Customer Reviews

The Emperor's New Clothes (Faerie Tale Romance)

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3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a delightful little farce in which a desparate lady
grabs her younger sister, climbs down a drain pipe from their
hotel, finds tickets to Dead end WY. There's greeted as the
visiting Countess the town had been expecting. The Countess'
luggage arrived with her and she assumes a new identity. With
grandiose plans to swindle her host, a wealthy cattle baron,
she runs into all sorts of complications including the host's
nephew who sees thru her ploy. When our adventurous and the
nephew fall for each other further troubles arise.

In Hans Christian Andersens' classic tale of THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES, two tailors extort large sums of money from a gullible Emperor who is obsessed with fashion. In this fractured fairy tale written by Victoria Alexander our tailors become Ophelia and her younger sister Jenny. Ophelia is tired of living on the run and gambling for her next meal. The only problem is, she's only one step ahead of breaking the law and can't win enough money gambling to be able to settle down.

Which lands her in Dead End, Wyoming sitting on someone else's luggage. So when she is mistaken for the Countess of Bridgewater, maybe she is finally having the break she needs. Posing as the Countess and with a little luck, she should be able to scam the citizens of Dead End (who want to become a respectable community) out of some of their money...enough to set her and Jenny up for the rest of their lives!

The citizens of Dead End seek respectability, and are good, decent people. Our hero, Tye has recently returned from completing his education and then traveling abroad. With him, is his classmate, and friend Sedge Montgomery, the second son to a legitimate Earl...who right away knows that "Countess" Ophelia is a fraud. Tye has his suspicions, but can't prove them...so logically the best way to discover the truth is to lure Ophelia into his bed, because everyone knows a woman can't keep a secret from a man. Only things aren't going as planned...

I didn't have a problem with the idea of Ophelia gambling but I did have a problem with her trying to scam Jack and Lorelei (Tye's Uncle and Aunt) out of money to buy a title along with property in England not hers' to sell. I had a very sick feeling of impending doom in my stomach reading through this part of the story, and therefore had a very difficult time getting past this part of the tale and into the romance (so basically great first chapter, then had a problem with the rest of the first third of the book).

However, reading further allows the reader to find out that Ophelia isn't doing a very good job acting as a Countess and I spent a couple of chapters trying to figure out if Jack knew she was trying to scam him. This made the story more entertaining for me, especially since nothing goes as planned for our heroine.

I guess in hindsight, I wasn't sure what to expect. Andersen's version of THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES was never one of my favorite fairy tales. All and all, Ms Alexander's version of THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES is a humorous, well written romantic read. But, as I mentioned, I had a problem with the initial deception and I think this spoiled the story for me.

NOTE: This book has just been reissued, and the copy I read was published in 1997.

This book is Ms. Alexander's second "Faerie Tale Romance," from Love Spell, her first being The Princess and the Pea. As always, the author delivers a warm, wonderful, entertaining tale. A must read!

Fop Flop In the most elegant apparel Nothing but worm silks In the finest golden thread And superior king red velvet sashes

You'd think I would have known better? I couldn't blame them who wouldn't? cut air with scissors while sewing their needles into invisible cloth for the very low price of..... silk a loom golden thread a full bag of coins Oh those Villain Scoundrels! Now, I know not to buy such vestments with rather large investments Oh what a bratty gnatty I was For I thought I was cool but truly a fool Why emperor you look rather bare, that's quite rare! I was in such a pursuit For only a birthday suit I must admit now Me, My very own self yes indeed, your emperor himself have become a stupid and incompetent dandy All for the Imaginary Image! and now I live happily ever after, no more garb well, that is until the next apparel discovery (Now if you'll excuse me there's a clothier waiting at my door who says he's created the latest design in Pajama attire)