Meet Laure, a surly, sassy thief who may just save the kingdom. With a shoe. And ants.

Laure is brash, headstrong, pessimistic. Of course, she has reason to be, being an orphan and all. A plan to rob a spice merchant’s stall in the palace market leads to a frantic chase through the market, and ends with her stealing a cloth-laden cart and sinking it in the moat in a bid to escape.

Enter Luc, the young man whose cart she stole. At first he wants justice, for his ruined merchandise was all he had left. When they hear the King’s decree that any who can wear a glass slipper will marry the prince, Laure decides to try for it, in order to pay Luc back. Of course, things are never as easy as one hopes. Luc and Laure embark on a quest that takes them into neighboring Galamonte, and deep into their own hearts. Facing bees, bandits, and boorish royalty, the pair end up saving two kingdoms, and reuniting more than one with the person they seek.

Rogers’ Happily was a bold retelling of a classic fairytale. Think you know ‘Cinderella’? Think again! Laure is a sassy anti-hero. She wants nothing to do with repaying those she stole from, or with helping others. Her life has left her incredibly pessimistic. Then she meets Luc. Though the meeting was rocky, the two begin to grow in one another. And Laure begins to thaw. She finds her conscious, and Luc inspired her to want to help others, most particularly the country of Galamonte, ravaged by war with Eclatant. The easiest way to do that is marry the prince. Easy if the alternative were to face a dragon while dancing on a bed of nails blindfolded, that is.

I devoured this book in less than a day. Much is narrative. It is, after all, told by Laure to a court chronicler, and hers is the perspective we get. And what a perspective! This girl is alllll sass and sarcasm. I love how she grows over the story, her budding friendship with Luc helping to smooth her roughness, and thaw her feelings. I like how Rogers used the duo to explore optimism and pessimism in an easy to relate to fashion. He mentions in the Introduction that his little one asked him to write her a Cinderella story. With that in mind, I can see other areas where the writing serves as hidden teaching tools, which I think is both wonderful, and wonderfully managed!  

Highly recommended if you like sassy protagonists, or fairytale retellings.

***Many thanks to the author for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.