fantasy

New Release: The Snow Queen by Suzy Davies

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

The World of The Snow Queen

Let me take you back to London Town, in the old days. A sister and brother live in an upstairs tenement. They are poor and not yet worldly-wise. My book, “The Snow Queen” takes you to this London you may already know or have read about. But although the metropolis is very real, it is seen through a magic lens in the mind’s eye.

The city shivers with chiming voices on fragile winds that sigh. The presence of an ethereal beauty rides the wintry landscape. Children are in a playground on the swings. Back and forth, back and forth, they ride. Time stands still in an innocent world of cars and trains, traffic lights, steaming chips and ketchup, Christmas trees and oily rainbows on cracked concrete… and Mum at home awaiting them…

Yet as they grow, and the years pass slowly, someone else – a wizard – is watching. He has a plan. To conjure a spell to ensnare a boy, a teenager of good character, a hard-working boy, Adam. He will be The First Slave. 

And so, through this dark conjuring, this malevolent wizardry, the world of reality and the world of magic collide. The dark force of the wizard’s magic will be known and felt. And the children of the world will be held captives forever…

Far, far away, over the ocean, all the enchantment and wonder of a glittering winter; a winter in The Snowlands, a place of mystical animals that tread the land and soar on the wind awaits. This is a mythological land of dreams. 

A shoemaker is making a boot fit for a king. A princess awaits in her Danish castle with her horses who follow the star of Pegasus. A seamstress in Rovaniemi is sewing a gown of sparkling threads and jewel-drops, fit for a queen.

The Snow Queen resides in the frozen glass Ice Palace in Norway. She is waiting for her wizard. Together, they will be an evil power couple, and rule till the end of days.

A Snow Goose rides through the storm, carrying Sean to his one true love.

A brave dwarf has a plan…

Adam slumbers, a prisoner, alone in the fairy tower on the west wing of The Ice Palace. Beside his bed, a game of chess, the black king toppled over.

Aragog lies in wait in her glistening web …and always, there’s dark magic… 

The wind whistles through the skeleton tree. In her crystal ball, the old gypsy caught a glimpse of what would befall her daughter. The three sisters cast their spells, harnessing good and the forces of nature.

There is yet a ray of hope. Truth be told in the prophecy of The Book of The Ancients.

In a fair world of good and evil, there’s a battle ahead. Justice is all in this moral universe. Darkness consumes itself.  The Light shines forever. Shimmering rainbows dance through shadows in the snow. Celestial light glows from the heavens.

The world of “The Snow Queen” is a romantic world; a fairytale, of castles and queens, rivalry, jealousy, revenge, destiny and inheritance. It is a world of sacrifice and redemption.

My book is an epic love story. Bryony, a young warrior with dark gypsy eyes, is the heroine. Over the sea, as if in a dream, she rides, and back again, on an ocean of forgiveness, to a land, long forgotten, back in time…

The Idea for The Snow Queen

My book is a reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s original story.The seed of an idea to have a gypsy protagonist in my story came from my late dad’s cousin who was a television producer for Children’s BBC Wales. At a churchyard gate, in Llanberis, she informed me that on my late dad’s side of the family, we are descended from Roma people.

My Writing Process

I have written at length about my writing process on Goodreads. Basically, I combine plotter and pantser tactics. I have an outline of the story and a sense of an ending before I begin writing. However, I think you can overplan, so I revise and adjust my ending at intervals in line with the resolution of the story. The characters “tell me” which way to go. It’s a process of forward and back, and thorough editing before it all comes together. I think spontaneity is what makes writing full of life and exciting. From the seed of an idea, to outlining, writing and several edits, it takes me about 18 months to write a book this length. Part of this is because I enjoy tackling a variety of projects so I am never working on one project full time until I reach the editing stage.

Suzy Davies is a writer of fairy tales.

She was born into a dual language family. Her dad was a lecturer, and her mum a housewife. Both her parents shared a love of art.

In her early days, Suzy lived in a big old mansion in Wales; her grandmother rented the top flat for a peppercorn rent, and Suzy, her mum, dad and grandma lived there in an extended family. 

The house made a huge impression on her in these formative years. There was something magical about it; it had iron gates, a long sweeping driveway, and an island of trees that screened it from the road, making it seem like Suzy’s secret place.

In the neighbourhood, in spring, there were country lanes of wild flowers, in summer, hedgerows where berries grew. In autumn, the sea mirrored the sky in stormy colours, in winter, frozen waterfalls made ice sculptures and tunnels.

All year long, there were birds.

From an early age, Suzy loved the magic of nature and wildlife, and this is reflected in her writing.

Suzy is an educationist, and her varied background includes teaching, life coaching, counselling and voluntary work. She has worked as a bookseller.

She resides in Florida, with her husband, Craig who also loves to write. They have two tabby cats who are semi-wild, Dinky and Glammy.

Follow Suzy on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/473767.Suzy_Davies?from_search=true&from_srp=true

The Robber Girl is back! Bryony has a special destiny, foretold in The Book of The Ancients.With her dark eyes on a handsome Roma boy, Sean, and a gypsy crown, she has a battle to win, cheating death. She must rescue Adam from the Snow Queen’s web of evil, defeating the wizard and his dark sorcery. If she fails, the evil couple will cast a maleficent shadow of doom across the world, enslaving all children until the end of time. In this tale of romance, magic, rivalry, inheritance and destiny, a heartwarming epic journey awaits.

Favorite Fictional Dads

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

Like what I did with Mother’s Day, I want to highlight some excellent fictional fathers and father figures for Father’s Day. Unlike with my fictional moms post, this one was harder to write. It turns out, there aren’t as many great fictional fathers as I anticipated. It seems that writers really like to have absent or subpar fathers in their stories (which I am guilty of). But I was able to find three for this first year of Favorite Fictional Dads.

Rubeus Hagrid from Harry Potter is arguably one of the best father figures in fantasy. Without having ever met baby Harry, Hagrid braves the wreckage of the Potter’s destroyed home to rescue him and deliver him to Dumbledor. Hagrid didn’t know what danger he could possibly face by doing that; after all, no one really knew what happened. Ten years later, he would jump back into Harry’s life to tell him he was a wizard and take him school supplies shopping.

Harry enters Hogwarts knowing no one but Hagrid. Hagrid frequently invites him to tea to give Harry a safe space to share his feelings about this new world. Hagrid is always understanding, but will offer advice and correction when needed. He also serves as a father figure for Hermione. While Hermione isn’t an orphan like Harry, her parents are muggles, so she is braving the wizarding world alone as well. In the Prisoner of Azkaban, Ron and Hermione spend several weeks fighting, and Harry semi-takes Ron’s side. Hermione spends many nights crying in Hagrid’s cabin. Even though Hermione met Hagrid through Harry, Hagrid views her as her own person and continues to care for her regardless of her friendship status with the boys. I imagine that Harry, Ron, and Hermione aren’t the first lonely Hogwarts students Hagrid has befriended.

Charlie Swan from the Twilight series can be a complicated situation. When I was a teenager, I hated Charlie in Eclipse. But the older I get, the more I see things from his perspective. Charlie is a single father whose teenage daughter decides to move in with him when her mother marries a traveling baseball player. Charlie doesn’t really know how to be a dad, but he loves Bella unconditionally and he wants to protect her.

One of the many things my own father taught me was that no matter how much a man may dislike the boy dating his daughter, he never wants his daughter’s heart broken. Charlie doesn’t know what the reader knows. From his point of view, the boy his daughter is dating continually puts her in dangerous situations. She makes erratic decisions for Edward. And there is always the chance of Bella’s heart being broken, again. In Charlie’s, he has very good reasons to distrust Edward and want him far away from his daughter. 

And even though, to Charlie’s utter dismay, Bella stubbornly sticks with Edward, Charlie will support her. When Bella breaks her hand punching Jacob in the face, Charlie tells her he’s going to have to teach her how to throw a proper fist. He says that no one should kiss his daughter if she doesn’t want it. When Bella marries Edward, Charlie walks her down the aisle and provides his mother’s comb for her “something old” and “something blue”. And in the end, Charlie wants to be in Bella’s life so much, that he will accept the supernatural that she is now a part of, even if he doesn’t understand all of it. 

Charlie is the protective father who will support his daughter no matter what.   

