This fantasy romance for young adults is about the Guardians (who are made up of Celestials) that help mortals when they are at a crossroads to achieve their Ever After, be it a Miserable, Unhappily, Ordinary, or Happily.
Darling is the first fairy to go to Guardian school. It is tough being the only fairy amongst celestials who are all logic and reason with no emotion. Yet she graduates at the top of her class and gets to have a chance to win a spot on the Moral Outcome Council. She hopes to change how fairies are seen and change how things are done. She has a mental illness called vacillating disorder (fairy manic depression) that requires her to take medication or risk spiraling out of control. Because she decided to go to Guardian school her father has disowned her and told her she was no longer welcome in the land of her birth.
Calamity, Calam, is the most talented Misfortune in his class who doesn’t believe in love or happily ever afters. His mother left him and his father when Calam was young because she wanted to pursue a happily ever after for herself. His father has been pushing for this since he was a kid and won’t accept failure. He believes all the stereotypes about fairies not being reliable, being overly emotional, loves to overuse magic, and not being serious.
The task that both of them are sent to complete is to help a mortal named Lucy to find her Ever After. Lucy inherited a bookstore from her mother and once painted beautifully. She never leaves the store, which is not making much money. One of the patrons of the store is Andi, a princess who likes Lucy romantically and the feelings are returned but neither has told the other of their feelings. Calem wants to squash the romance before it gets started because love is not dependable and people leave.
The country that Lucy is from, Lumina, is going through a drought that has lasted ten years and taken all the hope from the land. Darling believes that if the country’s lands become fruitful again this will mean mean more business for Lucy’s store and help make Lucy happy. Darling goes out in the middle of the night to the fields and uses her magic, against Calem’s advise, and makes the lands fertile. She thought if she overdid the magic it would stay rather than disappear if she loses, as Calem is happy to remind her.
While Calem sleeps Darling gets up early and goes to various shops to work out trades with the bookstore to the benefit of both. Darling thinks that if everyone around Lucy is happy she will be happy too.
The mayor’s wife is the only Miserably Ever After either Darling or Calem have ever met. She is pure evil and has plans for selling the land the bookstore is on. She is a main obstacle to Lucy’s Ever After.
I received this advanced copy of the book by the author. One of the comments by a reviewer was that this book was a combination of Good Omens and the Brandy version of Cinderella. I say that it is also a bit of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Calam seems both prideful and prejudiced against fairies. And he and Darling fight like Elizabeth and Darcy. Through all of their bickering and fighting they find themselves falling in love. But will Darling be able to silence the voices in her head that say she is worthless and will Calem come to think that love can exist for a Misfortune. I really loved this novel and would recommend reading it even if you aren’t a teen.
Quotes
It’s not a celebration if there isn’t a cake. That’s just a fact. No cake equals no joy, and no joy equals why are we even doing this.
Alechia Dow (Until the Clock Strikes Midnight p 1)
My outer appearance must always reflect my inner reality…or at least the reality I want to feel. No one looks too hard at what’s behind the smile when you cloak yourself in colors.
Alechia Dow (Until the Clock Strikes Midnight p2)
If there’s a problem you can’t yet solve, the first solution is hot chocolate.
Alechia Dow (Until the Clock Strikes Midnight p32)
Happiness is subjective. Survival is fact.
Alechia Dow (Until the Clock Strikes Midnight p44)
No one needs romantic love to survive. They need food. Money to afford that food. Their home. Clothes to put on their cold backs and heat to warm their hearth.
Alechia Dow (Until the Clock Strikes Midnight p 112)
She broke my heart so throughly that I questioned its existence.
Alechia Dow (Until the Clock Strikes Midnight p 162)
Love is disruption. It’s a fork in the road that leads to an uncertain destination.
Alechia Dow (Until the Click Strikes Midnight p 187)
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