Acquired Book By: I started hosting with Prism Book Tours at the end of [2017], having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) whilst I was visiting as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. I had to put the memes on hold for several months (until I started to resume them (with Top Ten Tuesday) in January 2018). When I enquried about hosting for Prism, I found I liked the niche of authors and stories they were featuring regularly. I am unsure how many books I’ll review for them as most are offered digitally rather than in print but this happily marks one of the blog tours where I could receive a print book for review purposes. Oft-times you’ll find Prism Book Tours alighting on my blog through the series of guest features and spotlights with notes I’ll be hosting on behalf of their authors.
I received a complimentary copy of “Miss White and the Seventh Heir” direct from the author Jennifer Faye in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Why I enjoyed reading the first novel in this series:
I appreciated the way Ms Faye handled introducing us to Gabrielle and Deacon – she started off on solid ground, giving us a reason to have empathy for both of them but also, given us just enough ‘unknowns’ to stay curious how these two would ever come together! She even allowed us the grace of feeling as if we knew a part of Deacon before we properly were in his company – from how attached he was to his rose garden and how his housekeeper was known as “Mrs Kupps” rather than Mrs Potts! Quite clever with the cheek in the name, eh?! I thought so!
She also updated the traditional Belle by having Gabrielle hold a degree in Library Science – thus taking her love of books and reading to the next level. Similarly, she had Deacon struggle with symptoms of PTSD even if he wasn’t diagnosed. She found a way to entreat inside their lives, where one accident had fractured their security about life and given them a path towards finding out what was happening in the lives of someone else attached to the tragedy.
As this is a contemporary story-line, it made brilliant sense to me to ‘hide’ the beast behind technology – Deacon was calling Gabrielle on the phone rather than seeking to interact with her directly. In some ways, his characterisation was brokering between the classic Beast and a new representation of Mr Rochester. He was aggrieved for allowing his guard to be done by entertaining the notion she would fit into his life and that he could somehow uphold a promise he didn’t even remember giving – this is where Ms Faye encases the back-story with the present day strife both her characters are trying to process and transition out of as neither one has fully emerged out of the tragedy.
You could hear the frustration growing in Gabrielle each time she was turnt off by Deacon for even suggesting they should meet in person as we know straight-away how that would not only upset him but provide him with enough anxiety to run in the opposite direction! He lives on such a large estate, the grounds alone could use a nudge of love and concern yet he has walled himself away from society to such a degree of inclusion, he doesn’t pick up on the fact he ought to allow himself to trust a few people to interact with on a regular basis. If only for human to human contact and not to disappear into a full-fledged recluse which he was starting to take-on the reputation for becoming.
-quoted from my review of Beauty and Her Boss
Miss White and the Seventh Heir
Subtitle: Once Upon A Fairy Tale
by Jennifer Faye
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours
A billionaire with a secret…
Can the truth lead to happily-ever-after?
In this Once Upon a Fairytale story, hardworking magazine editor Sage White’s just getting used to being in charge, so she’s alarmed to find sparks flying with her new assistant—the distractingly handsome Trey! Working together, they grow closer, but can their blossoming relationship survive when Sage learns that Trey is really Quentin Rousseau, seventh heir to the publishing empire—and her boss?
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 978-1335135049
Also by this author: Beauty and Her Boss, Heiress's Royal Baby Bombshell, Carrying the Greek Tycoon's Baby, Claiming the Drakos Heir, Wearing the Greek Millionaire's Ring (Spotlight), Wearing the Greek Millionaire's Ring , Her Christmas Pregnancy Surprise, The Prince and the Wedding Planner, Christmas in Bayberry, Love Blooms
Also in this series: Beauty and Her Boss
Published by Harlequin Books
on 6th March, 2018
Format: Larger Print (Mass Market Paperback)
Pages: 256
Published by: Harlequin Books (@HarlequinBooks)
Formats Available: Ebook and Paperback
The Once Upon a Fairytale series:
Beauty and Her Boss | Book One | See Also Review
Miss White and the Seventh Heir | Book Two
According to the first novel, this is meant to be a duet rather than a mini-series – I initially thought there were several upcoming novels – however, it is apparently more akin to a duology with a slight difference. As a duology has two linking stories which are in essence part one and part two of a continuing story-line; a duet are two stand-alone stories which are linked by theme or setting; in this case, re-tellings of Classical Fairy Tales.
Converse via: #Contemporary #Romance & #Harlequin
About Jennifer Faye
Award-winning author, Jennifer Faye pens fun, heartwarming contemporary romances with rugged cowboys, sexy billionaires and enchanting royalty. Internationally published with books translated into nine languages. She is a two-time winner of the RT Book Reviews Reviewers' Choice Award, the CataRomance Reviewers' Choice Award, named a TOP PICK author, and been nominated for numerous other awards.
my review of miss white and the seventh heir:
Vanity is never good in any story, but when it comes to fairy-tales, you will find vanity has its own advantages for disarming people’s confidence in both what they can effectively control and how they are viewed by their peers. In this instance, it is Sage’s step-mother who is beyond obsessed with the superficialities in life – such as her outward appearances, the depth of her coffers of wealth and the insidiously vile approach she has to business if it means keeping her ‘on top’, in the spotlight of influence and in a lifestyle she not only chose but is addicted to maintaining!
You just simply find yourself smirking – as how hard is to ‘go undercover’ as the popular tv serial has empathised how frequently to ready audiences who genuinely get a good kick out of watching just how difficult it is to assume a role in your established company but without most of your staff realising you’ve tricked them into seeing how they really act when the boss is not around! In this instance, Faye tapped into another thread of popular culture which would serve her well as the novel continues, as it is still in everyone’s memory the lengths some of the bosses (on tv) would go to in order to prove their point (one way or the other) about the conditions of their companies!
The more we get to peer into the conscience thoughts of Trey, the more we are seeing a conflicted man who is now readily torn between his conviction of why he undertook this crazy scheme of his to unearth information he couldn’t gain as a boss and the realities of whom he was going to affect by his own long-term plans for the company. This is new to him, as he was used to thinking about business from a more obtuse angle – where the people who worked for you were not the kind of people you would presume would socially uplift your days or be cognisant of say your birthday! To Trey, everything about this magazine was boiling his blood – from the fact Sage was working it like it was her lifeline to sanity and how the employees truly surprised him for their care and attention not just to the company itself but to each other. The concept was foreign to him, his one role model in life (his father) had done a disastrous job in giving him a solid foundation in which to follow step after as it only evoked the harsh memories of a man who was clouded over by greed.
The hardest part in any relationship – though for theory of thought – in this developing working relationship (which might lead to more lateron) the hardest part is owning the fact someone out there might be as mule-headed as you are about accomplishing things when the rest of the world only prefers to scrutinize your efforts. This is something both Sage and Trey share in common – they both are fiercely independent individuals, used to doing things their own way and getting things done. The irony of course, is despite thinking they make good ‘team players’ in the business world, they both have issues in ‘deferring’ to someone else to help them in their affairs.
Trey reminds me of a lot of the bosses I watched on Undercover Boss – his self-confidence is fine for presenting his interests in his business but when you get done to the bare bones of it, his confidence is less assured when he comes across someone who is his equal. Both in agility to perform whatever needs to be done in order to continue successful results or in their uncanny ability to reconcile issues which arise on the job whilst knowing how to get the best out of their staff and team.
The interesting bit though is how both Sage and Trey never spent a heap of time on ‘themselves’ as they were too busy trying to align their professional endeavours – on that score, you can agree with their choices, they didn’t exactly have the benefit of choice in their pasts to let grass grow on their futures, but evenso, after experiencing any kind of respectable success these two chose to go it alone rather than to seek out companionship in someone who supported them. The parts that make you smile the most is when each of them sees something that either humbles or surprises them about the other whilst finding that the longer they spend time with each other the more muddling things become as they are each spending an inordinate time contemplating each other!
The harder truth though is being openly honest with someone, risking your heart and taking a chance even if everything else is feeling like it’s crashing down around you. This tender-hearted story has a lot of twists inside it, especially from the perspective the evil witch in the story isn’t toting an apple but she’s manipulative all the same! She wants to destroy everything that is good in Sage’s life just like the witch wanted to do with Snow White! It doesn’t have to be logical – although, if you’ve seen the film adaptation Ever After, you will be ahead of the curve to understand her motives, as Elsa White gives that step-mother a run for her money!
What I loved about Sage is how she believed in herself even at a time in her life where she had zero support and had no clue how to pull herself out of her circumstances. She simply carried on – moved forward and attempted to change the fate she was dealt. There is a lot of humbled truth in that revelation – about how to approach life, deal with unexpected adversities and to find a way to fuell your future on your own terms; even if something is undercutting your efforts, if you have the hope of what could come, your ahead!
on the contemporary writing styling of ms faye:
It takes a dedicated eye to sort out how to write a newly spun fairy-tale sequence out of such a widely known canon such as Snow White and the Seventh Dwarfs – however, I was quite happily charmed by her first installment in this duet Beauty and Her Boss – therefore, finding out she took the name ‘White’ (a la Snow White) and utilised this to help cart the course for Sage was rather brilliant – as we find out the name is attached to a publishing company! Clearly, in the generations since we’ve first stumbled across Ms Snow White, the tides turnt to where her descendants can be rather industriously independent! Except, this is the world of fairy-tales and thereby, not everything is first as it is appears! For it isn’t Sage who has controlling interest in the publishing company, oh, no! It is her vile step-mother – and although, this turn in events early-on had me thinking this was a mash between Snow White and Cinderella rather than strictly a re-telling of the one signature canon, I liked how Ms Faye turnt the tables on the reader, giving us a keenly surprising insight into whom the ‘evil witch’ might be in this particular story!
Now, I’ll admit, any dog which is given the name ‘Happy’ is going to be a winner in my book! Not since 7th Heaven ended have I seen someone name a dog ‘Happy’! It suits this little guy so very well – I even liked the randomness of finding him, a credit to Ms Faye for not just giving a curveball of interest to explore for the reader but to find a way to take her characters off-guard! I love when writers do this – as it’s one thing to give a character growth building segues of difficulties but it’s another to throw them something their never going to suspect will change their life – like a stray dog! It’s just rather clever and the fact it takes both Sage and Trey unawares in similar ways is quite telling for how Faye loves to write strong heroines and heroes who are saving their own lives!
A note of gratitude to the author:
I wanted to take a moment to re-thank Ms Faye for giving us such a wonderful #bookmail whilst being on her blog tours for her duet of Fairytale Contemporary Roms! I honestly could have seen this series progress forward into different story-lines – after all, what about Sleeping Beauty? The joyfulness of opening one of her book parcels is the happiness of seeing her collective bookmarks enclosed as they paint the story of her publishing career – I spied several I would like to start collecting to be reading whilst noting she writes quite a few series which keeps the serial fiction fan in me quite chuffed! This image of her latest bookmark was enclosed in our tour materials and I just had to share it with you! Honestly – it is done better justice as an image than what was resulting of me trying to take a proper #bookmail photograph! Top cheers to authors like Ms Faye who endeavour to give all of us who are on their blog tours a lot of lovely #randomjoy! Also – the image there? It’s the Mills & Boon cover art which is slightly different from the American covers – I don’t know about you, but that is one seriously cute dog! I couldn’t wait to see the role the dog played in the story-line after seeing that expression!
Special Announcement:
As you know, this is a giveaway-free book blog – as I do not host giveaways here on Jorie Loves A Story (per my Review Policy) however, there is one exception to the rule – I love to talk about and happily promote authors who are hosting a giveaway on *their website or blog!* whilst my review is posting via a blog tour! For this reason, it is with a joy and pleasure to bring this to your attention:
All you have to do is go to Jennifer’s Contact Page
and let her know your physical mailing address*.
NOTE: Please state the quantity you desire and which bookmarks/titles you are interested in. And remember you can order extra to share with your favorite bookstore, library and family/friends. *for readers in the continental USA
You can have your very *own!* Miss White and the Seventh Heir bookmark if you follow the steps outlined the author provided to receive one! I realise my blog is read internationally, but this is unfortunately only for those readers and visitors of mine stateside. I truly think you will be charmed by the eloquence of her bookmarks and the way in which they are lovingly sturdy and the perfect length for keeping your spot in whichever book your #currentlyreading!
This blog tour is courtesy of: Prism Book Tours
Click through via the badge to find out what else awaits you! 
{SOURCES: Cover art of “Beauty and Her Boss” and “Miss White and the Seventh Heir”, book synopsis, author biography, author photograph of Jennifer Faye, the bookmark giveaway badge and the Prism Book Tours badge were all provided by Prism Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers & My Thoughts badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets embedded by codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Book Review Banner using Unsplash.com (Creative Commons Zero) Photography by Frank McKenna and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2018.
Thanks so much for hosting my books! :-)
Hallo, Hallo Ms Faye!
Your most welcome! I had a delightful time reading them!! As who doesn’t like seeing how a writer might use their imaginative mind to re-tell a Classical Fairy-Tale you already find as a ‘beloved’ Classic? I must admit, you gave me two wonderful reads and I only wish this had expanded a bit more into a developing series to where more installments could be forthcoming over the years. It is such a clever premise and you’ve found a particular niche of creating this very insightfully Contemporary feel to the stories themselves! I was quite amazed how you re-shifted and re-invented how they could be told through those kinds of lens! I am sure our paths will continue to cross,…