Blogmas Post: A Royal Christmas Fairy Tale

A charming Christmas village, a storybook castle, a royal ball, and a gorgeous prince are the last things New York City reporter Kaylie Karlyle expects to find on her holiday freelance assignment to Europe. But when the family she’s interviewing turns out to be the royal family of Tolvania, Kaylie has a meltdown when the quirky queen wants her to write a Christmas fairy tale for the spunky young princess. - Karen Schaler

Blogmas Day Two: A Royal Christmas Fairy Tale

Warning: this review contains spoilers.

THE PRINCE

Who hurt you?

That question is a sort of joke these days that people sometimes say in response to unyielding negativity from someone else, especially if those negative perceptions are getting in that person’s way. But it’s actually a relevant question in this story.

Prince Alexander has been hurt by life in many ways. He has lost both his father, the king, and his wife, and he is still emotionally limited by both losses.

Part of the reason for that is the press. 

Paparazzi, to be exact, who were extremely unkind to him as he prepared to take his father’s place as leader. When they couldn’t find anything juicy enough for the readers of the publications they worked for, they made it up!

And of course, they hounded him relentlessly, giving him no privacy, as paparazzi are known to do. In response, he eventually went into hiding, just to get some peace, and starve them of opportunity.

Along comes an investigative reporter sent to live in his home, the castle, and work for his family, durng the holidays. The queen hired her, without telling him, so he was blown away when he found out about it, and did not react well.

Because of his unhealed experiences with the press - especially the papparazzi press, and also the loss of his wife at a time when he was still grieving the loss of his father, he could not see Kaylie clearly. 
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And he was quite shut down emotionally. So, initially, he was not very motivated to to try.

KAYLIE KARLYLE

Now, let’s look at Kaylie, an investigative television reporter who recently lost her job when the station she worked for was sold.

When she finds out that she has been hired to work with a royal family, and that her job is to learn about their family traditions and then write a fairy tale that will be a gift to the young princess, she is appalled. This job is not in her wheelhouse, in her opinion, and she expects to fail miserably.

She had been concerned already, knowing that it was to be a feature story. She doesn’t believe she is good at writing those kinds of stories. And now she is being asked to create a fairy tale?

She’s also not a big fan of Christmas at this point in her life, and the queen tells her that the reason she hired her was to help the prince and princess rediscover the joys of the season and reconnect to their own holiday traditions. Can you see how she could feel like she is totally wrong for the job?

“You don’t decorate, you don’t have a tree. You never come to the TV station Christmas party.”

​As our story begins, we learn from her best friend Rachel, and from Kaylie herself, that Christmas is no different than any other day for her.

In spite of the fact that she has recently lost her job, and needs the income from this one, she tries very hard to refuse it. 

And the people who know and love her, as well as the queen who knows of her ability, remind her several times that she tells stories for a living, and if she can do that, she can write a fairy tale. It almost doesn’t make sense that she hears that argument so many times, and continues to reject it.

But it’s because she has defined herself rather narrowly and has limited beliefs about what she can do. And about what she wants.

She thinks she’s not good at feature stories, so she tells herself they are puff pieces and aren’t her thing.

She has also been hurt by what she sees as her family’s loss of love for celebrating Christmas and she pushes that away by convincing herself that she is over Christmas, too.

FORCED PROXIMITY

If not for the snowy weather, they might not have had enough time with each other to begin to let go of their limiting perspectives. Thank goodness they do.

As a transformation coach and intuitive healer, I love to help women take a close look at the roles they now know &  play by heart. And to consider whether or not what they think about themselves is true.

What would life be like if they walked away from the ways of seeing themselves that are now too limiting? 

How would they see themselves if their wounds were healed? If they were liberated from old, stuck feelings and beliefs?

That’s what happens for both of these characters, and reading stories like that becomes satisfying for us, because we get to feel liberated too, if only for a while, by sinking deep into their stories.

At the heart of this story we have two people who have altered the way they think about themselves, and their lives, in response to their experiences. And doing so ends up hurting them both. 

Do you think you might have done that in your own life? Reading this book would be an entertaining way to take a closer look at the way you define yourself, and how that may have changed over time, without your realizing it.
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Journal Prompts
​or Reflection Questions

(1) Are there people in your life that see you more positively than you, yourself do? What do they say that is hard to believe?

(2) Is anything that happened in the past still holding on tight to the way you think about and react to life now?

(3) What are the experiences you have had that influence the way you do Christmas, or the holidays?

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A Royal Christmas Fairy Tale:
​Is it for You?

What do you think? Is this a book you might read?

​I loved it!!

See you next time!

Love, Jeanine

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