Title: Married in Green
Author: Seanan McGuire
Series: InCryptid #0.05
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Paranormal fantasy, Strong women, Urban fantasy
Dates read: 12th August 2020
Pace: Slow
Format: Free online short story
Publisher: Seanan McGuire
Year: 2013
5th sentence, 74th page: Turns out being a Healy brings a parcel of problems along for the ride.
After a rocky start and a lot of dangerous adventures, the day everyone has been waiting for has finally arrived: Jonathan Healy and Frances Brown are going to be married, and none too soon, since their first child is set to arrive at any moment. Alexander and Enid couldn’t be happier about their son gaining a wife and a child, while giving them a daughter-in-law. The mice have been celebrating for weeks. If only Jonathan and Fran were so sure…
Marriage is a big step, and Fran is terrified of what her future will bring. Is this her happily ever after, or just one more short-term home in a long string of the same? Help comes in the form of her old circus friends…but that just raises more questions. Will she ever be happy holding still? And what does it mean to be married in green?
You are cordially invited to join the Healys and the members of the Campbell Family Carnival on the joyous event of the marriage of Jonathan Healy and Frances Brown. Assuming they go through with it.
Everything changes today.
This short story opens with a bit of a quote. A saying about marriage that is full of superstition, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was a unique and fun way to set the setting for this short story. The fact that it hints at some possible sadness in the future of Fran and Johnny’s lives doesn’t really make me feel super happy and lighthearted. But it was a good way to start a story about a marriage in the insane Healy clan.
Fran’s family in and her past with the Circus are established fairly early on in this series of short stories. But it isn’t until this tale that you actually get to meet all of the players. I’ve not had the pleasure of reading many stories which feature circus folk. But the few that I have made this one feel something like coming home. Or maybe, that was just because Fran’s emotions and this feeling seemed to just jump from the pages. It was such a beautiful reason for a delay in a wedding and a great way to introduce an extended family.
Even though this story is all about Fran and Johnny’s wedding, the Aeslin Mice still steal the show. There is just something wonderful, funny and completely adorable about these creatures that makes every single moment all about them. Which is, in my mind, exactly how it should be.
Earth and Skye 
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