30 Days Without Wings

by Tabatha Shipley

Faeries are real. Elise is a faerie who has experienced terrible heartache and just needs a change before she is forced to choose the path she will walk forever. She will risk everything for one chance at happiness. But is the cost of the risk more than Elise bargained for?

Genres: Fiction

128 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 1, 2022

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The novel, 30 Days Without Wings, a fantasy novel aimed at YA readers, tells the story of Elise, a fairy who trades in her wings for legs and her tiny size for human height. Elise is at the age where she must declare what she will do for the rest of her life in front of a fairy council. She makes an unusual request and asks for a manifest, a leave of absence for 30 days, to live with another colony. In her case, the other colony is a human neighborhood.

I thought I had this story figured out after reading the early chapters. The novel unfurled as I expected as she turned human, but suddenly the novel took an unexpected turn and then another. The climax was both logical and satisfactory. I was surprised how innocent it started and how complex it ended. This novel has surprising depth for its length. The author packs a lot into her plot and characters without a lot of detail and wrings a great deal of emotion out of her readers.

[Tenkara Smart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful read about where your heart lies. Elise is a faerie who dreams of being human and finding love, and she gets to experience both, all the while needing to dig deep into her soul to find her place in life. A quick, colourful, delightful read about finding your path in life. Wonderful story for younger readers e.g. late primary or young teen

[Petrina Binney · Rating 5 out of 5]

30 Days Without Wings is a gorgeous coming-of-age, fantasy story, and I loved it. Elise is a relatable young faerie, about to choose her life-path at a meeting with the Faerie Council. With no family and no solid plan for her future, she asks for a leave of absence - thirty days to live with another colony. However, Elise decides to live as a human being to see if the young people she sees at the local school really do have the sort of life she wants.

A sweet story, a little bit reminiscent of The Little Mermaid. Elise is a lovely character and I really enjoyed the story. The interior monologue is excellent. I love the way Elise thinks. And even though there was a shift in the POV, which I know other reviewers have noticed, I actually found that it kept me on my toes.

Excellent stuff. Would recommend.

[Brent Shipley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for young adults. The internal dialogue that goes through a teenage brain is so real. One can relate to the struggles as well as the feelings and emotions. I highly recommend this book to someone who wants a rather quick read that shows that sometimes the grass is greener where you just left.

[Kerri Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, this was an easy, refreshing read. I was hunting around for a fantasy novel, and this was exactly what I was looking for. A simple, yet beautiful story. You can't lose with this one!

[Allie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved listening to Elise’s internal dilemma. I think we have all been there and have felt the struggle to fit in, and it’s especially relatable to the YA audience this is geared for. My only trouble with this book is that I wasn’t ready for it to end! I need a sequel to find out what her thoughts and next actions are after her decision day!

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 30 Days Without Wings, the main character, Elise, is a sixteen-year-old (by human comparison, that is) faerie who draws you into her world and keeps one foot planted there as she gives up her wings and takes you into the human experience, giving you the opportunity to discover normal, everyday things for the first time as she does. The faerie-girl’s underlying heartache is poignant and the struggles of the teenage years are realistic. Empathizing with Elise, the reader progresses through the story just as torn as Elise regarding which existence she should choose.

When I began reading this story, I was under the impression it was written for a middle grade audience. But certain elements clearly push that envelope. There’s a short scene where kids are smoking/getting high and a reference to a character being sexy. Later, on page 145, the use of the words $h*t and F*** solidly pitches the book in the young adult camp—a bit of a disappointment to me. There are so many aspects of this story that are more than appropriate for the middle grade reader (After all, Elise isn't "really" sixteen; she's a faerie). Nevertheless, it is young adult and the middle grade audience will have to age a bit more before reading this, otherwise, charming story.

I do have one recommendation to potential readers: You may want to skip chapter 28 and read it only after finishing the book. Approximately midway into the story, I had begun to suspect Elise’s importance to the fae community. I would have enjoyed that suspicion lingering right up to discovering the truth in the story’s well-written and heart-warming conclusion.

As both a fan and a writer of fantasy, I found 30 Days Without Wings to have a solid storyline and an enjoyable narrative. There was an unexpected switch to the third-person point of view in chapter 19. Had the alternate point of view been introduced in the first two or three chapters, it would have been established as normative and it wouldn’t have temporarily taken me out of the story. Fortunately, the writing drew me back in rather quickly and subsequent uses of the POV were not jarring.

I would recommend this book to other readers of fantasy. Not only is the story enjoyable, the editing is nearly flawless, something hard to find nowadays, even in traditionally published books.

[Julei Le Fay · Rating 3 out of 5]

*the real rating would be more like a 2.8/5* also, potential spoilers.

30 Days without wings is a story about a faerie girl who wants above all else to be able to choose her own destiny. This novel almost felt like Moana meets The Little Mermaid, in the sense that our main girl, Elise, wants desperately to live like a human- but at home, she has a great responsibility waiting for her.

This novel has a lot of potentials, however, It could have used more world building and character development. I found myself really wanting a better look into some of the other fae, and more information on their history and culture.

The way the two main characters behaved (Elise and Todd) was very much on par with how a typical sixteen year old would- which I found refreshing. It's far too often that fantasy writers will write in a teenager and have them act as if they were in their mid-twenties. Tabatha portrayed real teenage thoughts, dilemmas and emotions very well.

Here are some other things I liked in no particular order:
-the way the author portrayed fae
-some of the things Elise said while being sarcastic or sassy
-the fact that Elise did not throw away everything she knew just for her first human boyfriend
-said human boyfriend knowing how to let go
can we get a hell ya for non-toxic relationships? ^-^

Now... the big reason this book doesn't get a higher review, despite its potential:

It was too unpolished. Many incomplete sentences and the author failed to follow the "show don't tell" rule of writing. Unfortunately, it seemed as though every other sentence started with "I". My recommendation: use more conjunctions and try to show the reader's what's going in through actions, words, and feelings.

I can tell Tabatha has the potential to craft something excellent in the future- I look forward to seeing her work improve, and see her weave another delightful fantasy story.

*Please note the copy of this novel was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.

[Amy Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very, verrryyy close to being a 5 star!

I like the world that Shipley has created here. It's whimsical and yet logical. There's enough reasoning behind the faeries and what they can do that I'm like wow, these little guys might actually exist. I don't think this story is supposed to be on the far-end of fantasy. It's realistic and well-built.

It's also very... nostalgic, if you will. I might have missed the time period that the story is set in, but it definitely felt mid-2000s-ish for me (lol). Mentions of Amy Lee and Seether and just general teenage life without worries! Elise really gets to taste the best version of humanity.

The whimsicalness and the nostalgia of the story make it very light and enjoyable. It's not too heavy or draggy. There's also a slight air of mystery as the faerie council gets pulled in.

Plus, it helps that I really liked Elise and Todd. I could sympathize with her decision to escape her life as a faerie, but I could also really get behind Todd's decision to stay a human. It made perfect sense. They were cute in the sappy, teen romance sort of way, which is absolutely perfect for this story!

[Cat Bowser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read as well as a fairly quick one. If you had a mind to, you could easily finish it in an afternoon without feeling rushed.

The concept is a fun one—a faerie who wants to be human so she has a trial run for 30 days only to discover she hasn’t quite found what she wanted. I enjoy seeing it as it’s usually the other way around: human wanting to be faerie.

The dialogue and prose felt a bit stilted at times. Not bad but like it could have benefited from stronger word choice. It’s a minor character complaint though. It doesn’t feel quite wrapped up at the end but I think that was the point, to drive home the message.

All in all, definitely a fun, simple story with characters easy to love. More than worth an afternoon of your time!

[Brigitte Morse-Starkenburg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. It deals with quite a big philosophical question about what happiness actually means through a touching story about Elise, the fairy who wants to be part of the human world in pursuit of happiness and giving meaning to her life. The question is whether she will find it there or is she just chasing a dream. Meeting Todd makes the choice more complicated but ultimately might help her make up her mind.
I loved how Elise had to adapt to human life and how tricky simple things can be, the things we often take for granted. This was a short but thoroughly enjoyable read!

[S.A.McClelland S.A.McClelland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without wings

A very well written short fantasy, or is it fantasy story. Following the whims of one, we explore the world through new eyes and what it means to be without wings.
What I liked was the way the author really dug into how this character felt along her journey. All that inner turmoil.
What I didn't like.... I wanted more. I loved this world and didn't want to put the book down.

Read as part of a book club.

[Sahreth Bowden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an adorable and meaningful fantasy that follows a young faerie who gives up her wings to explore life as a human for one month. It's about growing up, facing your fears, and finding your place in the world. I absolutely adore the character interactions and how she reacts to exposure to various human elements.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book! It is suuuuper short, but has a lot of depth and packs a lot of punch despite the length. That being said, while reading, I just wanted MORE.

I liked the concept of the faerie society Elise comes from, especially because it is unique and is not in direct conflict with humans as in a lot of popular fae-based stories.

Elise is very much in a “Part of Your World” type of situation, and watching her try to keep her cool in the human world is occasionally hilarious. I love that the characters talk and act like actual teenagers. This is definitely true YA, which is refreshing.

This was a quick and enjoyable read, but I definitely would have loved more world building and detail. Would highly recommend, especially for YA fantasy lovers.

Thank you so much to Tabatha for sending me a copy to review!