Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Another fairy tale for grownups featuring the elfin Mr Pennymaker who returns in this one dressed just as flamboyantly as the last time.

First and foremost, this must be treated as a fairytale, otherwise much of what happens will not make sense. There’s no logic here, just magically occurring coincidences and happy endings.

Snowden “Snow” Reynaldi is a physics major at NorCal. He’s also a world champion master at chess and is set to compete in a world championship in several weeks. When Riley Prince, gorgeous, blond and built, and star quarterback for the football team needs a tutor, Snow volunteers to help. All other attempts at teaching him have failed, yet Snow knows that Riley is capable of learning—after all, Snow has seen him apply the principles of quantum physics while quarterbacking a game, so it might just be a matter of how he’s taught.

Snow’s tutoring works, and when Riley outs himself to Snow and tells him how much he admires not only his beauty, but his brains, Snow is astounded. The two begin a relationship, and Riley decides he’s going to come out to his football team so that he can take Snow to the Homecoming Dance. In the meantime, Snow’s chess coach, Professor Kingsley, has fallen head-over-heels for a woman who scares Snow. She’s beautiful and smart, but strikes Snow as being devious and deceptive, and when the professor becomes ill and is hospitalized, Snow sets out to find out why.

There’s much intrigue in this story, including Snow’s bare miss from being killed and his heartbreaking loss of Riley’s love and support due to a deception manufactured by Kingsley’s fiancé, Anitra. I kept wondering what the poor guy would have to face next, but little did I know even greater disaster was awaiting him.

I enjoyed this story despite how crazy unbelievable it was, mostly because of the characters and their (sometimes loose) parallel to the original tale. The group who were my favorite characters were the seven frat brothers who saved Snow’s life and then later helped Mr. Pennymaker prepare him for his chess tournament. And, of course, Mr. Pennymaker was as wild and crazy and adorably elfin as he was in the previous story, Sinders and Ash. Add to that, Riley’s landlady Mrs. Wishus, and the nasty witch-like character of Anitra and we have a host of well-known characters come to life in 2015.

I remember watching a show called Fractured Fairytales with my kids, and that’s the best term I can think of to describe this story. It’s loosely based on a fairytale and is complex and sweet and crazy at times but ultimately leads to Snow and his prince getting their happily ever after.

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Cover Art by Reese Dante depicts a beautiful young man with short, curly dark-brown hair, a slender build and a startled expression. He’s the perfect depiction of Snow.

Sales Links:  Dreamspinner Press | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook, 210 pages
Expected publication: November 25th 2015 by Dreampsinner Press
ISBN 1634762673 (ISBN13: 9781634762670)
edition languageEnglish

seriesThe Pennymaker Tales