I wish this book was longer. That's my complaint.

I wanted more Duane/Coco sass. I wanted more Chris coming into himself. I wanted more Kimberly and Buck proving to Iris that there is more to life than the next party or society event. I wanted to see J.J. catch more shoes, maybe metaphorically.

Overall, this book set a great emotional mood from the anxiety of figuring out you aren't who people expect you to be to the euphoria of new love and everything in between. Sure, it could be a little more polished. And the flow may have been choppy at times but overall it was a solid story with lovable characters.

Young same-sex love story fictionally based around the Kennedys (in the book the Kennerlys). Some of the characters were a real hoot...I'm looking at you, MIss Coco Chanel Jones.

A fun retelling of the Cinderella tale. I enjoyed that the main character and his "prince" were gay and that the evil step- sisters and mother weren't actually evil. Lazy users, most definitely, but not evil. The story had a great pace, although ended a bit abruptly.

Up to Date Cinderella story! I loved this book because it hit on things that in this society today people are still unsure of. I love it and can't wait to pass it down the line

Summary:
Chris Bellows is just wanting to get through high school unscathed and keep going.  His stepfamily, the Fontains, have had a reversal of fortunes but still have aspirations.   As the mother throws her daughter Kimberly at every eligible bachelor it is up to Chris to do the shopping, cooking and cleaning- because he’s the only one that has ever done it before and knows how.
One night, meeting Drag Queen Coco Channel Jones changed Chris’s life forever.  Not only does he know someone that he can be open with about being gay, but Coco sends Chris off to the ball of the season where he meets J.J.  Kennerly- the most sought after bachelor around.  A shoe catastrophe puts the two together and they have a moment.
The next morning, though, it seems that J.J. is dating his step sister Kimberly.  He has feelings for Chris, but with political ambitions, he is afraid of being out.  They decide to keep it a secret, and use Kimberly as a beard.  Madness, and hilarity follow the couple… but can this ever be enough?  And, as Chris keeps asking himself, is it fair to his step sister?  True love is seriously complicated!
My thoughts:
I received an eARC of this book from Netgalley and Skyhorse publishing.  My thanks!
I loved this book.  I found Chris, with his rollercoaster of emotions, honest and refreshing.  It was nice to see that he wasn’t a victim.  He never saw himself as the family’s slave or anything like that.  He tried to come to terms with his lot, and even found good in his family.    While Coco very nearly became cliché at times, she never got there completely.  I loved her interaction with each of the characters, and the fact that we got to see multiple facets there.  I like that they portrayed Kimberly as spoiled, yes, but also sweet at times and willing to include and accept Chris.  The brother actually took me by surprise because he was portrayed at this meathead with moments of brilliance.  He was the most openly accepting of the group, though, even if he was a jerk at times.
While this is a very loose retelling of Cinderella, I liked it better for that fact.  I loved the story line and felt that the writing style was really fluid.  I had a great time getting to know the multifaceted characters.  One thing I did not like was the fact that J.J. was fine using Kimberly as a beard- even when Chris was feeling guilty.  He made a lot of choices that were hard for me to accept… and yet seemed sadly realistic.  That aside, this is a five star book for me still. 
As far as the adult content goes, there is some sexual content, language and lewd humor but nothing over the top.  My niece will probably be reading it.  I give it a four.

My Fairy Godmother Is A Drag Queen was a really fun, lighthearted modern retelling of Cinderella. Except the main character is a teenage boy just starting to grapple with his sexual identity, Prince Charming is a young man from old money who's been groomed from birth for a life in politics, and the fairy godmother is, well, a drag queen. There are hints at pretty heavy themes, but this is the kind of fun read we all need in these times of anxiety and political turmoil.

I never felt the original fairytale stood the test of time because Cinderella's life was truly pitiful -- everyone around her was terrible and over the years it's gotten difficult to feel bad for somebody who won't fight back. With this retelling, Clawson changed all the right things and hit all the right notes. Chris, the main character, had a rough childhood but is eager to keep moving forward. His stepfamily can come off a little shallow, clueless, and misguided, but they're human and likeable, and you can tell why Chris wants to take care of them. As a reader and LGBT fam, I admit that I wished the treatment of Coco Chanel Jones was a little more... evolved? But she and her out-of-drag counterpart were such great characters and I just wished I could've seen them in less of a white teenage boy point of view. My point is, all of the characters were wonderful and I wanted them to be my real life friends.

It's a great choice for a summertime read.

My Fairy Godmother is a Drag Queen has a ridiculously cute and optimistic protagonist, Chris as our Cinderella. Unlike the original, our Chris is not exactly forced into a life of servitude, but he is relegated to it. Now, living with his stepmother and step-siblings, who care only about staying in the limelight, he lives like a glorified butler to them. They aren’t cruel to him, but they have a twisted sense of nice, and are more likely to treat him as a favored servant than a member of the family. Which is why, with the help of a friendly drag queen named Coco Chanel, he crashes a big party where he gets to meet the love of his life, J J Kennerly. There is a whole shoe bit, too, for those invested in the fairytale retelling part of this story, but that is where the similarities end.

The major theme of the story is about coming out and acceptance. Chris is not exactly out, but his sexuality is basically an open secret. He still feels fear over people knowing he is gay, thinking they won’t approve of him. For that part, at least, his family is supportive of him, albeit in their weird way. But his secret boyfriend JJ isn’t out, and since he is a public personality, he isn’t itching to be out either. He is using Chris’ stepsister as an unknowing beard, and sneaking around with Chris. Between keeping it secret from the family and from the paparazzi, they have their hands full, but Chris does want more out of their relationship.

I liked Chris as a character – he is hopelessly naive, but also comes across as a doormat most times. His one saving grace is that he still stands up for what he wants out of the relationship – ultimately. J J, meanwhile, just kept rubbing me the wrong way. Dude was so self-centered, it was all about his public image and his political future – as if him being gay is going to affect his running for office some 20-3o years down the line (I am optimistic about a more tolerating future, okay?) and for that, he subjects Chris to what is akin to be like a mistress. Duane, aka Coco Chanel, is funny and entertaining, and I loved that he got his own arc about his gender fluidity and fashion designer dreams than being just a small character in the story. He was over the top at times, especially when it came to Chris’s step-brother, which felt like a stereotype? I don’t really know, but it felt very cliche – like, of course the drag queen is going to hit on the hot straight guy? Yeah, I wasn’t that convinced.

Overall, though, I would say read it if you like to read a queer Cinderella retelling. The romance wasn’t that great, for me, though.

I fell in love with this book from page 1. What a funny and fantastic read. I hope there is a book written for Buck next.

Summary: In a VERY loose modern retelling of Cinderella, Chris Bellows is sitting outside attempting to attend a Kennerly charity ball when he is approached by Coco, a drag queen, who whisks him away to the ball. While at the ball, Chris accidentally smacks golden-boy J.J. Kennerly with his shoe and, thus, begins the secret romance between J.J. and Chris.

First of all, I LOVED Chris' voice in this story because it reminded me a lot of myself as a kid--struggling with typical teen issues, siblings, and a single mother household.

Second of all, this book made me laugh on several instances (which made me look ridiculous when I was reading my Kindle in public, haha)! I can always appreciate books that make me laugh.

And, finally, I enjoyed the character development, especially when analyzing Chris' family members. They aren't EXACTLY what one would expect.

To be honest, I wouldn't exactly categorize this story as a "modern Cinderella story." So, if you are someone who LOVES modern retellings, I don't think you'll quite get that satisfaction from this story.

**Live 5/19**

I loved the concept of My Fairy Godmother is a Drag Queen. Even the title was enough to pull me in, but the synopsis made it sound better. I really was hoping for the laughs and crazy antics that the title and synopsis implied. I think I got them, but I was also disappointed in other areas of the story.

Listing the things I enjoyed about this book is easy. I liked the characters, and I liked the way the characters interacted. I liked how this wasn’t the black and white retelling of Cinderella, and that the author chose to show the step-family more realistically, even having Chris recognize that, in his own way, he enabled their laziness. I even liked Kimberly and Buck. They were both shallow, but there was also a lot of acceptance from them. Basically, I think that My Fairy Godmother is a Drag Queen had a solid foundation to tell a great story.

Unfortunately I had quite a few problems with the execution, but I’ll just touch on the two biggest.

First, the main reason why I only rated it a three, is that I didn’t buy into the plot. I couldn’t accept that there was supposedly only one idea, a terrible idea, for how JJ and Chris could spend time together. Whenever I was reading all I could think about were the other ways this could have played out. Ways that wouldn’t have been so unbelievable. As I read I just got more and more frustrated.

That’s not all folks, I was also frustrated at JJ for the way he treated Chris. I’m understanding. I’m compassionate. Obviously JJ’s reasons for wanting to stay a secret were based in his need to do good in the world, politically, and his fear that coming out would hinder that. What I couldn’t accept was how he knew what the lying and sneaking around was doing to Chris. Yet it didn’t motivate him to make some kind of change. Love is sacrifice sometimes, and if he couldn’t sacrifice his career then he should have been willing to sacrifice his love for Chris. (Though, in my mind he should have automatically chosen love and just worked harder to have both. But, I’m trying to play fair.)

