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kaatzoetekouw 's review for:
How To Find A Nameless Fae
by A.J. Lancaster
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Princess Gisele just turned 40, and she's done. Done waiting for the evil nameless fairy sorcerer to come collect her as his firstborn bargain prize. She has worked her ass off to be the perfect... whatever he needs from her. How DARE this surely horrible, monstrous being stand HER up? No matter! Gisele will go find him herself and demand he explain himself. And free her, damn it. Because her curse has gotten so bad, no one in her own realm wants to even be near her. That's not a life. And after decades of waiting, hasn't she suffered long enough? Although the title of the book is "How to Find a Nameless Fae", she locates him spectacularly easily. Briefly traversing through Fairyland, she feels herself pulled almost directly to his mishmash home, Skymallow. And when he opens the door, he's utterly, terribly-
...actually, not so bad looking? Handsome even? Are those cat ears? And his whole set-up with his magical house is... cute? Huh. OK. Gisele can maybe roll with it. But then he has the gall to tell her he'd simply... forgotten about her. FORGOTTEN?!?! The nerve-
...actually, not so bad looking? Handsome even? Are those cat ears? And his whole set-up with his magical house is... cute? Huh. OK. Gisele can maybe roll with it. But then he has the gall to tell her he'd simply... forgotten about her. FORGOTTEN?!?! The nerve-
AJ Lancaster's retelling of a long-existing, well-known fairy tale had me in absolute stitches. Rather than retell it as a story about a beautiful, world-strange, doe-eyed 16 year-old princess in danger of being taken away by an actual meanie, Lancaster changes the entire dynamic by giving us a hilariously indignant 40 year-old who positively fumes about being forgotten by a really cute guy who has feline ears, a tail and a sentient house. I was thoroughly amused throughout. This book had me at "premise".
I love the representation in this book. The LGBTQ+ community is represented well: for example, the MMC is bisexual. Not only that, but heroines in their forties are in short supply in romance novels as it is, so Gisele's age is a massive plus. Add to it that she's written with gumption, well... That's not a hard decision to make: yes, I'll read the heck out of a book that offers this! I also adored our hero, referred to by Gisele as Mal (as in: her curse, her Malediction). He stumbles a little, here and there. He isn't always the bravest. He is chaotic and antisocial and at times deliciously submissive when compared to Gisele. A breath of fresh air!
Lovable characters are a must for me, and I feel pretty spoiled by How to Find a Nameless Fae's additionally fun side characters. Female characters Apfela and Niressa both have take-no-shit personalities of their own, and readers can count on even more levity by way of a demanding, lazy, chatty cat named Zingiber. But my favorite character (after Gisele) is Mal's house, Skymallow: a sentient house who takes care of its occupants... and dabbles in interior design. I'm a goner for magical houses; it instantly checks off "cozy" on my list of ways to describe a story (and this book is so cozy even without a magical house). Some of the book's sweetest moments are related to Skymallow.
The other sweeter moments are of course found in Gisele and Mal's romance. One of my favorite tropes is forced-proximity-because-of-a-bond-we-can't-shake (be it fated mates, or a curse): there is a quickly apparent reason Gisele finds Mal so easily. Things can only go up from here. And they do. And I love a take-charge heroine, both in moving the plot and the romance forward, and we get an exciting build-up and - because of their refreshing personalities and dynamic - some titillating scenes between these two.
I'm glad to learn there is a preceding standalone novel in this universe: How to Marry a Winged King (a Cinderella retelling). The main characters from this first book do make an appearance in How to Find a Nameless Fae, but these books are legit standalone: you don't need book 01 in order to read 02. That said, I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to enjoy more of Lancaster's enjoyable takes on known fairy tales, and I've already put the book on my "to read" list.
How to Find a Nameless Fae is a truly lovely, light, fun read. Mal may once have accidentally forgotten all about Gisele, but I sure won't.
Thank you NetGalley and Camberion Press for generously providing me with a copy of this book; all opinions expressed are honest, voluntary and 100% my own.