Author: Mina V. Esguerra
Title: Fairy Tale Fail
Place Published: Manila, Philippines
Publisher: Summit Books
Year Published: 2012
No. of Pages: 142
Price: P175
Place Bought: National Book Store, Greenbelt 1
Have you ever dreamed of living happily-ever-after with the love of your life? What happens when your dreams fall apart? This is the premise of Mina V. Esguerra’s contemporary romance novella Fairy Tale Fail.
Eleanor Andrea Manuel is a young professional working at a financial services firm in Makati City. Her boyfriend Don Padilla is her office mate. Ellie sees Don as dependable and friendly. He’s a “good guy,” the kind of guy her parents would love. She’s the heroine of her fairy tale love story, and he’s her Prince Charming.
Then reality strikes unexpectedly. Don dumps Ellie. He says she lacks passion, ambition, money-sense, and is “a failure at relationships.” He misses the free-spirited Ellie he first met. She is devastated, but resilient. She sees her situation as a test to overcome, to chase her fairy tale dreams.
Enter Lucas Herasco, nickname: Rock Star—the office crush of every girl in the firm, including Ellie. He’s got tattoos and disheveled hair. He’s a bad boy. Definitely not someone you bring home to mother. But as he becomes a bigger part of Ellie’s life, he begins to challenge her beliefs on love.
Good Guy vs Bad Guy
I don’t think Ellie is naïve seeing Don as her Prince Charming. He really is a good guy. That’s what this story revolves around: the definition of a “good guy.”
There is another side to being good, one that makes him a great friend, but a horrible boyfriend. Don tries to please everyone, to befriend them. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone. He can’t be honest to himself, much less to others. Ellie realizes this near the end of the story. She thinks:
But I knew the answer already. It was because good guys didn’t dump you and tell you they just didn’t love you. Good guys broke up only for very good reasons, and gave you the impression that everything can be fixed.
Don apologizes to Ellie. He wants to get back together. He says he now appreciates the real her.
However, this appreciation comes after Ellie’s promotion, something she deserved, but didn’t earn out of ambition. She didn’t seek to get promoted. He is only settling for her because she is better than the other girl’s he’s dated since the broke-up. What if in the future Don sees another fault in Ellie? Will he dump her again?
It takes Ellie so long to come to realize this that I wanted to strangle her at times. Lucas was just there waiting for her. Despite his tattoos and his unruly hair, he really isn’t a bad guy. In fact, he’s really good! After Ellie finds out that Lucas didn’t abandon his baby, there should have been no reason for her not to fall for him. But she just couldn’t get over how bad he was.
Early in the story, Ellie talks about how she isn’t obsessed with getting that fairy tale ending. But she definitely is.
When Good Guys Go Bad
Fairy Tale Fail is an engaging tale of contemporary romance. Mina’s skill with characterization makes Ellie, Don, and Lucas such real and likable (or unlikable) persons. I love that Ellie has these super trip itinerary planning skills. That’s super cool. And I can totally imagine her with Wynona Ryder hair. Ryder used to be my favorite actress. Meanwhile, my dad works in wealth management, so I find it easy to imagine how unfit Lucas seems for his job!
Don was hard to dislike at first because the story was told from Ellie’s point of view. I even found myself rooting for him one point. I wanted to him to get his act together and become a real Prince Charming. Another reason why I rooted for Don was because of his “good guy” label.
If I was cast in a story, I’d definitely be the good guy. That’s why I was so was angry at Mina’s portrayal of good guys when I first read this novella. Now, I realize that Don is Don and I am me, and that we are completely different. Mina’s portrayal of good guys in her story is just one of many ways to portray them. No need to get angry over anything.
I love that Ellie chose Lucas in the end. It was worth the wait.
Fairy Tale Fail is a great read, a roller-coaster ride of emotions, and my favorite Mina V. Esguerra novella so far. For more of Mina's works you can read my review of Love Your Frenemies.