My frustration level really impacted my enjoyment of the books resolution. I loved the initial meet-cute, and know that the resolution was sweet too. Unfortunately, at that point I’d had enough, and the 3 pages of happiness we got at the end wasn’t going to soothe me.

This was fine. Just fine. It’s billed as a modern gender-swapped Cinderella re-telling with a male-male romance. I’m not sure how much it qualifies as a retelling though. There’s no big bad villain, which is fine, societal pressures and fear of bigotry plays the bad guy role instead. Chris, our male Cinderella, doesn’t have a horrible life despite some traumas. He feels singled out and alone amongst his step-family but it doesn’t take long before we learn that a lot of that is either his own doing or a misguided belief of how his step-siblings view him. It’s a bad overall read and despite major themes like coming out and the like, it’s a fluffy “junk food” style book that fits the bill when you want a quick contemporary read to cleanse the palate.

DNFing for now. There's some seriously questionable statements made in this that feel incredibly transphobic! I am not sure if I will ever finish it, to be honest.

I love retellings, especially ones that are able to be made it their own, and David Clawson did just that. I loved the Fontaine-Bellows and Kennerly families. The characters were unique and well defined. I also liked that it wasn't just the families learning not to make assumptions, but Chris as well.

Will definitely be purchasing for friends and would definitely read again.

The writing was good, and the story line was realistic whilst still having a touch of the fairy tale drama to it. At least in this story the 'prince' got to know his mystery guest before things went any where, which is way more realistic in my opinion. The characters did develop throughout (for the most part, any way, I'm looking at you, Iris) and the ending was predictable, and both happy-ever-after but also a little bit annoying. Like 'that's it? No epilogue or anything?' I think it could do with an epilogue. Just to finish things off.

I had this book pitched to me that it was a gay re-telling of Cinderella, but after reading and finishing the book, it didn't seem like a re-telling at all. The book stood as its own novel. Sure, there were parts of the book that had the Cinderella trope such as the missing shoe, and the step-family, but that is where the similarities end.

Chris Bellows is just trying to get through high school and survive being the only stepchild in the social-climbing Fontaine family, whose recently diminished fortune hasn’t dimmed their desire to mingle with Upper East Side society. Chris sometimes feels more like a maid than part of the family. But when Chris’s stepsister Kimberly begins dating golden boy J. J. Kennerly, heir to a political dynasty, everything changes. Because Chris and J. J. fall in love . . . with each other.

With the help of a new friend, Coco Chanel Jones, Chris learns to be comfortable in his own skin, let himself fall in love and be loved, and discovers that maybe he was wrong about his step-family all along. All it takes is one fairy godmother dressed as Diana Ross to change the course of his life.

This whole book is sassy, fun, and there were some amazing characters that had brilliant personalities. However, I am not gay, nor do I know any drag queens, so I cannot state whether the representation in this book is problematic or not. At times, I did find that the character of Coco Chanel Jones seemed a bit cliché, but again, I do not know whether this is an accurate portrayal of a drag queen.

As aforementioned, the characters in this book were really well written, but the J.J seemed to annoy me so much! He just kept leading Chris on and I just felt so protective over Chris that I just wanted J.J to go away and never come back. I understand that J.J has his career to think of and his families political lifestyle, but I think that the way J.J spoke about this to Chris was just hurtful.

I also loved that, even though this was a 're-telling' of Cinderella, the dynamic between Chris and his step-family wasn't the stereotypical: 'serving them and doing whatever they need.' Sure, there was some element of this in the book, but Chris explains that because he and his Dad didn't have a great life before, he does all of the cooking and cleaning, because that's just what he's used to after living with his Dad in a run down house. So yes, Chris is still the 'servant' to his step-family, but he wants to do it, and it makes him feel comfortable.





"Straight person, I'm sorry if the differences in our sexual and emotional wiring makes you uncomfortable. Because that's something that seems to get forgotten in all of this talk of sexual 'preferences'. Being homosexual isn't just about sex. It's about who we have emotional romantic connections with, whose arms we actually feel at peace in, who completes the - dare I say it - fairy tale of what romantic and domestic bliss is for that individual... You know what, yes, I'm sorry I'm gay and if that creates issues for you, but I'm having to deal with it, and so must you. Because it's not changing, it's not going away, it's always been there, whether we're talking about my history or the history of the world, so we're all just going to have to deal with it."

