Rating: 4.5⭐️✨
“On her fortieth birthday, Princess Gisele of Isshia realised she was going to have to save herself.”
This is how I wish all fairy tales started. And the Princess saved herself! Awesome!
How to Find a Nameless Fae by A J Lancaster is an imaginative retelling of the Rumplestiltskin fairytale, this story is beautifully written and richly filled with fantasy characters that leap from the classic fairytale world and twist themselves into versions, dare I say it, are ones I find more compelling and more long lasting than the original.
Princess Gisele was the baby bargained for as the price for turning the ability to spin straw into gold by her mother. A complication was that she was never claimed by the evil sorcerer and her life has been one of decades cursed by waiting and loneliness and moments of misery.
So she decides, after one disastrous experience, to take matters into her own hands. She’s going to find the sorcerer, break the curse, and make her own way. At a middle age with creaking knees and broken magic.
Gisele is a fantastic character and so relatable. And the growth she slowly experiences and the development of her own personality and magic is richly satisfying and deserved.
But the “evil sorcerer” who isn’t what’s expected, nor is his sentient house and fabulous cat, add the wonder, empathy and compassion to her story and their relationship with this fantasy universe is absolutely stunning.
A little drawn out at times, How to Find a Nameless Fae by A J Lancaster is so well written and that ending is so good that I want more fairytales from this author.
Highly recommended! A really great book.
Cover design © Holly Dunn
Buy link
Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.comHow to Find a Nameless Fae eBook : Lancaster, AJ: Kindle Store
Blurb
What happens when a first-born bargain goes wrong?
Princess Gisele has spent her life preparing for an evil fae sorcerer to claim her. That was the bargain her mother was tricked into: one royal first-born in exchange for spinning straw into gold.
But it’s been decades, and he still hasn’t shown up.
The unfulfilled fairytale-debt, however, is refusing to lie quietly. When its chaotic magic reaches unbearable levels, Gisele takes matters into her own hands. Terrifying fae sorcerer or not, she’ll hunt him down and force him to stop ruining her life.
But instead of an evil mastermind, she finds the scholarly, nameless lord of a magical house. He wants nothing to do with the angry knife-wielding spinster on his doorstep.
Unfortunately, the fairytale-debt has other ideas.
Now magically bound to her lifelong nemesis, the only way to break the magic between them is to work together to find the nameless fae’s lost name. Assuming they don’t strangle each other first.
HOW TO FIND A NAMELESS FAE is a cozy fantasy romance retelling of Rumplestiltskin with spice, featuring a middle-aged heroine, a buttoned-up hero, and an interfering sentient house.
- Publisher: Camberion Press
- Publication date: June 26, 2025
- Language: English
- Print length: 390 pages
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 