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by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

I am going to quote the synopsis off the Barnes and Noble site, since it explains it quite well:

“For everyone who’s ever wished for a fairy godmother, acclaimed author Elizabeth Ann Scarborough has spun a magical tale that’s the next best thing. Like her award-winning novel, Healer’s War, which drew on her experiences as a nurse in Vietnam, The Godmother bridges the gap between high fantasy and grim reality. An adult Mary Poppins for the nineties, with a sly touch of whimsy and more than a spoonful of grit, The Godmother delivers what Scarborough fans have come to expect: the unexpected. Rose Samson, a frustrated Seattle social worker, dons a crystal pendant from her friend Linden’s vintage clothing shop and makes a wish – for a fairy godmother for “the whole damned city.” Enter Felicity Fortune, a silver-haired, funkily dressed fill-in for the suddenly absent Linden, and a card-carrying member of “Godmothers (Anonymous): Fair Fates Facilitated, Questers Accommodated, and Virtue Vindicated. True Love and Serendipity Our Specialty.” Felicity’s magic net falls far and wide over Seattle, reining in a cast of characters that make up a modern-day volume of the Brothers Grimm. There’s Sno, the runaway teenage daughter of a rock superstar, whose aging supermodel stepmom has plans for her “fairest of them all” stepdaughter; seven-year-old Hank and his little sister, Gigi, dumped in a shopping mall by their drug-addict mother; Cindy Ellis, a stable keeper with two abusive stepsisters…and more. ”

While dated by various references to long-gone structures, I thought this book was good. It was a bit hard for me to get into at first, and does have some instances in it that cause the reader some quite angry discomfort (at least, it did me), but it has an air of reality to it, and is rather down-to-earth even amidst all of the fairy-godmothering! Being set between King and Kitsap counties, it was fun for me to recognize various places.

It is much like how a modern-day cummulation of a bunch of Grimm’s tales might come about, and I found it to be a worth-while read. I definitely recommend it- especially to those living in the area.

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A Novel by Brendan Halpin

Have you heard the latest popular songs about the cheating girlfriend or the inept boyfriend? Ever wonder about the sad sap who’s subject of that song?

Phillipa Strange is a fresh from high school punk rock girl living in London with her father when she is immortalized by her boyfriend in a song he writes about her moment of infidelity. The song gains the band instant fame, thrusting the band into the blockbusters, and Phillipa becomes notorious.

Mark Norris is a sensitive campfire boy. He meets a girl he falls in love with in college. When she moves away to L.A. to persue her music career, he finds himself the victim of being labelled a “two-minute man” in the song that puts his ex-girlfriend on the Top 40.

The book is about how these two deal with thier newfound and undesirable “fame”, and how it, along with other circumstances, lead them down a long, painful and twisted road that eventually brings them to each other.

This book is entirely out of my normal genre, but I found it to be quite a fun read. It is what I would describe an “easy” read. It is not long, nor filled with big, unpronouncable words. But the story is cute and it is a delightful lunchtime read.