In one regard, life has taught me not to expect too much from a Novella. Yet I think this one still managed to let down even my low expectations and I’m a little depressed about that.
Cate and her family are seers of the Fae and so must hide their abilities. Rook is a fae who stalks Cate, thinking she can’t see him. Their paths collide when one of Cate’s friends is kidnapped by the fae. She needs to get into the Fae world to get her friend back and he needs her to begin the Fae conquest of Earth. Also they fall in love and shag along the way.
And thus we come across our first issue and it is one in which the author has bitten off more than they can chew. This is, in its essence, a massive story to undertake in a novella.
Kidnappings? Peril to the human race? Forbidden hunky fairy love? You don’t say! I’m intrigued. Tell me more.
Yet all of this is rather handled in the most cavalier way by the author, leaving the reader with desperate, gaping, plotholes and burning questions.
For starters, the kidnapped girl: Meg.
Before she is kidnapped, our only insight into this character is that she is someone who invites a friend to lunch, planning the entire time to ditch her for a preplanned date. This same friend is also a work colleague and she also plans (ahead of time) to ditch their important presentation for the aforementioned date and expects to still take half the credit for the work done.
Cate’s gifting is hereditary, and she has several sisters. It’s a gift she’s had to hide her entire life. If the fae discover her gifting then she’ll disappear forever as her mother once did. To reveal herself may put her family in extraordinary danger. She knows this. Keep all of that in mind when I tell you that she throws it out the window to save the friend I just described. Call me cruel, call me evil, call me a bitch. I don’t care. There’s no way I would endanger my life and my family for someone like that, and I don’t think most normal people would either. I might even dust my hands off, kick my feet up and consider my life burdened with one less oxygen thief.
Secondly, Cate’s brilliant scheme for getting the world’s worst friend back is nonsensical.
Go to Fairyland + Hot Fairy + ? = profit getting friend back.
She doesn’t have a plan. THIS is NOT a plan! This is a concept and a vague intention. Making out with a random Fairy and traipsing off into Fairyland with a) no way to return home, b) no plans or assurances this Fairy will help you or c) absolutely no clue what you’re doing is not clever thinking!
Rook’s characterization is, if possible, even more aggravating. He’s been stalking this girl since she was sixteen and not once has she given a hint of her abilities. He is right there watching when her supposed friend is kidnapped right in front of her. Of all the days to reveal her abilities and seduce him, she chooses that day. Look, kids, this is not hard maths here. It doesn’t take leaps and bounds in logic to assume the woman has a hidden agenda. Yet Rook is shocked, shocked I say, when he realizes that she came with him to fairy in order to retrieve her friend.
Lastly, and perhaps the most aggravating aspect of this novel. He is a fairy. They’re planning to invade our planet, subvert our autonomy and replace us as supreme rulers of earth. There is no convincing him otherwise. As a human being, her reaction to all of this is?
Doesn’t matter; had sex. Thanks, Cate. Sold out your whole race for Fairy Peen. Good job there.
Elizabeth May
Welp! If nothing else, I hear faery peen is excellent. Though, it does come at the high price of total mental enslavement . . .
CuddleBug
Yeah well, I suppose as far as payoffs go, that one isn't TOO bad.