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A review by porshea
And They Lived Happily Ever After by Therese Beharrie
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Sometimes authors can take a motif and explore its numerous meanings in a way that is both unassuming and delightful. In Therese Beharrie’s And They Lived Happily Ever After, the author achieves this feat by traversing the realm of dreams—real and imaginary.
The protagonist of the novel, Gaia Anders, is a romance author who inexplicably finds herself completing the stories that she writes each time she enters a dream. Over the course of her successful career, she has accepted this magical ability without questioning its origin any further than perhaps having inherited it by her long-dead parents who she can barely remember. So the shock and tumultuous emotions she feels after she finds herself actively interacting with her best friend’s younger brother and most recent kiss partner in her vivid, magically-enhanced dream writing stirs up her anxiety disorder in ways that has her questioning everything—from how he, Jacob, gained entry into her dreams to if she can trust him with the knowledge of her abilities when she’s kept them secret for so long. To even the load of emotional baggage, Jacob has a lot of inner turmoil that he too is afraid of unveiling to anyone. An acknowledged workaholic, he has spent his first eight years outside of college sinking his consciousness into returning glory to the floundering family business that his father and brother abandoned in honor of his late mother. His conflicting feelings about maintaining this success, being unfulfilled by this work, and general detachment and smoldering resentment towards his remaining family all consume his thoughts, which have been awakened after his consensual fondling of Gaia at his brother’s party.
Read more here: https://blackgirlscreate.org/2021/11/the-plot-thickens-and-they-lived-happily-ever-after/
The protagonist of the novel, Gaia Anders, is a romance author who inexplicably finds herself completing the stories that she writes each time she enters a dream. Over the course of her successful career, she has accepted this magical ability without questioning its origin any further than perhaps having inherited it by her long-dead parents who she can barely remember. So the shock and tumultuous emotions she feels after she finds herself actively interacting with her best friend’s younger brother and most recent kiss partner in her vivid, magically-enhanced dream writing stirs up her anxiety disorder in ways that has her questioning everything—from how he, Jacob, gained entry into her dreams to if she can trust him with the knowledge of her abilities when she’s kept them secret for so long. To even the load of emotional baggage, Jacob has a lot of inner turmoil that he too is afraid of unveiling to anyone. An acknowledged workaholic, he has spent his first eight years outside of college sinking his consciousness into returning glory to the floundering family business that his father and brother abandoned in honor of his late mother. His conflicting feelings about maintaining this success, being unfulfilled by this work, and general detachment and smoldering resentment towards his remaining family all consume his thoughts, which have been awakened after his consensual fondling of Gaia at his brother’s party.
Read more here: https://blackgirlscreate.org/2021/11/the-plot-thickens-and-they-lived-happily-ever-after/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders