Toke the elf has lived quite some time in isolation from his tribe. But he does not expect that isolation to be disturbed one fine day by a quirky girl named Marla who accidentally poisons herself during a holistic herbalism class. Unlucky for her, the antidote has not been covered. So he saves her life, and in doing so, in some weird way he saves himself.

At first he seems a bit guarded toward her. And even when feelings obviously are starting to form between the two, he seems to want to push her away. Not in a rude way, mind you, but gently, as if he would have loved to be with her in another life but for something keeping him from acting on his feelings in this one. Marla slowly reveals his true feelings, though, by kind of pushing his boundaries. Even his disciplined exterior cannot resist her touch.

I am actually glad that the author made a sequel to go with this first portion of the story, because it does indeed set itself up for more. After a really good fight at the end and basically the fact that someone was hired to end Toke or at least harm him in a way that he would be useless and easier to get rid of makes me want to see the person behind it all defeated. I desperately want the good guys to win in this case, and hopefully that means that Toke and Marla can be together in the end.

I really enjoyed reading this, and I hope that you all do too.