Author friend Lyndsey Hall is part of a multi-author collection of fairy tale retellings where the villain gets their own happy-ever-after. I decided to sign up to read the ARCs for the entire series.
About the Book
Falling for the Trickster by Lucy Tempest
Rumpelstiltskin meets The Goose Girl.
An opportunistic maid.
A manipulative faerie.
A gilded deal that binds them both.
Ottoline has had enough. After years of enduring Princess Gertrude’s cruelty, the maid’s patience snaps during their voyage to the foreign kingdom of Orcage, where the princess is to marry the crown prince to settle a royal debt. There, she crosses paths with a silver-haired, silver-tongued man with a penchant for deals and deception.
Cunning and Ambitious, fae nobleman Lord Roderick von Ravenstock offers Ottoline the opportunity of a to switch places with her tormentor and claim the life of a princess.
With a snap of his fingers, she is set to live the life she had dreamed of at the glimmering court of Orcage…until its superstitious king demands she fulfill her kingdom’s debt by turning everything into gold.
Trapped by her own masquerade, Ottoline turns to Roderick again, and he offers to save her, in exchange for a kiss.
One kiss. One favor. One step closer to ruin.
As the king’s demands escalate, so do Roderick’s bargains, each adding another layer to his plot against the royal family, and drawing her deeper into a deadly game of magic and court intrigue. But when the king’s greed spirals beyond control, Ottoline has no choice but to escape into Faerie where she falls from one monster’s grasp into the next.
Risking his plans, Roderick saves her and, as she recovers under his watchful gaze, the forced proximity begins to crack their defenses, revealing who they are underneath their roles as the trickster and the fraud. Villains in the lives of others, but heroes of their own stories.
Together, they plot one last con to bring the king to his knees. But nothing ever goes to plan, especially when hearts are on the line.
Falling For the Trickster is the first book in the To Win a Dark Heart series which retells fairytales as old as time, but this time it’s the villain’s turn to get a happy ending.
Check it out on Goodreads.
About the Author
A #1 Amazon Bestselling author with her debut novel THIEF OF CAHRAMAN, Lucy Tempest lives with one foot in reality and the other one lodged firmly in fantasy. She has been spinning tales since she learned how to speak. Now, as an author, people can experience the worlds she creates for themselves. Lucy lives in Southern California with her family and two spoiled cats, who would make terrible familiars. Her young adult fantasy series FAIRYTALES OF FOLKSHORE is a collection of interconnected fairytale retellings, each with a unique twist on a beloved tale. Join her VIP mailing list at www.lucytempest.com/newsletter to be the first to receive updates and special offers.
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My Review
A cute fairy tale retelling where the supposed wicked maid saves the princess from a brutal king and the trickster fairy wants justice for his kind and thus helps the maid to turn things into gold.
The worldbuilding is interesting. The villainous king is deserving of his fate. The prince and princess are made for each other.
I like the main characters. And though their friendship felt authentic, their romance felt sudden and rushed from nowhere. Some inner dialogue earlier on about how she felt about him and not just her distress at what she was experiencing might have helped on the romance front.
I liked the cat.
A quick, fun read.
*I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest opinion.
Do you enjoy fairy tale retellings and no-spice fairy tale mash-ups? Have you read anything by this author?
*FYI, my reviews are my honest opinion and if something bothers me, I tell it straight. How else will anything change? My opinions are based on being a voracious reader and book buyer, not an attack on the author.*