William Stafford was real. He was the second husband of Mary Boleyn. However, his character adaptation in The Other Boleyn Girl is fictional. When comparing Philippa Gregory’s caricature of him and the historical facts that Alison Weir dug up for her biography on Mary Boleyn, Philippa Gregory’s version is fictional, so he can be part of my fictional dads post. (This isn’t a criticism of Philippa Gregory’s work. I highly admire her as a historical fiction author, and will probably write a post dedicated to her in the future.) 

In The Other Boleyn Girl, William comes into Mary’s life after her first husband has died and she’s been cast aside by the king for her own sister. William gains Mary’s trust and love by how he treats her two orphaned children: Catherine and Henry.* William teaches both children how to ride a horse and becomes the father they never had. In a society where children are used for what they can bring the parents, William is simply a loving stepfather. He doesn’t care that these children are of royal blood. He doesn’t care to get Catherine an advantageous marriage. He doesn’t care that Henry could serve the future king (if Anne can give birth to a living son). He just wants to raise them safely. 

Mary and William marry in secret and are forced to admit their “sin” when Mary becomes pregnant. This is William’s first biological child, but in his mind baby Anne** is his third child. He has always viewed Catherine and Henry as his. As the children grow and the court becomes more dangerous, William protects his children from their royal bastard status. When Anne is taken into the tower, William secretly rides to the palace Henry is living with other noble boys his age, and brings him home. Anne makes Catherine serve as her lady in waiting while in the tower.*** But as soon as Anne’s head is off her body, William sneaks up to the platform, pulls Catherine down and gets her on the road back home. 

In the fictional version of the Tudor court, William Stafford was the best stepfather the Carey children could have had. He raised them with love. He played with them. And as they grew and their lives became dangerous, he protected them and prepared them to survive their cousins’ reigns.  

*In the book, both are the illegitimate children of King Henry VIII that William Carey (Mary’s first husband) was forced to pretend were his. In real life, most historians agree that Catherine was most likely fathered by Henry VIII and accepted by William Carey, but Henry was most definitely William Carey’s biological child.

**In real life they had a son, but in order to keep them with the court so that Mary could be a witness to Anne’s fall and execution, Ms. Gregory made their baby a girl. Mary marrying in secret and giving birth to a son when Anne was struggling to carry a baby to term, caused Anne to cast her sister out of court. And Mary and William moved to Calais until she became the sole Boleyn heir after Anne and George were beheaded. 

***Once again this detail is also fictional. Catherine served as lady in waiting to Elizabeth I, not Anne Boleyn.

Happy Father’s Day! Give some love to the men in your life.

Silver Flames: Overcoming Toxicity

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

Nesta Archeron is the Severus Snape of Sarah J. Maas’ ACOTAR series. Like Snape, the reader spends the first several books hating her as she tears down our heroine, Feyre. Unlike Snape, Nesta eventually acknowledges her shortcomings and works her way out of the toxic person she had become. 

The first four books are from Feyre’s point of view, so the reader’s view of Nesta is only outward: her words and body language. It isn’t until the fifth book, A Court of Silver Flames, that the reader gets to be inside Nesta’s head and learn about her memories, feelings, and interpretations of past events. 

As the oldest sister, Nesta has the most prominent memories of their mother before she died. Nesta was her mother’s favorite child, the family’s golden egg. She taught Nesta how to be cunning and aim for the best. She instilled in Nesta that she was better than everyone else and was one day going to marry very well. And so, Nesta became exactly who her mother raised her to be: arrogant, ambitious, and cruel. Their family losing their fortune crushed Nesta, and she was furious her father gave up and let them starve. Even in their poverty, Nesta still acted like a queen, expecting the rest of her family to figure out how to survive and serve her. She was especially cruel to Feyre, because Feyre was their mother’s least favorite. She protected Elain because their mother’s plan had been to use Elain’s natural beauty to snag a good marriage. Nesta is a product of her mother, and she is toxic. 

She is the toxic family member that today’s youth are encouraged by social media to cut out of their lives. I could not wait for Feyre to kick Nesta to the curb. As High Lady she could do it. But like other complicated plot points in the series, Sarah J. Maas decided to take me on a ride. 

Nesta’s journey to healing and redemption is a continuous one step forward two steps back path. And the first time the reader is fooled into thinking Nesta is progressing is halfway through Thorns and Roses. Feyre returned home for a couple weeks before she traveled to Under the Mountain to free Tamlin and his court. Tamlin had glamoured Feyre’s family into believing Feyre was off taking care of a sick aunt. Only, the glamor didn’t work on Nesta. She remembered everything and knew the truth. Nesta went so far as to try to get into Prythian on her own to find Feyre and save her, but she was unable to. Nesta encourages Feyre to go back to Prythian to get a second shot with Tamlin. But then her parting words are, “Don’t come back.” With that final statement, I realized Nesta still held resentment for her sister. 

In the Mist and Fury, Nesta refuses to allow Feyre and Rhysand to use the Archeron home as a meeting place to converse with the human queens. Nesta’s reasoning is that if anyone nearby finds out, they will all be in danger. Cassian promises Nesta that he will personally ensure that her property and the people who live on it will remain safe. When Elain wants to help, Nesta reluctantly agrees; but she isn’t going to do so quietly. She is incredibly rude to all of their guests, including the human queens (though, they deserved it). At the end of the book, when Nesta is forced into the Cauldron, she goes in fighting, and points a finger at the King of Hybern, a death promise. 

In Wings and Ruin, Nesta is so focused on protecting Elain, she fails to spend time accepting what happened to her. She wears a mask of judgment and arrogance to hide her pain. She continuously insults every character who tries to help or connect with her. She is especially nasty to Cassian. During the final battle, Nesta drops her mask and gets the reader’s hopes up that she is changing. She lies on top of Cassian, prepared to die with him, and Cassian kisses her; Nesta accepts the kiss. Frost and Starlight quickly shows us that we were wrong in hoping for improvement. She goes back to being angry and rude. 

At the beginning of Silver Flames, Nesta is cut off financially by Rhysand and Feyre. They end her lease on her apartment, and move her into the House of Wind. She is given two choices: 1. Live in the House of Wind, train with Cassian, and work in the library. 2. Return to the human lands, and take care of herself. There really isn’t much of a choice for Nesta. As High Fae, she wouldn’t survive the human lands, so she’s going to make option one incredibly difficult. 

Every morning of the first week, Cassian takes Nesta to the Illyrian war camp to train her. And every morning, Nesta sits on a rock and refuses to do anything, making Cassian the laughing stock among his warriors. Cassian is dumbfounded until he finally understands Nesta’s refusal: “I’m not going to train in this place.” The Illyrians are the most sexist species in Prythian. During the war they labeled Nesta a witch, and on her first day there to train with Cassian, they made comments about how any weapon she touches will have to be cleansed, especially if she is menstruating. So Cassian takes Nesta to the training grounds on the roof of the House of Wind, and she slowly starts to train and trust Cassian.

Nesta spends her afternoons working in the library that is below the House of Wind. This library is unique not only in the books housed there, but in the librarians who take care of it. The library is a sanctuary for high priestesses who are victims of abuse. Their trauma is so horrible, that they hide away from the world. Nesta becomes close to one high priestess librarian, Gwyn. She eventually convinces Gwyn to join in the training sessions, and they are joined by a female Illyrian, Emerie. Emerie’s wings were clipped by her father, prohibiting her from flying. She also battles her male uncles and cousins in proving she can run a business.   

Overtime, more priestesses brave the outside world to train with Nesta. Together, the small group of women decide they want to resurrect the training and creation of the centuries deceased Valkyrie warrior. Nesta, Emerie, and Gwyn are the first to complete Valkyrie training and officially be named Valkyries. After that, Cassiand and Azriel set up a different obstacle course each day, that no female is able to complete. On the day that Nesta, Emerie, and Gwyn finally complete it, two generals from the Illyrian army were invited to watch. The three females are then informed that they just completed the qualifying round that Illyrian males must complete in order to qualify for the Blood Rite – a yearly Hunger-Games-type of competition that warriors participate in. At the end of one week, the surviving warriors are ranked based on where on their sacred mountain they are found. 

During all of this training and friendship, Nesta has two other things going on. The first is using her Made powers to find three objects called the Dread Trove: the Crown, the Harp, and the Mask. They are sure that Queen Briallyn has the Crown. Which means they need to find the Mask and the Harp before she does. Nesta is a successful in getting both objects – a great risk to her and Cassian’s life. 

