I thought this was a cute fairytale retelling. I loved Pip as a character, how he stuck to his guns about only marrying someone he loved and how he reacted to being imprisoned by the Aelfin King. He was a really sweet character to read about and I found myself rooting for him from the first page. I loved the little backstory between Pip and Ren and how things escalated between Pip and the King. The magic system was also something I wanted to know more about.

Unfortunately, I think the romance and the plot could have both used a little more development.

I would give this 3.5 stars and would recommend it to anyone who wants a quick, short fairytale.

So this was sort of a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin (whom I love, thanks, Robert). And it had some Cinderella elements to it too, so that was cool.

It was a quick read (I first thought it was a full-length novel and was disappointed when I saw it was actually a novella. But then I realized that if it were a full-length novel, I would probably lose interest along the way.

It was a cute read, yes. But that was all it was. The characters, as adorable as they were, lacked that certain thing about them that made me want to care about them.

The main character (Pip) is cute and I did like him, but I found him to be spineless – he didn’t really stand up for himself and there was a definite theme of instalove with the prince – Ren, and really, can’t we get away from the idea of instalove?

The descriptions and the setting were done rather well. I can tell the author spent time on that and crafted the world rather well. If only she spent more time on the characters, they too would be as good as the description.

Young Pip lives with his father, a shoemaker, and his stepmother in a small village, dreaming of great love. A dream for which his cruel stepmother only has mockery. She treats Pip like a servant without his father doing anything about it. The boy has accepted his poor situation. Until his stepmother whispers lies to the wrong people…

Suddenly Pip finds himself as a prisoner at the court of the Aelfin King. Pip is desperate and thinks his last hour has struck. But then the son of the king appears in his dungeon cell and decides to help the handsome young boy by doing the impossible ...

Glamour is a bit Cinderella, a bit Rumpelstiltskin - Kayla Bain-Vrba has been inspired by classical motifs to weave her own fairy tale. A magical fairy tale, in its center a gay love story.

This novella does not even cover 50 pages. And since it is told quite straightforward and portrays its characters as classical heroes and villains, it also feels like a fairy tale.

I liked it very much. The figures are very charming (the villains disgusting) and I have to admit I also fell in love with Pip. He is such a hopeless romantic; lonely, but hopeful.

The love story is sweet and well done and the novella has exactly the right length for me.

Glamor is more an independent fairy tale than a fairytale adaptation, and certainly not the last story from Kayla Bain-Vrba I will read.

Pip's stepmother needs Pip to get married and leave the house in order for her plans to make it big in the city to happen, so she hatches a plan: tell the evil fairy king that Pip can turn pebbles into gemstones. The fairy king immediately kidnaps Pip and shoves him in a cell, except Pip's not alone. The other man can save Pip for a price, but Pip isn't sure whether he might have to bargain away his heart as well.

Overall I thought this was a cute and simple retelling of a classic fairy tale. I enjoyed the fact that Pip was a cobbler instead of a miller and that it was gems instead of gold, but the bones of this story were kept strong. That grounding gave Bain-Vrba the chance to really explore the story and adding the world of the fairy king and court was a nice touch.

This story did have a few gaping plot holes that I had some difficulty with. The main one was the stepmother herself. One, why would she think marrying a simple cobbler in a very small town would in any way get her to court in the big city? Two, how would she have ever been near enough to the fairy king to tell her tall tale about Pip? And three, she had a lot influence over Pips father, so why did she have to resort to getting Pip kidnapped? The rest of the story and the other characters had equally as many plot holes associated with them, all of which made an otherwise enjoyable fairy tale a bit difficult to read.

I enjoyed reading this book but I feel like it was confused about what it was trying to be. It reads like a fairytale but the middle bit has some rather explicit scenes. If this had been aimed at children and had, say, true loves kiss as a part of the bargain rather than what happened then this could have been a really brilliant children's fairytale with a gay main character. It's the right length, right tone (apart from the middle bit), lovely main character... If that was what it was then it would have been a four star easy, maybe more. But as it is, it's a rather confused book.

This was a really cute story but there wasn't a lot of depth to it. Pretty much all the characters are 2 dimensional and the plot [which most closely resembles the Rumpelstiltskin story] is of the 'don't overthink it' variety. Also I'm just very confused about how same sex relationships are viewed in this world? It doesn't seem to be any kind of secret that Pip is gay but also he said all the boys he's dated in the past have gone on to marry girls. But then the fairy king wants to marry him, although I guess fairies probably do what they want. It was a cute story if you're just looking for a feel-good gay fairytale romance, just don't expect it to be particularly deep.

This was really cute and an promising premise, but it was so short! More like a novella, almost.

This story retells Rumpelstiltskin with a twist. I normally like fairytales retold in a new way but in my opinion the characters were too two dimensional and didn't really make you feel anything for them. The ending was way too predictable and the two main characters fell in love way too fast for me to care or root for them.

Book – Glamour
Author – Kayla Bain-Vrba
Star rating - ★★★★★
No. of Pages – 41
Cover – Gorgeous!
POV – 1st person, one character
Would I read it again – Yes
Genre – LGBT, Fantasy, Fairytale


** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **


This was a super cute story about a cobbler's son with an evil stepmother. It reminds me of the fairytale of Rumpelstiltskin, with someone lying or exaggerating their powers to seem important. Only, it was Pip's stepmother who lied to get rid of him.

There are no chapter headings, which usually bothers me in a story of 40 pages, but there were plenty of scene breaks that helped offer opportunities to put the book down, if needed, or just give a breather to process the story, so that evened out the lack of chapter headings.

The writing was great. I've been a fan of Kayla's writing for a while now; this story just cemented the fact that I'm probably going to love everything she ever writes. The plot was told in a fairytale format, so there wasn't any lingering over excessive-description or backstory. It was a simple matter of these are the characters, this is their story, and that really worked here. The characterisation was great; although it was told in 1st person, meaning that we knew Pip better than anyone else, we still got a great sense of who the other characters were.

I loved Pip as a character; he was sweet, a true romantic and still mourning the loss of his mother. I loved the way he let us into his life with little snippets of important info when it was important, such as the story of the forest and the little dark haired boy he'd been friends with in his childhood. Ren was a really interesting character, but I like that the story didn't try to deviate too far from Pip's story to tell us about Ren. Everything we found out about him came from Pip's observations and conversations.

Overall, a well written fairytale that had interesting characters and a sweet, romantic plot. I loved every minute.

~

Favourite Quote

“I slowly slid off the boulder into the soft grass and spread out, staring up at the fluffy cotton clouds in the brilliant sky. Maybe somewhere out there my true love was thinking of me, staring up at the same lake of sky, wondering where I was and how he would find me.”

“While the creature was trying to suck out Stepmother's soul, there would probably me a minute or two of confusion while it realized she didn't have one.”

The beautiful cover, the description, and the fact that it was a LGBT romance, I immediately felt very curious about Glamour. And Glamour is a cute romance indeed. This short story is perfect for the romantics and for the one who’s longing for their childhood fairytales.

Pip lives in a small town with his father, a cobbler, and his stepmother who hates him so much that she feels no remorse to spread a rumor that will put Pip in the hands of a greedy Aelfin. But... What if this misadventure brings to Pip what he truly desires? What if he meets Love, True Love?

The only character we have the opportunity to familiarize with is Pip. And being an authentic romantic has no secret for Pip. Love, fairytale, and charming princes are his main fantasizes. And more precisely, there is a certain memory – of a boy from his childhood – that helps him to avoid reality and boring men around him. Even if he’s too much of a dreamer, Pip is rather cute, hoping more than anything to see his daydream comes true.

Written like a tale, the story doesn’t take its time. It gets directly to the point, without any details or slowness that would totally benefit the romance. It can be frustrating sometimes; I would have enjoyed seeing more of Pip and Ren getting close to each other. But Glamour reminded me of my childhood fairytales anyway; there are some heartless characters, a hint of magic, and a prince charming.

In conclusion; Even If I would have loved to get more of it, I spent a lovely time with Pip and his Prince. Glamour can be compared to a cozy cocoon.

The idea and plot of the book seem interesting, yet at the moment of reading I could not connect to the characters or bring myself to care about them.