Title: Glimpsed
Author: GF Miller
Review by: Dani Hoots
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: 5/5
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Back cover:
Charity is a fairy godmother. She doesn’t wear a poofy dress or go around waving a wand, but she does make sure the deepest desires of the student population at Jack London High School come true. And she knows what they want even better than they do because she can glimpse their perfect futures.
But when Charity fulfills a glimpse that gets Vindhya crowned homecoming queen, it ends in disaster. Suddenly, every wish Charity has ever granted is called into question. Has she really been helping people? Where do these glimpses come from, anyway? What if she’s not getting the whole picture?
Making this existential crisis way worse is Noah—the adorkable and (in Charity’s opinion) diabolical ex of one of her past clients—who blames her for sabotaging his prom plans and claims her interventions are doing more harm than good. He demands that she stop granting wishes and help him get his girl back. At first, Charity has no choice but to play along. But soon, Noah becomes an unexpected ally in getting to the bottom of the glimpses. Before long, Charity dares to call him her friend…and even starts to wish he were something more. But can the fairy godmother ever get the happily ever after?
GLIMPSED follows Charity who helps others’ wishes come true, but isn’t sure how to deal with her own problems. She pushes people away, thinking that her duty is to others and feels pleasure making their wishes come true. But what if people’s wishes don’t turn out the way they wanted? And what if someone figures out her secret and begins to blackmail her?
This story was a beautifully written rom-com that I couldn’t put down/stop listening too since I listened to the audiobook. Charity, although clearly flawed and doesn’t know how to let people in, is relatable. Being a teen is hard as there are a bunch of new experiences thrown her way, on top of her finding out she is like a fairy godmother. I enjoyed learning about her and watching her grow as she helps Noah, and Noah helps her.
I really enjoyed the folklore surrounding Charity and how she is able to “glimpse” people’s wishes. I found it to be very original, but won’t spoil how it works. I liked the tie-ins to different fairy tales and how they were connected.
All in all, if you like cute rom-coms with a hint of magic, this is a story for you! I can’t wait for GF Miller’s next book and hope she continues writing more! Scroll down to enter the giveaway and check out the Q&A with GF Miller!
~Dani
GIVEAWAY
Enter for a chance to win the audiobooks GLIMPSED by G.F. Miller and ENDANGERED by Dani Hoots by clicking here! Giveaway ends 5/14/21!
GLIMPSED:
Charity is a high-school fairy godmother keeping her magic on the downlow and granting wishes like a boss. You want the bullies to give it a rest, a kiss from your secret crush, the lead in the school musical? Charity’s got your back. But when Charity sets up one Cindy with an epic prom date, she inadvertently ruins Noah’s life (or at least his prom). With Noah’s… uh… “help” Charity discovers that every wish she’s granted has had unintended consequences. To save everyone’s happily ever afters, Charity will have to figure out what’s gone wrong and reunite Noah with his true love. The problem is, she’s starting to wish she were the one Noah wanted.
ENDANGERED:
Hidden in the Underworld all her life, Chrys, the daughter of Persephone and Hades, just wants to see what the mortal world is all about. She sneaks out with two of her best friends to have a little fun, but she doesn’t realize that perhaps her father made her stay hidden for a reason. Will she be able to make it back before Zeus and the other gods find her, or will she come face to face with her fate?
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Q&A With GF Miller!
Is Cinderella your favorite fairy tale, and if not, what is?
Growing up, my family had a gorgeously illustrated fairytale book. It was something from my mom’s childhood, and she was pretty precious with it. Like, we knew that she could have more kids, but she’d never get another copy of that book. Every chance I got, I’d look through it, though. Every page was a full-color work of art. It had the standard stories, like “Cinderella” and “Sleeping Beauty,” but also a couple of more off-beat ones. Like “Toads and Diamonds.” I think my favorite one was “Snow White and Rose Red.” It has nothing to do with the other Snow White… It’s about two sisters—and shockingly they’re both good people—who live with their mom (who’s ALSO not evil, if you can believe it) in a house in the woods. They walk in the woods a lot because I guess there wasn’t much to do for fun back then. And in the woods, they repeatedly help this grouchy dwarf out of sticky situations. But then something happens with a bear mauling the dwarf, but the sisters aren’t afraid of it (stupid or fearless? You be the judge.). Actually, they’re worried that the bear will be cold, so they take it home to live with them for the winter. And their mom is just cool with it. Then in the spring, the bear turns into a prince and—BAM, he has a brother!—and everybody gets married! The end! It’s so random and, I don’t know, I just like it.
