Book Review #10

Double digits with the reviews! Woot woot!

Today's victim shall be:

My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison

As always, it will be subjected to the rigorous 5 Steps of Doom: Summary, What I Liked, What I Didn't Like, The Overall Mood Said Book Left Me In, and The Overall Rating. The Overall Rating will be based on my highly selective Sara's Scale of Suck or Soar, as follows, lowest to highest:

Level 1: This is How Not to Write a Book
Level 2: What Editor Read this and said "Hmm, Let's Publish it"?
Level 3: My Faith in Writers is Wavering Precariously
Level 4: This Doesn't Suck
Level 5: I'd Read the Sequel
And the coveted Level 6: Fan-FREAKING-tastic. Buy at All Costs.

Summary: I have to use names with this one. Grr.

Story begins in Jane's POV. Jane is crushing majorly on Hunter, but alas, Hunter starts dating Jane's little sister, Savannah. I can't resist: Jane likes Hunter. See Jane like Hunter. Hunter likes Jane. See Hunter like Jane. Cheat, Hunter, cheat! (Translation: Hunter cheats on Savannah with her sister. Ouch.)

Switch to Savannah's POV (she's the MC). Savannah is very unhappy, to say the least. Jane/Hunter try to make it up by being overbearing/annoying/just plain stupid. Enter Fairy Godmother. No, I'm sorry, just a Fair Godmother -- this godmother hasn't passed Godmother School yet. Promising. Anyway, Fair Godmother is totally incompetent, as seen in Savannah's misconstrued wishes in which she ends up thrown into the Middle Ages, first as Cinderella, then as Snow White. Savannah finally gets home, only to mistakenly say "I just want a prince" (or something like that), which leads Fair Godmother to send Savannah's classmate Tristan back to the Middle Ages to become a prince. Because that makes sense.

Now I can get back to my preferred form of summarizing: dragons, dirt, smells, mice, abnoxious princes, ogre/cyclops, forgiveness, romance, a black knight. And one really freaky evil goat.

What I Liked: This book was flippin' ADORABLE. Oh my gosh, adorable. It has everything you'd want in a fairy tale romance -- castles, balls, chivalry, magic. Then spice it up with modern-day wit and sarcasm from Savannah, and it made for one mystical-magical, lovey-dovey good time. I also really, really, REALLY like that it started in Jane's POV. At first I was way thrown by it, but once I got into the story, I realized I would've completely and utterly despised Jane if I hadn't at first rooted for her to get with Hunter. Thinking that the story was going to be about her (I didn't exactly read the jacket flap...), I wanted her to be with the guy she had pined over for however long. Then, once she was finally happy, we got switched over to the heartbroken Savannah's POV. Rallison was a trickster with that one, but it was a lovely trick.

And, of course, what would a good romance be without a smoking-hot love interest? Tristan was amazing. Not my usual olive-skinned, dark-haired type (the complete opposite, actually: blonde hair, blue eyes), but he was still absolutely drool-worthy.

What I Didn't Like: The-- um. When she-- no, wait. Oh, after the-- okay. I surrender. There was nothing I didn't like. *gasp* Sara has nothing mean to say? I know, I know. Watch out for flying pigs.

The Overall Mood Said Book Left Me In: Princess-y. I want to wear a ballgown and spin around a ballroom and stare dreamily into a pair of bright blue eyes and-- ahem. You get the picture.

The Overall Rating: I debated with this one. On the one hand, I can't say enough fabulous things about this book. It was cute and sweet and adventurous and mysterious and heart-pounding with excitement. And everything came together at the end, which, if an author can pull off, is deserving of major kudos. On the other hand -- wait. There is no other hand. No trying to deny it, then. You saw it here first:

Level 6: Fan-FREAKING-tastic. Buy at All Costs.

Yep. Didn't think you'd see one of those, did you? But honestly, if you're looking for something to put you in that mood you got when you first watched Disney Princesses movies, this is it. Sheer adorable-ness.