Fairest of Heart - Review

Fairest of Heart (Texas Ever After, # 1)

By: Karen Witemeyer

Publication: June 6, 2023 by Bethany House Publishers

352 pages

Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction, Christian Fiction

Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)

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Goodreads description--Beauty has been nothing but a curse to Penelope Snow. When she becomes a personal maid for a famous actress whose troupe is leaving Chicago to tour the West, she hides her figure beneath shapeless dresses and keeps her head down. But she still manages to attract the wrong attention, leaving her prospects in tatters--and her jealous mistress plotting her demise.

After his brother lost his life over a woman, Texas ranger Titus Kingsley has learned to expect the worst from women and is rarely disappointed. So when a young woman found in suspicious circumstances takes up residence with the seven old drovers living at his grandfather's ranch, Titus is determined to keep a close eye on her.

With a promotion hanging in the balance, Titus is assigned to investigate a robbery case tied to Penelope's acting troupe. The evidence points to her guilt, but Titus's heart divines a different truth--one that might just get Penelope killed.

An enchanting Western take on the classic Snow White fairy tale, Fairest of Heart will sweep you away from once upon a time to happily ever after.

I have a love-hate relationship with retellings. Sometimes I love to see how my favorite parts of a story will be retold in the new story. And other times I find I dread knowing what will come next. Stories like Cinderella are retold so many times that I don't really find them as enjoyable as other retellings. (Although, I did enjoy Cinder by Marissa Meyer.) Retellings that aren't done as often, like Gilded also by Marissa Meyer, that retells Rumplestilkskin is more unique. But with Fairest of Heart I found myself not looking forward to the pieces of the story that I knew must come to keep in step with retelling Snow White.

Penelope has had a rough life so far. She was orphaned and left at a girl's school who took her in. She was mostly raised by the cook who loved her and taught her everything she could, but Edith wasn't affectionate. She got a job as a maid for a wealthy family in Chicago, but the son takes a liking to her. And despite her efforts to avoid him, he ends up costing her her job as well as some of her reputation. She hires on to work on Madame LaBelle as a lady's maid, but LaBelle is not pleasant to work for and essentially kicks her out with the intent for her to be left to die. Yet even through all of this, she maintains the sweetest disposition.

Titus is a Texas Ranger who has been assigned to a case of chain theft. He has baggage around beautiful manipulative women, and he isn't sure about Penelope at first. Yet when he meets Madam Labelle, his intuition immediately flares over her manipulations. I had a few issues with how quickly Titus and Penelope develop feelings for each other. Compared to Snow White, they were much better off than a random Prince stumbling upon a sleeping woman in the woods and ta-da. Love at first kiss! I can at least appreciate that Penelope and Titus saw character traits within each other that they found attractive.

I struggled with the slow start to this story, and to be truthful, it took me until about 50% to feel invested in the characters and their story. I do like retellings, but I have found a few originals that I don't love retellings of, and I guess Snow White is one of those I'd rather not relive. The last 30% felt redeeming to me.

Favorite quotes:

-Mercy did not negate correction. In fact, mercy often demanded correction.

Fairest of Heart took me so long to read. I am so relieved to have it finished. Penelope was the sweetest character. Titus was easy to root for. And Labelle was easy to hate. I probably won't seek out Snow White retellings in the future. That being said, Fairest of Heart gets 3 Stars. Have you read Fairest of Heart? What did you think? Let me know!