Author: Lex Chase
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Pages/Word Count: 340 Pages
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Blurb: Modern fairy-tale princess Taylor Hatfield has problems. One: he’s a guy. Two: his perfect brother Atticus is the reincarnation of Snow White. Three: Taylor has no idea which princess he is supposed to be. Four: Taylor just left his prince (a girl) at the altar. Despite his enchanted lineage, Taylor is desperate to find his Happily Ever After away from magic, witches, and stuffy traditions. Regrettably, destiny has other plans for him. Dammit.
When word reaches Taylor that Idi the Witchking has captured Atticus, Taylor is determined to save his brother. He enlists the help of rakish and insufferable Corentin Devereaux, likewise of enchanted lineage. A malicious spell sends Taylor and Corentin on a road trip through the kitschy nostalgia of roadside Americana. To save Atticus, they must solve the puzzles put forth by Idi the Witchking. As they struggle, Taylor and Corentin’s volatile partnership sparks a flash of something more. But princesses have many enemies, and Taylor must keep his wits about him because there’s nothing worse than losing your heart… or your head.
Review: Frankly, I have not one idea how to begin a synopsis of this novel. To say that this was a multi-layered plot with continual surprises, beginning with the fact that both Taylor and Atticus were “princesses” and that each had a fairy sprite godparent named Ringo and Honeysuckle, respectively, is just scraping the tip of the proverbial storyline iceberg. And boy, does this berg run deep! Then we layer on Idi the Witchking, who is the ultimate baddie and who has also taken over the body of a childhood friend names Charles, and is the soul mate of Snow White—I mean, Atticus—and another layer emerges. Then we have the Cronespawn, who is our tortured hero Corentin, who is falling in love with Taylor, who he is actually supposed to kill. For you see, Corentin is also the huntsman and, as such, is inextricably bound by Idi to do his evil bidding. Idi wants Taylor dead so that he and Snow White can rule the world together, and now you have hit the jackpot of all plot lines.
Are you confused yet? Well, listen, don’t try to understand my feeble attempts at summarizing this incredibly well crafted, smart, funny, fractured fairy tale. You simply need to read it. Why? Because despite my inability to give you a succinct synopsis, this is really, hands down, the funniest romance story I have ever read. Taylor and Corentin go from being at each other’s throats and, in Corentin’s case, fighting the urge to kill one another, to the sweetest of soul mates who promise always to bring the other home. They fight everything, from Corentin’s curse (complete memory loss every seven days) to massive metal elephants and nearly indestructible flying dragons. Every time you think their end is slated, they somehow pull another life out of the bag, with the aid of the spunkiest wisecracking fairy sprite named Ringo.
To say this story is action-packed is to highly underrate all the various threads that make up this amazing plot. And throughout it all, Lex Chase uses her stunning writing ability to pull all the loose ends together to create an incredibly fun novel that kept me gasping in shock at its many twists and turns, until the very end. I loved the fact that the happy-ever-after didn’t come without sacrifice and was not near perfect. There were still curses to be dealt with and struggles for both Corentin and Taylor to overcome, but the fact remained that they would face them together, and that made this story’s ending all the better.
Perhaps the only niggle I had with Americana Fairy Tale was the very beginning. I must admit to being momentarily lost in the opening chapters due to there being so many layers that needed to be uncovered about Atticus and Taylor in order to begin laying down the groundwork for the plot to unfold. It was a fast-paced glut of information, and I struggled for a bit trying to make sense of it all. However, once I got it the story just took off for me and became an incredibly fun ride to the end.
Americana Fairy Tale by Lex Chase is just outstanding. It’s fun, action, and romance all rolled into one—just like a fairy tale should be.
You can buy Americana Fairy Tale here:
