With the rise of romantasy, Rebecca wanted to do something different than the traditional BookTok love story. As a self-aware fantasy romance, there is so much to discuss about Dottie and her decisions as a modern American in a fantasy realm—so gather the book club and chat late into the night about tropes, yearning, and series endings.
Description
One reader has the chance to fix her favorite series…and maybe fall in love?
Real life doesn’t compare to an imaginary one fueled by Dottie’s favorite book series,
Landsome Roads. After her obsession gets her in trouble at work, Dottie escapes to the
library only to find she’s read all the romantic fantasy on the shelves.
Dottie wanders into a wing she’s never seen before and finds herself drawn to a new
book. When she opens the cover, she finds herself hand in hand with Sorrel, who says
she’s Dottie’s Fairy Bookmother. Sorrel is testing a new division of fantasy and promises she can send Dottie directly into the world of Landsome Roads to meet the handsome male lead, but only if Dottie agrees to help solve a late-series plot problem.
Dottie says Sorrel’s crazy, but in true Fairy Bookmother fashion, Sorrel sends her
anyway…
Discussion Questions
1. Did you identify with any of Dottie’s reader frustrations?
2. What advice would you give Dottie about surviving in Landsome?
3. How would you have found a role within Castle Creneda if you had been sent there?
4. What romantic tropes were used? Did any surprise you?
5. What literary world would you want a Fairy Bookmother to send you into?
6. Have you read a novella before? Was the pacing or structure different than a novel?
7. How did you feel about the ending?
Resources
Interview with Rebecca
About the Author
Rebecca M. Zornow is the author of four books. She is a Hal Prize winner, Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, and lives in Wisconsin.
The idea for Landsome Roads came about because the Game of Thrones book series was never finished. Often, usually on walks, Rebecca would wonder how the books would have been different from the show and, voilà, Dottie came knocking.
When Rebecca’s not reading or writing, she loves a good escape room, volunteers for numerous organizations, bakes cookies with her kids, travels, and generally frets about the future.
P.S. Want Rebecca to speak at your book club? Contact her for a free virtual or in-person reading with Q&A.