- David Clawson, My Fairy Godmother is a Drag Queen





Now, the one thing that really got to me in this book was out *minor spoilers ahead* the family knew that Chris was gay and was waiting for him to come out. They understood that he would be scared so they thought - to make it easier - they would make a lot of derogatory and hurtful gay jokes to try and make him feel comfortable such as when Buck says to Chris: "first of all, I don't want you thinking about my ass". Actually thinking back, it always seems to be Buck that is making that kind of nasty comments towards Chris, and they all seem to go along similar lines.

Overall, this book was very enjoyable and I did read it in a day because of how funny it was because of Coco and Duane's personalities. And I really did love the ending. It was a massive cliffhanger and I just need a second book because I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS! Like seriously... I need to know. I do recommend this book because it is so good, funny, great characters (apart from Buck and J.J) and it just seemed so original. I've never read a young adult book like this before! If someone has read this book and knows if the representation of gay characters and drag queens is problematic, please let me know so that I can point this out in my review!

Disclaimer: this book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Released 16th May

Apparently I am on a Cinderella remake ride. This modern version of the Cinderella story centers around Chris, whose family was down on their luck for a long time, his mother died when he was young and he helped out as his father tried to change their circumstances. After making a fortune Chris's father meets a new woman and moves them into her brownstone along with her and her two children. After the market crashes taking all of their money and Chris's father, Chris tries to find a place in his new family with his step-mother and siblings.

The rest I'm sure you can guess but either way the addition of Coco Chanel makes this story worth reading. There is nothing like a snarky drag queen to uplift a story and have you chuckling to yourself. The dashing prince doesn't find his princesses but rather his prince this time helping bring this story into a modern retelling and makes it accessible to so many lgbt teens who are looking for their dashing prince or princess.

Well written and funny this book holds your attention and is another great retelling of a classic story.

Actual rating: 3.5
Retellings weren't my cup of tea, but this book changed my mind.
My Fairy Godmother Is a Drag Queen is a loose Cinderella retelling with LGBTQIA+ characters, and good writing. It's an entertaining read with great characters, realistic interactions, and laugh-out-loud moments throughout the text.
The reason why this isn't a perfect five-star rating is because there was some stereotyping involved into this story, as well as fat jokes which were the last thing I expected.

I needed this story. My run of recent reads have ranged from lackluster to disappointing, so I needed something fun and engaging to bring me back to life, and this was perfect! This modernized Cinderella retelling has so much humor and fun, it’s such a quick read, and I really loved it.

Things I Liked :
-Humor. This story is laugh out loud funny. I had a great time reading it. The situations and the characters create a fun and dramatic environment that carries humor really well. The humor never felt forced to at the expense of others (except the instances noted below) and really makes this book a breeze. The humor flows in the story well and isn’t stiff or awkward.
-Writing. The writing was almost conversational. It was friendly and open. It made Chris instantly likable and accessible and helped me become enveloped in the story immediately.
-Characters & Relationships. The characters felt authentic and that made all the relationships believable. All of the character were well developed and played their parts well without feeling boring. We get more than is expected and that helped the story feel fresh and compelling. I loved that we got to see friendships and family relationships develop as well as romantic relationships. It helped the world feel more real, because it wasn’t only about the romance.
-Modern Retelling. This was a fantastic modernized retelling of Cinderella. We have genderbent characters, more diversity, a fantastic setting. The characters have been modernized incredible well, they aren’t just the stereotypes of the evil stepmom and step siblings, they are real people. They have a life of their own. They just felt like real people and it was fantastic. I liked that the story got into the plot quickly, there wasn’t a bunch of waiting around for Chris and JJ to meet.


Things I Didn’t Like :
-Fat shaming jokes. There were 2 fat shaming instances passed off as jokes, one at the beginning of the story and another about halfway through. I personally thought they were done in poor taste, and were not funny. I could have done without them.
-Ending. The ending was actually awesome. I loved it and it made me happy. It felt earned and had the culminating and grand Cinderella feel, I just wanted more. I wanted to see more of Chris and JJ after the big reveal: their relationship, their families reactions, the public’s reaction. I would have loved to get more.

This was such a great FUN book. I loved this modernized Cinderella tale and thought it was executed very well. I would definitely recommend.

Although this book starts as a trope from the beginning (Gay Cinderfella in modern-day New York City), this book is filled with emotion and heart. Also, gay representation is SO important. I'd recommend it for the gay youth in your life.

I really wanted to like this novel because it had a GREAT premise but I'm really not a fan of talking directly to the reader and unfortunately I felt this had a lot of it. I DNF'ed