(I might end up doing a lot of these, so here's a warm up and a great place to start.)

If you're anything like me, (what are the chances of that, really?) than you weren't satisfied when they told you at the end of a fairy tale and they all lived happily ever after.

No fucking way. There's no way a family like Cinderella's would be satisfied with her running off to the castle to be a princess. What about Sleeping Beauty's family, now a hundred years out of date with the rest of the world? You're telling me a child as pretty as Snow White goes out into the woods unmolested by seven guys who live all alone? No fricken way.

That said, Ive always puzzled over what happened after the tale ended. In case you missed it in my blogs before, Jim C. Hines was nice enough to write the book for me so I didn't have to bother.

How I Found the Book: Like most of the rest of the world, I read Whatever. When he mentioned The Stepsister Scheme, I immediately followed links around until I found Mr. Hines livejournal. Much to my delight, he was a thoughtful friendly dude with a down to earth approach to his career and his writing. The book was due out the next day, and I thought well hell, even if its bad, at least I bought a book and supported a nice guy.

Well shit, not only was it not bad, it was good. No, it was great! I picked it up in a Borders on the release day and started reading it while waiting for the bus to go home. I read it on the bus. I read it on the walk from the bus stop to my house. In fact, I barely put it down in the week it took me to finish it. (I read slow. This was a speed record for me.) I even read it aloud to the toddler and she got mad at me whenever I would stop.

The Good: I love Fairy Tale Princesses. I'm not going to lie to you. I love them in Disney, sure, but I love them in Grimms and even earlier tales. I love the blending of good feminine qualities and cleverness. I love that even when they are out witted, out matched or out gunned, a good fairy tale princess will endure thanks to her timeless grace. Grace, more as a state than a religious idea, really sings to me. I get the feeling that Hines feels similarly through his portrayal of Danielle Whitehall, the main character and his Cinderella. In short, her happily ever after soon isn't when a wicked scheme robs her of her new husband and possibly her life. It is, ultimately her gentle nature, her grace, and the love and faith in her friendships that really get her through.

Sounds like a stupid chick flick, I know.

It really isn't. The action is nearly nonstop, thanks in no small part to Talia, Danielle's companion and Hines answer to Sleeping Beauty. She a magically gifted dancer, and has over the years translated that dance into wicked deadly martial arts. Hines descriptions of Talia's movements in combat are first rate, I could easily picture each movement.

The Bad: If you're squeamish, or expect Bella Sera, The Book you aren't ready for this book. Hines pulls no punches when discussing the more disgusting sides of archaic culture. Riverside towns smell as bad as fish awful, and Hines does fantastic job of communicating that to the reader. At times, it feels like Terry Gilliam's Jabberwocky meets a Disney movie. (Which, its worth mentioning, I love, but I could see where some readers might get put off. Sissies.)

Who Will Like This Book: Anyone who loves kind hearted, deeply romantic heroines who love with a passion and wont hesitate to break their hands on a guys face to make a point will love this book. Oh, and did I mention Hines is a gamer? Yeah, I thought you'd like that.

Who Wont Like This Book: Haters. Men who've never gotten laid or are otherwise not comfortable around women. People with absolutely no feminine side. Possibly my husband.</p>

(For the record, I'm sure that-like my husband- there are rational, good, decent people who wouldn't like this book, but that isn't as funny, is it?)

Next Up: Brian Keene, either The Rising, his first novel, or Castaways, depending on which I finish first. (What is leisure fiction, anyway?)

Originally published at In Other Words.

One of the reasons I write is so someone has written the stuff I want to read. (Gee, I'd love to read a book that's one part Phillip Marlowe, one part Lovecraft and one part Forever Knight... Damn, I guess I'll just have to write it myself!)

Sometimes, I get really lucky and someone out in the world has taken the time to write something I want to read so that I don't have too. It looks like Jim C. Hines has done just that by writing a novel to satisfy my strangest childhood fantasy exposed to date. (I said fantasy, not fetish, thank you.)

In writing a book called The Stepsister Scheme, and if it's anything near as awesome as it's premise, I have reached girl-geek Nirvana. From Hines' website:

Cinderella--whose real name is Danielle Whiteshore (nee Danielle de Glas)--does marry Prince Armand. And if you can ignore the pigeon incident, their wedding is a dream come true.

But not long after the "happily ever after," Danielle is attacked by her stepsister Charlotte, who suddenly has all sorts of magic to call upon. And though Talia--otherwise known as Sleeping Beauty--comes to the rescue (she's a martial arts master, and all those fairy blessings make her almost unbeatable), Charlotte gets away.

That's when Danielle discovers a number of disturbing facts: Armand has been kidnapped and taken to the realm of the Fairies; Danielle is pregnant with his child; and the Queen has her own very secret service that consists of Talia and Snow (White, of course). Snow is an expert at mirror magic and heavy duty flirting.

Can the three princesses track down Armand and extract both the prince and themselves from the clutches of some of fantasyland's most nefarious villains?

Couldn't you just scream with excitement? Well, okay, probably not, but I can, and am! Of course, this isn't an endorsement, not yet anyway, I have to read it first, but it is a HOLY CRAP NEAT LOOKING BOOK ALERT!

I'll keep you posted on this once I've read it. (And Jim, if you're reading this, be careful poking around in my head for novel ideas I want to read, there are some scary places.)

Originally published at In Other Words.