Fairytale Beginnings by Holly Martin

3.5 Star

Fairytale Beginnings: A heartwarming romantic comedy

Love is an open door…except when it keeps slamming in your face.

Hopeless romantic Milly Rose has had her fair share of heartbreak. Obsessed with all things Disney, she refuses to give up on finding her Prince Charming – he’s out there somewhere, isn’t he?

When Milly is given a job to investigate the origins of an historical building in the village of Clovers Rest, she’s not sure what to expect. What she discovers takes her breath away - a beautiful real life Cinderella castle, complete with turrets, a magnificent drawbridge AND a very handsome owner…Cameron Heartstone.

As Milly and Cameron begin to unearth the secrets of Clover Castle, they can’t ignore the intense chemistry building between them. But they’ve both been hurt badly before. Can they take a big leap of faith and find their own happily-ever-after? 

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Kathryn - 3.5 Star

I enjoyed this quirky tale of boy meets girl- it was definitely a little over the top with the Disney references but somehow that made it both unbelievable and possible at the same time. It was like a reality show for Disney lovers in book format.

From the moment Milly approaches Cameron’s castle we are treated to a fantasy like description of the place but the best part for me was that it became apparent that despite her childlike joy about the castles turrets she’s actually quite a serious academic. She’s highly educated in her field and her knowledge is extensive about history, building structure and techniques. I liked Milly’s excitement about the building and this quite took over my feelings towards the predictable plot.  At first I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to get on board with the romance but Cameron also grew on me and there were some truly silly moments inspired by the villagers’ customs that made me giggle. I was disappointed though in the repetitiveness of the bedroom encounters and felt they lacked some variety- if one is insistent on describing every connection then there needs to be a more imaginative set of scenes! Holly Martin is very good about ensuring we know there is chemistry but in this case I didn’t need to know about every one of their moments of madness.  I liked knowing about it without actually feeling like I was in the room.  Their attraction was palpable with just a few words. 
Cameron and Milly are both coming at this attraction from a place of mistrust and although they likely should have waited a bit longer I honestly loved that they didn’t- sometimes you just need to seize the day!

There were many things I liked about Fairytale Beginnings, especially once I got into the castle itself. It was a really fun read and one should not be afraid of the fairytale!

Thank you to Bookouture for our review copy. All opinions are our own.

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