Title: Temp: An Accidental Fairytale
Author: A.E. Mayer
Publication Date: June 2011
Publisher: Cricket Ink
Source: Publisher for review
Twitter: @ae_mayer
Temp: An Accidental Fairytale is the story of Jackson Belle Bee Elders, an ordinary girl who works at a staffing agency for magical creatures. Bee, as she likes to be called, hates her job at Beveled Star Magical Staffing, especially her boss Gilda. Although one would think that the Collision that brought all the magical creatures to Earth and a degree in Magical Sciences would lead a girl into fantastic adventures, Bee feels that she has no power to change her life. That is until she meets Angus and begins to discover secrets about herself she never could have imagined.
I really enjoyed Temp: An Accidental Fairytale. It is a fun book with interesting characters. Although her world is vastly different than ours, Bee is like so many of us feeling stuck in the ordinary and not knowing how to go after her dreams. I could relate to Bee instantly with her lack of self-confidence and her willingness to do her job to the best of her abilities despite the difficult circumstances in which she worked. This made the story all the more interesting as we see her transform from an extremely cautions person to one who finally begins to trust herself and make decisions based more on instinct. Each of Bee's companions also has an interesting story from Angus, the man trapped in animal form until he finds what he seeks, to Saul, a member of a nearly extinct race called the Brock, to Ninwicket the gnome.
While the events that take place in Temp: An Accidental Fairytale are certainly not ordinary events, especially for Bee, she handles everything very calmly and goes on her adventure as if it is just another day. While she does puzzle and question and wonder at everything that is happening, she also accepts it in a way that shows that this is exactly what she is meant to be doing. The writing emphasizes this state of mind as it is straightforward and factual while at the same time conveying extraordinary events with wonderful descriptions.
I wish I had been able to read the book in longer stretches to get a better feel for the overall flow. Instead, with two young children to take care of, I had to snatch a few minutes of reading time whenever I could get it. This often meant I was unable to even complete a chapter at a time and that it would be half a day or more before I could get back to reading. So while it is difficult for me to comment on the book as a whole, I did notice that the sections of Bee's journal that were inserted between chapters did take me out of the flow of the main narrative when I was able to spend more time with the book. I enjoyed how the journal entries provided more historical background on the Collision and also into the framework for Bee's understanding of her world but I think, at half a page or less, they were more of a distraction for me.
Overall, Temp: An Accidental Fairytale is a enjoyable and different story. I'm curious to know if we will hear more about Bee and Angus in the future as the ending leaves open the possibility that they will have more adventures.
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