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Charming Tales #2
Happily Never After
Once upon, once again…
The dragon has been slain, but the problems have just begun for Prince Charming.
Disowned by his father, the King, and abandoned by his only friend, William Pickett, Charming must find a new path in life...but he's going to need a lot of help. His love, Liz, barely survived an assassination attempt; his former fling, Rapunzel, is in danger; and William is under an evil spell cast by Princess Gwendolyn.
The fate of Castle White hangs in the balance as Charming tries to find himself, while finding new allies along the way — including an odd number of dwarfs (or is it dwarves?) and a reformed beast. But he's running out of time to stop royally ruinous wedding bells from ringing…
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The dragon has been slain, but the problems have just begun for Prince Charming.
Disowned by his father, the King, and abandoned by his only friend, William Pickett, Charming must find a new path in life...but he's going to need a lot of help. His love, Liz, barely survived an assassination attempt; his former fling, Rapunzel, is in danger; and William is under an evil spell cast by Princess Gwendolyn.
The fate of Castle White hangs in the balance as Charming tries to find himself, while finding new allies along the way — including an odd number of dwarfs (or is it dwarves?) and a reformed beast. But he's running out of time to stop royally ruinous wedding bells from ringing…
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- GenresFantasy
100 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 25, 2014
1 person is currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Jack Heckel
9 books24 followersJack Heckel's life is an open book, actually, the book you are in all hope holding right now (and if you are not holding it, he would like to tell you it can be purchased from any of your finest purveyors of the written word). Beyond that, Jack aspires to be either a witty, urbane, world-traveller who lives on his vintage yacht, The Clever Double Entendre, or a geographically illiterate professor of literature who spends his non-writing time restoring an 18th century lighthouse off a remote part of the Vermont coastline. Whatever you want to believe of him, he is without doubt the author of the premier volume of the Charming novels, Once Upon a Rhyme. So, no matter what rumors you might hear about Jack, particularly those spread by either litigious dwarves or litigious dwarfs, ignore them, because he is currently working on a sequel. Because more than anything, Jack lives for his readers.
Despite whatever Jack may claim, in reality, Jack Heckel is the pen name for John Peck and Harry Heckel.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 1, 2014
Happily Never After, Volume II of the Charming books, picks up where Once Upon a Rhyme left off and continues the story of the less-than-prince-like Prince Charming's plight. As with Once Upon a Rhyme this story is a mix of various classic fairytale characters and loaded with humor.
Blurb...
Once upon, once again…My thoughts...
The dragon has been slain, but the problems have just begun for Prince Charming.
Disowned by his father, the King, and abandoned by his only friend, William Pickett, Charming must find a new path in life...but he's going to need a lot of help. His love, Liz, barely survived an assassination attempt; his former fling, Rapunzel, is in danger; and William is under an evil spell cast by Princess Gwendolyn.
The fate of Castle White hangs in the balance as Charming tries to find himself, while finding new allies along the way — including an odd number of dwarfs (or is it dwarves?) and a reformed beast. But he's running out of time to stop royally ruinous wedding bells from ringing…
To be clear, I'd say these books are comparable to Shrek, The Princess Bride and, because of the eye rolling humor, Robin Hood: Men in Tights. I enjoyed Happily Never After, but I have to be honest - with this brand of humor a little goes a long way with me and I found myself setting it aside often. That's not a criticism of the story which is funny and clever, just that it would probably be enjoyed more by younger readers - say the 11-15 crowd, though I've seen that many adults adore it, too.
An ARC was provided by Harper Voyager, and in appreciation I'm giving them an honest review.
January 31, 2015
http://openbooksociety.com/article/ha...
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra
Now, I am a person who loves puns and plays on words….and I got this in spades with this read. I chuckled quite a few times while reading (and had stares from my fellow bus riders :) – but that was okay).
An example which I obviously feel is necessary to qoute – who doesn’t remember these childhood rhymes (Humpty Dumpty and 3 Blind Mice, if I am not mistaken):
“What a laugh, thought Charming. All my father’s horses and all of his men couldn’t keep me from those tarts. They are like blind cats sitting before a blank wall thinking it’s a mouse hole.”
And then there are passages like the following which portray the flavor of the story completely – those darn dwarf’s can be SO baffling….and entertaining:
“Wait a minute, I’ve heard of you. You’re dwarfs! Or is it dwarves? Both words sounded wrong to her”…..…”Actually, said the white-haired dwarf on the stool in a pedantic tone, the etymology of the plural of dwarf has been the subject of debate for some time. Of course, a morphologist would tell you that words ending in a fricative should be pluralized by the simple addition of an ‘s’. Therefore, dwarf would be dwarfs.”
And if you enjoy parodies (Movie examples: High Anxiety- Mel Brooks’ satire of Alfred Hitchcock‘s films, Blazing Saddles- Satirical Western. Space Balls- Satire of Star Wars, Young Frankenstein- Must-watch parody of the Frankenstein novel/movie, or Naked Gun series- A bit more on the lowbrow series, parodies of James Bond-style movies AND book examples: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies; Fifty Shames of Earl Grey; The Hunger Pains: A Parody to name but a few) you will undoubtedly enjoy this read.
I must say, a perfectly delightful twist on many fairy tales which kept me reading carefully so as to not miss any nuances and puns. And of course as with every fairy tale…. a happy ending or two? This I leave for you to read and determine if the various outcomes are happy or not!
*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra
Now, I am a person who loves puns and plays on words….and I got this in spades with this read. I chuckled quite a few times while reading (and had stares from my fellow bus riders :) – but that was okay).
An example which I obviously feel is necessary to qoute – who doesn’t remember these childhood rhymes (Humpty Dumpty and 3 Blind Mice, if I am not mistaken):
“What a laugh, thought Charming. All my father’s horses and all of his men couldn’t keep me from those tarts. They are like blind cats sitting before a blank wall thinking it’s a mouse hole.”
And then there are passages like the following which portray the flavor of the story completely – those darn dwarf’s can be SO baffling….and entertaining:
“Wait a minute, I’ve heard of you. You’re dwarfs! Or is it dwarves? Both words sounded wrong to her”…..…”Actually, said the white-haired dwarf on the stool in a pedantic tone, the etymology of the plural of dwarf has been the subject of debate for some time. Of course, a morphologist would tell you that words ending in a fricative should be pluralized by the simple addition of an ‘s’. Therefore, dwarf would be dwarfs.”
And if you enjoy parodies (Movie examples: High Anxiety- Mel Brooks’ satire of Alfred Hitchcock‘s films, Blazing Saddles- Satirical Western. Space Balls- Satire of Star Wars, Young Frankenstein- Must-watch parody of the Frankenstein novel/movie, or Naked Gun series- A bit more on the lowbrow series, parodies of James Bond-style movies AND book examples: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies; Fifty Shames of Earl Grey; The Hunger Pains: A Parody to name but a few) you will undoubtedly enjoy this read.
I must say, a perfectly delightful twist on many fairy tales which kept me reading carefully so as to not miss any nuances and puns. And of course as with every fairy tale…. a happy ending or two? This I leave for you to read and determine if the various outcomes are happy or not!
*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*
June 25, 2016
I read this as part of the collected volume A Fairy-tale Ending, and am reviewing them separately and together.
When the previous book left off, the cast was scattered to the winds. Heckel twists and twines fairy tales in clever new ways that made me laugh aloud more than once. In particular, I was amused by the take on the Seven Dwarves and the very meta, carefully-veiled references to Disney, complete with footnotes. The role of the Beast brought depth and revelation to the tale, too. Overall, the mood is downright fluffy, and that was perfect since I was fighting a migraine. I wanted something to make me smile, with a guaranteed happy ending, and this absolutely delivered.
When the previous book left off, the cast was scattered to the winds. Heckel twists and twines fairy tales in clever new ways that made me laugh aloud more than once. In particular, I was amused by the take on the Seven Dwarves and the very meta, carefully-veiled references to Disney, complete with footnotes. The role of the Beast brought depth and revelation to the tale, too. Overall, the mood is downright fluffy, and that was perfect since I was fighting a migraine. I wanted something to make me smile, with a guaranteed happy ending, and this absolutely delivered.
December 11, 2014
A brilliant and fun read! There were moments where I actually burst out laughing!! I loved both books in this series so far and am hoping for more!!
August 16, 2016
So.... I'm gonna put this review on both Once Upon a Rhyme and this book, as I read them together... well not together per say... I mean they were combined as a single book and stuff... "A Fairy-Tale ending." First I will say this was DELIGHTFUL, funny, cheeky for sure, and when "inappropriate" Jack does a great job eluding to the inappropriate-ness rather than being blatant about it ( making this fun for adults AND kids who might be a little... clueless thus preserving innocence for a LITTLE while longer :) ). Now... when I read books I usually caste the movie that is playing in my mind:
Will Pickett - John Krasinski
Elizabeth Pickett - Anna Faris
Prince Charming - Chris Pratt
Rapunzel - Emily Blunt
Gwendolyn - Kristin Chenoweth
Will Pickett - John Krasinski
Elizabeth Pickett - Anna Faris
Prince Charming - Chris Pratt
Rapunzel - Emily Blunt
Gwendolyn - Kristin Chenoweth
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews