A Wonderland Wish on Ever After Street - Jaimie Admans - ★★★★
AUTHOR: Jaimie Admans
SERIES: The Ever After Street, #3
GENRE: Romance-Drama
PUBLICATION DATE: May 24, 2024
RATING: 4 stars.
In a Nutshell: This series is proving to be such a delight! The plot this time is quite simple but the characters and the writing approach make this a winner. Much recommended to all those who enjoy clean romcoms intertwined with some meaningful themes.
Plot Preview:
Cleo Jordan has always dreamt of owning her own tea room. So when Lilith retires, Cleo puts in an application to lease the teashop on Ever After Street and redo it with an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ motif. To her surprise, her application is granted on a three-month trial basis. There’s only one hitch: Cleo loves baking, but baking doesn’t love her back anymore!
As Cleo figures out how to turn supermarket baked goods into whimsical wonderland offerings so that the trial gets extended into a permanent lease, there comes one more hurdle. Magician Bram, who had been running the carousel earlier, has been appointed by the Council to perform as the Mad Hatter at the new establishment. Can Cleo keep her “supermarket” secret from Bram? And why does it seem like Bram has secrets of his own?
The story comes to us in Cleo’s first-person perspective.
Jaimie Admans is probably the only romcom author whose books I have grabbed blindly. She is also the only romcom author I still read. I have long outgrown typical romcoms, but Admans always writes content that goes beyond staid love stories. More importantly, she incorporates settings into her plots like no one else can. (She would make a great cosy fantasy writer if she wishes to; she’s so fabulous at conjuring up tantalising locations!) This book is no exception.
The Ever After series has romances loosely based on a fairy tale or a classic fantasy. After tackling ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in the first two books of this series, the third Ever After entry draws inspiration from the Lewis Carroll novel, ‘Alice in Wonderland’, for some of its characters as well as its key setting – the Wonderland teashop. It is not a retelling (Thank God!), but just pays a tribute to Wonderland by incorporating some of its elements into the plot line. This worked very much in my favour, because I am not a big fan of ‘Alice in Wonderland’. I love its quotes, but the story is too absurd and meandering for my taste. If this Ever After book had been written by some other author, it might not even have appealed to me. But my love for Jaimie Admans’ books triumphs over my dislike of Lewis Carroll’s works. This latest book maintains my fandom.
Bookish Yays:
😍 Loved Mad Hatter Bram! Admans always works wonders with her MMCs, but Bram is one of her very best. Though he isn’t even a typical romcom lead, being more goofy than gorgeous, I love seeing his vulnerable side, with his lack of confidence in his “weirdness”, and his strategy of hiding his pain through humour. This resonated a lot with me. If I am not wrong, this is Admans’ first MMC who isn’t a coconut – grump outside, softie inside.
😍 Cleo is also an interesting character, though she is somewhat overshadowed by Bram. She is a bit too naïve for someone in her early thirties, but she also knows what she wants and is determined to get it despite her earlier setbacks. I love how she acknowledges her need for external help, instead of typical fictional characters who insist on handling everything alone and then messing it up royally.
😍 The use of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in the plot and setting is exceptional. While you don’t need to know the original, you will probably appreciate all the Easter eggs better if you are familiar with the classic.
😍 Still fascinated by the location of Ever After Street. The only reason I dislike Jaimie Admans is that she conjures up such wonderful fictional places that reality can never match up – sheesh!
😍 Loads of wit and humour, through banter, comic events, as well as mixed metaphors.
😍 Never thought I’d learn so much trivia from a romcom! Loved all the titbits of info!
😍 There’s so much soul in the story! I appreciate how the minimal plot still affects deeply, thanks to the characters and the intense themes, including grief, toxic parenting, imposter syndrome, and mental health issues.
😍 Romcoms that deliver on emotions without feeling the need to resort to steamy scenes always work better for me. This is a clean romance, with just some kisses. Oh, and it does not have insta-love as well – woohoo!
😍 You might see me appreciate the author's note or the acknowledgement often. But this time, the dedication gets its place in the spotlight, especially this sentence: "The world needs more spectacular nuts." Couldn't agree more, and proud to be one such nut, even if I say so myself! 😝
Bookish Mixed Bags:
😐 The core plot is fairly straightforward this time around. The pages go by fast enough, but the content feels a bit too formulaic, even for a romcom. Then again, you read a Jaimie Admans romcom not for a literary experience but for all the feels, which this delivers perfectly.
Bookish Nays:
☹️ Other than the main characters, the rest were in either limited or unidimensional roles. One scene at the castle in the final section wasn’t to my liking as it felt atypical of the characters. There are a couple of minor mysteries in the plot, but they are quite guessable. I also have some doubts about the financial status of the FMC. These criticisms range from minor to mid-intensity points, but they do affect the overall experience.
All in all, I had high expectations from this book, and to a great extent, the expectations were met. I just wish it had surprised me a little more, but it stuck too closely to the romcom format. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it a lot; it is a great choice for readers who want entertainment with depth.
This has been an awesome series, consistent right from the start in its theme, characters, and setting. I can’t wait to read the fourth book of this planned six-book series. (I have a hunch about who might be the next lead character. Have I *cracked* the code or will I be proved a *nut*? *Frankly*, time will tell!)
Much recommended to all romcom and fairy tale fans who like romance stories to have more heart than mere oomph. This book works perfectly well as a standalone, but if you want a romcom extravaganza, binge through the entire series. Each book will make you “curiouser and curiouser” to get to the next.
[A postscript meant only for the author: Kindly note my silence on all touchy-feely matters. I kept my promise. 😇 But just in case you are curious, the level of the above content was at the right proportion for me this time as well, just as in the second book.]
My thanks to Rachel's Random Resources, Boldwood Books, and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of 'A Wonderland Wish on Ever After Street', and for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
The digital version of this book is currently available free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.
Here are the first two books of the charming ‘Ever After’ Series:
2. An Enchanted Moment on Ever After Street (My favourite so far!)
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Blurb:
A picture-perfect town, a place where dreams come true. Welcome to Ever After Street...
There's always time for tea... unless you've lost your teapot…
Cleo Jordan has only ever wished for one thing – to open her own teashop in memory of her lovely gran. So when she accidentally fools the interview board into thinking she's a brilliant baker and is offered a prime spot on Ever After Street, she knows her dream is about to come true!
Stepping into The Wonderland Teapot is like falling down the rabbit hole - magical! But there’s a catch: Cleo has completely lost her love of baking! With her little white lie ticking in her ear, it seems her dream is over before it’s begun.
Until she meets her very own Mad Hatter. Loved by everyone on Ever After Street, magician Bram brings an energy to the teashop that lifts everyone, and slowly, with his encouragement, Cleo is getting back to doing what she loves best.
But with Bram hiding secrets of his own, Cleo isn’t sure she can put all her faith in him. And when things start going wrong at the teashop, Cleo wonders if the culprit sabotaging her dream is someone closer than she thinks?
If Cleo wants her wish to work, she has to learn to trust again before she loses her head and heart completely…although it might already be far too late for that...
Perfect for fans of Holly Martin, Kat French and Caroline Roberts!
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Author Jaimie Admans:
Jaimie is a 32-year-old English-sounding Welsh girl with an awkward-to-spell name. She lives in South Wales and enjoys writing, gardening, watching horror movies, and drinking tea, although she’s seriously considering marrying her coffee machine. She loves autumn and winter, and singing songs from musicals despite the fact she’s got the voice of a dying hyena. She hates spiders, hot weather, and cheese & onion crisps. She spends far too much time on Twitter and owns too many pairs of boots.
She will never have time to read all the books she wants to read.
Her new work for Boldwood, The Ever After Street Series, is based on the magical world of fairytales, the first title of which was released in Spring 2023.
Connect with her on:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/be_the_spark
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaimieadmans1/
Newsletter Sign-up: https://bit.ly/JaimieAdmansNews
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Check out this book:
Purchase from: https://mybook.to/EverAfterStreetsocial
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This has been a stop on the #AWonderlandWishOnEverAfterStreet blog tour conducted by Rachel's Random Resources. (@rararesources) Thanks for stopping by!
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