Customer Reviews

Once Upon a Time: A Rose for Beauty/The Shoemaker's Daughter/Better to See You/Lily's Plight (Inspirational Romance Collection)

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

 

 

ONCE UPON A TIME is a wonderful success as Barbour Publishing authors tackle old time fairytales with contemporary plots and settings. I have really enjoyed reading all four novellas in this book and know that if you try them, you'll be "enchanted" as well! A great read and a wonderful time if inspirational romances are your favorites!

There are four short stories in th book, each one LOOSELY based on a fairy tale. If you like fairy tales and Christian literature, than this is a book for you!

The first story is based on Beauty and the Beast. My favorite story in the book! It isn't a beast under a magical spell though, he has scares on his face from an accident. The girl is called Beauty and she is working at the house of the beast for her father who just suffered a stroke. Find out the details of why her family is poor? And what are "the beast's" secrets!

The second story is based on the Elves and the Shoemaker. There is a new shoemaker in town and he is having trouble keeping up with the orders. He has an accident with this woman and a surfboard, and when he comes into work and ten orders are completed he begins to think he suffered some memory loss from the accident. Does he have a secret helper? or is he losing his mind?

The third story resembles Snowwhite and the Seven Drawfs. Lily White is applying for a new job at an advertising agency. The agency turns out to be a big family with many characters, one thats really grumpy, another always telling jokes, and so on. . . She feels an attraction for her boss but it is obvious he is involved romantically with a client who used to be a model. Does she stand a chance at winning his heart? Should she even try? Who is in love with the former model?

The last story resembles Little Red Riding Hood and it takes place in Germany!!! How fun! This book has the heaviest christian undertones of the four and involves a rekindling of a romance with an exfiance who had no religious values before. Who is the "wolf" in this story?

If you don't want to read stories that contain scriptures and talk of God, than these stories are not for. But I highly recommend this book as a wonderful Christian example a love mixed in with a few of everyones favorite fairy tales.

If you enjoy Christian romances and fairy tales set in modern day settings this is the perfect book for you! It includes four different books by four authors.
1. Rose for Beauty by Irene B. Brand
(My favorite of the four)
2. Shoemaker's Daughter by Lynn A Coleman
3. Lily's Plight by Yvonne Lehman
4. Better to See You by Gail Gaymer Martin

3.5 out of 5 Stars


A Rose for Beauty
3.5 stars

Based on Beauty and the Beast - Annabelle Bartlett, aka Beauty, returned to her former home, now owned by Grant Palmer, to help him cataloged her father's collection. Grant Palmer considered himself the Beast after a car racing accident scarred the left side of his face. But when he got to know Beauty more, her sweet Christian spirit was slowing healing his. However, when Beauty finished her work, she was leaving. Grant knew he can't let her go.

This a pretty straightforward story with no malice or misunderstandings. The author did a really nice job of sticking to the plot of the original fairy tale. All the elements were there. Beauty is still too good to be true heroine. Despite the loss of her family wealth, she took it in stride and tried her best to comfort her father and selfish siblings. And on the rare occasion, she had a little spunk when she got angry at Grant. I liked Grant. He was super sweet. He truly wanted to make Beauty happy but wasn't sure how to go about it. He wasn't masochistic about his scars and wasn't afraid to show his face in public, which I found out character. Most people would feel more self-conscious. It felt like Beauty didn't really do anything to get him out of shell and felt contrived that everyone believe that she was the one to change him. Unfortunately, the only fault of this story was its lack of depth. I read this without really taking anything in. There was no time to delve into the feelings and the characters themselves. There was no emotions to really capture the attention and made you realize that these two were falling in love. If this story was the normal length of 180 pages and the plot was fleshed out, this story has great potential.

The Shoemaker's Daughter
4 stars

Based on Shoemaker and the Elves - Marissa Jones' father used to own a successful shoe business before he sold it to Cameron Flynn. However, the business was started to fail due to personal problems and Cameron just could not keep up. Marissa told herself that this wasn't her problem until she whacked Cameron in the face with her surfboard. Feeling sorry, Marissa decided to help with some midnight mischief and maybe absolved her guilt. However, constantly being thrown together, they slowly started to create their own successful fairy tale.

This story was a page turner. Again, the story was too short for the romance to develop fully. It felt like that they met and then fell in love because they were written to. So, it was rushed near the end. Despite that tiny fault, the story had great hero and heroine and an entertaining plot. I enjoyed Marissa's antics, especially the unfortunate way she met Cameron. It was an unusual way to repay her debt (slightly illegal but stupid mistake on Cameron's part), but it was charming and followed the true essence of the original fairy tale. Cameron was a decent hero. At first he resented the heroine (considering he broke his nose, I would be too), but after learning that she was the one to help him with his financial worries, he began to see the light. The dialogue was witty and there were just right enough side characters to help the main characters along.

Lily's Plight
3 stars

Based on Snow White - Lily White needed a job in her field and was desperate to take any job to help her jump-start her career. Even if that means taking the job with Vince Harmen and 6 other men as their secretary. As their animosity lessen, Vince and Lily started to appreciate each other. However, Grace Grant did not like the idea of a younger woman horning in her territory and she was going to do her best to be the wedge to keep the two apart.

