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  21 Reviews 5 star:  (9) 4 star:  (5) 3 star:  (4) 2 star:  (3) 1 star:    (0) See all 21 customer reviews...

    (21 customer reviews)

manuscript review by Publishers Weekly, an independent organization
Beauty, the archetypal princess and one of the "Folk," has become "busy, single, venomous, whatever" as she and the other Folk are hunted by authors looking for story ideas. The Folk are offered a deal for protection with the U.S. government from being captured and used in books, and Beauty flits through bars, smokes cigarettes and boozes it up while being hunted. There's a lot of narrative confusion and a muddled conflict, but Beauty eventually decides to write her own story, wondering whether her kind are capable of writing something worthwhile. Some readers may enjoy the idiosyncratic merging of myth and reality (as when Odin checks his Blackberry), but the difficulty in following a choppy narrative that isn't anchored in either fantasia or reality presents a major problem.

Amazon Top Reviewer
"Waiting for My Happily Ever After" is a twist on several popular classic fairy tails...think about the movie "Enchanted" with a twist. The story is set in modern-day Washington, D.C., and Sleeping Beauty, Lancelot, and Price Charming are having a difficult time adjusting to their crazy new lifestyles. The plot of this book is hilarious. I enjoyed the expert, even though the writing style isn't that great. Sleeping Beauty's identity crisis is hysterical, and I enjoyed the love triangle between her, Lancelot, and her estranged husband. I think readers of all ages will get a kick out of this fun story.

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21 Reviews 5 star:  (9) 4 star:  (5) 3 star:  (4) 2 star:  (3) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review (21 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   3 of 3 people found the following review helpful: Sleeping Beauty lives!, January 28, 2008 By  R. Kyle (USA) - See all my reviews          As a matter of fact, so does Prince Charming, Lancelot and a whole lot of other characters from myths, legends and faery tale. They're among us til a Catcher grabs them and slaps them into an author's novel. They don't die there, but they must trick their way out. This is a great idea. Urban fantasy, faery tale retellings and the ilk are my bag. I'd certainly pick this book up if I'd seen it in a bookstore and read the first chapter to see if I would buy. The problem is, after having done basically that, I was somewhat confused and had to read again. This is not something I would do if the book was in my hands. At the intro, I was trying to figure out why you had both a Chuck and Charlie. You will probably want to stick to one name, because some readers might think it's two people. Do you have a set of rules for your catchers, papers, etc written out separate from the novel. It might help to keep things consistent. If you can explain these rules in a few short sentences you can transfer that knowledge better to the novel. This excerpt reminds me of a contemporary version of John Myers Myers "Silverlock," which is a mix of about every kind of myth, legend, etc. there is in a past setting. Mr. Ganzel-Schneider is not the first fantasy author to place faery tale and mythical characters in a contemporary setting. Two recent examples are Jane Lindskold's "Changer" and "Legends Walking" and Peter David's "Knight Life" series. This really is a great idea. "Silverlock" has been a classic and a favorite of many other fantasy geeks like me for years. If you can tighten the story up a bit, you should have something salable that people will really enjoy. I know I'd buy the book. Good luck to you!  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   2 of 4 people found the following review helpful: Confusing Start, January 27, 2008 By  A. Luciano (Lowell, MA United States) - See all my reviews    This story has a good start, with the bustling atmosphere of a coffee shop, then a confrontation ending in physical violence. It's definitely an attention-getter. I was a bit lost in the dialog of the next scene. I need a frame of reference before just jumping into the story, as I have no idea what the rules of this world are or who, exactly, these character are. About halfway through this excerpt things started to fall into place for me, although I still found myself a bit confused about the rules of writing a character and Catching a character. The twist of Beauty having Caught an author and being confused about what to do with him was a nice one. As I read more, this story started to come together more for me. I think there is a creative and interesting story here. However, this excerpt was confusing for a long time before I started to understand anything about this world. I don't know if most readers will be patient enough to get to the explanation.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: Nice Read, January 28, 2008 By  pspahn (Albany, GA USA) - See all my reviews I can't believe they cut the prologue out. Make sure to read it. This excerpt was entertaining from start to finish. It might have needed a bit more dialogue direction in the beginning to tell who was speaking, but the actual dialogue is good, and you soon get into the flow of the conversation. What I like most are all the possibilities you start thinking about as you're reading it--I started wondering how my favorite fairy tale characters would fit in, how they would cope with the modern world, how Walt Disney fits in (if at all), that sort of thing. The writing is humorous without being tongue-in-cheek--the author does a good job of (re)creating the characters in a way that makes you want to find out how they develop. Overall, a very promising excerpt. Pete  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you?