WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM by Randee Dawn
Fiction, Fantasy
3***

BLURB: Welcome to Seaview Haven. A delightful village of charming humans, quaint homes – and cozy mysteries! Fortunately, there’s silver-haired author-turned-sleuth Winnie Arrowmaker on hand to solve them all.

But things aren’t exactly as they seem. Seaview Haven is one of the Seelie Court Network’s many invented TROPE towns, and the “mysteries” are scripted and streamed for the entertainment of enchanted creatures across the Veil. Or, rather, they were… Winnie has a wicked case of writer’s block, moviemaking across the Veil has ground to a halt, and the town is crumbling. Enter Finch, an SCN intern who might be the worst Unseelie ever. With aid from his reluctant brownie assistant, Finch is assigned to figure out what’s gone wrong in Seaview Haven… so he can dismantle it forever. But after landing in town, Finch soon learns that real lives – and real friends – aren’t so easily canceled. To keep “The End” from being stamped on Seaview Haven, Winnie and Finch are going to have to tell a Truly Great Tale. Because as they realize, real power lies not in the stories we watch, but in the stories we tell ourselves.

THOUGHTS: I hate to say this, but I didn’t love this story. It was just an “okay” read for me. But that is just my opinion. Remember that. It started off slow for me and was confusing. To be honest, if I hadn’t been asked to do a review, I probably wouldn’t have read it beyond the first fifty pages. It didn’t start to make sense to me until about page one-hundred. By then, I kind of got what was going on and kept reading… and I was glad I did as the ending was much more satisfying than the beginning. Have you ever heard of the movie “The Truman Story” with Jim Carey? This reminded me a little bit of that one only using fantasy creatures and gods and goddesses.

In this one, the Muses have created pocket towns called Trope Towns where humans live. They don’t know that they’re being watched for entertainment. The Muses script what happens there… but they’re experiencing burnout so they go on vacation. And things start to fall apart, especially in one town called Seaview Haven. It’s going to be cancelled if someone doesn’t do something quick. The Seelie/Unseelie Finch and his brownie assistant drop in (literally) to evaluate things and become friends with a young girl, Winnie. Together, with some of the other members of the town, they attempt to fix things before they disappear. Unfortunately, Finch’s fixes don’t always work out for the best.

This is an epic story with a touch of mystery, a lot of fantasy, and characters that will stretch your believability, but if you stick with the story, the ending is definitely worth it.