Fairy Tale Blues » (Original)

Tina Welling's essays have been published in magazines and several anthologies.

From the author of Crybaby Ranch, who “writes with insight, humor, and complete control” (Tim Sandlin).

On the night of her twenty-sixth wedding anniversary, AnnieLaurie McFall does the unthinkable. Without a word to her husband Jess, she walks out on their celebration dinner and catches a flight to Florida. It's time for a sabbatical from marriage—and some serious soul-searching. So she sets herself up in the small coastal town of Hibiscus and creates the perfect six-month retreat to reimagine a storybook ending that could actually come true with Jess still her prince. What she discovers along the way is far more surprising, outrageous, and just plain fun than she ever expects.

Publishers Weekly

Welling recycles thematic elements from her first novel, Crybaby Ranch, in this underwhelming yarn of midlife empowerment. Annie McFall, fed up with her stifling marriage, leaves her husband, Jess, in the middle of their 26th anniversary dinner and flies from Wyoming to Florida, where her aging father and sister live. Annie indulges in self-betterment exercises and meets new friends. Writing from both Annie's and Jess's perspectives, Welling punches up her scenes with appealing splashes of humor. But the story proceeds in muted fashion as Jess slowly comes to terms with a past trauma, and Annie compiles a mundane list of steps to help her thrive within her marriage (e.g., "Enjoy personal friends," "Claim personal power"). Despite an odd though engaging incident involving a former drug smuggler and a spectacular lack of judgment on Annie's part, the novel never takes off. (Mar.)

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