Happily Ever Afters: A Four Kingdoms Novella (Book Review)

Low on Chapters, High on Cuteness.

Happily Ever Afters is a Young Adult Fantasy novella by Australian author Melanie Cellier. It is part of the Four Kingdoms Series which includes 1 other novella, a novelette, and 5 novels. It takes place right before the 3rd novel and the heroines are from the 2nd Novel, so naturally I would strongly recommend reading the series in order. Starting from The Princess Companion.

Sarah and Evelyn have just helped the Queen of Rangmere save the kingdom from a Tyrant, but the challenges are not quite over yet. Conservative nobles are having trouble accepting a female ruler. To top it off our heroines get entangled in a conspiracy against their kingdom. So they have to save the kingdom and hopefully find their very own happily ever afters.

This is a reimagining of Snow White and Rose Red, I’ll confess I had no idea how it goes so I searched it, feel free to skip the rest of the paragraph if you know the tale. Snow White and Rose Red are two sisters who are opposites of each other but are really tight with each other and do everything together, they befriend a bear and then come across a wicked dwarf who is ultimately killed by the bear. Then it is revealed that the bear was a prince and had been cursed by the wicked dwarf.

The story was loosely based on the tale, of course, Evelyn and Sarah were cousins with opposing personalities. There is a sort of enchantment involved too, a bit difficult to explain without spoilers. In other words, it was as Melanie as it could be.

The plot was good, surprising, and fast. It is a Novella so the last one isn’t surprising. 

Let’s talk characters,

Sarah is more than ready for the court life. She has taken it upon herself to whip the nobles of Rangmere into shape. (not literally). She had obviously not planned to fall in love with the most popular and powerful bachelor in court, after all, she was just a merchant girl who was friends with the queen.

I was living for the girly girl representation, most of the main character girls are in the ‘tomboy girl’ group, especially in today’s literature, which doesn’t mean it is bad but is certainly overused. Sarah reminded me of Alyssa our very first heroine. They are not the sort to actively throw themselves into danger, but when the time to step up comes they step up. 

Her love story went too fast and the feelings came too fast. Of course, this is a Novella so that is not totally unexpected. But would have loved to see them more, we got too little, but what we did get was full of cuteness. 

Evelyn is starting her new job, as a personal guard to the queen. All her life she has fought her way through a male-dominated industry. Now in the palace, she has to prove herself yet again and she is ready for it. What she was not ready for, was catching feelings, for a noble cum knight.

Evelyn is the opposite of Sarah so naturally, she is a part of the ‘tomboy girl’, dislikes dresses (Honestly felt like she secretly liked them as much as the next girl), and the color pink. The struggle of getting accepted as a female guard was showcased nicely. 

I liked her love story better, again a really cute love interest and their interactions were 😍. I loved the ending it fit Evelyn, to not really understand what she was feeling, in my opinion, it was perfect.

Would give a 12+ rating for violence and kissing. It is 16 chapters long, plus a prologue.

Overall, it was a good read, if you’re looking for a quick, light-ish read with elements of suspense & thrill and a clean romance, this is your book.

Yours,

A Fellow Bookworm