"Shanna Swendson - Damsel under Stress" - читать интересную книгу автора (Swendson Shanna)

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Dedicated in memory of my friend, Rosa Vargas, who helped me find the courage to write the
first book, who gave me feedback along the way as I wrote the first two books, and who,
sadly, never got to see this one
 Acknowledgments


Thanks to my agent, Kristin Nelson, my editor, Allison Dickens, and the whole team at Ballantine who
helped me make this book the best it could be.

Thanks to my friends and family for being understanding when I fell off the face of the earth for a while
when I was writing, and who put up with all the insanity when I made brief return trips to this reality.

And special thanks to all the readers who wrote to me, commented on my blog, or came to book
signings. The readers have to be the coolest part of what I do, and you have no idea how much your
support helps, even during The Dreaded Chapter Five.




One



T he last thing I expected to see when I stepped through the door of the coffee shop was a fairy
godmother. Not that fairy godmothers are normally high on the list of things I expect to see, even as
weird as my life is. I work for a magical company, so running into fairies, gnomes, elves, wizards, and
talking gargoyles is something that happens every day. But IтАЩd never yet seen an honest-to-goodness
fairy godmother, and I really wasnтАЩt expecting to see one that morning because, for the first time in my
life, I really didnтАЩt need one.

As of the night before, I had my Prince Charming. At the company Christmas party, Owen Palmer, the
wonderfully handsome, brilliant, powerful wizard who also happened to be an incredibly nice guy, had
kissed me like he meant it and told me heтАЩd always had an interest in me. Yeah, the guy who was the
magical worldтАЩs answer to a movie star liked plain old nonmagical Katie Chandler, the ordinary
small-town girl from Texas. That Saturday morning was our first official date as two people whoтАЩd
admitted that we had feelings for each other. We were meeting for brunch at a snug little coffee shop on
Irving Place, possibly the most romantic New York setting I could imagine for a casual first date.

Which meant, of course, that the fairy godmother had to be waiting for someone else. At least, I
assumed she was a fairy godmother. I know making assumptions can be dangerous, but I was pretty
good about seeing the truth, and she looked like Central CastingтАЩs idea of a fairy godmother. She looked
older than the eternally youthful fairies I knew, and her wings were a fairly good sign that she wasnтАЩt just