The second and hardest thing she is working on is her relationships with Cassian, Amren, Elain, and Feyre. Nesta is very attracted to Cassian, but she fights her attraction because she doesn’t feel worthy of love. (I also think she struggles with his friendship and loyalty to Rhysand because Nesta hates Rhysand.) She first gives in physically. The two engage in foreplay and eventually sex with the understanding that its “just sex”. Of course, it’s not. Both are crazy for one another, but Nesta thinks Cassian is just using her for pleasure and vice versa. They won’t admit feelings until it is almost too late. 

Back when Nesta was grieving, Amren was the only one who told the others to give her space. Nesta botched that compassion, and the two got into a big fight, causing Amren to walk away from their friendship. When Nesta accidentally imbues three blades with her Made powers, Amren votes to keep the information and the blades away from Nesta. Nesta is so furious when she learns of Amren’s distrust, she performs her biggest sin in the series.

Feyre is pregnant with a boy, and this boy has Illyrian wings. Feyre’s pelvis is High Fae and not shaped to safely deliver a winged baby. When it is time to deliver, she will die, and the baby will probably die as well. This information has been kept from Feyre so that she might have a peaceful pregnancy while everyone else scrambles behind the scenes to find a way to save her. 

When Nesta goes to confront Amren about her voting to keep Nesta in the dark about the magic blades, Feyre shows up to mediate. Nesta is so angry, she tells Feyre the truth about her pregnancy. Everyone is furious with Nesta: Rhysand, Cassian, and Amren. To be honest, this is the first time in the entire series I was on Nesta’s side. Feyre had a right to know what was happening inside her body. The whole thing felt like more a Tamlin thing to do than a Rhysand thing to do. Rhysand is ready to kill Nesta, so Cassian takes her camping in some distant Illyrian mountains. 

It is on this trip that Nesta cracks open all of her pain, trauma, and self-loathing. Cassian holds her, comforts her, and loves her. Upon their return trip, Nesta tries to do better with her family and friends. During the Winter Solstice she and Cassian spend the night together, and the bond finally solidifies. Nesta is scared of the bond, and her reaction upsets Cassian, causing him to say he didn’t ask to be shackled to her. Understandably, Nesta is hurt and commands Cassian to leave her alone until she reaches out to him, or a week has passed, whichever comes first. Nesta flees to Emerie’s cottage with Gwyn. The two help her accept her mate bond with Cassian, but before she can reach out to Cassian, the three females are captured by Illyrian generals and thrown into the Blood Rite. The only three females on a mountain full of misogynistic males who think females belong in the kitchen and rape is okay.

This final showdown is going to be the final test of love for Cassian and Nesta. They will have to make sacrifices for one another, for their friends, for their family, and for the greater good of keeping Prythian free from invading forces. In completing this final sacrifice, Nesta is going to atone for the sins she committed against Feyre since they were young girls. Nesta will overcome the toxic traits her mother had instilled in her and become a new person. 

Nesta’s redemption is beautiful. It doesn’t excuse her past misdeeds. She goes through an excruciating repentance process, and comes out white as snow. When I first started Silver Flames, I really did not believe that I would change my mind about Nesta in the end, but I did. A very well-earned 5 stars.

Silver Flames is the most recent published installment in the ACOTAR series. I have scoured the internet to find out if it’s the last one, because there are a lot of things left open at the end of this one. The only thing I was able to find is Sarah J. Maas’ website lists the series as an “ongoing series”. Silver Flames was published in 2021, so I’m crossing my fingers we’ll have an announcement about the next installment soon! I’m also crossing my fingers that the next book is Elain’s story. I really need to know if Lucien is going to step up and be a good mate or if Azriel is going to steal her away. 

Frost and Starlight: Diversity in Healing

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

A Court of Frost and Starlight is the bridge between Feyre’s story and Nesta’s story. It is much shorter than the rest of the series. To be honest, I think it was meant to be a holiday special. The entire plot surrounds the characters preparing for and celebrating the Winter Solstice. They are also all healing from the recent war against Hybern and the human queens. But each character doesn’t heal at the same pace, or even finish healing by the end of this 4th book. 

Rhysand literally died at the end of the war. The only reason he is back is because Feyre convinced the remaining six High Lords to help her bring him back by donating a piece of their own magic and life force. Whatever happened to Rhys’ spirit while he was dead greatly affected him, and he is struggling to differentiate between reality and his fears. Rhysand jumps back into being High Lord, rebuilding Velaris and other cities, and investigating contentions in the Illyrian army. But where he finds his true healing is in his relationship with Feyre. This is Feyre’s first Winter Solstice in the Night Court and it’s also her 21st birthday. Rhysand is determined to give her a celebration she will never forget. I do not believe Rhysand is fully healed by the end of the Winter Solstice – events of the fifth book show otherwise – but he is doing a lot better than some of the other characters.  

Feyre has a lot of pre-war and post-war trauma to sift through. Now that Nesta is living in the Night Court, Feyre has to find a way to overcome the emotional and verbal abuse she suffered from her older sister both during her human years and recently as a Made High Fae. She has to deal with Rhysand frequently visiting Tamlin. She witnessed her father die, her mate die, and countless others. And as the High Lady, she is helping the Night Court heal by getting involved in charity groups. But as the city heals on the outside, Feyre fails to heal on the inside. She feels tremendously guilty that so many people lost loved ones or lost their livelihood. Back in the very first book, the reader learned that Feyre likes to paint. She stopped painting after Hybern forced her to return to the Spring Court with Tamlin. Feyre cannot seem to bring herself to pick up a paintbrush, and she is invited to by some of the artists in the art section of Velaris. She finally does, and paints her true self – what she saw in the special mirror in the third book. She gives it to Rhysand as a Solstice gift; and they decide they are ready to begin their family. In trying to get pregnant, Feyre and Rhysand are moving forward from the war.   

Morrigan is like Feyre in that many of her traumas are from before the war. Around five hundred years ago, Mor was betrothed to the heir of the Autumn Court, Eris. She did not want to go through with the marriage because the males of the Autumn Court had terrible reputations, and Mor “prefers females” – that’s the terminology used in the series, “gay”, “lesbian”, etc. don’t seem to exist in High Fae language. Mor’s family is too traditional for her to confess her sexuality, so she ends her virginity by seducing Cassian. Her father beats her, and nails a letter to Eris on Mor’s stomach, abandoning her bruised and naked body on the border of the Autumn Court. Eris refuses to take on the responsibility of a soiled wife and leaves her there (though Eris has his own secrets that I may cover in a later post). Mor would have died if Azriel wouldn’t have found her. Understandably, More holds deep seeded hatred for her father and Eris. She is forced to see and work with both of them in preparations for the war. In order to keep her father’s loyalty, Rhysand promises him that he can visit Velaris when he wishes. Mor feels betrayed because Velaris is her sanctuary away from her sadistic family. To avoid her father, Mor spends a lot of time after the war in her estate away from Velaris. By the end of the fourth book, Mor is still in the stage of avoidance.    

Azriel’s scars go back centuries as well. His mother was a maid who was coerced into a relationship with the patriarch of the family she worked for. Azriel is the result of that union. His bastard status led to abuse from his half brothers and the Illyrian warriors he trained with when he joined the army. He hates the Illyrian race for what their traditional views on women and status did to him and his mom. Since he couldn’t save his mom, Azriel projects his mother’s damsel status on Elain. Elain is the meekest of Feyre’s and Rhysand’s family, and Azriel makes sure that Elain is not taken advantage of – both consciously and subconsciously – by the other members of the family. In doing so, Azriel seems to be the only one that Elain is comfortable around. Azriel is also deeply in love with Mor. He has no idea about her sexuality, and moons after her for centuries. While taking care of Elain seems to help heal him from his childhood, it remains to be seen if his heartache over Mor will be healed.   

Elain is also suffering from a broken heart. When she was human, she got engaged to the son of a wealthy human lord. Her fiancée’s family hates faeries and has an extensive collection of warriors and weapons to fight and kill faeries. When Elain was kidnapped and forced into the cauldron, she could not return to her human home and her human fiancée. Her wedding date comes and goes, and Elain is distraught. Her body becoming High Fae revealed that Lucien is her mate, but she wants nothing to do with him. She is still in love with her fiancée. When Rhysand seeks human allies in preparing for the war, Elain goes to her fiancée’s family. Her fiancée rejects her now that she is High Fae. Elain’s heart breaks even more, and she retreats further into herself. Lucien’s (to be honest pitiful) attempts to get her to accept the mate bond go ignored. By the end of Solstice, Azriel’s kindness seems to be warming Elain’s heart, which will continue into the fifth book. (To be honest, I’m rooting for an Azriel-Elain union, but Sarah J. Maas already surprised me by making Mor lesbian, so she’ll probably surprise me by putting Elain with someone else or with no one.)

