Forget the Fairy Tale and Find Your Happiness Book Review

Full disclosure: I was given a free advance reader copy of this book by Books Forward in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve read plenty of female empowerment books for a long time. Many of them encourage women to forgo societal expectations in order to pursue their dreams and happiness. The memoir Forget the Fairy Tale and Find Your Happiness by Deb Miller falls under this spell, but it uses the fairy tale framework, specifically the legacy of the Disney Princesses, to tell the story. I’ve never read a book like it, and I’m happy I did because it resonated with me on many levels, and it had a great structure.

Forget the Fairy Tale and Find Your Happiness is about how the author learned to slay the myth about Prince Charming and redefine her happily ever after. Growing up, Deb dreamed of meeting someone who will sweep her off her feet and provide the happiness she deserves. She initially finds in it her college sweetheart, whom she marries. However, when she realizes that he can’t deliver the fairy tale she expects, she takes charge and creates her own. Her love of tennis opens many professional doors, but it also leads to a tumultuous second marriage. This memoir chronicles her transformation from a Midwest housewife to a global executive as she deals with societal expectations, personal setbacks, and professional achievements. 

Throughout her journey, Deb draws extraordinary parallels with Disney’s ever-evolving princesses, who evolved from being damsels in distress to brave, strong, and independent women who embrace their unique strengths and forge their own paths. Deb learns a few lessons while on her bumpy ride to happiness. This is her tale of resilience, pursuing a better life for her children, and finding genuine joy for herself.

Reading Forget the Fairy and Find Your Happiness reminded me how I used to think about the Disney Princesses. As a child, I didn’t care too much for them. They were too girly for me, but I loved Sleeping Beauty (mainly for Flora, Fauna, Merriweather, and Maleficent). When I got older and more diverse princesses emerged, I started to appreciate them, especially the Disney Renaissance-era ones, more. As of now, Belle is my favorite Disney Princess since she’s smart and knows what she wants – just like Deb. 

I enjoyed how Miller reflects on the lessons she was taught. Throughout, she mentions that her parents, often her mother, reinforced the idea that the man was the provider and the woman was to be taken care of. This made Deb want to follow the princess path in the first place despite her ambitions. In fact, the first lesson Deb offers is “Follow the Path” (p. 3). Each is interspersed throughout the memoir, but they are not always at the beginning of a chapter. Some come in the middle, and stop the story in its tracks. Surprisingly, they didn’t ruin the flow, for the lesson was incorporated into whatever Miller was talking about at that moment. Moreover, they evolve just like the Disney Princesses have, so it was nice to see them transform from “Follow the Path” and “Be Smart, But Not Too Smart” to “Be Yourself” and “Be Happy.” Also, I loved how the final chapter involved Deb and one of her daughters watching Brave and the former being genuinely surprised by how it turns out.

I actually find it surprising that not many female empowerment memoirs use the fairy tale/Disney Princess framework, but I love how Miller utilizes it. She starts off each section and chapter with an anecdote regarding a certain Princess, and each reflects what she encountered in her life at that point. For example, when she goes to the USSR to visit the Russian guy who would eventually become her second husband, she compares that to Belle initially coming across the Beast and his castle. That’s a great analogy! 

Another thing that I love about this framework is how seamlessly Miller weaves the Disney Princesses chronologically as the memoir unfolds. In the early chapters, she uses the old-school ones (Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty) to show what she wanted her life to be in the beginning as a housewife and desired a man to be the breadwinner. When the latter couldn’t be delivered, Deb seeks other avenues to provide for her family. This is when she references the latter princesses like Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, etc., to demonstrate her growth and independence. The shoe simply fits.

Forget the Fairy Tale and Find Your Happiness by Deb Miller is an excellent female empowerment-themed memoir. The author was engaging throughout the book, especially when she reflects on the lessons that she was taught when she was younger and the ones she learned from experience. Above all, the Disney Princess structure was beautiful. Without that framework, it could’ve been any other memoir about an extraordinary woman. This truly makes it stand out. I would recommend it to readers who love the Disney Princesses and want something more in their female empowerment stories. Forget the Fairy Tale and Find Your Happiness will be out tomorrow, June 24, so go check it out wherever you get your novels.

Before I go, I want to let you know that I had the opportunity to interview Deb Miller for the website. The transcript will be posted soon.

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