Stolen Mayfly Bride

Stolen Brides of the Fae, Book 8

By: Sarah K L Wilson

Narrated by: Elise Hoffman

Sometimes stealing a life is the only way to save it.

Elkhana is the Mayfly Seer. Ripped from her family, drowned, and set into a magical cage, she lives only one day a year to tell fortunes for her former people.

When Vidar meets her, he sees a resource he can use to save himself from his enemies and the torturous demands of his own liege and court.

But the bond between Elkhana and Vidar is growing. She’s slipping into his dreams and changing how he sees the world and he doesn’t know if he can keep on using her now that he sees her as a person.

Without her visions, he’s powerless against his enemies, but if he has the chance to steal her away from her cage, shouldn’t he take it?

To succeed, he’ll need a plan, a lot of nerve, and all the bargains he can strike. Will it be enough?

This is the final instalment of Stolen Brides of the Fae a series of stand-alone short novels written by various romantic fantasy authors who share a passion for fantastical love stories.

©2021 Sarah K. L. Wilson (P)2021 Sarah K. L. Wilson

Fanatic end!

I almost didn't finish due to the intensely twisted cruelty and evil described. I even stop listening halfway for about a week. I don't deny that type of thing exists but I do not find description of it nor the workings of their twisted thoughts to be entertainment. But that's just my sane opinion. Thankfully, the grandeur of the ending is just about the only thing I can conceive of that might justify the means. Bravo!

It was okay, wished for more

The story idea is very cool!

But the writing itself is drawn out without a lot of real character growth or anything happening that made me feel like the melodic trance of writing was broken. This made the story feel stagnant as opposed to dynamic even with all the terrible things, tests, and magic going on.

I never actually fell in love with the characters. The writing tells you about the world and the characters but doesn’t make you feel like you are part of it if that makes sense. So the whole time I felt like an outsider looking in.

When I finished reading the book it felt like a two minute story the author dragged out into over two hours, which left me kind of disappointed despite the happy ending.

Also **SPOILER ALERT** I really struggled when the MC Fae Lord made the deal with the queen of the madness court that she would never wage war on the place he called home, because he tells his own king this and then talks about how for years he is finally treated better because of this since the king realizes he’s made himself indispensable.

Then, in the NEXT SENTENCE he negates what he says by saying the king decides to make him the person who goes on all the deadliest and hardest tasks. Like, why would the king want to try and kill the person who is the only reason their court and people aren’t being destroyed?! I struggled to get over that. It made no freakin sense!

Having said all that, I gave the book three stars because, despite what it lacked, it was still interesting enough that I finished it. I also like that it had a H.E.A. (Happily ever after), and I liked the narrator for the female lead (though I did not enjoy her reading for the male fae lord).

Would I read again? Probably not. But I’m also not mad about taking the time to read it once so, hopefully that review helps!