Featured Story: The Reluctant Godfather

Happy belated Valentine’s Day! In this month of love and affection, I had to talk about an adorable, sweet little love story I recently read: The Reluctant Godfather, by Allison Tebo. I say “little” because it was physically small, but that only made it more refreshing.

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Here is the story’s synopsis:

Burndee is a young and cantankerous fairy godfather, who would rather bake cakes than help humans. A disgrace to the fairy order, Burndee has only two wards entrusted to his care…a cinder girl and a charming prince. 

A royal ball presents Burndee with the brilliant solution of how to make his wards happy with the least amount of effort. He’ll arrange a meeting and hope the two fall in love. 

This Cinderella re-telling was a delight to read. I am reading slowly these days, but I sped through it in a few days.

My favorite part of the story was the protagonist. Fairy tale retellings can be tricky. It’s hard to make the story new while still keeping some elements faithful to the original.

Through her characters, Tebo created a story that is familiar enough to give you warm fuzzies but new enough to be unpredictable. I loved the grumpy incompetence and obliviousness of Burndee, the main character. Grumpy characters often turn me off to stories, but Burndee’s grumpiness only makes him more loveable.

Ella is one of the sweetest characters I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, and Colin is great. I was entertained the whole way through, and the end still took me by surprise. I felt happy after reading this book, which is something I’ve come to appreciate in a world full of stories that often leave me feeling dispirited or wounded.

I recommend this as a refreshing, new take on a long-loved fairy tale.

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Have you read The Reluctant Godfather? What did you think of it? What is an indie book you love? Let me know in the comments!