The Thorns Remain

By: JJA Harwood

Narrated by: Eilidh Beaton

From the Sunday Times bestselling historical fantasy author of THE SHADOW IN THE GLASS comes a tour-de-force of faerie bargains, perfect for fans of THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LA RUE, MEXICAN GOTHIC, and TEN THOUSAND DOORS OF JANUARY

A dance with the fae will change everything

1919. In a Highland village forgotten by the world, the young people who remain after war and flu will soon head south to make something of themselves.

Moira Jean and her friends venture to the forest for a last night
of laughter before parting ways. Moira Jean is being left behind. She too planned to leave once – but her lover died in France and, with him, her future. The friends light a fire and dance. But, with every twirl about the flames, strange new dancers thread between them, music streaming from the trees.

The Fae have joined the dance.

Suddenly Moira Jean finds herself all alone, her friends spirited away.

For the Fae feel left behind and forgotten too. Led by the darkly handsome Lord of the Fae, they are out to make themselves known once more. Moira Jean must enter into a bargain with the Lord to save her friends – and fast, for the longer they spend with the Fae, the less like themselves they will be upon return. If Moira Jean cannot save her friends before Beltane, they will be lost forever…

Bewitching, threaded with Highland charm, and sparkling with romance, this fairy tale will carry you away.

©2023 JJA Harwood (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Real fairytale feel, loved the narrator

This book was very entertaining, a nice fallback to the classic fae tales. There's no romance but instead the tricks and bargains one would expect in fairytales. Moira was a fun character to follow, clever and strong in her own way, she faces the trials of the book well. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a classic fairytale feel (the real fairytale, not the Disney version). Also the audiobook was very good, loved the narrator!

Such a good book!

This book made me feel all of the emotions. I really enjoyed the story, and the connection between mom and daughter.

Beautiful

The story is beautifully narrated and so well written. Moria Jean is such a great character who is willing to do almost anything for her friends, her kindness even in times of fear is so endearing and I can’t recommend this enough if you were ever a fan of labyrinth growing up this is not one to miss!!

Worth the read

I enjoy tales of fairies. I did enjoy this audible version of the book. I wanted to know what happened, and that had me stuck through to the end of the story. The narrator was good, seemed to fit the character well. I do think it was worth the read.
Having said I like tales of fairies, I feel like it had some things it could have been improved upon. First of all, for a whole story about saving “friends” there was no emotional investment into any of the characters to be saved. After they were saved she didn’t care either. Before halfway through I was against saving them any further, and consider myself a loyal person.

Spoiler**below**
The only characters that positive attachment was made within the storyline were already dead and then one killed off.
She wasn’t even attached to her mother until they were threatened, and then that was kind of left off too.
Also- when bargaining with fairies words are so important and the main character knew this while leaving many holes, those could have been twisted to her benefit or chagrin. But, the fact that she bargained for her friends to be returned safely and well and none of them were, that really got to me. The fact that she just gave away things for free, additionally.

On another note, the main character wasn’t ever clear about her feelings here nor there on the dreamer. I get that it could have been stylistic, but it was almost as if leading readers to give up on the whole earth and just go under the hill, only to get angry at the last second. And the rest of the choices and anger weren’t there earlier? Then, she still chose to go, to rescue the whole town after making us hate them all. Only to have fae friends rescue them, and introduce a whole new character at her end. If that was supposed to be a twist, a little more knowledge on it would have made it more interesting. I think introducing characters in those whole story was a bit of a struggle outside the MC and the dreamer.
I didn’t feel like the ending was appropriate to the build up, it was just kind of “maybe you should have just done that like halfway through”.
The timeline itself was confusing as well- is this supposed to be more medieval? Or after WW1? Is this magical realism or a completely different universe. I would have liked a little more clarity.
All that being said, this is a decently written book. It does focus on loss and the loss of a future in the first part and does that part well.