The Rebel Fairy by Deborah Wright is a wonderfully amusing novel about the love lives of Jack, Leila, Henry and Katie.

Now I don't usually quote the back blurb from the covers in my reviews but in this case I am going to make an exception and put part of it here as it is rather amusing.

"Meet Jack: he's funny, good-looking, a bit of a loser...a lot of a loser, in fact, having lost his flat and car in a game of snooker. He's just fallen inexplicably in love with his exceedingly ex Ex Leila, who can't stand the sight of him and is more than happy with her handsome boyfriend Henry. Henry, though, has suddenly found he's got the hots for Katie, Leila's best friend and flatmate, who's been carrying a torch for Jack for so long, the Duracell batteries are beginning to run out..."

Sounds confusing and it only gets more so...

Jack had had a one night fling with Leila years before the events of this book take place.  The best thing about that fling had been that he had met Katie at the same time and they had become friends. He does not fancy Katie and is quite brutal in his first assessment of her...too fat.  For whilst Leila has the good looks of a supermodel, Katie is the opposite.  Katie knows that she does not have a chance with Jack and keeps her feelings hidden.  Life moved on.  Jack travelled about having flings with a number of women but never any steady relationship.  Katie meanwhile married Keith, had a daughter Susie, divorced Keith and moved in with Leila.

Leila also married after her fling with Jack.  She met her husband whilst working in America but returned later, divorced and rich.  She is now having an affair with Mr Winterton whilst also dating Henry, an impoverished actor from a rich family, who is also an old friend of Jack.

So there is a bit of background.

Jack has lost his flat and car thanks to a casual comment about the non-existence of fairies.  Unfortunately Puck and Charlie, who mischievous fairies heard that comment.  Charlie fills in the blanks of the night things went wrong when Puck decided to intervene in the lives of the human.

Brought before their king and queen Charlie and Puck are told that now they have ruined Jack's life they must repair it.  They must make him happy by New Year's Eve or they will be banished forever from the fairy community.

After doing their research they decide that making Jack fall in love will be the way to make him happy.  Puck decides that a spell will be the answer to the problem.  Charlie tries to persuade him to try another way but soon finds herself swept along in the plan and that is when things start to go really wrong.  The spell that was supposed to make Jack fall for Katie backfires when he sees Leila first and falls for her instead. 

Further spells to repair the damage caused by the first one just make more problems as Henry starts to fall for Katie and Jack makes a play for Henry.  Hysterically funny.

Time is running out for the mischievous fairies and things are falling apart by the day.

This story is really three romances in one.  There are Jack and Katie, Leila and Henry, and Charlie and Puck - whose story parallels Katie and Jack's to a certain extent.

Katie is character I really felt for.  From the wallflower experiences when she goes out to picking the strawberry and orange creams from the Quality Street, this is a woman I can definitely relate to. 

Jack is amusing and no matter his faults you can't dislike him.  Half of his problems were caused by the backfiring spells and from his own thoughts you can tell almost from the start that no matter how confused he is or how much he tries to stop he really does love Katie.

Henry is portrayed as shy and a pretty likeable man who also finds himself on the wrong end of a spell.

Leila is the one character I really could not bring myself to like though.  Even though there was a lot of background to why she is as she is I just could not like her as a character.  I think the most annoying thing about her was the disparaging comments she thinks about Katie throughout the novel.  Whilst she may be justified in some of them I felt that some were things that a true friend would not think about someone they have known for years.

Not that the other characters were perfect.  Each of them had their faults and at the end of the day they all made some bad choices.  But the others accepted their faults and tried to make amends.  I never once saw an apology from Leila for the way she had treated Katie over the years.

Still that not withstanding this is a very funny, sometimes laugh out loud, book and well worth looking out for.  This is a book that is classed as fiction, not romance and is what I would call UK Chick Lit.

It does contain some pretty bad language throughout so be warned. 

RATING : 
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