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Fairytales for Adults: How to Summon a Fairy Godmother and Nightmare Before Kissmas

9 Oct

How to Summon a Fairy Godmother
by Laura J. Mayo
How to Marry a Fairy Godmother is Laura J. Mayo’s debut novel and the first in her Fairies and Familiars series. The book is a clever retelling of Cinderella focusing on one of her not so wicked step sisters. I loved that the happily ever after at the end wasn’t what I expected and though I saw a bit of twist coming the book surprised me with how it all played out. Also what was great was that the story didn’t simply pivot and make the Cinderella character the “bad guy” and her sister the “good guy” but showed the complex way in which people can both act in good and bad ways depending on the pressures placed on them and both act in ways that are reprehensible and heroic in turn. The book deals with issues of breaking the chains of familial trauma and owning ones actions. The familiars in the novel refer to the fairies’ human servants who are able to take animal form and by doing so keep the helper animals from many fairy stories without being overly cutesy. I enjoyed this book a lot and am looking forward to the next one in the series. Hoboken residents can borrow it using their Libby app from Overdrive. Hoboken resident library card holders have access to both the elibraryNJ and eBCCLS Overdrive collections.

Nightmare Before Kissmas
by Sara Raasch
Nightmare Before Kissmass is also the first in a new series. Fantasy writer Sara Raasch takes on the rom-com genre in a unique way imagining a world where each holiday is ruled by magical royal families. Joy is a commodity and Christmas has been creating a monopoly, which it hopes to expand even more by having the heir to Christmas marry the princess of Easter. The only issue is the Christmas Prince is in love with the Prince of Halloween. As the title might suggest there is a lot of silly humor in the story and it would be a fun read for Christmas or Halloween. There are some serious moments though and all of the characters are dealing with a loss of some sort. Although there is a happily ever after at the books end, it doesn’t arrive for every character leaving room for future developments. If you enjoy this novel, then you are lucky the next one in the series promises to involve St. Patrick’s Day.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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New Fantasies Worth the Plunge: A Dark and Drowning Tide and Somewhere Beyond the Sea

18 Sep

A Dark and Drowning Tide
by Allison Saft
I enjoyed the adult fantasy novel A Dark and Drowning Tide. The story takes place in a world where magic is linked to water and a group of scholars has been put together to try and find the location of a fabled spring that grants the worthy with unlimited power. The current young king of Brunnestaad believes that it would help him maintain control over the region which was once separate countries with a shared language but different cultures. The different characters on the mission all represent not only different areas of study like folklore and botany, but also the different regions excluding Lorelei, the main protagonist, who belongs to a much maligned religious group which is confined to a specific area of the city and is looked down on because they are believed to be naturally without magic. My only real disappointment with the story was that the novel felt like it could have been a third in a trilogy. Chapter 2 does a lot of character sketches and outlining of prior events and relationships that would make for interesting prequel stories. Besides the fantasy elements, the novel also has the mystery of the one of the scholars murders early on in the journey, and also has a frustrating but sweet rivals to lovers Sapphic romance. If you enjoyed Emily Wilde’s Encyclopadia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett, than you will likely enjoy this novel as well. You can also check out Saft’s YA novels: A Fragile Enchantment, A Far Wilder Magic, and Down Comes the Night.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea
by TJ Klune
I had been eagerly awaiting the sequel to The House in the Cerulean Sea, when I heard it was being written so was excited for the opportunity to get an advanced reader copy from Netgalley of an excerpt of Somewhere Beyond the Sea which included the first four chapters of the work and immediately put it on hold so I could continue reading the story when it was available. In the first novel Linus who works for a child protection agency focused on magical youth (gnomes, shapeshifters, and other unusual kids) goes to visit a most unusual foster home on a small island and discovers a love, with the children’s foster father, he never thought he’d be worthy of finding. Time has passed; Linus and Arthur have grown closer. The children are starting to enter their teen years with all the complex feelings and emotions that brings. What I liked about Somewhere Beyond the Sea is that it gives us the perspective of Arthur and helps us understand him a bit better, but it also gives us more insight and the ability to watch the growth of all the characters. The House in the Cerulean Sea gave us a sweet closing with the Linus finally finding love and family, but there is a world beyond the sea and though it might be much grayer in nature, it is nice to see Arthur like all parents wanting his children to be able to have the experiences of exploring the larger the world for themselves. A new additional child, David, is introduced as well that added another fun character to the mix, though my favorite will always be Chauncey, a tentacled blob entity that may be the only one of his kind and who is absolutely hysterical. I enjoyed reading the rest of Linus, Arthur and the children’s stories and look forward to hopefully more in the future as well.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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