Nicolette Reed

The fae of Dell’Aria are terrified for their lives. Something is causing their magic to be stolen and though the fae naturally live long lives, they cannot live without their magic. Valora Delos is a fae hunter charged with discovering who is responsible. Because it is believed that the blight is being caused by soul stealing fae, everyone is suspect. If she cannot discover the responsible parties in time, Dell' Aria fall will fall from the sky into selkie waters and destroy not only the fae, but their home.

When Valora Delos heads to earth on behalf of the King, she learns that Aric's intentions may not be as pure as they seem. When she meets the half fae Dooley, she is instantly attracted to him, but Aric still has a hold on her and has promised to make her his queen. Valora is caught between the man that she has always loved and has a responsibility to serve, and the man it seems that fate has placed in her path.

I had a hard time getting into this story at first because it begins with an action scene. This is a horrible way to start any book, because the reader has no investment in the characters or any idea what is going on. It also has the very typical chosen one theme, which in this case was completely unnecessary as Valora - the protagonist - has more than enough motivation to find the soulstealers because her mother died in an attack. It didn't help that the first few pages are all an info dump in an attempt to set up the story.

More effort seemed to be spent on progressing the relationship between Dooley and Valora than having her actually investigate the cause of the blight. It often felt like she stumbled between discoveries rather than finding out information as a result of actual investigation. Rather than coming to trust and believed in Valora, they seemed to follow because she is a special snowflake.

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