Interesting interpretation of Snow White. I was slightly disappointed that all the men were not really showcased but with the page limit, it would have not been practical. I found Lily's name to be somewhat appropriate. She was lily-livered when the situation did not turned out well for her. Personally, I don't know how she would've survive in the advertising world if a confrontation made her cry. I wanted to slap her and tell her to defend herself. If someone questioned her trust, she should be the one to find out the truth and not wait for Vince to figure it out for her and himself. A weak-minded heroine. And then Vince was a jerk half the time. First, he didn't want to hire her because she was too pretty. (Lawsuit, anyone?) At another time, he yelled at Lily because he thought she did not do her job correctly and then realized the error was on his part, not Lily's. But he only apologized until he could put it off no longer. He expounded on Christian faith but he never really follow through on it himself. How these two fell in love makes me wonder. The only bright spot in this ho-hum cast was Grace Grant. Her character was spiteful and insecure but her emotions shone bright. Her change was the most dramatic but the most believable and the strongest. All in all, has a decent plot but weak characters.

Better to See You
3 stars

Based on Red Riding Hood - Lucy Blake aka Red was in Germany, helping her sick grandmother, when she ran into an old flame, Ron Woodson. The reason they broke up was his lack of faith but Ron was going to show her he has changed. While he was doing this, he realized that there might a be wolf hounding at Lucy's grandmother's door.

Another mediocre story. The romance was whirlwind but since they had a previous relationship, the romance seemed a little bit more natural. I found Lucy an ordinary heroine. Ron was an interesting but sometimes, a foolish hero. The plot was superficial and never pulled you in. However, I did like the author takes on the "wolf". Other than that, this story did not have much entertainment value.

All in all, the authors' intrepration of the fairy tales into modern Christian romances were very well written. However, the lack of depth into characters and plot were the most major flaws. Most anthologies have this issue. If you like a light Christian read, with fairy tales thrown in, pick it up at a cheap price. However, if you are looking for a riveting plot, pass this book up.

The four love stories in this book are all enjoyable. The authors did a great job in a short space. How creative to make modern stories that follow the story of fairy tales!

And yes, you can have both in a story. The stories here attempt to be two things: retold fairy tales and Christian dramas. For the most part, they fail miserably at both. Fairy tales, in their true form, are stories that feature very hard lessons about life and realistic portrayals of human nature. This book, however, delivers only a huge cast of syrupy characters and happy endings sweet enough to give you cavities. I love a light-hearted fairy tale, but shouldn't it feature realistic characters?

These stories are only fairy tales in the Disney sense, possibly even less than that, as Disney at least doesn't shy away from producing believably harsh plights. As for the "Christian" aspect, when did a bunch of old-fashioned people get together and decide that Christian stories could only be G-rated and fluffy? Christians live in the real world too, folks! We're right here with everyone else on the planet, not floating on a pink cloud blithely unaware of the messy world beneath. This book failed the "realistic Christian" aspect in many ways, mainly characterization.

Most of the heroines here are totally innocent "good girls" who are happily aware of their salvation in Christ and happily unaware of how cruel the world can be sometimes; they prove this by shrinking away like wounded does whenever something hurts them. Granted, some of the heroines are more like this than others, but they all seem to have their purity printed on their T-shirts. They hardly ever get angry and when they do, it's usually an infuriatingly "rightous" anger; if by any chance they're unreasonably angry like normal humans, they repent of it immediately, thus showing just how Christian they are. The book, in fact, tries way too hard to promote Christianity. Have you noticed that if you try to witness to someone by preaching your head off, they're more likely to run away than listen to you? Here's a little secret: preachiness in writing has the same result.

The only story I liked was "The Shoemaker's Daughter", a cute comedy with a spunky heroine who actually comes close to losing her temper a few times and doesn't mention God's name every few sentences. The worst story is "Better to See you", which is packed with narrow-minded, old-fashioned messages about how Christians should live and a heroine who manages to be both sharp-tongued and goody-two-shoed. Here are a few of the faulty lessons this story tries to teach:

1) Lying is always wrong, even if you're lying to protect yourself from a con-artist who could be dangerous.

2) The life of a starving artist is a filthy and immoral one; anyone who attempts this path will find unfulfillment and sorrow until they repent of it.

3) Since the Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil, if you love money, you are unquestionably evil as well.

This last ridiculous statement had me doubting that the author has any idea of what true evil is. It's certainly not a label to be used loosely! Sure, greed is bad, but if you compare it to crimes like rape and serial killing, I think it would pale in comparison.

Needless to say, I recommend you skip this book. Give Liz Curtis Higgs and Francine Rivers a try instead; they offer Christian passion as well as a good dose of reality.

If I had wanted Bible thumping, I'd have bought a Bible. I thought I was getting a fairy tale, but was instead getting a good Christian book produced by a Bible company full of scriptures.
Not what I thought I was buying. There's a place for everything and I'd rather people be more up front in their advertising.