This delightful adult fairy tale takes place in the Faerie kingdom of Pillywiggin where a betrothal between the Faerie and a human called Trinity is about to be consummated. The Faerie, already of fragile ancestry, have weakened over the years. Now, to save her race from extinction, Princess Splendor must mate with Jourdian Amberville, the 12th duke of Heathcourte. Splendor has three months in which to conceive a child with Jourdian and return to Pillywiggin. Her time among the humans is not without its problems: Jourdian refuses to allow her to go about au naturel; the pet she calls ``Delicious'' is a shape-shifting thing that scares everyone in sight; and Splendor's fiery sister Harmony is the epitome of jealous mischief. But the most serious problem between Splendor and Jourdian is love (or rather, the lack of it), an emotion neither is capable of feeling. Paisley's latest offering (after Heartstrings) is perhaps best read alone so one doesn't have to explain having a laugh or even a bit of a cry over a fairy tale. It's a charmer loaded with imagination and sprinkled with modest bits of wisdom.
