Bad Boy's Bard

Fae Out of Water, Book 3

By: E.J. Russell

Narrated by: Joel Leslie

Book three in the Fae Out of Water series

As far as rock star Gareth Kendrick, the last true bard in Faerie, is concerned, the only good Unseelie is...well...there’s no such thing. Two centuries ago, an Unseelie lord abducted Gareth’s human lover Niall, and Gareth has neither forgotten nor forgiven.

Niall O’Tierney, half-human son of the Unseelie King, had never lost a wager until the day he swore to rid the Seelie court of its bard. That bet cost him everything: his freedom, his family - and his heart. When he’s suddenly face-to-face with Gareth at the ceremony to join the Seelie and Unseelie realms, Niall does the only thing inhumanly possible: He fakes amnesia. Not his finest hour, perhaps, but he never revealed his Unseelie heritage, and to tell the truth now would be to risk Gareth’s revulsion - far harder to bear than 200 years of imprisonment.

Then a new threat to Gareth’s life arises, and he and Niall stage a mad escape into the Outer World, only to discover the fate of all fae resting on their shoulders. But before they can save the realm, they have to tackle something really tough: mending their own broken relationship.

Word count: 77,000

©2017 E.J. Russell (P)2023 E.J. Russell

Love it!!!

I really, really love this series and these characters. I'm a fan of stories with supernatural beings, and these are incredibly fun. In this book we get to learn Gareth and Niall's story. Their story started centuries ago, but they've been apart and are now getting a second chance. I like seeing them learn to love each other again after so long apart and many misunderstandings. This book is best enjoyed as part of the series.

End too abrupt

I was looking forward to this one after reading the first two books, but in the end it's my least favourite of them. I didn't really like Gareth all that much. The book was still enjoyable and it was great seeing characters from the previous books here. However, I think the end was strange and totally too abrupt. I wish there was a proper epilogue or something.

An incredible ending to an incredible series! Wow

I have to admit to dreading the major series hangover I'd have after completing the last book of the Fae Out of Water series beautifully narrated by Joel Leslie! In 'Bad Boy's Bard: Fae Out of Water Book 3' Naill O'Tierney, is the lover from Gareth Kendrick's past that was lost to the Unseelie lord two hundred years ago. Gareth had believed him lost all this time then come upon him at the joining ceremony for the Seelie and Unseelie realms and escapes with him to the outer world where he thought the human Naill belonged. But Naill has been keeping one secret from Gareth--he is the half-human son of the Unseelie King and knowing Gareth's negative feelings towards the Unseelie court, he was understandably reluctant to admit it. Gareth is understandably horrified when he discovers Naill's fae heritage yet he is even more shaken when he discovers Naill was imprisoned and whipped by his own father for failing to kill Garreth, the Seelie Queen's Bard. Making amends enough to join forces, they look to discover which current villains want to revert back to the Fairie days of old. Such a change will destroy the earth as we know it and Gareth and Naill's escape to the outer realm may have made a bad situation worse! Or does it? In this last of the Fae Out of Water series, we see the demisexual Bard Gareth regain a lover he thought lost so long ago. His disinterest in other lovers over the period of two centuries is remarkable and very touching. I wanted so desperately for Gareth to forgive Naill and he does. Once again the pacing and balance of the narrative are wonderful. The world-building, character development, and cohesion both within the book and throughout the series are awesome. The writer included enough information from the previous books for the reader to stay fully grounded in the universe and committed to the resolution of the major conflict in the series. Narrated by the simply incredible Joel Leslie, this series is one of the best EVER!

My heart is the hard I play for you

I don’t think you can standalone this series because there are a lot of background world building and characters that you need to know. Otherwise, you’d be totally clueless. I love EJ Russell for always being able to write intricate world building and magical fairytale creatures. They are a treat if you are into paranormal romances.

Gareth thought the love his life was gone and he’s been living his life just for the sake of it. Meanwhile, the love of his life Niall has been imprisoned for 200 years and he also thought Gareth is long since dead. When these two men met again unexpectedly, Niall realized Gareth will come to hate him if he knew of his true origins. So he pretended to have amnesia and try to rekindle the romance between them. Meanwhile, a disaster is about to happen and Gareth and Niall has to work together to save every one of their kind while trying to charter their love life.

You definitely can’t stand alone this series because it’s a bit difficult to keep track with how much everything is happening. Regardless, once you get the hang of it, you will find that this is a very enjoyable and intriguing paranormal book with lots of twists and turns. And of course, Joel’s bombshell narration was spot on. I’m sad to see that this series has come to an end but at the same time I’m happy that everyone got their own closure and happily ever after. Enjoyed it.

4.5 My heart is the bard I play for you stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫


Audio rating

Story - 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Narration - 4.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Performance - 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Overall - 4.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Interesting listen.

This was an excellent listen. I love all the different voices the narrator accomplished. The storyline took a bit to sort out all the elements, but when things clicked it rocked.

Missed the Hotness

Great story and all but after the other two books, this one has almost no sexy scenes. everything else about it was really great though.

Beautiful conclusion!

I seriously loved Gareth and Niall’s story! Both are flawed individuals. Both kept truths from each other. The story kept me on the edge of my seat! Joel Leslie did such a fantastic job with the narrative. I loved his accents!

A worthy conclusion to an awesome series!

I always enjoy it when authors use alternate worlds to show us the flaws and absurdities of our reality. And I love it when music has power!

I was a little frustrated at the beginning of the book, but it picked up speed and became really engaging. I think the developments in faerie showed some really well thought through planning of the entire series, and I found the conclusion very satisfying.

Joel Leslie as always did an outstanding job.

Fun listen!

Really enjoyed this fun story from EJ Russell and narrated by Joel Leslie. I loved the characters and felt like the story was totally immersive! Great job!

I needed to reach the HEA, but was sorry to leave

I really, really enjoyed this book. I would've listened non-stop from start to finish if I could've and was tempted to switch to print, not because of anything to do with the narration, but because I'm a fast reader and I needed to know how it would end. And of course, when it did end, I wanted there to be more, because I was so into it, the characters and the world.
I will admit to feeling a sense of dread for good deal of the time though. The blurb mentions dishonesty on the part of Niall, so it's no spoiler. Waiting for his lie to be discovered had me extra nervous, but there's so much going on, so much danger and complications for the characters to work through that I had to keep going all the time.
Niall and Gareth are very flawed characters, each guilty of monumental errors in judgment. Despite that, I cared for them both. I wanted everything to work out for them, for all their friends and family, and all of Faerie, (though not certain villains contained within).
There are occasional moments of cheesiness and convenient workings in the love story and solutions to problems, but there are also times that cheesiness is called out by characters, so that helps balance things out when there are eyeroll moments. There's also a lot of fantastic humor that had me suddenly guffawing and cackling out loud.
For the audio narration, like the previous two books, it is very representative of Joel Leslie's style. I don't know how accurate his accents are for the Welsh, Irish and British, being an American without a lot of in-person contact with people from that area of the world, but I didn't feel it terrible, so that is definitely something. I always knew who was talking and I could feel the emotion.
I only wish for more time with these characters and hope to see them again in the related series.