"Fairest of Heart" by Karen Witemeyer

[reviewsbyerin]

Snow White comes to Texas in this fairy tale retelling by Karen Witemeyer. Our heroine is Penelope Snow, a beautiful orphan now trying to make her way in the world as a personal maid to the vain Narcissa LaBelle, actress extraordinaire. Madame LaBelle insists no one shine brighter than she, so Penelope wears shapeless gowns and stays in the shadows. But one night, while wearing some of Madame's clothing so the seamstress can make the appropriate alterations, Penelope's beauty captures the wrong attention. As punishment, Penelope is taken out to the woods and left to die. Unbeknownst to her, in her possession is Madame LaBelle's secret stash of jewels, sewn into the boning of her corset.

Texas Ranger Titus Kingsley is suspicious of lovely females after what happened to his brother, but Penelope Snow and her sweet spirit draw him in. He leaves Penelope in the care of his grandfather and the six other older men who live together at the Diamond D Ranch and continues on his quest to find a jewel thief that is traveling the state. When the evidence leads to Madame LaBelle's troupe, he begins to wonder if Penelope's sweetness was an act. Has he endangered his grandfather and the other men?

This is a fun story with lots of Snow White nods, both hidden and overt. I loved spotting them as I read. It was amusing to extrapolate the seven dwarfs into the personalities of the old men at the Diamond D, and the scene where the cover comes from is simply lovely.

I would recommend this book for fans of western romances and fairy tale retellings. I wouldn't recommend it for younger readers because Madame LaBelle relies heavily on her seductive power to get what she wants, and Penelope's own assets are well discussed. It just seemed like that was more of a focus than it needed to be, though the rest of the story was a great adventure and held many laugh-out-loud moments.

I received my copy of the book from the author. All opinions in this review are my own.