*I received a free copy of this book with thanks to the author, Faye Rogers at Authoright and Clink Street Publishing. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*
Blurb: Hesta is a beautiful but different creature , who everyone wonders about . This is until she meets a dashing Prince called Lance with Star, the unicorn. They are transformed by The Magic Fairy Godmother, but can they live happily ever after or is the spell about to be broken …
The Magic Fairy Godmother mixes small aspects of Cinderella and Rapunzel together to create a simple, yet unusual princess story for young children.
My two both loved the characters of Hesta, Lance and Star immediately and were captivated by the bright character illustrations on each page. I confess, I loved these too – they are simple in style, but very sweet!
The language of the story was not what you normally find in a book aimed at younger readers, with phrases such as ‘Sniffles were being noted.’ or ‘a life to finally behold’. The unusual phrasing really made the story stand out from its fairytale source material, and intrigued Minishine, who wanted to pick over and understand the unique word choices.
At 6 years old, she also noted that it felt like this book was part of a longer story, or a series. She wanted to know why Hesta was described as a ‘creature’ when she looked human in the pictures; why she was so sad at the beginning of the book, when she was in a beautiful castle; and where the prince got his unicorn from.
Minishine (6): It’s a really pretty story. I think I like it better than Cinderella because they both go to the ball, but Hesta is more mysterious and I love the unicorn sooooo much. It is a little bit weird though. Why was she a creature?
Babybows (3): Why was she an ugly duck?! I didn’t see a duck! I like when she had the orange dress cos it’s my favourite colour cos of Zuma, but she looked really nice before. I like blue.
Minishine: Like a really beautiful Smurf! I don’t know why it said she was a creature because I think she is really nice. I wish I knew why she was so sad! Maybe because she was all by herself?
Babybows: But then she had a friend and a unicorn and a party and then she was happy.
Minishine: And she was a princess. And they kissed!
Babybows: Yuck!
So there you go – a beautifully illustrated and unusual retelling of the Cinderella story, with a small amount of (yucky/romantic depending on how old you are) kissing!
Once upon a time, there was a puzzling creature named Hesta who lived in the most beautiful castle in the land.
– Jessica Hill, The Magic Fairy Godmother
You can follow Jessica Hill on Facebook and Goodreads.
The Magic Fairy Godmother is available on Amazon right now!
Don’t forget to check out the other stops on the blog tour (details on the poster below) for more great reviews and content…
Bookshine And Readbows 