very well written and the story was well told, I wasn’t feeling the Disney aspect and clichéd plot. I really enjoyed the view into the fairy godmother's mind, though, so there's that. I say if you enjoy stories about girls who get transformed and have to find their true love through a series of tasks while in the form of a feline—and the only way to be changed back is for him to “see through” the outer shell of her being a talking cat, well, this is definitely a story for you. Personally, I was hoping for a modern twist on older fairy tales, but I was disappointed.
The book starts out interestingly enough and had my interest up until the princess gets transformed into—and stuck as—a cat. After that, I lost most of the interest that had been piqued, but I kept on, figuring the ending wouldn't be what I suspected it would be—it really couldn't be that cut and dry, right? Wrong. I thought, oh, we're focusing on the mage. The fairy godmother is focused on getting the princess a prince, but maybe she'll fall for the mage. No, she goes for the prince, and while there is absolutely nothing wrong with storybook fairy tales, they just aren't my thing. Not the kind of fairy tale, at least, where the prince gets the girl, the mage saves the day, and things turn out peachy. ;p
Besides the fairy godmother's view, I also enjoyed seeing into the “Blossom's” POV, because she was an interesting...person to see. I'd never heard of her particular species in a fairy tale, so there's that. The conflicts and the insights are new—obviously, when watching a Disney movie, you don't get to see how much work the fairy godmother is putting in or what the prince had to go through to get to the princess, and so on.
Otherwise, I found the friendship between the prince and the mage sweet and the dragon's servants delightfully clever, sly, and creepy, I enjoyed the mage's cynicism, and the villain, though perfectly anticipated, was also just evil enough to enjoy.
All in all, my opinion is that I wouldn't pick it up if you're looking for an unexpected twist to the story, but if you're looking for a sweet fairy tale to bring back the Disney-Days, go forth, enjoy, smile a little at the humor, squirm with impatience at the suspenseful parts, and sigh softly at the romantic parts. :)
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