Book Review: Not Your Average Fairy Tale by Chantele Sedgwick

When I first met Chantele, she wasn't an author. She was the nice harp teacher with a couple of cute little blond-haired kids who lived across the street from me. Since then I moved away, and we had kind of lost touch. So when I started writing and poking around in the online world of LDS authors, I was shocked to find my old neighbor listed among them. I'm so excited to finally read her book! It was absolutely fantastic!

Image taken from Goodreads

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publisher: Crescent Moon Press
Publication date: Aug 1, 2012
I read: Kindle Edition

The Blurb:

Ash Summerland has it all-good looks, popularity, and the best grades at The Academy of Magical Beings. Ready to complete his last assignment in order to graduate, Ash is confident he will get the apprenticeship he wants. but when he opens the letter from the Council, he is shocked to discover he has been assigned to apprentice Lady Shenelle, Keeper of Happy Endings- aka the head fairy godmother. Ash is forced to grant three wishes to a troubled human girl named Kendall, and ultimately give her a "happy ever after." But Kendall turns out to be more than he bargained for. Still grieving over her father's death, she doesn't want anything to do with Ash. And worst of all, she doesn't believe in happy endings.

Review:

Chantele Sedgwick created a well-crafted world full of magic and secrets that I would love to learn more about. Her writing style was very readable, and felt like I was listening to my friends sitting with me telling me their story.

Kendall: My heart really went out to her. Near the end of the book she has this dream. I won't say what it was about because I don't want to ruin anything, but it was so well written, I felt myself understanding just a little bit of how horrible it would feel to be in her situation. She's so fragile in the beginning. It was amazing to see how much she had grown by the end.

Ash: He had such a typical guy personality. It was hilarious that he had to be a fairy godmother. The best part was his reaction to all of it. Chantele really got his character. He felt like such a real person. I knew him well by the end of the first chapter, but at the same time, not at all. Until the end of the book, he doesn't truly know who he is or what he's capable of, and even then, it's just an inkling of his full potential.

It was such a fantastic read. I found myself wondering about the characters during the day when I wasn't reading. I can't wait to see what Chantele comes up with next!