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Saturday, December 15, 2012

[Review & Giveaway] Maven Fairy Godmother


 
 
 
Title: Maven Fairy Godmother: Through the Veil
Series: Maven Fairy Godmother, Book 1
Author: Charlotte Henley Babb
Genre: Fantasy,
Publisher: Muse It Up Publishing Company
Ebook
Pages: 279 / 101k words
 
Purchase:
 
 
Book Description:
 
Maven's new dream job--fairy godmother--presents more problems than she expects when she learns that Faery is on the verge of collapse, and the person who is training her isn't giving her the facts--and may be out to kill her. Will she be able to make all the fractured fairy tales fit together into a happy ending, or will she be eaten by a troll?
 
Excerpt:
 
A Handsome Prince (Excerpt from Maven Fairy Godmother)
 
As she entered the Twilight Lounge, Maven transformed into Biker Trash leather, complete with a tattoo on her shoulder—“Trolls need love too.” The handle of her wand peeked out of the calf of her right boot.
 
At the bar, Maven straddled a black fatboy motorcycle that rose to the occasion. She didn't question how the Twilight Lounge knew what a motorcycle was.
 
Belle handed Maven a mug of some golden, frothy liquid without comment on her persona.
 
“What I wouldn't do for a beer,” Maven sighed after knocking back the mug's contents. She hoped it wasn't hemlock. Belle did not seem pleased to see her.
 
“What good is it to work in a place where you grant wishes for a living, but you can't get a beer when the job is done?”
 
“This is Faery, not Heaven,” Belle said, slapping the bar with her polishing rag.
Maven leaned back on her buddy bar and propped her boots on the gas tank. She fished her wand from her boot and held it to her ear to listen for the stories from her clients. She could not get a clear signal.
 
“Is this seat taken?” A Handsome Prince stood beside Maven. He smiled, sure of himself from his raven coiffure to his velvet-clad tush.
 
Maven looked up at him, a bit disoriented. “No. Take it.” She pulled herself back together, remembered where she was and how she looked. Whoever or whatever it was taking her away from Vivienne and Daisy, it was not a prince. “Take it somewhere else.”
 
She sat up and swung her leg over the bike facing away from him. She held the wand to focus back on Vivienne, but now the picture was unclear. The impostor prince blocked the signal.
 
“You must not be from around here,” The Prince said. “I have never seen anyone like you before.” He sat on a gilded throne.
 
“Just imaginative,” Maven said. Next time she'd be a harpy or a warthog. She didn't know how close it was to midnight. She didn't have lot of experience being hit on in bars in Mundane, especially not by enchanted un-Princes. “I am just learning how to turn people into frogs.” Maven smiled, but not sweetly. She aimed her wand pointedly. “Would you like to be my first attempt?”
 
The Prince transformed himself into a large slimy Frog with golden eyes, perched on a lily pad. “So, you like amphibians?”
 
“I'm all out of wart repellent.” Maven slid off the Harley and strode out of the Twilight Lounge, not stopping to change her garb. Maybe the short walk would let her think in peace.
 
 
My Review:  Maven is a middled aged, average lady going through a tough time.  She is jobless, has no money left, her phone is disconnected and she's living on peanut butter and coffee.  Things take a weird turn when Maven goes to the library to use the computers for job hunting.  While she is there, she finds a book about granting wishes.  There is a dollar bill inside which brings about great change in Maven's life.  Maven gets a call on her cell phone (which is dead) to come to a job interview.  She goes and is hired as a fairy godmother.  Tasked with granting wishes as a way to keep the belief in faery tales alive, Maven has issues with granting frivilous wishes.  Maven wants to grant what the person really needs and not what they ask for.  Will she be able to find balance?
 
I thought this book was a fun, cute read.  I read it in a few sittings.  Maven reminds me of a favorite aunt.  I really liked Tulip, the other fariy godmother-in-training.  The side characters were fun and likable as well.  I love how the author gave new life to the tales we all know and love.
 
About the Author:
Charlotte Babb began writing when she could hold a piece of chalk and scribble her name--although she sometimes mistook ""Chocolate"" for ""Charlotte"" on the sign at the drug store ice cream counter.
 
When her third-grade teacher allowed her access to the fiction room at the school library, Charlotte discovered Louisa Alcott and Robert Heinlein, an odd marriage of the minds. These two authors have had the most influence on her desire to share her point of view with the world and to explore how the world might be made better. Her current favorites are Terry Pratchett's Discworld and Shelly Adima's Lady of Devices.
 
In the meantime, Charlotte has fallen prey to steampunk and the gears are turning...corset, bustle and magic, oh my! She brings to any project a number of experiences, including work as a technical writer, washing machine gasket inspector, cloth store associate, girl Friday, and telephone psychic.
 
She has studied the folk stories of many cultures and wonders what happened to ours.Where the stories are for people over 20 who have survived marriage, divorce, child-rearing, education, bankruptcy, and widowhood?
 
Charlotte loves Fractured Fairy Tales and writes them for your enjoyment
 
Author Website | Book Site | Facebook (Author) | Facebook (Book) | Twitter: @charlottebabb |



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1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thanks so much for the giveaway!

 
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