Monday, November 4, 2013

For Your Heart by A.L. Davroe

Title:  For Your Heart
Author:  A.L. Davroe
Series:  Retellings #1
Published:  October 31st 2013
Genre:  YA paranormal romance
Shelf:  review copy
Rating:  ★★★★


Book Blurb:

Experience THE BALLAD OF TAM LIN like you’ve never read it before…

It has been seven years since Jeanette Sauderheim followed her best friend into Carver Hall Park...and came out alone. Jeanette has never gotten over his mysterious disappearance nor has she gone back into the park. While that traumatic night still haunts her, Jeanette distracts herself by balancing her time between trying to pass Spanish, hanging out with her friends, and reading the latest manga.

But, when a promise to a friend drives her back into the park, she's forced to re-live the memories of that night. Lost and confused, Jeanette crosses paths with Tamrin, whose violent reaction to her provides yet another reason to avoid the park.

Tamrin, a knight of the Summer Court, has been sent to Earth to guard a garden of roses that hold special meaning to the queen of the Summer faeries. When his distraction at meeting Jeanette leads to her picking one of the Summer Queen’s roses, Tamrin vows to right his failure to do his duty.

However, the equivalent of one of the queen’s roses is a human heart and Tamrin’s reluctance to readily exact the sum from Jeanette sets in motion a spiral of love, betrayal, and magic that could mean damnation for them both.

*This is an Upper YA paranormal romance novel with NA and contemporary fantasy appeal.

Excerpt:

I slip down the oak and kneel behind the trunk of a white pine. She has stopped spinning and is now pacing forward, her eyes scanning the ground like she's looking for something. Then she stops and I see what she sees. Everything inside me freezes solid. I fight to breathe, I fight to stop her, but I can't move. She steps forward and crouches in front of one of Roxel’s precious jewels.

No, don't touch the roses.

She reaches out and her fingers delicately trace the deep red petals of the tallest, most beautiful rose. A delicious shiver dances up my spine. The look on her face is enough to electrocute my heart back into beating and I draw in an awed breath. She’s so beatific and enrapt that I’m entranced by her pleasure. I never knew a woman could look at something with such innocent, unbridled pleasure. Her eyes go liquid and her cheeks flush a shade pinker, her warmth spreads through my veins like a summer's breeze. Her lips part ever so slightly, like she's expecting a kiss – one I’m more than willing to give. Then I hear it:

Snap

I blink and my eyes trace the smooth length of her arm. She's got the rose's stem in her hand, but the stem no longer reaches into the ground. Inch by inch, the space between the flower and dirt grows until Lovely has the petals against her soft lips and, eyes closed, is savoring the scent of the faerie queen's sacred bloom.

For a moment, the simple act sends a primal ripple of pleasure slithering over my skin. But then my mind takes hold and my heart gallops wild, fear eating my intestines like a rabid wolf. What is Roxel going to do to me? I’m to protect her roses, that’s why she sent me to patrol Carver Hall Park. What will I do? She's going to kill me.

Suddenly, I'm filled with hatred for this tantalizing but destructive human girl. She couldn't appreciate the beauty before her, she had to destroy it. Why should I die on account of her folly?

Before I realize what I'm doing, I let out a roar and leap through the underbrush. I grasp her by her treacherous hand, throw her to the ground, and hold her there.

“What have you done!?” I demand, knowing full well the implications of what I'm asking. “How dare you come to this place! How dare you pick a rose! How dare you break its stem! Do you not understand that you must ask leave of me!?”

Lovely’s fingers loosen around the rose as terror slackens her muscles. Those fae green eyes chase her crimson sin as it falls to the ground. Then she stares at me, as if she can’t believe I am real.

I tighten my grasp, drawing her attention to my hand shackled around her wrist, reassuring her that I am no dream. “Speak up.”

My Review:

Ok, I fully admit, this novel was a bit confusing at the beginning but once the two story lines came together it was phenomenal. Davroe’s approachable writing style and phenomenal descriptions draw you in so completely. She uses very appropriate descriptions that show rather than tell you what’s going on. She combines a few different myths about the fae and gives it a twist of her own to create a very unique and utterly captivating tale.

I appreciate the fact that this cast of characters mixes real people with the fae. Because of the switch es in perspectives you really get to know the main characters both as they see themselves and as they see each other. Davroe gives you some remarkable insights into these breathtaking characters. The combination of adult and juvenile reactions to situations fits perfectly with the age of the characters. They are growing up in a real way, with a remarkable twist.

Friends, trust, and betrayal all make their way into this brilliant tale that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to anyone.

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About the author:

A.L. Davroe writes both YA and adult speculative fiction. Her debut YA paranormal romance novel, FOR YOUR HEART, releases October 31, 2013. By day, she lives in Connecticut her two feline hench-creatures. She’s a terrible blusher, has a weak spot for cuddly animals, loves Laffy Taffy and Cadbury MiniEggs, and she’s a huge advocate of alternative healing methods. She also wears Vibram five-finger toe shoes and corsets...Though not always in the same ensemble. She’s a Capricorn, a Hufflepuff, and a few nuggets short of a Happy Meal.

Website: www.aldavroe.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ALDavroeFanPage
Twitter: @aldavroe
Blog: www.aldavroe.com

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