Heart of the Fae (Otherworld, #1)

by Emma Hamm

Once upon a time… 

A plague sweeps across the emerald hills of Uí Néill, leaving a young midwife’s father with months to live. To save her people, Sorcha makes a deal with a dangerous Fae. She must travel across the sea, through merrow and kelpie lands, to find a forgotten king on a crumbling throne. 

Born king of the Seelie Fae, Eamonn fought battles unnumbered to uphold honor, duty, and freedom… until his twin brother sank a blade between his shoulders. Crystals grew from the wound, splitting open skin and bone. His people banished him to a cursed isle for his disfigurement, now king of criminals and fools. 

With the help of brownies, pixies, and will-o’-the-wisps, Sorcha battles to break through his crystalline shell and persuade him to take back his stolen throne.

This determined beauty could come dangerously close to stealing his beastly heart. 

• ISBN10: 0999424416
• ISBN13: 9780999424414
• Publish Date: 17 November 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Emma Hamm
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 350
• Language: English

Reviews

[mvk]

This was a strange book for me.

On the one hand, I found it quite messy and childish - very flat characters with simple, shallow dialogues. The action felt chaotic, with many side characters who appeared here and there without much structure. And honestly, I didn’t feel any real chemistry or meaningful interactions between any of the characters. At least, that’s how it felt to me, and usually, I find such things extremely annoying.

But on the other hand, the book is full of magic. The world-building is based on such a great fairytale and Irish folklore background that I wanted to finish reading it, and I had no struggles getting through it. I mean, I’ve read many more popular books with high ratings that turned out to be complete disasters.

So, this book is a real mystery to me. It has so many things I usually dislike and criticize - an extremely superficial FMC, the same issue with the MMC, no depth in their relationship, and an overall messy story with too many events and characters coming and going. And yet, I still want to continue the series. That’s real magic.

[Leigha]

A young woman jumps at the chance to save her family (and humanity) in this adult fantasy romance.

I struggle with writing reviews when I feel apathetic about the novel. Heart of the Fae has so many elements I usually enjoy - a feisty and independent heroine, a compelling yet damaged hero, an atmospheric and intriguing setting - and yet I enjoyed them so very little in this novel. That's not to say this story is poorly written. It does a remarkable job twisting the elements from the original Beauty and the Beast tale to make something entirely new, yet eerily familiar.

While the fantasy element of the novel compelled me to keep reading, the romance left me not really caring. Not only did I not connect to Sorcha and Eamonn as individuals, I did not connect to their romance. If I don't care about the characters, it ultimately means I do not care about the story.

tl;dr A compelling twist on Beauty and the Beast that just did not connect with me.