By: Mel Sterling
Publish Date: January 12, 2016
Format: eBook, ARC
Genre: Fantasy
Series: 1st in Portland After Dark series;
Impression: Fae are not kind. Yet there is a drop of love in there.
Synopsis:
Loyalty. Desperation. Grief.
Eight months ago a mysterious drug killed Tess Gordon’s brother, and now it’s spreading through her rehab counseling clients. They all claim they're not addicted, the drug leaves no trace except its drained victims, and the cops aren’t interested. Aching with loss, Tess vows to find the source. What she finds instead is Thomas.
Slavery. Duty. Enchantment.
Thomas, the half-fae guardian of the goblin market, has plenty of problems—and just got another one. Pressed into the service of the Unseelie Queen, all he wants is his freedom. But Tess won’t go away, and the human girl is in way over her head.
One perilous late-autumn night, the fae and human worlds collide. Tess's and Thomas's separate tasks are inextricably tangled. Now, a half-fae and a human rehab counselor must walk the knife-edge of obligation, love, death and transformation--with the entire Unseelie Court, including the malevolent Wild Hunt, out for their blood.
Welcome to Portland, After Dark...
First Sentence:
Murder, mayhem. Torture and titillation.
Purchase At:
Amazon
/ Barnes & NoblesMy Thoughts and Summary:
*I offered to read this book for an honest review.
Thomas's enslavement to the Unseelie Queen is coming close to an end, but not close enough. All he wants is to be completely human again. His current job is to prevent the Queen's items from being stolen from storage at the Goblin Market. While at the market, Thomas's eye is drawn to a tall woman who is talking to glamoured and dangerous fae.
Tess's experience with her brother drew brought out her drive to help others in trouble with drugs. She works in a rehab center for drug addicts and she's got a few clients that are getting worse, even though they claim to have not used drugs. Tess tracks one client to the Artisans Market under the bridge, asking about a new drug while picking up fancy trinkets she finds tucked around the market.
Tess finds a spark of a new interest in a man that helps her out of the market. She also digs deeper than she should to find a world far more dangerous than she could have imagined from the fairy tales she was told. Tess will give anything to help those that are in danger...
The story is of fae nature and we see the fae influence in the story by way of descriptions. The details of the world and people given with creative descriptions.
We get the story from both Thomas and Tess's POVs. This format provides a lot of information from the proper venue. Thomas has the knowledge of the fae, and worries about Tess being to close to the world he knows could do worse than kill her. Tess is determined to help those in danger from the new drug on the street. She never sways from her plan. We also see the reaction of introducing the world of fae to Tess from her and Thomas's sides. It's scary and heart aching. There is a blooming relationship between Tess and Thomas, that may not survive the knowledge that he's half Trow.
There are fae, other fae, that have their own agendas in their world. The Queen has a goal in mind, that we don't know about. We learn what it is as the story unfolds. Hunter is another with his own agenda. Hunter despises Thomas to begin with for being half human, half fae along with having the Queen's ear without being full fae. Hunter will use or kill Thomas for his needs. There is a game to play with the fae, but Tess doesn't know how to do that yet.
All at work comes to a high on Allantide - Halloween. The dangers come after Thomas and Tess and they finally face off for their lives. I don't think I will look at Fall leaves the same way again.
The ending... Thank you Mel for doing what you did. I loved that we didn't get the ending that we 100% thought would happen. Oh, part of it is what I wanted. But there was a small piece, once you read you'll know what it is, that held true to the story and was a great thing to see happen.
I enjoyed the dangerous fae written here. I am looking forward to reading on in the series.
