"Magical Fairy Tale!"
KISSED BY STARLIGHT is the second in Ms. Bailey's
three book "Living Lands" series. It is the sequel to
FLOWERS BY MOONLIGHT, a medieval tale. Kissed by Starlight is a Cinderella story of sorts,
complete with mistreated heroine, wicked stepmother, and
fairy.....well prince, but he is a charming prince . The story takes place nearly 600 hundred years later. That
is how long Blaic (who appeared in FLOWERS BY MOONLIGHT)
has been standing in motionless in the gardens of the
Stavely properties. He had been turned to stone by the King
of the Fairies, for what he had deemed a gross betrayal.
Blaic had helped the princess Sira, the king's daughter,
flee the Living lands to join her beloved, the mortal
knight Conn (FLOWERS BY MOONLIGHT). The other fairies, realizing the King would feel remorse
once his temper cooled, had implored him to leave a
loophole
by which Blaic could again become flesh and go home. Over
the years Blaic could only stand by as first Sira, then her
children, and countless generations passed on. He could
only watch until the day when a mortal woman would weep
over him. Only then would he return to his natural state
and only when he had betrayed her trust, her love, would he
be readmitted to the splendor of Mag Mell, the fairy
kingdom. Felicia Starret, had had little time to ponder her fate,
her father had just died. Her hateful stepmother had not
shed a tear. Her beloved stepsister had had an enchantment
placed on her for the past three years, keeping her mind a
child while her body blossomed into young womanhood. It was
suddenly too much to bear and Felicia gave into undignified
tears in the garden, tears which slipped over the stone
boots of the cloaked figure on the pedestal. When the man sprung to life, Felicia was certain that her
grief or the family history had finally turned her mad. But
she fell ill that very evening with the bug which carried
her father off, and decided that it was her illness that
brought on the hallucination. Alas it was not so, Blaic was quite real, but his tale was
too fantastic to be believed. He promised Felicia her
fondest wish to gain her confidence and break the spell.
Too his shock her wish was not made from personal greed,
instead she wished for her sister to be restored to normal. In fact so selfless is Felicia's character that Blaic, who
had never much cared for mortals, suddenly finds his task
distasteful. He has begun to understand what drew his
beloved Sira to wed with her mortal knight. Yet he must
betray Felicia to break the curse. Will she understand and
forgive him? Will she come with him to the Living Lands and
love with him forever, or will he lose her for all time,
doomed to an eternity of loneliness? Copyright 2000
Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch
Posted December 17, 2001
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