What made you pick Star Trek for Noah to obsess over? Are you a Trekkie?
I can’t claim to be a hardcore Trekkie like Noah and his family are. But I do enjoy the Star Trek universe, and especially its fandom. Some of my favorite people have been Trekkies. I chose it because a lot of fandom—like Marvel and Star Wars—has become very mainstream. No amount of geeking out about it would really feel that dorky. It was important for Noah to be super dorky. So I wanted something a little more niche, but well-known enough that readers wouldn’t be completely lost.
What made you want to write this book?
Glimpsed was the book I wrote as a mental vacation after writing something very deep and heavy. I was exhausted from pouring myself into this difficult topic. So I said, “Okay, now I’m just going to make myself laugh.” I had so much fun writing Glimpsed. And I loved exploring—in a really whimsical way—the question of “What does it mean to truly help others? How do we engage with people who are struggling without imposing our own will on them or diminishing their dignity?”
Is this the first book you ever wrote, or do you have another story hidden in a drawer somewhere?
Glimpsed was my third completed novel-length manuscript. Every so often, I pull those first two out of the trunk and give them a cuddle. But I think if they are ever to be published, I’ll need a whole new pen name, because they aren’t “charming, sparkly rom-coms perfect for fans of Jenn Bennett.” So, my friends, be on the lookout for a searing interrogation of the American Dream by F. G. Mirell and a heart-pounding thriller by Georgina F. Moonmore.
Have you always wanted to write, or did you decide later on that you wanted to become an author?
Even though I was a voracious reader growing up, and even though I’ve been writing for fun and as a job for…ever… for some reason it never occurred to me that “author” could be a career path—until I started hanging out with authors and suddenly realized that regular people write books and sell them. As soon as that clicked, getting traditionally published became my goal.
What made you want to tell the fairy godmother’s POV instead of a Cindy’s?
It honestly never even occurred to me that I might want to tell anyone else’s story. Charity, the teen fairy godmother, came to me with her problems, so I started writing. It was fun because she has a lot going on, but in the first draft of the book, I wasn’t even sure if I liked Charity. She is very flawed. She can be so pushy and insensitive sometimes. Thankfully my editor at Simon & Schuster, Jessica Smith, did an incredible job of helping me discover Charity’s softer side and drawing that out. And now I can’t help but love her despite all her questionable decisions. I hope readers feel the same!
Do you write with music? If so, do you have any songs from your playlist you would like to share?
I get easily distracted by music, so I usually write in silence. But in-between writing sessions, I had some inspiration songs:
ME TOO by Meghan Trainor – This pretty much feels like it should be Charity’s anthem. The unapologetic self-confidence of the lyrics, the energetic vibe, the feeling that “everything is going my way”…that is totally Charity. She’s at the top of her game as a fairy godmother, and she knows it.
WHITE AND NERDY by Weird Al Yankovic (parody of RIDIN’ by Chamillionaire ft. Krayzie Bone) – Noah deserves an anthem too. And nothing could be more fitting than this comic twist on gangster rap. Noah is a total nerd, and he just owns it.
PROBLEM by Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea – Charity has so many issues to deal with—both her own and other people’s—throughout GLIMPSED. She is constantly hustling and putting out fires on the fly. The last thing this fairy godmother needs is an anti-wish zealot like Noah dogging her every move. If she could just get him off her case, she’d be singing, “I got 99 problems, but you won’t be one.” But, also, if she’s being honest, there’s a little part of her that’s starting to feel that first part of the song too: “Even though I hate ya, I wanna love ya.”
Lastly, do you have an inspiring words for writers who want to be published some day?
Yes! Here they are:
Don’t forget to have fun. Sometimes we take ourselves so seriously or get so caught up in the hard parts of the process that we lose the fun and joy of sitting down and creating a thing. If writing’s not joyful, why not become an electrician? There are literally a thousand other things you could do that would pay better. So if you’re going to be a writer, enjoy it.
What does the fox say 