Title: Someone Else’s Fairytale
Author: Emily Mah Tippetts
Genre: Contemporary Romance, 
Publisher: Self published (I received an ecopy of this novel from the author)
Publication Date: December 2011
Pages: 311
Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis (from goodreads):
Jason Vanderholt, Hollywood’s hottest actor, falls head over heels for every girl, Chloe Winters, who hasn’t gotten around to watching most of his movies. It’s the ideal fairytale… for most people. The last thing Chloe needs is public attention. It brings back dangers from the past that she’s worked her whole life to escape.

My Review:

Standing in the freezing cold at some insanely early hour of the morning just to be an extra in some movie isn’t Chloe Winters’ idea of a great time. The things one does for one’s star obsessed room-mate. So when the star of the film and current Hollywood heart-throb approaches Chloe out of all the people standing around, she’s not all that impressed. Especially when he brings up the fact that he knows and was friends with some members of her family she’d rather not be related to – never mind associated with.

But Jason Vanderholt isn’t going to take no for an answer. He’s instantly captivated with one of the few people on the planet who isn’t infatuated with him. To him Chloe is intelligent, brave and beautiful. To Chloe, Jason is over tanned and his teeth are just a little too perfect. But despite all this they manage to form a friendship of sorts.

When Chloe’s past comes back to haunt her and the pressures of her friends, family and Jason’s lifestyle threaten to interfere with their delicate relationship, she’ll find out if she’s strong enough to get the happily ever after she’d never even dreamed of having…

I’ll admit it. I’m a bit of a fan of the TV show, The Bachelor. And for me, this novel had all the things I love about that show and none of the things that constantly make me want to rip my hair out. It’s the fairytale story of the handsome and wealthy guy courting the everyday woman. He has everything and it’s almost as if he’s from another world. But I liked that Chloe isn’t like those woman from the show who are knocking each other over and doing everything they can just for the slightest bit of attention from the leading man. She’s got more self-respect than that. She wants really love and respect and to enjoy life with whatever man she is in a relationship with. I admired that about her.

Chloe is a strong and independent woman. Her life hasn’t been easy and she’s managed to overcome all the nightmares and all the drama of her childhood and come out the other side as a woman to be admired and looked up to. She has issues but they’re understandable all things considered and she’s aware of her own shortcomings. I loved her as a character. I loved how she grew as a character. There were times when her behaviour frustrated me but I could understand why she did what she did and why she thought what she thought. To be truthful, I’d have been disappointed had she not been the person she was. She’s an honest character with flaws but they just made her better well-rounded as a person.

And then there’s Jason. Oh my. I can understand why Chloe referred to him as being the lead in fairytale and being cast as the Prince Charming role. He’s kind of perfect. But not so perfect that he annoyed me. I like flaws and whilst he appeared to be seemingly perfect (and he was practically perfect in every way) he did have his own past that he and Chloe had to overcome and I enjoyed that he was more than just what he seemed on the surface.

The secondary characters were great too. I enjoyed Jason’s family and Chloe’s friends.

I loved the fairytale. And in my eyes it is very much like a fairytale – where Chloe was the downtrodden maiden whose family and circumstances kept her from being all that she could be – much like Cinderella. Yes there’s no magical sparks or anything in this story but it’s adorable. It’s not all sweet and innocent – there are some quite dark and heavy issues involved. I thought they added to make the novel a little more real and to stop it from being too over the top warm and fuzzy.

Purchase the novel from:

Amazon / Book Depository