Lucien has several levels of hurt. Some he has been holding onto for years: his father ordering the death of his lover because she was beneath him, the general hatred from his older brothers, and the loss of one of his eyes, resulting in a metal eye. His most recent struggles are the loss of his friendship with Tamlin, and Elain refusing to accept him as her mate. As a way to numb the pain Lucien creates an unlikely alliance with Jurian and Queen Vassa. The three of them live in the human lands in an abandoned mansion. He is nowhere close to being healed. He is using this new “friendship” to hide from his problems. Very few characters care to help him heal because they put some of the responsibility of Feyre’s abuse on him. He is Tamlin’s best friend and did nothing to stop the mistreatment of Feyre. And even when she saved him from being raped by Ianthe, he still was moody and ungrateful. 

Tamlin is probably one of the few characters who brought on his own pain. In the first book, Tamlin tells Feyre that Rhysand and his father killed Tamlin’s entire family, making Tamlin the unwilling High Lord of the Spring Court. In the second book, Rhysand tells Feyre it was an act of vengeance. Tamlin’s father desired to kill Rhysand. Rhysand had been friendly with Tamlin at previous High-Lord-and-family get-togethers, and he continued to correspond with Tamlin. So Tamlin told his father how he could get Rhysand alone: when Rhysand picked up his mother and sister on their way to visit him in the Illyrian war camp. On that particular trip, Rhysand was late to the meeting spot, and Tamlin, his brothers, and father killed Rhysand’s mother and sister. Rhysand and his father sneak into the Spring Court to exact revenge. Rhysand makes his father promise not to kill Tamlin or his mother. Rhysand’s father doesn’t listen and kills Tamlin’s mother along with his father while Rhysand kills Tamlin’s brothers. Tamlin then kills Rhysand’s father. The two spend the next several centuries hating each other. Tamlin blames Feyre for the destruction of his court and once again accepts no responsibility for his part in her pain that led to the vengeance. 

After the war, Rhysand visits Tamlin every once in a while to check in on him and make sure they have a strong enough alliance so that if the human queens move against Prythian, Rhysand can count on Tamlin for help. Tamlin lives in an empty and ruined castle, finally succumbing to the beast that Feyre thought him to be in the beginning of the first book. During an attempt at a heart-to-heart, Tamlin asks Rhysand if he has forgiven him for the deaths of Rhysand’s mother and sister. Rhysand says, “I haven’t received an apology yet.” Tamlin still in that moment refuses to apologize. Tamlin isn’t even trying to heal, and no one is willing to help him,   

Cassian is struggling with the fact that he survived when so many of his warriors didn’t; and as the top general, he has to answer to their families. During the war, The Cauldron shot an instant death huff of magic into a crowd of flying Illyrians. Nesta could feel it coming before it happened and called Cassian back, saving only him. Cassian has always struggled to convince the Illyrian warriors to respect him as their general because he is literally a bastard. The Illyrians are patriarchal and traditional to a fault. Cassian’s mother was unmarried when she became pregnant with him, placing the two of them at the bottom of the social ladder in their village. It didn’t matter that her pregnancy was a result of rape. It didn’t matter that everyone knew who her rapist was and that he was a married male with a family. Because males rule in this society, they can do whatever they want. So Cassian’s bastard status makes “legitimate” Illyrian warriors despise him. Things are worse after the war, and Cassian has to squash an attempt at rebellion among the warriors. All of this could be easier to handle if Cassian had Nesta at his side. But despite her actions in the war to save Cassian, and her willingness to die with him when all seemed lost; Nesta has returned to being the cold-hearted you-know-what she has been the entire series. On Winter Solstice she hurts him one too many times, and Cassian throws the gift he bought her in the river.  

Nesta is drowning in grief, but we won’t know the full extent until we get to the fifth book. At this point we know she is devastated over her father’s death and is still furious that she is no longer human. She chose to move out of Rhysand’s townhouse and now lives in a rundown apartment. Feyre and Rhysand pay for her rent and fund her lifestyle: spending each night in the pub. Feyre threatens to cut her off financially if she doesn’t come to Solstice. Nesta gives Elain a gift, and Elain gives Nesta a gift. Neither Feyre nor Nesta give each other gifts, showing that the hurt from their human lives is still strong. Nesta has a very long journey to healing that will be covered in the fifth book.

When I read through the book, I didn’t know it was a side story, and understandably felt the plot was weak and rushed compared to the previous three books, and my original rating was 3 stars. Then I jumped onto Goodreads to write my review and saw that it is considered book 3.1. So, now knowing that it is a side story meant to prepare the reader for the next book, I raise my rating to 4 stars. 

I’m about halfway through the fifth book and I have already been tempted to throw my Kindle across the room several times. My heart is slowly warming toward Nesta. I still think many of her past sins aren’t justified, but Sarah J. Maas seems to be good at redemption arcs, so I have an open mind.

Favorite Fictional Moms

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

For Mother’s Day each year, I’d like to highlight three amazing fictional moms/mother figures. This debut year I’ll be showcasing Molly Weasley, Linda Belcher, and Violet Bridgerton.

Molly Weasley comes from the Harry Potter series. On the surface, Molly appears to be the typical frumpy housewife. She’s popped out seven children on her quest to give birth to the coveted daughter. Her husband, Arthur, works a dead-end job while she runs their magical household. And their wild children are constantly getting into trouble. But underneath all that stereotype, Molly loves her family fiercely and will do anything for them. She is also kind and compassionate to those in need

Despite their poverty, the Weasleys never go hungry. Molly is an amazing cook, and her magical talents allow her to summon, transfigure, and multiply enough food to feed an army. She figuratively adopts Harry in the Chamber of Secrets when her sons bring Harry to their home in a flying car. From that book on, Molly makes sure that Harry has a place in her family.

Molly’s biggest flaw is her refusal to support Fred and George’s dream of opening a joke shop. In the Goblet of Fire, she does something that is very hard for many parents: she apologizes. She yells at the twins about their attempt to sneak joke supplies out of the house on their way to the Quidditch World Cup. Disaster strikes the World Cup, and fearing for her family’s safety, Molly feels guilty that the last thing she said to her boys was negative. When they get home safe and sound, Molly hugs them and apologizes. She still isn’t perfect as the Order of the Phoenix is full of drama, but she ultimately supports Fred and George dropping out of school and opening their joke shop.

Molly’s hidden strength is showcased in the Battle of Hogwarts in the Deathly Hallows. Up until that final battle, Molly has been the one staying home having a hot meal ready for the surviving warriors. Not this time. She is there fighting alongside her family for the survival of the wizarding world. It is Molly who vanquishes one of the most evil characters in the entire series, Bellatrix Lestrange. And what did Bellatrix do to earn Molly’s wrath? She threw the killing curse at Ginny, Molly’s daughter.

I could write several posts on Molly’s character alone, but I’ll leave it at this for now. To dive deeper into Molly’s character, read the books!

Linda Belcher is not a literary character, but I love her so much, I had to include her. She is one of the main characters on the TV show Bob’s Burgers. Linda and her husband, Bob, own a struggling burger restaurant somewhere on the east coast. They have three children, Tina, Gene, and Louise, who work in the restaurant after school. 

The reason why I love Linda so much is because she is so positive and supportive of everything her kids enjoy and want to do. She attends all of their extra curricular activities: capoeira classes, school musicals, and street bands. She showcases her children’s art during Art Crawl, defends their “abnormal” creative writing projects to the school counselor, and coaches their independent study swim class.

Even though Linda focuses on her kids the majority of the time, she also has her own passions and believes she deserves to be happy and fulfilled. Linda loves to sing, so she writes a short musical and gets her children and their neighbor to perform in it with her. The show is a disaster, but Linda has a blast and feels successful at the end of the episode. She also drags her family through an attempt to run a Bed and Breakfast, mother-daughter bonding, and the perfect Christmas party. 

