Happily Ever After, Ltd.

Richie Tennyson's take on Cinderella is cleverly surreal in its interpretation of this classic story. Fairy tales by their very nature are unreal, strange, even dream like, but this goes one step further. By a clever twist of the imagination, the author mixes reality with make believe and brings the tale alive by putting a real life human inside the book. And take note, he finds he is not the only real person trapped inside the pages playing out the tale, which strives to arrive at a happy ever after ending.

Back in the real world personal relationships amongst the hard working employees of the company responsible for delivering the story, have their own drama and intrigue. Tension reaches a critical point as Dave attempts to rescue his newly introduced friend Ryan, the one chosen to replace the missing fairy tale Prince in the story book. The unknown second human also there, is a saboteur, and added to all this, the problem for the story is that Ryan is gay and not particularly attracted to the opposite sex! How will they ever arrive at a happy ever after ending?

With so much going on the pace is fast and the story addictive. There is, you might say, never a dull moment. Plenty of twists and unpredictable turns leave the reader guessing as to what exactly is going on and what will happen next.

Turning a well known story into an excitingly different read is no easy feat, and Mr Tennyson manages this with some aplomb. This was clearly not a story thrown together, but thought out and planned. It also, along the way, poses a very pertinent question about how we might all be to some extent programmed by society in our life expectations. Every little boy to grow up and become a Prince, who will fall in love with and marry his Princess, or visa versa, but with the same result, they (we) live happily ever after.

An excellent book which I would recommend anyone to read and which is refreshingly different. Possibly if you are looking for simply another gay romantic life drama, you might find you are disappointed, but if you want to be entertained by a story with a gay theme and lots of intrigue, you will enjoy the ride.

This fantastic story is a modern day re-writing of the Cinderella, but not as you would expect.

The book is now owned by Happily Ever Ltd and we follow the story on the day that Prince Charming goes missing.

What follows is a calamitous three days as Dorothy Weaver has to try and repair the story of Cinderella using various tactics, including inserting a temporary Prince. The temporary Prince, Ryan just happens to be gay, but we follow him as he tries his best to find a Happy Ending.

A truly fantastic take on Cinderella that I highly recommend as a fantastic read.