I love fairy tales. As you might have guessed since the books in my Bachelor Auction series are all loosely based on them. đ But really, some of my best memories including my mother, sister and I sitting on the couch while she read The Boy Who Cried Wolf and Billy Goat Gruff to us. *sigh* Those were great times. Great stories. While Iâve had some âI want a Prince Charmingâ moments, I also had some serious WTF moments, too. Listen, I know the great thing about fairy tales is the happily-ever-after but, man, some characters were stuck with really raw deals! I mean they were shafted! I know what youâre thinking. Thatâs crazy talk! But follow me here for a momentâŚ
The Six Swans. In this story, obviously the people most wronged are the six brothers that were turned into swans by their evil stepmother. But the sister, who not only has to sew six shirts for them is also struck mute and unable to laugh for six yearsâthe number of years she has to complete these shirts before the enchantment is permanent. Raw deal #1. Then a king sees her, is mesmerized by her beauty and marries her. All good, right? But no, another wicked stepmother steals all three babies she births and blames their disappearance on the sister/queen. Does king-y stand by his woman? Nooo. Instead sheâs sentenced to burn at the stake. Raw deal #2. Just as the match is ready to be lit and tossed, the six swan brothers flock to her, she throws the shirts that sheâs finally finished in the air, and her brothers return to human. Yay! Except, Shaft #3. She didnât have time to finish the sleeve of the youngest brotherâs shirt so he had to live life with one wing! Bruhâs gonna have the hardest time explaining that to a potential date!
Rumpelstiltskin. The princess was treated so wrong, right? Wrong! There was one character in this story crying out for justice here Rumpelstiltskin! Rumpleâas weâre calling him because, hey, Rumpel-etc.-etc. is simply too much to type!âis used for his talents, lied to, and cheated on! We know the story. The millerâs daughter is conscripted into doing the impossibleâturning straw into goldâor face execution from the greedy king. So Rumple shows up and does the task for a small price. I mean really, whatâs a ring and necklace compared to her life? Well when Rumple requests her firstborn in exchange for the last ginormous pile of straw, the millerâs daughter agrees. I mean she never imagined the douche king would offer his hand in marriage, and she would actually have a baby. So of course thatâs reason to renege! What did Rumple do but hold up his end of the bargain? He delivered! So what does Rumple get for being a man of his word? One foot in hell. Literally.
Sleeping Beauty. Sleeping Beauty had her happily-ever-after but olâ girl earned it! First, because Queen Mom neglected to invite one pissed-off fairy, Beauty ended up with a curse over her head! Forget the fact that due to momâs mistake a lot of people lost their livelihood with the banishment of the spindle! *smh* So Beauty pricks her finger and falls into a coma-like sleep for one hundred years. Do you know how many balls, parties and fashions she missed in a century? So she awakens to a kiss from a prince with no gum in sight, and they all lived happily-everâŚ*screech* Nope. The prince secretly weds Sleeping Beauty, keeps her on the DL from his stepmother, and they have two children. Where do these princesses find these men? Well when his father kicks the bucket, he ascends to the throneâand surprise!âsprings his ready-made family on the stepmother, who happens to be wicked (Nooo! Didnât see that coming!) and of ogress lineage. Mother-in-law from hell! Her husband leaves on some kingly duty and abandons his wife and children to the tender care of his stepmother. Tender as in tender meat, because she tries to turn them into cucculent tender meat on her dinner table. Long story short, Sleeping Beauty has to face her Shrek-like mother-in-law, save her kids from becoming rack of lamb and elude a pit of vipers. King shows up just in time and stepmother ends up in her own viper pit. All this because Sleeping Beautyâs mother forgot a nameâŚthis whole thing could have been avoided if her mother had just made an invitation list to that doggone christening!!
Did I make a believer out of you yet? Do you see what I mean about raw deals? C’mon, you can admit itâŚ
A MILLIONAIRE AT MIDNIGHT by Naima Simone
Boston socialite Morgan Lett is having a run of bad luck. Her fiancE just dumped her for her stepsister, the charity foundation she’s given her life to is in danger of folding, and now, the gorgeous man she bid on and won at a masquerade bachelor auction turns out to be a cold-hearted jerk…and her new employer.
Millionaire Alexander Bishop needs the best wife money can buy. In order to inherit his family business, he must get engaged–fast. And Morgan, with her beauty and pedigree, is the perfect candidate. Her sharp tongue may drive him crazy, but she needs money to save the foundation she loves, and he needs a fiancEe. It’s a flawless arrangement–no strings, no love. But soon she has him craving more, and cursing the platonic terms of their agreement.
Still, he won’t allow need–no matter how hot it burns–to threaten everything he’s built.
Romance Contemporary [Entangled Indulgence, On Sale: February 13, 2017, e-Book, ISBN: 9781633758612 / eISBN: 9781633758612]
Buy A MILLIONAIRE AT MIDNIGHT: Kindle | BN.com | iTunes/iBooks | Kobo | Google Play | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Naima Simone
Naima Simoneâs love of romance was first stirred by Johanna Lindsey, Sandra Brown and Linda Howard many years ago. Well not that many. She is only eighteenâŚish. Though her first attempt at a romance novel starring Ralph Tresvant from New Edition never saw the light of day, her love of romance, reading and writing has endured. Published since 2009, she spends her daysâand nightsâcreating stories of unique men and women who experience the first bites of desire, the dizzying heights of passion, and the tender, healing heat of love.
She is wife to Superman, or his non-Kryptonian, less bullet proof equivalent, and mother to the most awesome kids ever. They all live in perfect, sometimes domestically-challenged bliss in the southern United States.
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