A Stella Review:THE NAKED PRINCE AND OTHER TALES FROM FAIRYLAND by Joe Cosentino

RATING 3,25 out of 5 stars

Cinder, a poor and beautiful young man who designs clothing, makeup, and hair for his stepmother and stepsisters, offers his clothing and slippers to a naked stranger in the woods who turns out to be none other than Prince Charming. Follow Cinder and Prince Charming in this twist on the classic “Cinderella” tale, as they discover their inner strengths and find their very own happily ever after. Enjoy “The Naked Prince” and three other reimagined Tales from Fairyland, each with a unique spin on stories we all know and love, including “The Golden Rule,” where eighteen-year-old Gideon Golden, after being thrown out of his home in Fairyland by his homophobic parents, breaks into the cottage of three burly men on Bear Mountain, “Whatever Happened To…?,” in which friction ensues between a celebrity with a growing appendage and the reporter who has a thing for giants, and “Ice Cold,” where young Gaelen must save his love Kieran after a handsome but evil prince freezes Kieran’s heart and bewitches him into being the prince’s slave.

I’ll be honest and say I picked The Naked Prince And Other Tales From Fairyland just for the cover, it was too cute to resist and being the coverwhore I am, I had to have it. Plus I was very curious because I haven’t read a lot of retelling fairytales and nothing by Joe Cosentino yet.

The premises were great and they were well delivered, the stories are all well done and smart, engaging, funny and sweet. My personal problem with them is their shortness, too few pages to really enjoy each fairytale.

The Naked Prince is probably my favourite one. It is the retelling of Cinderella with a wonderfully sweet Cinder. Great characters, the second ones too, especially Maxwell and Mortimer, the two dead dads of our hero. I would love to read their own story together. To me this was the more developed and complete, it caught my attention until the end, a very beautiful ending.

The Golden Rule follows the adventures of Gideon, when just kicked out of his home ends in the three bears’ cabin in the middle of the woods. In this retelling of Goldilocks and the three Bears I found myself a little disappointed because I was cheering on a naughty foursome and I had to settle for some fun and a couple of misunderstandings.

Whatever Happened To…? is the one that gave me more troubles. At the beginning it bored me a little but I re-evaluated at the end and read it a second time to truly appreciate it. It was really hilarious and so surprising at the end, when the author revealed his name. It’s based on the Pinocchio fairytale, but of course with a dirty MC.

Ice Cold is the most emotional, following Gaelen in the desperate searching of his Kieran at times broke my heart. It stands out from the others and I would have loved to have more. Here too there were some interesting second characters that were more important that the main ones.

The cover art by Paul Richmond is the reason why I picked this collection. How could I resist? So cute.

Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press | ARe | Amazon

Book Details:

Published January 27th 2016 by Dreamspinner Press
Kindle Edition, 105 pages
ASIN B01AIUDWGK
Edition Language English

A Barb, A Zany Old Lady Review:Driven Snow (The Pennymaker Tales #2) by Tara Lain

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

A Barb, A Zany Old Lady Review: Sinders and Ash (The Pennymaker Tales #1) by Tara Lain

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

A fairy tale for the grownups, this story is so sweet it will definitely leave a warm and fuzzy feeling in your heart.

Mark Sintorella, aka Sinders as he’s known among the housekeeping staff at the resort hotel where he works doing all the dirty janitorial work no one else wants to do, has a secret dream to go to school to formalize his training in fashion design. His couture designs are amazing, considering the fact that he’s never had formal training, but the only person he has available to model them is himself.

When he meets Carstairs Pennymaker, a cute little elf-like man who seems to take an inordinate interest in Mark and his designs, Carstairs convinces Mark to model his clothes as they stroll through the grounds of the hotel since there are many fashion designers and wealthy patrons present this week. But Mark will need to disguise himself as a woman and be introduced as Pennymaker’s niece, Mariel.

Ashford Armitage is about to turn twenty-five and his grandfather’s will, from which he stands to inherit millions of dollars, is hanging over his head like an axe. If he marries before age twenty-five, he will have the money; if he doesn’t, he’ll be left penniless. Ash is gay and doesn’t want to marry anyone, but he shows up at this luxury resort to scan the potential brides one more time before giving up. He spots a young woman he may be able to marry. She’s witty and banters beautifully with him, plus she doesn’t really want to marry either. Bitsy is sweet and if he has to pick someone, he’ll hold out for her. But when he spots Mariel, aka Mark, across the room, his heart is lost.

Thankfully, he doesn’t realize this is the same young man he had saved from an attack earlier that day. One of the young housekeeping staff was nearly raped by the lecherous sous chef until Mark intervened. He thought the guy, Mark, was a sweetheart, and the two hit it off really well, though Ash didn’t reveal his secret fully, just allowed some passionate embraces with Mark to speak for him.

There’s plenty of intrigue here, including a F/F romantic subplot, as the couples finally come to terms with who they are and what they want. But it’s not until the ball at the end of the weekend, where Mark’s family is hoping to meet his chosen bride, that things turn truly magical.

I really enjoyed this story. I know it’s not realistic, but I don’t care. It’s an adult fairy tale, and the beautiful young man dressed as a princess gets his HEA with his handsome young “prince.” It’s the fun of what happens along the way, watching the way they overcome their problems, enjoying the interference of Mr. Pennymaker, and appreciating the beauty and magic of the finale that will leave you with a wide smile on your face and a warm place in your heart. I highly recommend this to all of fans of fairy tale romance with a capital R.
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Cover Art by Reese Dante depicts a gorgeous young man with long brown hair and a beautiful countenance. He’s exactly the way I would picture Sinders to look.

Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press | ARe | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook, Re-Release
Published October 14th 2015 by Dreamspinner Press(first published March 31st 2012)
original titleSinders and Ash
edition languageEnglish
url http://taralain.com/
seriesThe Pennymaker Tales #1
charactersMark “Sinders” Sintorella, Ashton “Ash” Armitage, Carstairs Pennymaker

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