Customer Reviews

Glamour Job: A Fairy-Tale for Grown-ups

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Laurie Morgan has it all - she's young and beautiful, a famous model with a contract with Glamourine Cosmetics. However, after she sees a seemingly miniature copy of herself at a restaurant, the rug is pulled out from under her world. And who is at the bottom of it all? Goblins. Wallowing in self-hatred and yearning for a world of sensual abandon, they have set out to remake the world in their own twisted image, and they will let nothing stand in their way!

Overall, I found this to be a fun and interesting book. Its part fantasy, and part social commentary, as the author uses Celtic mythology and modern fantasy to comment on the world of fashion and its effects on women and our entire culture. Is this Doug Farrell's first book? If so, it's a great start!

This book is the answer to questons I have asked since childhood. Where are the fairies? The goblins? The creatures of fancy and fear? What happenned to all the monsters that people saw regularly in the days of once upon a time?
Doug Farrell has created a thrilling story of modern day goblins, ancient conspiracies, supermodels, and very grown up antics. This book is definitely not for children, but it evokes the familiar sensations of stories heard in early life. And it stands to reason that if I grow up, so must the creatures of my childhood fantasies.
I see the disenfranchised modern human with little sense of wonder in the lead character, Laurie. She is thrust into an adventure that she could never have seen coming. With each turning of the page I was taken by the clever pacing and the skillful placing of each puzzle piece.
This is a thoroughly enoyable read. I tore through the book and recommend it to everyone I know.
I am looking forward for the future volumes of this entertaining trilogy.

One thing I tend to notice in self-published novels is editing. Laurie Morgan's story captured me so completely that I almost completely forgot about paying attention to the editing. That must mean the editing was reasonably good, or the story was really interesting, or both.

Laurie Morgan is a beautiful young woman who is enjoying her life as a model in Chicago. Well, she was enjoying her life as a model, until she found out about Barbette. Well, actually she found out about the goblins first, but no need to make life complicated. Then again, I guess Barbette was actually a goblin...oh, never mind.

Anyway, Laurie had a reasonably perfect life. There was the divorce, but that should have made her happy. Shortly after the divorce she was having lunch with a friend when she noticed someone with her face at an adjacent table. The resemblance was more than uncanny. After a little investigating, Laurie and ex-husband Nick end up in the sleazy Palace Theater, where Barbette is performing for a crowd of overly admiring men.

After the performance ends, Laurie and Nick head back stage to meet Barbette. After avoiding security and then having Barbette avoid them, Nick and Laurie discover a secret passage that leads them into a fairy-tale nightmare. Nick and Laurie discover that our world hides another world filled with fairy tale creatures. Unfortunately, many of these creatures, especially the goblins, are essentially evil. Also unfortunately, Laurie is important to their plan.

Laurie, Nick, and sundry relatives and friends are soon on a roller coaster ride to adventure that may lead to some friends dying. Certainly some will be hurt. Laurie will find herself changed in ways that I was unable to imagine at the beginning of this book. Author Farrell wrote a complex novel that has many facets and can be a challenge to follow, so be prepared to keep track of who is who and what is what for maximum enjoyment.

I should also point out that the description on the cover of the book is accurate. This book is a fairy-tale for grownups. This charming little tale speaks of goblin excretion, always a charming subject, along with the sexual appetites of goblins and a number of the people in the novel. Then there is the violence, which is frequent and inventive. If this novel was a movie, I would rate it R.

I enjoy a novel that challenges me to think, and this one certainly does that. The author managed to challenge me with a complex plot that kept pulling me along, wondering where he would lead to next. Others have tried to place mythological creatures in a modern setting, but few have done it as well as Doug Farrell has. If you wonder where someone puts hundreds of over-sexed goblins in Chicago, I recommend you give this novel a spin.

Note that this novel is the first book in a planned series. I look forward to finding out what happens next.

Enjoy!

I was provided a review copy of this book by the author.

Review by Steve

GLAMOUR JOB: A FAIRY-TALE FOR GROWN-UPS by Doug Farrell, is part sci-fi and part fantasy. It has smart evil aliens with their half-human offspring attempting to take control of the earth, good aliens helping the few humans who are aware of the plot, and of course, advanced alien technology and time travel - and all of this taking place in Chicago in the late 1990s.

Where's the fantasy? Well, the evil aliens are goblins, who were banished from earth to one of the other seven planets linked by our moon (different dimensions) by a trick from Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. The good aliens are fairies and a gnome. Demigods, dragons, an ancient race without eyes know as the Observers, and Celtic mythology round out the fantasy part.

