I Judged a Book by its Genre, and I Got it All Wrong

Earlier this year, I went to a ANWA writing workshop (read the blog post about that here). It consisted of a four-hour class with author Janette Rallison, and then finished off with a writing critique group, led by Rallison.

During the class, Rallison handed out free copies of one of her books, My Fair Godmother. I'll never refuse a free book, but I'll be honest, I didn't think I'd like it that much. I love YA literature, but from what I understood about the book, it seemed a little too high school to me. I've never gotten into that genre, except maybe when I was an actual teenager.

But because I took the free book, I figured I should just get through it so I could leave a review and complete my end of things.

Within the first couple pages, I was hooked. The story was so much better than I expected. I loved how it wasn't completely set in the real world, and how there was a magical element. It incorporated classic fairy tales, and Rallison had a lot of great humor in there. In one word - fantastic. I couldn't wait to keep reading this book, and I was bummed whenever I had to stop.

Her story's concept is very clever, and definitely not what I expected. Think about it; what would happen if your fairy godmother was only an average student? What kind of trouble could you get into if she didn't ace her godmother classes or even pass her tests? I love that idea!

Here's what I learned. Not everyone has to like every genre, but you can't judge a genre if you've never read it. But most importantly, you can't judge a book by its genre.

I also realized that I have a lot I can learn from Rallison. She's a solid writer, and she knows what she's doing.

You can find her book here: