Cover Image: Blood of the Fae

Blood of the Fae

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Member Reviews

After her boyfriend leaves her, she receives a mysterious call asking her to run because someone is coming to hurt her. Our main character embarks in a trip to something way bigger than she thought and something in the mist that wants her.


Unfortunately I could not connect with the characters at all. The book felt extremely repetitive, had a messy plot and you lose interest fast as soon as our main character gets to know the Finn family and it all strarts to feel slow, repetitive and really predictable.

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This is a wondrous tale of the world of fae. The worldbuilding was amazing. The characters were multi dimensioal. I was very engrossed in this fabulous story and I read it in one sitting. I found it to be original and fresh. I really enjoyed it.

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Publication date January 21, 2020
I want to thank NetGalley, BHC press and the author for giving me the opportunity to review this novel.
First off I love how the author started off with such intensity, surely it caught my interest and had me hooked to the story-line. One thing that I really wanted from this book was a background on the main character. I know that her finding out her destiny and the truth about her father plays a major role in the plot of the story, but even in the end it was never explained. Other than that the story-line was gripping and it left me wanting more.
I really enjoyed the authors writing style and I am looking forward to reading more from him.

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I ended up DNF'ing this because it was too all over the place/ didn't flow well. It also sounded like this was going to be closer to urban fantasy, but when reading, it sounded more like a thriller/ horror.

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I enjoyed this at the beginning, but half way through it seemed to lose my interest, I did finish the book but I am not sure if I would continue with the series

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***Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley!***

This book is proving to be a difficult one to review and decide on an appropriate rating. I finished it over 24 hours ago and am still trying to put my thoughts together. On the whole, it was an alright story. There was absolutely nothing revolutionary about it, but it’s a solid story.

Let’s start with Liza. I did not really like her as a character. I found her to be annoying for the most part. She starts off fine, a bit histrionic but who wouldn’t be freaked out by the things she is discovering about the world? After awhile she seemed far stupider than I felt she should be. The pieces were there but she just refused to put them together and instead continued with her internal narrative that “there’s no way that any of this involves me”. Literally everyone in the book is telling you that it does. Hell, your dreams are telling you that it does! The strange happenings are telling you that it does! EVERYTHING IS SCREAMING AT YOU THAT YOU ARE INVOLVED!! So while there was nothing actually wrong with the character, she grew to be infuriating. And then when we got to the end of the book, it turned out she was pretty useless and unnecessary to the plot. More on that in a minute.

The characterization of the fae was fabulous. I enjoyed seeing a more horrifying aspect of the land of fae instead of the pretty, sparkling faeries that are so common in literature. I can’t say that the book was overly scary, but the horror aspects of it were very well written and interesting.

I can’t say that I can conjure up too much emotion about the other characters since I did not feel that I got to know them at all. They were a flat and lacked qualities that would have made them more relatable and realistic characters. They were fine, but one dimensional. They also seemed to be a bit stupid at times, similar to Liza’s stupid. They acknowledge that everything happening is telling them that the old rules don’t apply. But then they run around screaming, “Oh My God! Why are the old rules not working!?” Well, duh, you just said why just a few pages ago.

A lot of this book was difficult to read. I found myself reading the same page a few times in order to understand what was going on. I am not entirely sure what made it difficult but I had a very hard time.

On to my last point for this: The ending. Warning!!!! Spoilers:





So, the whole point of the book is that Liza is a fae princess and has to choose between two princes. One prince wants the fae to rule the world and exterminate humans. One prince wants the fae to live in a dimension completely separate from humans and allow the peaceful existence of both. In the end, Liza will choose her prince and that will decide the fate of the world. But then we get to the end and she doesn’t choose! She chooses to stab herself instead in order to not have to make a choice. And somehow this meant that her choice was for peaceful co-existence of humans and fae? I have no idea where that ending came from but I didn’t like it. Making a choice by not making a choice and then somehow that means that everything is fine. So dumb and kind of made me feel the book was pointless in the end.

At the end of the day this book was decently written with passable characters and the fae are good enough to make this book a decent read.

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Stephen King meets the land of the Fae. This was a very heavy read. The style reminded me of the Talisman. I happen to be a huge King can so the writing style worked for me. The world building is cinematic. The story keeps you engaged and in a constant state of wonder. You have to pay close attention because it's 3rd person POV and follows quite a few characters jumping scenes often. I enjoyed the read but the ending could have used a little something to give it that wow factor. I will definitely try more from this author

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I liked this enthralling mix of horror and fantasy.
It well written and I liked the plot and the cast of characters.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

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*spoilers*

I was sent a copy of this to review from netgalley. This is only the second book in my life I’ve ever had to just walk away from. The plot sounded so good and I’m so disappointed I couldn’t get through it.

The characters (to the point I read) were dry. I had no interest or connection with them. The explanation of the different worlds was vague and changed depending on which character was telling it.

I stopped however after they said they had to help their parents and one page... JUST one page later they got a phone call telling them to hurry something is wrong. Then they were surprised it was their parents. Did they or did they not know?!

I think that this book had all the potential in the world. It just didn’t hit the mark for me.

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Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This book is available now.

I’m rather apathetic about this book, to be honest. The description immediately interested me: weird doings in a weird town? Talk of the fae? I’m down. However, the book didn’t really go anywhere.

I spent this first third of the book really confused. Things seemed very choppy to me. I couldn’t connect with Liza at all. For example: at the beginning she gets a call to an unplugged landline phone where a stranger predicts a break-in and leads her out of the house safely. It’s all very Matrix. But Liza spends much less time being completely weirded out than I could believe. Another thing that felt odd, is that there didn’t seem to be a sense of urgency at all. I couldn’t bring myself to care about any of the characters or what happened to them.

That’s not to say the book didn’t have its strengths. I liked the darker tones throughout the book, and it seemed that the storyline was always on the verge of going somewhere really cool. Unfortunately, it just didn’t seem to get there.

Ultimately, this book wasn’t for me.

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ARC from NetGalley

2.5 stars

I was bracing myself for this to be much darker than it is. This was not a thriller. It was not terribly dark. Take it from me, a girl who lists E.T. as one of the scariest movies of all time (creepy brain-looking-ass dude).

The story was interesting, though it felt a bit shallow. There weren't close enough relationships. If there are no close relationships, does anything really have any value? Is there really any risk? The one important relationship ended almost immediately. Every other relationship was days old aside from Marcas, and she admittedly dated him for 1 month before he ghosted her. This book could have benefited from some romance. I don't mean soppy BS romance, but ANY romance which could have given some weight to everything. What does Liza really have to lose? Absolutely nothing. When someone has nothing to lose, there is no edge of my seat. There is no nail biting. Meh.

Meh I say.

It was, as stated earlier, interesting, but it was not riveting. It was not memorable. This book has already begun fading from the archives of my brain.

Meh.

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Unfortunately this book did not work out for me and I did not finish it. I don´t think that´s because it´s a bad book, just that it was not for me.

Many thanks to the #BHCPress and #netgalley for providing me with an e-arc of #BloodOfTheFae

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I received the ARC copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is not your average fae story, and I'm totally here for it. Blood of the Fae draws from myths and legends where fairies (or fae) were the murderous type of creatures, not the cute ones we have come to know and love. Tom Mohan really focuses on the creepy setting, bringing the readers in for a truly disturbing ride. I would recommend this book to both horror and fantasy readers.

Be wary that it is quite gory though.

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This book started off really well! I enjoyed the set up as well as the mystery that followed. It was very intriguing to see how Tom Mohan portrayed the fae as something not as cheery and wonderful as other authors describe them. Blood of the Fae really set a different standard. The MC was somebody you could actually relate to and you understood her confusion throughout the story.

As for the plot, it developed nicely and as soon as you received one answer you also received another question. It really pushes the reader to WANT to read the book. The ending however felt rushed. There was this wonderful build up to what could have been a fantastic battle. It felt as though we spend all this time reading and learning just to have the finale thrown at us. I still have a lot of unanswered questions as well. I had partial closure and sort of felt left down with the ending.

I enjoyed the first 80% of the book and almost felt crushed by the ending. All in all I would still recommend this book to others because it is a good story overall. I would probably just warn them to try not to build it up too much.

-Stone

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This was an excellent book, well written and paced. Liza MacCarthy is just drifting through life. She has no real family, her mother and her don't speak and she never knew who her father was. One day she receives a phone call from the sister of an ex-boyfriend ( who ha claimed to have no family). Her life is danger, people are after her. So she answers the call and goes to the tiny village of Halden's Mill to meet the Finns. It quickly becomes apparent that this family is not normal or average. Bad things are happening and somehow Liza is a crucial piece of the puzzle.
This was a blend of good Fantasy and Horror. Following Liza and the Finns to the end was addicting! The world of Fae is involved. Not the Tinkerbell variety but the old bloody version. Highly enjoyed it. Thank you Net Galley and the publishers for the ARC.

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Well, this was creepy.

I got this from the Fantasy section on NetGalley, but I would say it's more like Fantasy Horror or Supernatural Horror. Intending to get a couple chapters in before going to sleep, I instead stayed up until 2 AM reading this out of pure self-preservation. It was too creepy in a suspenseful "door shuts in the house but nobody else is home" way, if I had stopped in the middle before reaching resolution I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to sleep.

In addition to suspense, there are also gore elements, supernatural threats, and "the darkest impulses of humanity set free" type stuff. I rarely ever read anything that could be labeled as horror, but I honestly liked this a lot in a way that was more like a compulsion than a warm, positive feeling. It did a great job of hooking a reader from literally the very beginning and not letting go.

The weak points of this book are the characters, and the ending.

Neither are fatally weak -- the characters are distinct and likable enough, there just wasn't enough room in between all the almost-dying-of-a-terrified-heart-attack moments to fully fit in any mourning for the losses, or resolution between Liza and Marcas. It was sort of implied that they would figure out what they were doing, but it will have to be offscreen because this book was too packed to have room for it.

As for the ending, it was just a little empty-feeling. There was so much suspense and terror leading up to the end that the fae ceremony in the woods feeling like another one of Liza's foggy dream sequences seemed a little anticlimactic. I also would have appreciated a little bit more detail in the postscript, telling us more about what Liza's role is now in the fae realm.

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Thank you netgalley and publisher for this book to review. I found this book to be difficult and hard to follow. It was all over the place for me and I lost interest within the first 30% of the book. It has potential to be a really good book but in my opinion there needs to be some fine tuning on character background, plot, and the relationships.

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I received the ARC copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Not your average, predictable fae story...
This is a fast paced story and doesn't let up until near the end. I liked the characters and their development. I enjoyed not being able to predict all the plot points. Some of the reveals threw me for a loop.
The fae world is different from how I've read about it before and the change was welcome from the usual way it is described and how it works. I found myself wanting to know more. More history of the setting and the characters that reside there.
The ending, for me, was a bit disappointing and didn't match the pace of rest of the story. There are a few unanswered questions and the ending was a bit abrupt.

Overall, a good read.

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I thought this was an interesting book that is not the genre I typically read. I'm more of a psychological thriller fan, but the premise of this book sounded interesting, and it didn't disappoint. The world Tom Mohan has created is interesting and I hope there is a sequel. I do wish that some more time had been spent on character development, but that's the only flaw I can think of.

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I really liked the beginning of the book and the first few chapters, but then it veers into the horror category and then into the horrific category. I like paranormal stories and sometimes those stories have some horror in the plot, but most of this book too gory and I don't enjoy that. If you enjoy horror stories then you may like this book, since I don't, I really don't feel qualified to rate this book. I will say that it is well written and has an interesting plot.

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