Farrell uses a conversational and humorous tone in his writing and weaves the history of goblins with mythology to make this a very plausible world. As with any good sci-fi and fantasy, there is social commentary. Farrell comments on the world of fashion and its effects on women and our entire culture.

GLAMOUR JOB is a fun, fast paced, and very enjoyable story. It has many twists and turns, and since it is for adults, there is sex and violence, but in a light tone. I do not ever remember reading anything quite like this. The mixture of ghost and goblins with sci-fi make this plausible and holds well together. I highly recommend this book to any sci-fi and fantasy readers. This book definitely gets a 5/5 star rating on my book-o-meter scale.

Okay, first things first, when it says a "Fairy-Tale for Grown Ups," take that to heart. There's no shortage of sex, drugs and violence. Glamour Job takes the rich lore of Celtic myth and basically pulls it forward to modern day Chicago. Good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people. Mr. Farrell isn't afraid to make flawed protagonists and smart villains, and he doesn't hesitate to take things to logical (though I use that loosely where magic is concerned) conclusions.

I typically have a hard time getting into books...and I finished in one rather long night. To be perfectly frank, I couldn't put it down. Glamour Job probably isn't for everyone (especially children) but fans of fantasy should love this book.

My one complaint is that Glamour Job is the first book in a planned trilogy, something I wasn't aware of when I started. G.J. is basically self-contained, but as part of a trilogy, it obviously enough leaves a few loose ends to deal with in future installments.

I loved this book. When I saw it on Amazon I was attracted to the cover and was intrigued by the description "A Fairy-Tale for Grown-ups". I was not disappointed! Mr. Farrell has an easy to read, smart writing style and great sense of humor. There is a message there too - alluding to some of the problems we face in society today. It made me think, and I enjoyed the challenge and the complex interplay of relationships. The book is a fun read while at the same time being symbolic and serious. I couldn't put it down! Looking forward to the next books in the Trilogy.

Doug Farrell's first book of his "Lunarcentric Trilogy" is an amazing accomplishment, rich multi-layered characters and an original, intelligent plot with many twists and turns (a true treat for those of you who get bored by the same old plot twists).
Wonderful, complex, and genuine relationships between humans who interact with magical creatures, and ugly, vile beings whose goals is nothing short of controlling the world. This enchanting storyline will definitely capture your imagination - worth every minute, I can't wait for the book two!

Reading this has only left me wondering, when will the movie come out?

My wife kept looking at the cover of this book and asking me *what* was I reading... :) Glamour Job: A Fairy-Tale for Grown-ups by Doug Farrell is a quirky, off-beat story that quickly grabbed my attention and became an enjoyable way to unwind for three or four days. I don't think I've read something quite like this before...

Laurie Morgan is a model in Chicago, and her life is at a bit of a standstill. She's divorcing her husband and trying to find a more exciting life for herself. Little does she know that "excitement" just found her. She spots a person who looks amazingly like her, and finds that this stalker is only one of a number of "people" who seem to have more than a passing interest in her life. As she pursues the leads to find out what's going on, she's dragged into a fantasy world of gnomes, goblins, and half-breed humans, all of whom view Laurie as the key to their future. Mind you, many of those "futures" are conflicting, and Laurie has to figure out if she's willing to trust creatures she didn't even believe existed earlier in the week. Her problems are magnified when she's actually turned into one of those not-so-appealing figures, and her timeframe to reverse the effects is pretty slim. Oh, and there's also the problem with her new identity being tied to the investigation of a federal crime. All in all, not exactly the best week of her life...

The novel is written from the first person (Laurie's) perspective as a journal of what's just happened. She's sitting in a prison cell awaiting the outcome of the investigation. Farrell uses a conversational tone in his writing, so you quickly get sucked into a close relationship with Laurie and what's going on with her. He's also got an incredibly vivid imagination, and the variety of creatures that show up is impressive. By the time you reach the end of the book, you've got an appreciation for what it would be like to be trapped in a body not your own, seeing things that are not visible to the "normal" world. If you want to get into morals and lessons, you could find those too. For me, I was just in it for the ride and entertainment, and it certainly fulfilled at that level.

Doug Farrell has crafted a wonderful fairly tale for adults filled with a world inhabited by strange, erotic, magical and captivating creatures. Once I began this book I could not put it down. The story takes many turns and takes the reader on a roller coaster ride of suspense and excitement. I eagerly await part 2.Glamour Job: A Fairy-Tale for Grown-ups

while i am not drawn to fantasy/?scifi novels, this one combines not only a wild and well-written plot of a goblin civilization that interacts on many levels with our own western society, but more interesting to me.....social commentaries: insightful views of so many troubling aspects of 20th century life for a woman, with all it's
stereotypes and gender roles. quite a read.