Hiya peeps! I'm super excited to share this book with you today. It looked so good, I just had to review it! Check that out below, along with book and author info! =D
Magic Harvest
Fairy Trafficking #1
Fairy Trafficking #1
~Author: Mary Karlik
~Publisher: Ink Monster LLC
~Published: September 18th, 2018
~Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Young fae girls are disappearing.
Layla has never belonged to the fairy realm – at least, half of her hasn’t. She’s never known anyone with human blood, not even her father. When she was three, the dragon Fauth attacked the fairy festival, murdering her fae mum & stepfather. Frankly, some fairies think she should’ve been eaten too.
As she grew, despite being called names like “fuman” for being a half-blood, she’s discovered that being half-human isn’t terrible. She may lack magic, but she is immune to iron sickness, and she can wield a sword with elven skill.
Magic in the human world is disastrous.
Sixteen years later, when Layla’s half-sister is kidnapped and taken through a portal to the forbidden human realm, Layla rushes to the rescue. She’s older and stronger, and she’s not about to let her last living family member be taken from her without a fight.
Only someone who belongs to both worlds can find the truth.
The portal spits her out in the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, but neither her sister or the kidnapper are anywhere to be found. Stuck in a world she only knows from school books, Layla forges unlikely alliances to find her sister. As she becomes tangled in the dark world of fairy trafficking, magic harvesting, and murder, Layla will have to find the strength within if she is to survive and save her sister.
Mary Karlik has always been a dreamer. When she was a teen, she read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and then sat in every wardrobe in her Nanna’s home, trying to open the door to Narnia. She didn’t find it, but she did discover her voice as an author: one filled with her young adult self, and grounded in her roots as a Texan and her Scottish heritage, nourished by obscure Scottish folklore.
You can find her Texas roots in her YA contemporary romance Hickville series , which has been described as “100% solid storytelling,” and begins with Welcome to Hickville High, a “lovely story about growing up.”
She digs deep into her Scottish roots – there is magic there, she just knows it – for the forthcoming YA epic fantasy Fairy Trafficking series, beginning with Magic Harvest.
She makes her home in the beautiful Sangre de Cristo mountains of Northern New Mexico where she is a certified professional ski instructor, but she also loves visiting Scotland where she is currently studying Scottish Gaelic at the University of Highlands and Islands in Skye. Mary also earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, has a B.S. degree from Texas A&M University, and is a Registered Nurse.
Mary currently serves as the President of the Young Adult Chapter of Romance Writers of America and looks forward to raising a glass or two of gin and tonic with her fellow writers every year at RWA’s national convention.
~ Connect with Mary Online ~
One of the better books I've read this year.
A good fae story will have me as an instant fan, although they have become few and far between. I had all but given up on finding a good fae story this year at all, but this one knocked it out of the park! Danger, action, magic, and just enough humor to keep it floating, this story was exactly what I needed.
Layla is a character I went back and forth with liking, but in the end, I found her relatable and endearing. Esme was the same way, and together they made an interesting set of characters, even from the first page. In truth, all the characters seemed well developed, and most went through some sort of growth in the pages of this book, which is always a must in a good story.
The writing was fluid, albeit somewhat choppy. I don't mind the writing style, and while it would most likely fit better with a contemporary action story, it didn't distract too much from the fae magic happening. I enjoyed the mix of suspense and humor, as well as a lot of the word choices and phrasing. I would definitely read the sequels to this series starter.
Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It was a fantastic adventure, and left me wondering what would happen next. I would recommend this to any fairy story fan, and look forward to seeing more from this author in the future.
*I was given a complimentary eCopy of this book, from the author via Xpresso Book Tours, to read in exchange for an honest review.
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