The first time I read this, the book showed me that I can like fantasy.

4.5 Stars ( )

I am super excited that I discovered Tara Grayce and her Elven Alliance series. These books are so good, I love both the story and the characters. They are fun, exciting, and have a nice dose of romance. I am obsessed! ( )

The thing I liked about this story is that it's about a love that's not selfish and appetitive, and (more uniquely) not even focused on the two participants.

Most modern romance stories are basically selfish and inward focused. Two people feel a strong attraction for each other and it is because of their own feelings, and the pleasure that gives them, that they want to be together. This one starts out with a marriage for selfless reasons, where the two have no personal reasons to want to be together, and many reasons for not wanting to be together.

There is also a large class of stories where two people who do not like each other are forced to be together for some reason and subsequently grow to love each other. This one is more like those, but still, not quite the same. The two here were not forced: they both chose for the benefit of their respective peoples. The marriage creates a critical alliance between the two peoples, and they decide to marry because of that, despite personal distaste. In fact, it's the protagonist's own idea to make herself the seal of the necessary alliance. This marriage, even in their own eyes, is not about them; it is about everyone else.

Beginning with a willing attitude at the start gives the book a rather different tone from other very similar stories. I am thinking particularly of "No Man Can Tame" by Miranda Honfleur, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40026665-no-man-can-tame, which I happened to read a day later. That one has exactly the same plot of an elf-human alliance sealed by a marriage that neither participant wants, and has pretty much the same resolution. (The similarity is striking enough that I couldn't help but wonder if this author had that book in mind.) Unlike that book, this one has a clean, ennobling feel; it not only satisfies with a happy ending (mostly), but makes the imagination aspire to something better.

The remainder of the book shows how the protagonist gets to know her new husband's people, about whom she has only the vaguest ideas beforehand. At first she is grudgingly accepted as a necessary evil--they need the alliance--but she learns to fit in among them and become for them what they did not know they needed. Of course, the two newly married people also begin to develop increasing affection for each other. (You knew that had to happen in a story like this, so that's no spoiler.) But that isn't the exclusive focus of the story. Also, the reason they begin to love each other is different from many other similar stories. It's not growing physical attraction, or even growing friendship exactly. They begin to love and respect each other more because they each see how the other cares for their people. Again, the focus of the marriage is outward, not inward.

In addition to having interesting characters and character development, I also found the world moderately intriguing. And the author writes with a bit of humor, which really helps it go down more easily. You might get the impression from the blurb that it's a comedy, which is not exactly true; but it does have its moments.

This is the start of a new series, but the next one isn't available as I write this. Darn. ( )

Sweet story.
Trilogy, must read all books to complete story.
Super positive heroine.
Brooding, quiet Hero.
No intimacy, only a kiss.
( )