My Rating:
5 out of 5
Title: Fairy Tale Fail
Place Published: Manila, Philippines
Publisher: Summit Books
Year Published: 2012
No. of Pages: 142
Price: P175
Place Bought: National Book Store, Greenbelt 1
Have you ever dreamed of living happily-ever-after with the love of your life? What happens when your dreams fall apart? This is the premise of Mina V. Esguerra’s contemporary romance novella Fairy Tale Fail.
Eleanor Andrea Manuel is a young professional working at a financial services firm in Makati City. Her boyfriend Don Padilla is her office mate. Ellie sees Don as dependable and friendly. He’s a “good guy,” the kind of guy her parents would love. She’s the heroine of her fairy tale love story, and he’s her Prince Charming.
Then reality strikes unexpectedly. Don dumps Ellie. He says she lacks passion, ambition, money-sense, and is “a failure at relationships.” He misses the free-spirited Ellie he first met. She is devastated, but resilient. She sees her situation as a test to overcome, to chase her fairy tale dreams.
Enter Lucas Herasco, nickname: Rock Star—the office crush of every girl in the firm, including Ellie. He’s got tattoos and disheveled hair. He’s a bad boy. Definitely not someone you bring home to mother. But as he becomes a bigger part of Ellie’s life, he begins to challenge her beliefs on love.
Good Guy vs Bad Guy
I don’t think Ellie is naïve seeing Don as her Prince Charming. He really is a good guy. That’s what this story revolves around: the definition of a “good guy.”
There is another side to being good, one that makes him a great friend, but a horrible boyfriend. Don tries to please everyone, to befriend them. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone. He can’t be honest to himself, much less to others. Ellie realizes this near the end of the story. She thinks:
But I knew the answer already. It was because good guys didn’t dump you and tell you they just didn’t love you. Good guys broke up only for very good reasons, and gave you the impression that everything can be fixed.
Don apologizes to Ellie. He wants to get back together. He says he now appreciates the real her.
However, this appreciation comes after Ellie’s promotion, something she deserved, but didn’t earn out of ambition. She didn’t seek to get promoted. He is only settling for her because she is better than the other girl’s he’s dated since the broke-up. What if in the future Don sees another fault in Ellie? Will he dump her again?
It takes Ellie so long to come to realize this that I wanted to strangle her at times. Lucas was just there waiting for her. Despite his tattoos and his unruly hair, he really isn’t a bad guy. In fact, he’s really good! After Ellie finds out that Lucas didn’t abandon his baby, there should have been no reason for her not to fall for him. But she just couldn’t get over how bad he was.
Early in the story, Ellie talks about how she isn’t obsessed with getting that fairy tale ending. But she definitely is.
When Good Guys Go Bad
Fairy Tale Fail is an engaging tale of contemporary romance. Mina’s skill with characterization makes Ellie, Don, and Lucas such real and likable (or unlikable) persons. I love that Ellie has these super trip itinerary planning skills. That’s super cool. And I can totally imagine her with Wynona Ryder hair. Ryder used to be my favorite actress. Meanwhile, my dad works in wealth management, so I find it easy to imagine how unfit Lucas seems for his job!
Don was hard to dislike at first because the story was told from Ellie’s point of view. I even found myself rooting for him one point. I wanted to him to get his act together and become a real Prince Charming. Another reason why I rooted for Don was because of his “good guy” label.
If I was cast in a story, I’d definitely be the good guy. That’s why I was so was angry at Mina’s portrayal of good guys when I first read this novella. Now, I realize that Don is Don and I am me, and that we are completely different. Mina’s portrayal of good guys in her story is just one of many ways to portray them. No need to get angry over anything.
I love that Ellie chose Lucas in the end. It was worth the wait.
Fairy Tale Fail is a great read, a roller-coaster ride of emotions, and my favorite Mina V. Esguerra novella so far. For more of Mina's works you can read my review of Love Your Frenemies.
My Rating:
5 out of 5
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