Linda Belcher is my soul sister. The similarities between her marriage and mine have my husband and I cracking up every time we rewatch the series – which is often. She has moments where she goes overboard, but her energy and passion make her so likable.

Violet Bridgerton is the mother of eight energetic and cunning children. She is the dowager Viscountess Bridgerton. In the original eight books, she is already a widow, so we only know her in her later years. Her husband, the late Viscount, died from anaphylactic shock to a bee sting; but this was before allergies were understood so his death remains a mystery. Violet was pregnant with their eighth child, Hyacinth, when her husband died; making her oldest, eighteen-year-old Anthony the new Viscount.

The Bridgertons reside in London during the early eighteen hundreds, and upon reaching adulthood, participate each year in the courting culture called “the Season”. The purpose of the Season is to find a spouse by attending as many balls, musicals, and other parties as possible. With eight children to marry off, Violet is a very “determined mama”. However, unlike most of the other mamas of the ton, Violet is not as concerned about status and wealth in the spouse of her children. Kate’s meager dowry and bottom of the totem pole status does not prohibit Violet from accepting her as a daughter-in-law and the new Viscountess. Sophie’s unsavory parentage (her mother a servant and the mistress of her father) doesn’t even make Violet raise an eyebrow – though she is matter of fact with Benedict that he and Sophie will never be accepted by London society, so she supports their need to move to the country after they marry.  And though Hyacinth never tells, I am sure that Violet would not have cared that Gereth was the product of his mother’s affair with her brother-in-law.   

Because Violet’s marriage was a “love match”, she desires the same for all of her children. Even though she desires her children to find true love, her wish for them to find it quickly, and to give her grandchildren, causes her to sometimes jump the gun and encourage matches her children have no desire for. Though every once in a while she hits the mark – like her constant push for her sons to be nice to Penelope Featherington. 

Violet is loving, kind, and compassionate; but when her children mess up, she’ll let them know. She doesn’t raise her voice or demean them. But presents a loving sternness when they need a lecture or advice. Her children love her and know she loves them. The Bridgertons are a tight knit, loyal and protective family, with Violet at the center.  

Happy Mother’s Day! Give some love to the women in your life.

Wings and Ruin: The Cost of War

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

A pattern I have noticed in Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses series is that the subplot from the previous book becomes the main plot of the next book. In A Court of Thorns and Roses, Feyre’s relationship with Rhysand is the subplot of the Under the Mountain part of the book. In A Court of Mist and Fury, Feyre’s relationship with Rhysand becomes the main plot, and preparing for war against Hybern is the subplot. We get to A Court of Wings and Ruin, and preparing for war becomes the main plot. And if Mist and Fury’s big theme is redemption, then Wings and Ruin’s big theme is the cost of war.

What are the costs that our favorite characters have to pay as they prepare and fight in war? The four main costs I saw were betrayal, desensitization, difficult alliances, and sacrifice. 

Betrayal

The betrayals start in Mist and Fury before the war even begins. There is an object called the Cauldron which is the creator of the universe. It can be welded by any being powerful enough, but it also has some form of awareness to it. A book of spells was ripped in half centuries before and separated. This book is needed to control the Cauldron. One half is at the Summer Court. Rhys and Feyre do not believe the High Lord of the Summer Court, Tarquin, will willingly hand it over; so Rhys distracts the guards, while Feyre sneaks into the room the book is hidden in. Their plan is successful, and they immediately feel guilty when they return to Velaris. Tarquin sends them blood rubies with their names engraved on them, announcing them as enemies to the Summer Court. 

The second half of the book is under the guardianship of the six human queens. The book has a protection spell on it that makes it so the book must be freely given. Five of the six queens refuse to give the book to Feyre and Rhysand. The sixth queen sneaks it to them, betraying her “sister” queens. In return, they betray her by handing her over to Hybern, who kills her. Another queen, who is on the fence about this whole thing is handed over to a sorcerer and a curse is placed on her and leaves her a prisoner to him. In fact, the human queens are just full of betrayal. In an effort to convince them that he is trustworthy, Rhysand shows them Velaris. They tell Hybern about Velaris and where it is; Hybern then attacks Velaris. Luckily, Feyre, Rhysand and their court are able to defend Velaris, but the damage is done. Velaris has been exposed to the rest of the world. 

The most heartbreaking betrayal between the two books is probably Tamlin’s betrayal. Shortly after Rhysand rescued Feyre from the Spring Court, Feyre sent a letter to Tamlin saying that she left willingly and she wasn’t coming back. Tamlin refuses to believe this and goes on a crusade to find Feyre and “free” her from Rhysand. Tamlin allies with Hybern in capturing Feyre and Rhysand and splitting them apart. His high priestess, Ianthe, takes the betrayal one step further and hands Feyre’s human sisters, Nesta and Elain, over to the King of Hybern. Hybern uses the Cauldron to change Nesta and Elain into High Fae. 

What’s a betrayal without revenge? Feyre’s about to dish it out. In Wings and Ruin, she pretends that Hybern was successful in breaking her mate bond with Rhysand and returns to the Spring Court with Tamlin. While there, Feyre spies on Tamlin’s alliance with Hybern and sends that information to Rhysand through their bond. She also breaks Ianthe’s hand beyond repair, plants false stories into Ianthe’s head and a few others, and kills Hybern’s visiting generals. By the time Feyre escapes the Spring Court, Tamlin doesn’t have much of a court left.  

Tamlin ends up being the poster boy for a turncoat. He switches sides so frequently that it gives the reader whiplash, and even at the end, it’s still hard to know whose side he is truly on. I personally think he’s on Tamlin’s side. Whatever is going to help him come out alive and still in power. Shortly after Feyre returns to the Night Court, Rhysand invites the other High Lords to a meeting to form alliances and create a game plan against Hybern. Tamlin is invited and he does show up. The next day, he goes running back to Hybern and discloses everything from the meeting! Then when Feyre has snuck into Hybern’s camp to rescue her sister, Tamlin is the one to help her get out when she is about to be caught by Hybern’s beasts. With that betrayal, the question remains, whose side will Tamlin fight on? At first, Tamlin doesn’t show up at all. When things get dire, he shows up with Beron (High Lord of the Autumn Court), and two more surprise armies.   

And our final betrayal is Jurian, the human from the original battle five hundred years previous, brought back to life by Hybern. Hybern underestimated how much Jurian hates faeries. While Hybern is focusing on ripping Feyre and Rhysand apart, Jurian sneaks off to the human lands and raises a human army under the queens’ noses! 

The examples of betrayal in A Court of Mist and Fury and A Court of Wings and Ruin are definitely complex and diverse. Some can be argued as justifiable, others may start out justified and end badly, while others are just downright nasty. And I’m willing to bet  the betrayals I justify could be different from yours. Ms. Maas does an excellent job of making the reader question everyone’s choices. 

Desensitization

Most of the violence that Feyre has participated in has been self defense. When she killed Hybern’s visiting generals, they were trying to prevent her from leaving the Spring Court. The battle of Velaris happened suddenly and Feyre was too pumped up on adrenaline – and revenge, because the Attor is there – to really take in the blood and gore that was flying around. The battle of Adriata is Feyre’s first time preparing and marching into battle. It is quite a different experience for her, and when the fighting is over, Feyre throws up. Mor tells her they were all like that after their first battle; showing that over time, soldiers become desensitized to the horrors of war – not that they necessarily enjoy it, but they are able to glaze over or at least put on a facade that they are. But we’ll learn in the fourth book that being desensitized on the battlefield does not equate to being desensitized once you return home. 

Difficult Alliances

When a war involves more than two nations, the right alliances are paramount to success.

Hybern wants to have access to and control of the human lands. To do so, he reaches out to some very desperate characters: the human queens and Tamlin. Hybern promises the human queens immortality and a promise not to invade the continent, if they step back and allow Hybern to take over the human section of Prythian. Hybern gives Feyre to Tamlin if Tamlin will allow Hybern’s army to use the Spring Court as their path into the human lands. The plot never gets around to showing it, but I firmly believe that Hybern was going to betray the human queens as soon as he had the human lands in his grasp; had he lived long enough to do so.  

