This audiobook was very well written and and kept me entertained and engaged. All the while keeping in mind that breaking with tradition can land everyone into a kettle of fish - sometimes literally! Still, her practical nature couldn't let him roam the country, so she brought the donkey - er, the prince! - home to her cottage to teach him some lessons.

In fact, one of them was so ornery that Elena could do nothing but change him into a donkey. True, she didn't have to sleep in the chimney, but she had to deal with arrogant, stuffed-shirt princes who kept trying to rise above their place in the tale. In the land of Five Hundred Kingdoms, if you can't carry out your legendary role, life is no fairy tale.Įlena Klovis was supposed to be her kingdom's Cinderella - until an accident of fate left her with a completely inappropriate prince! Determined not to remain with her stepfamily, Elena set out to get a new job - and ended up becoming the Fairy Godmother for the land.īut 'Breaking with Tradition' was no easy matter. Mercedes Lackey is a great author.From the best-selling author of the Heralds of Valdemar series comes an enchanting new novel. This is a great read for all fairy tale/ fantasy lovers. I loved how the author used a great variety of fairy tales in her book, such a Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Rapunzel. Yet, a grave situation causes the two to use their brains and rescue a prince in danger and shows them the true feelings they harbor for each other. After a while, they fall in love, but it is unusual for a godmother to have a consort. She turns him into a donkey, and slowly she watches his progress. Yet through all her training, and her encounters, she never expected to take a great task into her own hands, curing a prince of his stubborness. And a baby girl being born to parents only to have a bad witch, Arachnia, come to put a curse on her. Elena goes through the proper training, all the while encountering odd situations, such as a pregnant girl having odd cravings which her husband tries to cure. When a surprise opportunity comes up, Elena leaves her house and meets and old lady, her kingdom's fairy godmother, who informs Elena that she will be training to be the next fairy godmother. But even with this unfortunate turn of events, Elena is surrounded by the Tradition, a powerful magic that will do anything to return Elena's situation back to normal. This sounds familiarly like the story of Cinderella, which is precisely who Elena is supposed to be. Elena is living as a servant in with her stepmother and stepsisters.

The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey