Not So Prince Charming: Dirty Fairy Tales Book 2

By Lauren Landish

Don’t forget to breathe. That is what I kept telling myself as I read chapter after chapter of Bella and Gabe’s saga.

Disclaimer: I had to put the book down for a while, as I felt like I was not ready for a story wherein the hero, Gabe, was paid to kill Bella, the heroine. More so, when I felt both of their individual struggles in life. How Bella—who, if not for her friends Mia and Charlotte, felt that she was all alone in the world, that she had no one else to turn to for help in the multitude of problems that she was facing daily. How Gabe, in his grief at losing his brother, took up the life of a gun-for-hire so that he can search for, and exact revenge, on his brother’s killers.

Now that I have finally finished the book, I can tell you, dear reader, that Not So Prince Charming is so much worth reading to the end. I cried. I felt so bad for Gabe, seeing his conflict, how he saw Bella for who she was, his light, his partner.

I even thought that–oh no, Lauren Landish, this author whose stories I have come to love, will be giving me heartache at the end. But no, thank God, for I would have written her a “what the hell” note if that did happen!

Two takeaways: redemption and hope, as seen in Gabe and Bella’s eyes.

Where Gabe thought that he will forever be deprived of salvation, his actions, the man who loved his brother, and the girl who gave him her trust–tells us that even at the point of no return, if we but reach out, one last time, in whatever or wherever pit in life we find ourselves in, we can crawl out and become better than we were before, if we but believe in ourselves, and the goodness in others.

Hope, that like Bella, even when faced with a bleak future, she blindly trusted someone else to hold her up. And so should we. No matter how bad a situation we find ourselves in, it only takes for us to trust that everything will fall into place–however hard or long that journey may take–everything will be bigger, brighter, better.

So, Lauren Landish did it again, and I can’t wait for the conclusion to her Dirty Fairy Tales.