The seven courts of Prythian stand between Hybern and the human lands. Rhysand is determined for all seven High Lords to ally together to stand against Hybern. He successfully gets the Day Court, Dawn Court, Summer Court, and Winter Court to agree – though it was not without difficulty. Big headed and powerful men who are used to being solely in charge? Yeah, it took a lot. The Autumn Court outright refuses, and Tamlin goes running off to Hybern as soon as the alliance meeting is over. Rhysand knows that they cannot beat Hybern without all seven courts on board, but he is determined to try.   

These shifty alliances are what lead to many of the betrayals discussed in the first section. 

Sacrifice

In my opinion, personal sacrifice is the biggest cost of war. Everyone who heads onto the battlefield knows there is a chance they won’t come home. And sacrificing one’s life is not the only form of sacrifice. 

Feyre believes that they need a powerful being called the Bone Carver to help. His price? A very special mirror. The only way to get the mirror is to look into it and master whatever you see. It has been centuries since the last time the mirror had been mastered. Most beings who try go mad. The night before the final battle, Feyre decides the risk is worth it; even if she goes mad, Amren can use her body to weld the Cauldron’s magic. Feyre does master the mirror, but she went in not knowing if she could. She was willing to sacrifice her mind for her friends and family.  

Also before the final battle, Azriel helps Feyre rescue Elain. They are viciously attacked, and Azriel’s wings are severely injured. Rhysand orders Azriel to stay behind in the final battle. This infuriates Azriel. Their forces are spread thin as it is, even his injured self is better than having a hole in the line. He obeys his high lord, but as the battle worsens, Azriel joins the fray. During the battle, Cassian is greatly injured to the point of being immobile. The King of Hybern descends upon him and Nesta tries to stop him with the power she stole from the Cauldron, it is not enough. Nesta throws her body on top of Cassian’s and they accept death together. Before the King of Hybern can deliver the fatal blow, Elain stabs him in the neck with Azriel’s favorite sword, Truth Teller. When Azriel had been ordered to not fight, he sacrificed his hold over his sword to Elain so she had something to defend herself with. Even then, Elain was too frail and innocent to weld it, and she accepted it begrudgingly. Elain sacrifices her innocence to save her sister from the King of Hybern.  

While the battle is raging on, Feyre and Amren sneak over to the Cauldron to use its magic to stop Hybern’s power. The only way to do this is to put Amren in the Cauldron and relieve her of her bound form. This is risky because Amren may not remember the love and loyalty she feels for the Night Court and she could accidentally attack everyone (she reminds me of Calypso from Pirates of the Caribbean). Feyre and Amren take the risk. Not only does Amren let go of her “humanity”, but she also sacrifices her life. She is not going to survive this transition once she is done fighting.   

And the final sacrifice comes from Rhysand himself. Amren’s exit from the Cauldron breaks it, creating a blackhole that is sucking everything in. The Cauldron created life, so its destruction ends life. Feyre is the only one powerful enough to fix it (she has all seven High Lord’s powers), but even then it’s not enough. Rhysand transfers all of his energy and power into Feyre so she can finish fixing the Cauldron. This transfer kills him, and even though it saved Prythian, Feyre is inconsolable. She demands that the remaining High Lords help bring Rhysand back like what they did for her when Amarantha killed her. At first they disagreed, saying the situation was different because Feyre had been human. She begs and pleads, and they give in. One by one, each High Lord sacrifices a bit of his life force and magic to bring Rhysand back. It works doubly well, and not only does Rhysand come back to life, but he brings Amren with him. 

No one walks away from this war unscathed. Everyone whether human or faerie, High Lord or lesser faerie has mountains of healing to do, which is what the next book is about. I rated A Court of Wings and Ruin 4 stars. I thought the war plot was excellent (if you can’t tell by the once again long blog post); though a little lengthy. Rhysand and Feyre’s relationship strengthened and Rhysand continued to trust Feyre and allow her room to make her own choices – and mistakes. The only thing I struggled with was the lack of character growth from Nesta and Elain. We are three books in and they are still the same selfish idiots they were in the first book. Though, I did just start the fifth book, which is Nesta’s and Cassian’s story; so I’m crossing my fingers that Nesta has an acceptable redemption arc, because I currently do not like her at all. 

But before we can dive into Nesta’s head, there is a Solstice celebration to attend in A Court of Frost and Starlight. Stay tuned for that post, coming soon!

Mist and Fury: A Perfect Redemption

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

In my post about A Court of Thorns and Roses, I said that I would not give away an important side plot. That’s because I was saving it for this post. Rhysand has a lot of sins to answer for when he reenters Feyre’s life in A Court of Mist and Fury; and I think his redemption arc is darn near perfect. But first, let’s review those sins from the first book. 

Rhysand, the High Lord of the Night Court meets Feyre twice before she ends up Under the Mountain – where their story really begins. Rhysand snuck into Tamlin’s court during an outside celebration. Neither the reader nor Feyre know this at the time, but Rhysand has been having dreams and visions about Feyre, and he came to see her during the commotion of the celebration. Feyre is being dragged into the woods by some unsavory characters, and Rhysand saves her. He invites her to spend the night with him, and she declines. Rhysand accepts Feyre’s rejection and disappears.

The next time Rhysand visits, he is there on Amarantha’s errand. He uses his powers to read Feyre’s mind and tells Tamlin “she has such delicious thoughts about you.” This turns Feyre off to him, and she believes him to be a villain. 

The next time they meet is Under the Mountain when all seven courts of Prythian are prisoners to Amarantha. While Feyre is waiting for her first challenge, the guards force her to do impossible cleaning tasks. One such task puts her in Rhysand’s room cleaning his fireplace. Rhysand shows up and cleans his fireplace and Feyre with the wave of his hand. He then “hypnotizes” the guards into stopping such nonsense.

During Feyre’s first challenge against the giant worm, only one High Fae bets in favor of Feyre winning: Rhysand. Even though Feyre beat the worm, she did not avoid injury. Her arm was cut during the fight, and it became infected in her prison cell. The infection is killing her when Rhysand shows up and offers to heal her, for a price. The price is that when Feyre breaks Amarantha’s curse, she will spend two weeks each month in Rhysand’s home. Feyre negotiates Rhysand down to one week out of each month. He heals her and she wakes up to a healed arm and a tattoo that covers her entire arm. The tattoo is proof of the deal she made with Rhysand.

For the next two months, Rhysand’s maids collect Feyre each night, wash her, paint temporary tattoos over every inch of exposed skin, dress her in revealing clothing, and deliver her to Rhysand (major Mummy vibes here). She serves as Rhysand’s companion for the evening activities at Amarantha’s court. Rhysand serves her a very strong wine that makes her forget everything each night – though she is able to deduce that she spends her nights sitting on Rhysand’s lap or dancing for his entertainment. So, on the surface, Rhysand is not looking like a good guy, but even so, there was something about him that I trusted. I just knew there were going to be deeper layers to him. 

The permanent tattoo from their deal has an eye in Feyre’s palm, and she can feel a second presence in her mind that she believes comes from the eye. In fact, the presence helps her pick the right answer to help her beat the second challenge. 

When Feyre beats Amarantha’s final challenge, Amarantha beats up Feyre. Rhysand is the only one who tries to physically stop Amarantha. Amarantha snaps Feyre’s neck right after Feyre solves the final riddle, freeing all High Fae from Amarantha’s curse. Feyre dies, and all 7 High Lords are at full strength. Tamlin kills Amarantha, and the 7 High Lords of Prythian give Feyre’s body a piece of their magic, bringing her back to life as a High Fae.    

And that’s how the first book ends. I’m so sorry to make this so long, but I just love Rhysand. He is possibly my favorite literary character, so I need to do him justice.

At the start of A Court of Mist and Fury, Feyre goes three months without Rhysand imposing the deal they made when he saved her life Under the Mountain. Feyre’s relationship with Tamlin is not going well. He wants to keep Feyre locked up in pretty dresses planning parties. She wants to be a warrior. The day of their wedding, Feyre panics and is about to call off the wedding. Before she can, Rhysand appears and announces it’s time for Feyre to keep her end of the bargain. He whisks her away to his castle at the Night Court. 

Feyre’s wedding to Tamlin is postponed indefinitely. For two months she returned to Rhysand’s for a week. During each of those weeks, Rhysand teaches Feyre how to read and write and how to close her mind from his – and anyone else who might have that power – invasions. Feyre also meets Rhysand’s female cousin Morrigan, who goes by Mor. Mor is friendly and welcoming and is determined to be Feyre’s friend. 

