Hello everyone!
So as you know if you've been paying attention to this blog, Hermione Moon (aka Serenity Woods) has been writing witchy romances with a hint of mystery for the past year or so.
She's also amazing enough to offer a completely stand-alone, unrelated novella to those of you who subscribe to her newsletter, the link to which you can find right here.
It's really only a handful of pages long, but quality does not count for quantity where Ms Moon is concerned, let me tell you.
This one could very well have been a full length novel for what it tells and teaches us, and I honestly loved it the moment I got my hands on it.
It's one of those stories that really stick with you, even if they're short.
But that's how it used to work with all the stories our grandmother's told us! And A Familiar Fantasy is basically just that.
There will be links to other Hermione Moon reviews at the bottom of this page, as always when I've focused on a particular author before.
But let's just go into A Familiar Fantasy since it's such a short and sweet tale, shall we?
Helewise, a witch, owns a shop in town which sells spells and other magical twists for people to buy, but she can't really use any on herself as that's not how magic works - aka, you have to use a spell ON SOMEONE ELSE, but you can't enchant yourself.
She has a familiar, Nicodemus the black cat, who often chats with her when no one's around, and he has plans of his own in this one, let me tell you.
Our story begins with a particularly rude customer who comes in to get a spell to beautify herself, dropping nasty remarks about magic, its uses, and Helewise, who acknowledges she's not the most beautiful of the women in town, but she's at least always been kind, compassionate and generous.
She sells a low-quality spell to the woman and sends her on her way when the peddler Crispian Redbeard makes an entrance.
Now Crispian is someone Helewise has been in love with since forever, but she knows he'd never settle down because he has such a wandering spirit, so she's content to admire from afar ... and then disaster comes home to roost.
Nicodemus slips on a shelf and scatters a number of bottles with spells, which naturally open and start dashing about.
Helewise quickly catches most of them, but two escape - she even has to uncoil one from Crispian, who kisses her passionately because of it.
Then she's off into town to see what kind of havoc the passion and beauty spell are causing.
You read THAT right.
The passion one basically sends anyone it touches into a frenzy of Dionysian proportions, so that half the town that's affected by it is suddenly ripping off each other's clothing and having their way with each other then and there. Helewise successfully dissipates the spell and realizes, upon coming to one particular couple, that no spell is ACTUALLY needed when you're in love.
Then she's off for the beauty spell which she also takes care of even though she might have wished to perhaps leave it working for some - a beggar suddenly becoming beautiful, showing his inner beauty, or the woman from the beginning becoming a veritable hag just like she is on the inside (which is how the spell works).
Helewise deals with it all though, then walks straight into a large cloud of it which affects her, too, since she's bought it from another witch, this one works on her, altering her appearance to show the beauty within - and it won't go away!
Returning to the shop, she's about to get scolded by Nicodemus when she explains what happened, and the familiar smiles a feline smile, saying it's a gift from the Goddess for all the good she's done with her spells and potions.
And to top it all off, Crispian, having been struck by a truth spell without Helewise noticing, admits he's been in love with her for a long time and has finally saved up enough to be able to buy a house in town - even without this new look from the spell, she's always been beautiful to him. So will she marry him?
Yes, yes she will!
Besides, if Nicodemus didn't do it all on purpose to orchestrate just something like this, I'll eat my dad's best hat. That cat was TOTALLY behind it!
Short, sweet, and to the point, this story shows us that you don't necessarily NEED magic to help you make your way in life; you can just be yourself, help people in need, make the right choices for you, and hopefully navigate the complicated crossroads of life that way. Helewise is a lovely character and I'd actually be interested in reading a full-length book about her, but alas, I doubt that will ever happen.
Still, she shows us that a kind heart goes a long way.
So if you want to have a look at this novella, just subscribe to the newsletter, right here, and then you can be on your merry way!
xx
*image not mine
No comments:
Post a Comment