Review: Not Another Happily Ever After

Not Another Happily Ever After by A.R. Schilling was promoted as a retelling of Corpse Bride with a sprinkling of other fairy tales. As a massive Corpse Bride fan and a lover of fairy tales, I knew I had to check it out. However, this recent release has virtually nothing to do with the story of the innocent young maiden who is betrayed by a former lover and seeks love again in the afterlife. Instead, it's about a princess cursed to live in a decaying body who seeks to escape an unwanted arranged marriage. There's nothing wrong with this storyline per se, but from there, the book proceeds to jump around without sticking to a consistent narrative. Instead of Corpse Bride, I would have used Cursed Princess Club as a comparison, although the similarities are also only surface-deep there as well.

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Before I dive into the story, I'd like to point out that I absolutely love the artistic vision for this book. I've always been a fan of Gothic romance and fashion, and the artwork for this book delivers that in droves. Princess Sunday is a beautifully tragic figure who gives off strong Disney Princess vibes with goth overtones. The prologue of the book is written almost entirely in rhyme, which is a very nice touch that adds to the Tim Burton-esque feel. The lyrical prose is elegant and poetic, giving the book nostalgic old-school storybook vibes.

When it comes to the story itself, things get a bit murky. Sunday was allegedly cursed by her mother, the Evil Queen, who is only mentioned in the book, to live in a dying body unless innocence is exchanged for a lie and the heart of a daughter is given to a firstborn son. Due to the convoluted nature of the curse's remedy, her family considered several dark methods to free her that were never in her best interest. When she is forced to marry Prince Thoren, whom she detests, she decides that enough is enough and gathers her best knights to leave the kingdom in search of a better life.

Sunday's all-male traveling party gives off some questionable reverse harem vibes, even though she only has a romantic connection with Frog, her masked knight, with whom she shares a few cute moments. Sunday is such a feminine character that I wished she had a lady-in-waiting, maid, or female companion to make her situation a bit less awkward. The book is promoted as a no-spice fairy tale, and while that is technically true, it had some unnecessary innuendo scattered throughout, as well as two extreme swear words, which felt out of place with the rest of the lyrical prose.

Overall, I enjoyed this book on a purely superficial level for the stunning artistic imagery and many references to familiar fairy tales, but it isn't cohesive as a complete story. The book ends on a cliffhanger, and a lot of the backstory behind Sunday, Frog, and the curse gets lost in the whimsical narrative. So many ideas are thrown at the reader and then immediately discarded. When I got to the end, I still wasn't entirely sure what the book was about and what to expect from the sequel. I would recommend Not Another Happily Ever After to people who want to read something that evokes Tim Burton's visual style, but not for those seeking a complete fairytale narrative.