I was hung up on reading a traditional Grimm’s Fairy Tale or a book about ehm ‘fairies’ with this reading challenge and thus didn’t do it the first go-’round. When I altered my thinking, I realized immediately after starting Fate’s Fables by T. Rae Mitchell I had found my ‘fairy tale’ book to review. 

Fate is an up-and-coming author who is sucked into a magical fairy tale book. Fate, and her love interest Finn, are charged with recovering a magical item, which can only be done by changing the endings of the eight fairy tales in the book. Thus, the adventure begins. 

With a pair of sidekicks, a feathered snake and a witchy child, Finn and Fate traipse through story after story, rewriting storylines in a more ‘happy-ever-ever’ framing. It was a fun read. 

There were a few things that required a stretch of the imagination. First, Fate was 17 years old and already an accomplished writer with a publicist. Ok, I get it was a ‘fairy tale,’ but come on. When would that actually happen in the real world? Huh? 😉 So, from the onset, a mindset of suspended disbelief was needed to thoroughly enjoy the plot. 

The second issue I had with the book was that the horrible events (because what fairy tale is complete without horrible events) were sort of brushed over. I think I wanted a little more wallowing during those sections. But perhaps because there were EIGHT fables to get through, the author felt there wasn’t enough time for the pit of despair or the swamps of sadness. 

Fate’s Fables is the first book of a series, so the romance between Finn and Fate is left unresolved at the end with the idea that Fate (and Finn) will need to go through more trials and tribulations before they can live together happily ever after, in true fairy tale tradition.