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Royalty Obsession Reads Like A Fairy Tale

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By JANINE DORSEY

Published: February 24, 2008

"Someday My Prince Will Come: True Adventures of a Wannabe Princess," by Jerramy Fine (Gotham Books, $25)

When a grown woman recounts the tale of being a toddler who sobs, "Snow White, you are the only one who understands!" one can't be too sure it is indeed a true story being read.

This feeling of literary disorientation recurs throughout "Someday My Prince Will Come."

First-time author Jerramy Fine weaves an entertaining narrative, but frequently this memoir doesn't ring true.

While many children may feel they were born into the wrong families (Mine must; my husband and I espouse work ethic, and they are lazy layabouts), Fine's childhood situation couldn't be farther from what she desired.

The oldest child of hippie nudists, Fine was raised far from the upper-crust world of British royalty. Yet she apparently never stopped yearning for it.

Her single-minded pursuit of marrying into the royal family touches her everyday activities starting from a very young age. As a first-grader, she perused English magazines and cut out pictures of the prince she one day hoped to marry. As a teenager, she wrote letters to Buckingham Palace. Her selection of higher education primarily centered on which college offered the most extensive overseas learning program in England.

Throughout the years, friends and family grew a little tired of this, and the reader may, too. It seems like an unhealthy obsession, frankly.

Once in England, several deus ex machina situations conveniently rescue her from potential deportation time and again. It seems a little Lucille Ball at times.

If not for portraying itself as a memoir, this story might read as a charmingly goofy novel.

Janine Dorsey is the news/special projects producer & entertainment editor for TBO.com.

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