"fine contemporary romance"

Her memory of school was being too tall and too clumsy for any of the boys to desire her. This twenty-eight years old elementary school teacher and still wallflower Lucy Harper has doubts about the ten year anniversary reunion yet would like to show up as a sex goddess especially to knock over her high school unrequited crush Jason Prescott. Lucy hires the fairy godmothers of Glass Slippers to turn her into a beautiful desirable princess.

They succeed beyond her wildest dream and Jason is all over her seeking more than just a kiss. However, Grady Mathews who liked the old Lucy back in high school, but was to shy and too short to do anything about his feelings is unhappy with her change and with Grady sniffing at his beloved's heels. He wants his former less glamorous Lucy back to show her that love is where it at not some shallow relationship with the hunk.

Though the plot of a high school outsider coming back as the queen of the reunion has been told often, Donna Kauffman refreshes the theme with her fairy tale SLEEPING WITH BEAUTY. The key to the novel is actually Grady who brings the brisk newness to the story line by his having the same feelings for Lucy that she has for Jason. However, he wants the real Lucy not the pumpkin at the ball who Jason desires. Though Jason comes across shallow next to a real man like Grady, readers will enjoy the latest fairy godmothers' delightful makeover.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted June 29, 2005

Summary

At twenty-eight, elementary-school teacher Lucy Harper still feels more like a wallflower than the sex goddess she knows is trapped inside her. In fact, she can barely remember the last time she actually had sex. She claims she's content with her life, but she doesn't even realize she's slipping into a coma--a sex coma, that is. Until It arrives: the invitation to her ten-year high school reunion.

Lucy's childhood pals Jana and Grady are baffled by her decision to attend. But they've managed to put geek-hood behind them. This may be Lucy's last chance to lose her loser reputation and knock her ex-classmates' socks off--thanks to the modern-day fairy godmothers at Glass Slipper, Inc. For a not-so-small fee, they promise to bring out the princess in any woman. If only Lucy's friends were more supportive, especially Grady. After all, he loves her like a sister. Doesn't he?

Soon Lucy is under the scrutiny of eccentric self-made diva Vivian dePalma. And the diagnosis is dour: Lucy has slipped into the final stage of Sleeping Beauty Syndrome--meaning her love life is near death. Can Vivian rouse her in time for the reunion? And will a kiss from her teen crush really be enough to awaken her? For Lucy hasn't quite opened her eyes to one important truth: the soul mate she's been dreaming of has never left her side.