When Feyre is at the Spring Court, she can tell that Tamlin is keeping something from her. He keeps leaving on expeditions. On one such expedition, Feyre asks for Tamlin to take her with him. He refuses and goes so far as to place a spell around the palace, keeping Feyre inside. She can’t even stick her hand out the window. Feyre loses it and her magic explodes and implodes. Her engagement ring melts off her finger and she gets stuck in her own mind of darkness. Mor and Rhysand arrive, breaking Tamlin’s spell and taking Feyre home with them. 

When Feyre decides that she doesn’t want to return to Tamlin and the Spring Court, Rhysand takes her to his real home: Velaris. Velaris is a secret city in the Night Court. This city shows Rhysand’s true character: The Court of Dreams. To the rest of the world, Rhysand wears a mask of cool detachment and darkness. He does this because previous High Lords of the Night Court were like that, and the reputation they created for themselves prevented other courts from trying to take advantage of and harm the lands and citizens. Rhysand wears this mask to protect his people. Velaris was the only place in Prythian untouched by Amarantha. 

It is in Velaris that Feyre is healed. She gains back the weight she lost, she starts training, and she falls in love. She falls in love with the city, the citizens, and her new friends – Rhysand’s friends. Mor, Amren, Cassian, and Azriel seem like a band of misfits on the surface, but they are Rhysand’s chosen family full of acceptance. They love and support one another, and Feyre is now a part of their group. 

Rhysand does not keep any secrets from Feyre – except one, which we’ll get to eventually. He doesn’t prohibit her from doing whatever she wants to do. He trains her to strengthen her powers and his army general Cassian trains her in combat. Whenever they go on a mission, Feyre is allowed to come and participate. Often, Rhysand uses the mission to test Feyre’s abilities so that she can know for herself that she is capable.

Rhysand tells Feyre something very important that Tamlin is keeping from her: Prythian has a new enemy, a hundred times stronger than Amarantha. Her mentor, The King of Hybern. Rhysand and several other High Lords believe that he will go after Prythian now that Amarantha has failed. Rhysand believes that Feyre is their secret weapon since she has the same powers as all seven High Lords. 

As Rhysand shows that he is everything Tamlin is not, Feyre begins to fall for him; but she won’t admit it to him or herself. Honesty forces itself on the two when Rhysand is captured by a small band of Hybern’s soldiers and Feyre saves him. The creature Feyre calls on for help, the Suriel, only tells the truth. The Suriel tells Feyre that she is Rhysand’s mate. Up until this moment, fated mates haven’t been a key focus of the story. It was mentioned a few times in conversation, but it’s not something that happens to every faerie in Prythian.

Rhysand suspected that Feyre was his mate while she was human, and he knew for certain after he and the other High Lords brought her back to life. Feyre is furious that he kept that information secret, and after she heals him, she runs away – not forever, but she needs a few days in solitude. Mor takes her to a special cabin that’s a full-scale house version of the Room of Requirement, only this one can provide food. 

After a few days of painting and moping, Rhysand shows up and Feyre allows him in. She is ready to listen to his explanations. While Rhysand talks, Feyre serves him a bowl of soup – the traditional way to tell him that she accepts the mate bond and accepts Rhysand as her mate. Rhysand didn’t want to force Feyre to be with him. He wanted to respect her feelings for Tamlin, even though it killed him. Her panic on her wedding day called down the bond, and Rhysand took the opportunity to rescue her and begin a courtship. He wanted Feyre to fall in love with him without the bond telling her to. When Rhysand finishes his soup, he and Feyre finally consummate their bond. 

Rhysand’s redemption arc is my favorite to date. I think one of the main reasons his redemption works is because the purpose of his earlier sins was to protect the city and people he loved. Everything he did to Feyre Under the Mountain was to protect her, even though she couldn’t see it at the time. And I normally loathe the lie-to-protect trope, but this one is done so well. I knew right away there was more to Rhysand, I just didn’t know what. So every scene with him was so edge-of-my-seat as I tried to figure it out. I never did. Velaris was as big of a surprise to me as it was to Feyre. Rhysand’s past is heart-breakingly beautiful – I couldn’t even fit all of it into this already too long post. 

I look forward to the day that I write as wonderful of a redemption. 5 stars for A Court of Mist and Fury.

An Oldie but a Goodie: The Lost Chord by Lyndi Alexander

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

The Lost Chord came out in April of 2018. The book took some time to find a publishing home, but finally landed at Dragonfly Publishing, Inc. where it has done well. I was happy to have the book come out in April, because that is Autism Awareness Month—and so is April 2023!

The Lost Chord has a unique heroine, in that she is on the autism spectrum. The inspiration for Bee Warrick is my own daughter, Tasha, who is autistic, and approaches much of life from a very different perspective than we do.  In the story, Bee is 15 years old, an imaginative young lady who spends a lot of time in her own world. She doesn’t realize that her “world” is actually made up of  spots in several different universes, and she has been travelling among them her whole life.

As one who suffers with Sensory Integration Disorder, she is overly sensitive to loud noises and often stims by running her hands through bins of rocks, feeling sand on her fingers, etc.  She is very educated about rocks and crystals and will eventually choose a talisman gem for each of the travelers commensurate with their chakra.

Corydon Briggs: Cory is 17, a minor athlete who plays on the varsity football team for his school on our Earth, in Universe E, but he’s no star, never will be.  He’d rather play in the marching band, but his brother, six years older than he, died as a rising football star so he is pressured to live up to Stan’s standard by his firmly middle-class parents.  An avid reader of sci-fi and fantasy, he’s moved on to online video games where he can become a hero, a role he believes he can’t hold in real life.

Devlynn Kayne: Devlynn comes from B Universe, where the black race has privilege and whites do not, and she is a black girl of 16. She is a star student, bound for higher education in the sciences, perhaps medicine someday. She shuns extracurricular school activities, concentrating instead on her after-school business designing web sites, which has made her quite a bit of money. She thought she had her whole life planned out before her—until she meets the quest for the Chord.

Hana Moss:  Hana is essentially a wild child, having been raised by a single dad who’s an artist and musician in the desert in Universe F. They’ve pretty much kept to themselves. She’s home schooled and never had siblings, though she has many friends through the Netlink, their version of the internet. She’s had an eclectic upbringing and has created a “family” from a number of pets, a couple of wolf-dogs and a small wildcat, but also an iguana, a tarantula and a tank of salt water fish.

Maxian: Max is tall and thin, bookish, and comes from Universe A. His eyes are startling blue, with a vertical pupil like a cat’s, and a light coat of fur that can almost pass for body hair, a trait developed by his people to compensate for the fact his planet is further from their star than Earth, with less light and heat.  He is reckoned at 8 revolutions by the ways of his people, but in Earth years would be about 18. Max’s gift is perfect pitch, and is honored among his kind for his ability to sing the Stories, the verbal history handed down from generation to generation. He carries a set of wooden runes carved into wood, and uses them to divine his choices.

The Conductor: He is the raison d’etre of the journeys of these children, coercing, teaching and leading them into position to fulfill the prophecy to unite all the “notes” or “keys” into the lost chord. A former professor of music, before music was banned on his homeworld in Universe H, he has the secret information passed to him by Ruane Alm that can heal the universe by bringing together the lost Chord.

See the book trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRTzaB5rUKo

This story was actually written for NaNoWriMo, so unlike my usual pantser mode, I needed to work the plot, characters and settings out before November 1, since I only had 30 days to complete it. I did finish on time, which I’m proud of. 😊 Probably half of my published books have started this way. I find that ticking deadline quite an inspiration.

I hope that this book opens a window into the world of how someone on the spectrum thinks and perceives, and shows that even though they may not approach life as we do, that they have unique and valuable gifts to share.

Lyndi Alexander always dreamed of faraway worlds and interesting alien contacts. She lives as a post-modern hippie in Asheville, North Carolina, a single mother of her last child of seven, a daughter on the autism spectrum, finding that every day feels a lot like first contact with a new species. Follow Lyndi’s journey at her website: Lyndi Alexander’s Worlds of Fancy.

A poisonous wave is spreading disease and discord across the eleven known universes. Seven special people, known as Keys, must strike the Lost Chord in order to restore the balance. Among those Keys is Bee Warrick, an autistic teenager from Earth who has traveled between the realms for years without realizing it.

Can Bee help the Conductor find the other Keys before a bitter enemy strikes the wrong chord and shatters the universes?

