Review of Happily by Chauncey Rogers

If the shoe fits, wear it.
If it doesn’t, make it.

Laure is a teenage street urchin just trying to get away. Where the rest of the world sees an enchanting love story, Laure sees royal incompetence and an opportunity to exploit it. She’ll have wealth and a way out of a life she detests, if she can only manage to pay off a would-be cloth merchant, outrun the angry bandits, hoodwink the royal family, and survive to tell the tale.

 (Goodreads)

 

Happily by Chauncey Rogers 

Release Date: April 3, 2018

 

This is not Cinderella’s story.  While Cinderella was busy discovering magic, stealing a prince’s heart and dealing with a conniving step family, the rest of the kingdom was going about its daily business.  In surviving life, the only way she thinks she can, Laure stumbles into the Prince’s search for his mysterious beauty and devises a clever plan to hoist herself out of a life of desperation.  But things rarely go as expected…

Oh my goodness, Chauncey had my chuckling while I read this story.  Laure is one fierce heroine.  She’s had more than her share of bad luck and thinks the world owes her now.  People are not nice, rich people deserve to be robbed and the nobility are a bunch of idiots.  How this hard and disaffected young lady befriends an altruistic young man named Luc is a sweet story.  Laure’s transformation is believably shown and enchanting to witness.

The adventure of this story is captivating.  I thought I knew what to expect, but I really didn’t.  Chauncey takes his readers on an action-packed adventure.  The bandits, the palace intrigue and the King all make you wonder, what could possibly happen next?! I was totally gripped by the story and needed to know what happens next.  The pacing is spot on.

The setting is ideal for this story.  Éclatant and all its varied social class structures are well-portrayed.  The kingdom of Galamonte is convincingly used to describe what life in a war-ravaged region might be like.  The journeys through the country roads and woods are brought to life thanks to the author’s descriptive skills.

 

Some things I liked:

• Laure is a worthy heroine. She’s slightly unlikeable at the beginning but really wins you over.  I love that.
• The grit. People fight, they fall, they get dirty, they sweat, they stink. One day’s injury does not disappear overnight.
• Luc is just an absolute darling.
• The royal family is wonderfully dysfunctional.
• The action/ fight scenes are well described.
• Cinderella is not the focus of this story.
• The book cover is so pretty.

 

Would have liked it even more if:

• There was a little more detail on the story between Laure and her father.

 

This is a light-hearted story that builds on the original fairy tale.  There are moments where the action or issues are more realistic and intense but overall, it’s meant to make you smile.

 

I give this book 4.5/5 Espresso Shots.

 

Disclaimer:  I received an ARC of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Chauncey

Chauncey Rogers was born in Arizona, and since then has hopped back and forth between the mid-western and western United States. He married in 2012 while attending school in Utah. His favorite movie since he was three is Jurassic Park, and he wishes very badly that Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster were real, though he doesn’t believe in them as much as he used to.

You can follow him on his blog: Chauncey Rogers to see what else he has been up to.