Andrew’s entire adult life was moulded by the powerful sway the fair folk held over humans. He lost his mum to their charms after an already tumultuous childhood, and his mind to the study of everything relating to the folk. So, what can he possibly do years later when he finds himself falling for the half-fae, Micah, whose own human father was in a similarly precarious, fae-touched existence as Andrew’s mum?

I don’t know how to review this book. To be fair, I’m never really sure how to review any book, but there was something special about Deny Me, The Nightshade Boy by Mary VanAlstine.

There’s something in this story that is wild and magical that speaks to a life beyond that of human memory. It left me yearning in a way a story hasn’t in a long time. And the blossoming romance between Andrew and Micah is gorgeous.

I was particularly taken by the secondary characters as well. Ingrid was delightfully menacing. Chamomile was a little ball of chaos that made me laugh. They added to the magic of the story. While Sam added such a great grounding in the human side of the world.

I read this book in less than 12 hours. So, it goes without saying that I loved it. I did, however, experience some jarring shifts in perspective. There’s no scene break to denote that a change is coming. It happens spontaneously, and as such sometimes – more so at the beginning when the cast was heavily male-coded – I was trying to figure out which ‘he’ the author was referring to.

Aside from that, it has everything I look for in a story: adventure, magic, excellent world building, and the characters felt real. I wasn’t trying to guess where the story would go or how. It was a delightful break from reality.

This was an excellent start to a trilogy, and I can’t wait for the next two books.