Book review: Damsels In Distress - Laura Kenyon (Desperately Ever After #2)

  

The Desperately Ever After series takes a whimsical look at our most beloved fairy tale princesses several years after true love’s kiss. With laughter, wine, and a new take on old-fashioned chivalry, these friends see each other through life’s trials one secret at a time. Set in a fictional realm based on New York City, the books sprinkle fiction with elements of fantasy and encourage readers to rethink everything they know about happy endings. 

After watching her fairy tale go up in flames, Belle is finally starting over. With a baby on the way, a
business to run, and a new love interest she just can’t shake, things are finally looking up. That is, until she learns her independence might revive broken curses the world over. Could “happily ever after” really mean staying with her unfaithful husband? Or will Belle and her steadfast friends find another way?

Meanwhile, Dawn still longs for the life she had three centuries earlier—before her sleeping curse ended in two kids, an unfamiliar era, and a husband she barely knows. So when the childhood sweetheart she believed to be dead resurfaces, she must suddenly choose between the past she once wanted and the present she never knew she did.

As both women struggle between love and obligation—between what's right for the world and what's right for the heart—they fail to see a great danger brewing in the capital. One that could change everything forever.

With the wit of authors like Jennifer Weiner, the vision of ABC’s Once Upon a Time, and the imagination of Gregory Maguire's Wicked, Damsels in Distress picks up where the original tales left off—and twists them every “witch” way.

My opinion.

I LOVE THIS SERIES! I was so in love with the first book in the series, Desperately Ever After, and couldn't shut up about it (followers of this blog & @MarylineVP on Twitter most likely noticed this). So saying that I was looking forward to reading "book II" is an understatement.

I loved returning to these characters and getting lost again in this "real" fairy tale world. Damsels In Distress is a little less fabulous Martini's and a little more 'Desperate Housewives' of Marestam, with our favourite ladies facing political, marital and dynastic problems, as well as a magical curse that might change their happily ever afters for good.

Although the articles in The Marestam Mirror were less frequent, they still made me laugh and they gave it that contemporary, NY socialite vibe. Absolutely brilliant.

Although these leading ladies are royal fairy tale princesses, Laura Kenyon managed to make them not only easy to relate to, but highly lovable as well. Damsels In Distress feels like catching up with old friends.

The Desperately Ever After series is a wonderfully sarcastic, romantic and heartwarming tale about love and friendship with witty conversations, juicy cliches and a healthy dose of humor.

Read my thoughts on the first book in the series here.

 

Laura Kenyon is an award-winning journalist and graduate of Boston College. Her stories

and articles have appeared in Kiwi Magazine, Westchester Magazine, Just Labs, Serendipity, The Improper Bostonian,InD’tale Magazine, and Westchester/Hudson Valley Weddings, as well as in myriad newspapers and at PrickoftheSpindle.com. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and their silver Labrador retriever. DESPERATELY EVER AFTER is her first novel.

She loves connecting with readers on her blog (laurakenyon.com), Twitter (twitter.com/laura_kenyon), Facebook (facebook.com/LauraKenyonWrites), and Goodreads (www.goodreads.com/laurakenyon).

Representation: Michelle Brower

Folio Literary Management

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Big thank you to Laura for asking me to review 

this brilliant second book in this amazing series. 

I enjoyed every page. Thank you!