Wickedly Ever After

De: R. Lee Fryar

Narrado por: Zura Johnson, Drew Adams

In this (delightfully screwball) fairy tale romp, even the most wicked deserve their happily-ever-after.
For almost a thousand years, Wicked Witch Hector West and Good Witch Ida North have maintained the balance of good and evil, preserving a magical Happily-Ever-After that keeps the realm from falling apart. But even Cardinal Witches need a hobby, and every spare moment they have is spent antagonizing each other. But when Ida’s latest “harmless” hex goes too far, Hector retaliates with a curse that immediately backfires, making her choose the wrong princess for the year’s big pantomime.
Which, if not corrected immediately, could have world-shaking consequences.
One reluctant prince and badly botched dragon kidnapping later, both Hector and Ida are determined to set things right. With love magic gone wild, the two best enemies set off on a quest to save the realm, their lovesick gnome chamberlains at their sides. Yet as they unravel what went wrong with their mixed-up magic, Hector and Ida will have to face a more daunting challenge than trying to avoid their own Wickedly-Ever-After:
Deciding whether a millennium worth of enmity might have been the biggest mistake of their very long lives.

A quadruple magical slow burn romantasy

While the more obvious connection would be the Wizard of Oz remakes, there was something about this that felt very Muppets retro. From the bodacious feminist that was Miss Piggy to one of a kind Gonzo and the cantankerous hecklers Statler and Waldorf, the Muppets were all about different strokes living large. Especially in the first few hours, the wokeness was everywhere. About the time I heard how giants were misunderstood (and smelly) until they adjusted their magic bean diet 😜, I embraced the woke take on fairytales and enjoyed this slow burn adventure.

The summary’s promised “screwball” fairytale was there in a Pinky and the Brain, Megamind, or even Phineas and Ferb kinda way, as professional enemies Ida the Good Witch and Hector the Wicked Witch wage prank wars and mild insults. I’m not sure I ever laughed out loud, but I definitely cracked a grin or two, and I still give this an A for creativity.

The best parts for me were the overlapping love stories, with various screen times. The absolute best of the best romance was the MM romance between gnome butlers TinMan and Harry; their tearjerker stole the spotlight from the MCs.

The overall tone was a bit odd, This was 90% cozy, with a rare F bomb or two, a not quite closed door sex scene of “the earth moved” variety, and some jarring sex talk/jokes involving the gnomes. The pacing was a lot slower, sweeter, and occasionally preachier than I’d have preferred, I feel like this could work for mature teens and up who are open to LGBTQ themes, necromantic comedy, and a salamander going by they. I bumped my rating up a star for originality and would look forward to a second book by this author. Those seeking full cozy, LGBTQ positive, fairytale adventure should try the How to Summon a Fairy Godmother duology.