Ahoy there me mateys!  I found out about this author when I read her book keeping the castle: a tale of romance, riches, and real estate.  It was a silly and wonderful take on pride and prejudice and had a beautiful cover.  I wanted the second book in the series and was checking at a local library to get it.  They didn't have that but they did have this tale which is a spoof mixing many fairy tales.

The story follows Alexandria who used to be an ordinary goose girl when she fed a crone a piece of bread and was granted gifts.   The problem is that these "gifts" including beauty, her tears turning into diamonds, and gold dust falling from her hair whenever she combs it, have led to her being locked in a tower and being fought over by the rulers of two kingdoms.  Alexandria longs to be regular goose girl again and is determined to escape from  her tower and be in control of her own destiny.

I thought this was a quick, silly, light, and fun read.  Some of the fairy tales I recognized were the goose girl, Rapunzel, Cinderella, wild swans, and diamonds and toads.  This is both an ode to fairy tales and a commentary on them at the same time.  It's nothing ground-breaking but it was a very enjoyable tale that I be glad I read.  Arrr!