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A review by msoh
How to Summon a Fairy Godmother by Laura J. Mayo
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing this book, with my honest review below.
I love a good spin on a fairy tale (more geared to adults than the simple fantasy of our youth) and was eager to see if How to Summon a Fairy Godmother would appeal to those interests. It absolutely does, spinning on Cinderella by looked at her ugly stepsister Theodosia and approaching the classic fairy tale by adding some color to what happened with Beatrice, our Cinderella, and then taking us on a bit of an adventure to what happens to everyone else after the neat wrap up from our youths.
Theo is a shallow and rather ugly person on the inside, as are her mother and sister, but shunned due to their treatment of Beatrice the family has to change their fortunes. For Theo this means a marriage to a far older than her and rather disgusting in his viewpoints duke (and his not so fond of her family). Scrambling for an out Theo summons Beatrice’s fairy godmother Cecily (and her posse), and we quickly take off with her on her quest to prove she’s a good person while also getting hints that there is more afoot than Cecily or Beatrice has said.
This was a true adventure fantasy and I loved the growth of Theo and the vivid universe that is introduced in this story. While it’s not all happy endings after all here, it rang true for who Theo discovers she really is and proves that sometimes the real fairy tale doesn’t need to wrap up so cleanly. My only hope is that book 2 still focuses on Theo as I know I’m not done seeing what happens with her next.
I love a good spin on a fairy tale (more geared to adults than the simple fantasy of our youth) and was eager to see if How to Summon a Fairy Godmother would appeal to those interests. It absolutely does, spinning on Cinderella by looked at her ugly stepsister Theodosia and approaching the classic fairy tale by adding some color to what happened with Beatrice, our Cinderella, and then taking us on a bit of an adventure to what happens to everyone else after the neat wrap up from our youths.
Theo is a shallow and rather ugly person on the inside, as are her mother and sister, but shunned due to their treatment of Beatrice the family has to change their fortunes. For Theo this means a marriage to a far older than her and rather disgusting in his viewpoints duke (and his not so fond of her family). Scrambling for an out Theo summons Beatrice’s fairy godmother Cecily (and her posse), and we quickly take off with her on her quest to prove she’s a good person while also getting hints that there is more afoot than Cecily or Beatrice has said.
This was a true adventure fantasy and I loved the growth of Theo and the vivid universe that is introduced in this story. While it’s not all happy endings after all here, it rang true for who Theo discovers she really is and proves that sometimes the real fairy tale doesn’t need to wrap up so cleanly. My only hope is that book 2 still focuses on Theo as I know I’m not done seeing what happens with her next.