AUTHOR: Anya J Cosgrove

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What a way to kick off a new series…

This was my first Anya J Cosgrove novel and after reading it, I know it won’t be my last. This book was so good. It’s a great way to kick off a brand new series.

Penelope (Nell) is forced to live in the land of Faerie when her father makes a secret deal with the Shadow King Damian. Her time is torn between two worlds in an effort to fulfill the details of their bet. Only she’s not allowed to know exactly what that entails. She must learn to use her magic while navigating a drastically different world than where she comes from.

So many secrets and mysteries surround every element of the shadow court and the fae world as a whole. She must work her way up through training, learning about facing nightmares, dreams, and fantasies. Nell is torn between the world of the shadow court and the world where her sister still remains.

She grows closer to the other mortals with magic training in the fae world. That’s especially true for the dark knight One and his brothers. But she still struggles with what exactly the king wants with her and when things will take a turn. The action, detail, and chemistry was perfect.

This book was amazing. I absolutely loved it. The world building was so good with lots of twists and turns and well thought out facets. So much that I did not even see coming. I’m so excited to see where this series goes with the next book. I can’t wait.

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Lori and Elio

Book two in the Curse of the Fae series picks up right from where we ended things in book one. Lori is recovering from her near death experience and still dealing with a bit of residual trauma. Seth, a fae prince of the Spring court, comes to her with a deal that could be the only chance to save her brother’s life.

Since she appears to be the doppelganger of the Winter King’s deceased first wife, Seth wants to use that to shake things up in the Winter court. He convinces Lori to participate in the Yule pageant while also acting as a spy for him. The catch is that this pageant is to determine who will be the Winter King’s next queen and those queens always end up dead shortly after the wedding.

Lori realizes there’s more to the story of what happened all those years ago to King Elio’s first wife and everything is shrouded in secrets and mystery. As she competes with other “brides” in the pageant she learns more about the cold-hearted winter king. She starts seeing sides to him that few get the chance to.

Then there’s this whole mystery of why she looks exactly like Elio’s first queen. What does that mean? And strange things seem to be happening in the Winter court, like freak storms and brides deaths. That also includes a series of new visions Lori has of Elio’s deceased wife.

Elio and Lori have a connection whether they want to admit it or not. But if they give in to that, will Lori face the same fate of his previous queens? And if they don’t will Elio remain doomed to continue the cycle

Their story is a fun mix of a reality tv style pageant, mystery and danger, with love and magic beyond their control. I love these two together. Their story doesn’t exactly end in a cliffhanger but it’s clear this is just the beginning for them. I can’t wait to see how the interconnected stories in this series continue in the next book.