ACOTAR: Beauty and the Beast Meets the Goblet of Fire

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

Across social media, I keep seeing this title pop up: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. Then, my editor recommended that I read the full series to help with some of the ideas I pitched for the sequel to Bondwitch. And when your editor tells you to read something, you read it. So, I moved it up to the top of my to-read list. I finished the first book and am halfway through the second, A Court of Mist and Fury.

ACOTAR was published in 2015, so I think it’s been out long enough that I can discuss it in depth without being accused of spoilers. However, if you haven’t read it and you care about going in blind, stop reading now. But I can promise, I will not give away a very important side plot, and I will not give away the end. 

The story begins with our human protagonist, Feyre, hunting in the woods. I actually got strong Hunger Games vibes in that first chapter. Feyre is the narrator, and she introduces her world to the reader while she hunts a doe. Feyre’s family is dirt poor, and her hunting is what feeds and clothes them. They live on the edge of the human world  and faerie world. Faeries are not small Tinker-Bell-and-friends creatures. They are powerful, dangerous and evil. The doe Feyre is hunting gets killed by a wolf. Feyre kills the wolf – with the understanding that it could be a faerie in disguise – skins it, and takes the deer’s body back home with the wolf’s skin.

The next night a beast breaks into Feyre’s house – the way Maas describes this beast made me imagine the zouwu from Fantastic Beasts The Crimes of Grindelwald. The beast can talk, and the wolf Feyre killed was a faerie. According to the beast, the treaty between faeries and humans allows faeries to exact revenge if a human kills a faerie. The faerie decides that Feyre will pay for the life she took by returning to his home with him and living the rest of her life in Prythian, the faerie land. 

At this point, the Beauty and the Beast parallels begin.

The Beast is a High Fae named Tamlin, he is the High Lord of the Spring Court. In his faerie form he is large and attractive, except a gold masquerade mask covers most of his face. In fact, all of his subjects wear masquerade masks. About fifty years before, they were cursed during a masquerade party and the masks were stuck on their faces. Although Tamlin may be the physical beast, Feyre is the one with a hardened heart that Tamlin and the other faeries will slowly soften during her stay. 

“Lumier and Cogsworth” are combined into one character named Lucien. He is Tamlin’s best friend and right hand man. He’s not particularly fond of Feyre, and leads her to believe he would prefer her dead. The two eventually grow on each other and develop a teasing friendship. 

“Mrs. Potts” is a faerie servant named Alis. She is assigned to be Feyre’s personal maid in helping her dress, do her hair, etc. Alis is not warm and welcoming. Feyre is a job to her, and making Feyre accept and follow faerie culture and fashion is her goal – at least from what Feyre can see. Alis’ “Chip” are her two orphaned nephews, but we don’t get to meet them, just learn about them. 

Other Easter Eggs include Feyre getting attacked  in the surrounding forest by some unsavory creatures, and Tamlin comes to her rescue. Another time, Tamlin returns to the castle in the middle of the night with a bleeding and injured hand. Feyre cleans it and patches it up for him. And last, Feyre loves to paint. Tamlin unlocks the art gallery in the castle for Feyre and gives her a room full of canvas, paints, and brushes. 

Feyre and Tamlin develop feelings for each other, and right when things are going well, their first large hurdle arrives. Rhysand is the High Lord of the Night Court. Tamlin and Lucien do not like him at all. Rhysand serves a woman named Amarantha that everyone seems to fear. Tamlin doesn’t believe that Rhysand will keep Feyre’s existence a secret, and sends Feyre back to the human world. The Beast lets Belle go. Tamlin tells Feyre he loves her, but she is so hurt he is sending her away that she refuses to say it back. 

While Feyre was away, Tamlin had imprinted false memories into her family’s minds and gifted them with a fortune. She struggles to fit in back home, and after a couple weeks finds herself traveling back to Prythian to demand Tamlin take her back. She arrives at a desolate and nearly destroyed castle. Alis is the only one left. She tells Feyre everything.

The Spring Court had been cursed fifty years ago by Amarantha as punishment for Tamlin refusing her advances. The way to break the curse was for a human woman to kill a faerie with hate in her heart and then fall in love with Tamlin and agree to marry him. Tamlin sent Feyre away three days before the deadline to break the curse. And as soon as that deadline was up, Amarantha dragged Tamlin and his court back to her own: Under the Mountain.  

And now, the Goblet of Fire begins.

Feyre travels to Under the Mountain where she is thrown in front of Amarantha and Tamlin. Feyre confesses her love to Tamlin. Amarantha offers Feyre a deal: beat three challenges, and Tamlin and his court will be freed. 

Much like young Harry, Feyre’s first challenge is to survive a dangerous flesh eating creature. She is dropped into a maze of tunnels belonging to a giant worm with razor sharp teeth. Unlike Harry, Feyre can’t just get by the giant worm. She has to kill the giant worm before it kills her. This challenge is where Feyre will prove to Amarantha’s court that humans can be strong and brave.  

Feyre’s second challenge also involves a riddle and saving someone she cares for. And no it’s not Tamlin. Amarantha wouldn’t risk her desired toy. Feyre and Lucien are stuck in a pit, metal bars separating them. A ceiling of spikes is slowly lowering toward them. Carved on the wall is a riddle. The answer to the riddle tells Feyre which of three levers to pull to stop the lowering of the spikes. There’s one major problem: Feyre is illiterate. An unexpected ally will help Feyre through this challenge.  

The third challenge doesn’t match Harry’s third task in the Triwizard tournament. And in fact, I’m not sure if I want to tell you what it is. What I will say is it is the most heart wrenching of everything that has happened so far and will lead to the grand finale. The ending was very unexpected for me and I’m still recovering from it.

A Court of Thorns and Roses is one of the more interesting books I’ve read recently. If you want an emotional roller coaster set to a magical backdrop, this book is for you. I’m so glad my editor recommended it. 5 stars.

The Fantasy Series to Introduce to Young Readers Before Harry Potter

Posted on by Chelsey M. Ortega

I read the first three Harry Potter books when I was in third grade. That was 1999. I got to stand in line at midnight for the remaining releases. I grew up with Harry. I was 10 when the 4th book was released, 13 when the 5th book was released, 15 when the 6th book was released, and 17 when the 7th book was released. However, if the entire series had already been published by the time I discovered the books in 1999, I would have gotten to the 5th, 6th, and 7th books and a lot of vital information would have gone over my head.

In between book releases, I discovered another series: Charlie Bone. The first book Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo, starts out a lot like Harry Potter. Charlie is a young boy on the cusp of adolescence, and has discovered that he can hear people in photographs. Charlie’s father died under mysterious circumstances, and he was raised by his mom, two grandmothers and three great-aunts.

Upon the revelation of Charlie’s powers, his paternal grandmother and great-aunts decide he is no longer worthless and send him to Bloor’s Academy, a school for the gifted and talented. On the surface, the gifted and talented students are either budding artists, musicians, or actors. Hidden behind the school’s walls, a small group of students are there because they have very special talents like Charlie: one student can hypnotize, another can feel the emotions in clothing, and another can turn into a beast. 

People who have such talents are considered to be descendents of the Red King, an ancient sorcerer whose crumbling castle lies behind Bloor’s Academy. The Red King had twelve children, who began to fight as they grew up and moved away. Descendents loyal to their ancestor continue to fight on the side their ancestor chose. 

There are eight books in the series. Throughout those eight books Charlie works on his talent, helps his fellow classmates, and tries to solve the mystery of what happened to his dad.

The order of the books are as follows:

Midnight for Charlie Bone

Charlie Bone and the Time Twister

Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy

Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors

Charlie Bone and the Hidden King

Charlie Bone and the Beast

Charlie Bone and the Shadow

Charlie Bone and the Red Knight

The reason why I think this series is a great segue to Harry Potter for young readers is one, the obvious similarities. Two, each book only covers a few days to a few weeks of time. So from book one to book eight, Charlie ages only one or two years, which keeps the danger, death, and evil to age appropriate levels (for my conservative mind, anyway). Granted, there are some characters and scenes that as an adult, I noticed are way more evil and cruel than I realized when I was young; but it’s kind of like adult jokes in a Disney movie – the kids don’t get it, but the parents know exactly what’s going on.

The Charlie Bone series is definitely a hidden gem in mid-grade literature. If your young readers like fantasy, this is a great series to introduce them to.