Laura Marie Altom, Sleep Tight

Sleep Tight

Laura Marie Altom

Love Spell, Sep 2004, $6.99, 388 pp.

ISBN: 0505525690

Tooth fairy Belle Moody enjoys her job, but now worries about how she will place coins under the pillows of little children since her beloved Aunt Lila lost all their cash. Needing money, she daylights at a second job by pretending to be a European princess with an unpronounceable name. Her current gig is working for recently widowed Maude Wentworth, who is concerned with the growing darkness that engulfs her son Boone. Maude knows Belle's prime occupation, having come from the same fairy land and hopes that the young woman will prove to be the impetus to bring Boone out of his depression.

Boone believes that Belle is a fake conning his mother and her friends. Though he feels he will die soon as he cannot explain the sudden growth of wings on his body, he will not allow anyone to harm his mom. He abducts Belle, taking her to his remote ranch. As they spend time together, Belle and Boone fall in love, but he fights his feelings because he does not want a second woman mourning his death.

This engaging fantasy romance is a fun tale that starts a bit slow to establish the "reality" of the fairy land cast so that the audience will believe in the tooth fairy and other whimsical species. Once the key characters are established, the storyline moves forward at a rapid speed and never decelerates until Boone faces the real truth of his delicate condition. Sub-genre fans will go to sleep believing in the magic of Laura Marie Altom.

Harriet Klausner