Over on Fairy Tale Central we’re celebrating The Goose Girl all August long, and I thought it’d be fun to talk about a delightful Goose Girl retelling here today!

And yes, I’m doing a third book review in a row. WHOOPS. I feel like all summer long it’s just been book reviews, which is funny because usually I don’t review books all that much here. I actually meant to do another post today, but this one just worked out better. BUT. This will be the last book review for a while. Next week I’ll have something else and thennn…

The Silmaril Awards are coming!

Starting August 31st, you’ll get to nominate and vote for your favorite literary fantasy characters across ten different categories. It is such a fun blogging event, and I am so honored to be one of the ten hosts for the second year in a row!

This year’s hosts!

OH. And we also have a #Bookstagram challenge starting next week, if you want to join!

IG challenge prompts!

If you want to learn more, do head on over to SilmarilAwards.com for details!

ALRIGHTY. With that announcement out of the way, on to the main point of this post. Fangirling over Burndee. Sharing the most delightful little story EVER.

Synopsis

Burndee can barely tolerate the mischievous Prince Colin, but the two of them are invariably thrown together in a way that keeps them at one another’s throats.

While attending a noblewoman’s wedding, Burndee and Colin’s private feud comes to a climax when Burndee loses his temper and does the unthinkable. With Prince Colin unable to attend to his royal duties and Burndee bound by an inconvenient spell, can the two of them work together long enough to unsnarl the mysterious goings-on around them?

A madcap and magical novella of The Goose Girl from a unique perspective.

AMAZON | GOODREADS | AUTHOR’S WEBSITE

You guys have probably seen me flail about The Reluctant Godfather on and off over the past few years. It is a delectable Cinderella retelling novella about not a fairy godmother, but godFATHER, who much prefers baking than granting silly humans happily ever afters. It is one of my favorite stories of all time, full of wit and humor and just the most lovable grump of a fairy godfather ever.

WELL. A Royal Masquerade is a sequel to that tale, continuing the madcap adventures of Burndee, the reluctant godfather himself.

And howww it’s taken me OVER TWO YEARS to read this little novella I DON’T KNOW. I fail at life, is all I can say. Because oh my goodness gracious, this story is just as delightful as its predecessor. Seriously, I don’t even know which one I like better. I think I love them equally!

Should you read The Reluctant Godfather first? I mean, yes, that’s how it’s intended. BUT this one actually stands on its own pretty well. You wouldn’t be too lost if you jumped straight into it. It’s very much its own separate adventure. (But I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to read the first book. IT’S SO GOOD.)

ANYWHO. On to the good stuff!

THE PLOT

As a fairy, Burndee is given two wards—Prince Colin and Ella. The first book mostly focuses on his relationship with Ella. But THIS TIME we get to see him and Colin trying to work together and ohohohohooo. These boys. XD It is one disaster after the other…to put it lightly.

It should be simple: Attend a stiff wedding, provide delicious food, try not to frown and make snarky comments the whole way through, and leave as soon as possible. That’s Burndee’s plan. But when Prince Colin’s teeny tiny little prank blows up, it’s an endless fiasco of one disaster after the next. And all the while, there’s something strange going on right under the boys’ noses, and it may just be up to them to save this wedding…if they don’t accidentally totally destroy it themselves first.

The whole book is basically just hilarious mishap after mishap. But I loved how everything threaded together to tell a bigger story than what it seems at the surface. The overall plot was genius, and I laughed SO. MUCH.

Since this is just a novella, I don’t want to say too much about the actual events. But…but just take my word for it. It was great. All of it. I grin just thinking about it!

THE CHARACTERS

Oh gracious alive, THESE CHARACTERS. How I have missed the young grumpy fairy godfather himself.

Burndee is still the snarky grouch we all know and love, but what I really loved about this one is how we got to see how he has grown. The care the author is putting into his growth is beautiful. Because it’s not just this instant transformation. He’s still very much Burndee, and he still has a lot to work through, but you can see the seeds of growth blooming in him in this story. He’s maturing and learning and TRYING to not be quite as much of a reluctant godfather as he was before. Buuut 87% of the things that come out of his mouth are still snark, and would we really want it any other way?

And then Colin! It was treat getting to know the prince more in this one. He was a riot in the first book but we didn’t see a terribly lot of him. This time he’s front and center and… *falls into a fit of giggles* WELL.

Colin is such a rascal. Charming, charismatic, always down for a good time, and utterly lively, Colin is the beginning of the huge domino of disasters that take place over this little story. A harmless prank goes wrong, but that doesn’t stop him from making the most of things and…continuing to do more pranks. XD THE BOY. He causes so much trouble, and I loved every second of it.

And the BEST was Burndee and Colin together. THE BANTER. THE BANTER, GUYS. Grouchy Burndee can just barely tolerate high-spirited Colin, and so you can only imagine the complete chaos that ensues as pranks and magic blow up (sometimes quite literally) at this wedding.

The other characters were treasures too. I adored our newest addition, Poppy, and her quiet spirit but strength to do what’s needed. And there were so many other side characters that were just popping with personality.

This author knows how to make the most lovable, ridiculous, purely charming and hilarious characters. They each had such clashing personalities that made for a hysterically madcap cast.

The shenanigans these people got themselves into. *shakes head chuckling* I CAN’T, GUYS. It was the best!

OTHER THINGS TO LOVE

There was literally nothing I didn’t love about this ridiculous story.

This author excels at providing a rip-roaring good time of a story, and this one is just dripping with humor. My cheeks were practically hurting by the end from grinning and laughing. Like, seriously, a couple of times I had to set the book down to compose myself because I WAS LAUGHING SO HARD. The mishaps Burndee got himself into… Oh boy. It was SOMETHING.

And can we just talk about the author’s writing style? Oh, if I had just a smidgen of her wit. Because GUYS. THE WIT. The story is told from Burndee’s point-of-view, and I live for his complete uppity disdain of people and the world. The way he perceives and explains things has me giggling every. single. sentence. Every moment of his book is just one hilariously quotable line after the next. I am so in love with Allison’s ingenious, witty writing voice. It is worth the read for her descriptions alone. But, of course, it’s worth the read for everything else as well.

The really clever thing about the story is how it is a retelling of The Goose Girl, but it’s not obvious at first. I love how all the Goose Girl elements are going on in the background, but Burndee is so occupied trying to deal with his own problems, he doesn’t even notice. It was such a fun and brilliant way to retell a fairy tale!

Also that part near the end with Cynthia and Ella? Yeah, that was one of the scenes where I had to stop reading to compose myself because I was grinning and giggling so hard. GOLD. PURE GOLD.

Every inch of this story was gold. And though it’s super short (about 120 pages, I believe) and usually I’m not wild about short tales, this one didn’t need to be long. It’s one of the few novellas I’ve read that I can say was just right. It is a perfect small package of wit and charm and hilarious shenanigans, and I adored every absurd second of it.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

Um. What did I just say? IT’S PERFECT. I honest to goodness cannot think of a thing I wasn’t wild about.

Why did I even put this category here? THIS BOOK IS EVERYTHING. <3

CONTENT CAUTIONS

The lovely thing about these stories is, though the characters are in their mid-twenties, they’re also catered for a younger crowd. These are the types of tales that the whole family can enjoy. (Seriously, if I had really young siblings you’d better believe I’d be reading these out loud to them. But, alas, my siblings and I are all adults.)

They are squeaky clean and perfect for young and old alike. I mean, there is a bit of magic since it is about a fairy godfather, but it’s all very fairy tale magic. And this one actually said that the fairies’ magic comes from a Higher Authority, and kind of hinted that this is something Burndee is going to have to work through in later books.

So it’s all very light and God-honoring without being preachy whatsoever. It’s just a fun story, with nothing dark and heavy weighing it down, but so very clever and witty so it doesn’t feel “kiddie” for the older crowd. It’s such a great balance!

CONCLUSION

I guess all that’s really left to say is: READ THESE BOOKS.

Both The Reluctant Godfather and this one went straight to my favorites shelf on GoodReads, and not just any ol’ book gets placed there. But these are, honest to goodness, some of my most favorite reads on this earth. Plus they’re super fast reads, for when you want something quick and lighthearted.

From a delightful cast, to endlessly amusing banter, to a falling domino show of hilarious mishaps and shenanigans, to an ingeniously witty narrative, to a clever take on a fairy tale, this book is guaranteed to put a smile on your face and keep it there long after you’ve finished.

. . . 5 out of 5 Stars . . .

LET’S TALK!

Who else loves the Tales of Ambia books? Have you read any of them? Are you going to read this one? (Because YOU NEEDS IIIIT.)