Kerrelyn Sparks's "How to Love Your Elf" takes readers on a quick, fun ride that touches most of the fantasy literature genre boxes for me. I liked the narration switching between Sorcha and the Woodsman, I liked the world Sparks has created, and I liked that I didn't really need the stories that came before this to understand what is going on thanks to what is essentially a recap during the first chapter. There were a few, tiny, nit-picky things that I didn't like about this book such as switching between ye and you in the same conversation, the use of "the little blue pill" because it completely yanked me out of the fantasy world that was created, and the fast pacing of the story. I wanted more than just a few days in their world to believe the romance that becomes all-encompassing for the characters. Overall, a solid 3-star book that has made me want to go back and read the previous stories as well as making me want to read about Maeve's story in the future.

Thank you, NetGalley and publisher for the ebook ARC of this work in exchange for my honest review.

How to Love Your Elf by Kerrelyn Sparks is the fourth installment of the Embraced Series. The series entails the lives of five embraced girls sent for their protection to the Isle of the Moon for their safety to be raised by nuns. The girls are considered adopted sisters, and now that they are women, each is finding her way in a world they didn’t know much about. This book is about Sorcha, Princess of Norveshka, embraced with the power of fire. When the mother of her adopted sister, Gwennore, contacts her to come back to her home of Woodwyn, Sorcha insists on joining the dangerous mission to trust the elves and help her sister reunite with the mother she never knew. But Gwennore’s mother was not to be trusted. The elf army soon turns on the Norveshka troop capturing both Sorcha and dragon Aleski to hold as prisoners in exchange for Gwennore.

Out steps the Woodsman...mysterious and handsome, possibly dangerous and known as a thief to some. But when he sees the battle while hidden in the woods, he spies Sorcha, and her willingness to go back into the danger to help her fellow comrade with no thoughts of what it could mean for herself. The Woodsman knows he must rescue her and her friend from the elfin army. Sorcha doesn’t know if this mysterious woodsman can be trusted, she doesn’t know his real name or any of his story, but she has no other choice. Aleski needs medical attention and she needs to get back home.

Of course danger lies ahead for them, and in usual Embraced fashion, a forbidden romance ensues, but not without a visit from the Chameleon, or Lord Morris and the other villainous Circle of Five. Their adventure is traveling through the Haunted Woods, and the living Oaks, and of course their is a battle or two. But in a series with shape shifters, and embraced magic, and romance between islands it is everything you can ever want and more.

I need to tell the truth, I am a HUGE fan of all things Kerrely Sparks. The Embraced Series, the Love At Stake series, I love it all, and this latest installment did not disappoint! From the characters, the imagery of the forest and castles, it’s just beautiful. Kerrelyn Sparks is so good at writing fantasy novels and fictional islands and languages, it’s just a pleasure to read. I would recommend this book, and the rest of the series to anyone who loves a bit of fantasy in a romance novel that will keep interested from the first page to the last.

I would like to thank Netgalley, Kerrelyn Sparks and Kensington Books for an advanced reader edition of How To Love Your Elf.

Going into this book I had no idea it was the fourth book in a series, and it didn’t matter. I went straight off the blurb and based off the fact that I liked this author. I was interested to see how the “embraced” handled their abilities and how this book differed from other paranormal books. This book was kind of like a robin hood retelling but with elves and magical creatures.

I really like strong female protagonist in books and Sorcha was a strong character but at times made me a little angry because she acted a little dumb. I’m not sure if it was because she was hidden away and sheltered or because she really didn’t know, maybe if I read the books before I would’ve had a little more insight on that point. Her spitfire though earns her a rescue from the Woodsman and she fights him on the rescue so that made me like her from the beginning. Sorcha automatically fights for the little person and helps people in need on the way. It was interesting to see her evolve from disliking every Elf in the country side to only the evil ones, because she met the peaceful kind ones along the way.

The Woodsman, you just know from the beginning there is more than meets the eye with him. Slowly throughout the book you start to unravel it, but his mysterious ways are half the fun. I enjoyed his embraced gift more than others mostly because the forest could talk to him, then when all is revealed about the forest it is deeply touching. The fact that he normally has a calm attitude and Sorcha seems to bring out the crazy in him was kind of funny, he would just stutter and stand there. He is trying to save his country one village at a time, he tells everyone not to fight back that he will bring back everything that was stolen. Basically, he is an elf robin hood, once the evil elves ransack villages he steals from them and returns everything. He was a really great overall character and I would love to read more about him.

Actual rating: 1.5 stars

As someone who really enjoyed reading the other entries of the Embraced/Embraced by Magic series, I was shocked by how little I cared for its latest entry, How to Love Your Elf. Though I looked forward to the follow up to Eight Simple Rules for Dating a Dragon, as it would star the fourth Embraced sister, Sorcha, I was dismayed by how unlikable I found her. I also did not enjoy her love interest, the Woodsman, or their attempts at banter and romance. What kept me reading How To Love Your Elf was my interest in the Embraced prophecy and the role the five sisters will play in bringing peace to their world. 


I was super excited to read How to Love Your Elf due to its main character, Sorcha. Sorcha is the most fiery of the Embraced sisters--quite literally due to her ability to summon flames at her fingertips. From the glimpses I had seen of her in the other novels, I also enjoyed her quick temper. Sadly my expectations of Sorcha being a badass proved false. The character lacked confidence in literally everything she did, was afraid to use her magical flame powers off an on, and couldn’t even manage to properly disarm a man. In fact, she failed so hard at disarming that her only method of self-defense was to go for the genitals in order to protect herself, which led to some pretty icky banter. Surely I am not the only person who does not find the threat of violence to the genitals as flirtatious and romantic?


"'I know how to protect myself.'

'Are you planning to knee them?' His smile widened. 'At least my groin will be safe now.'

'Ha! Who says I'm done with your groin?'

He tilted his head. 'So you have plans?'

'No! I--' Dear goddesses, what was she saying."


I was disappointed to discover that much of Sorcha’s tough behavior was a facade to hide how afraid she was to lose her loved ones. In fact, nothing scares her more than actually losing a loved one or falling in love and losing that person. While that seems like a reasonable anxiety, How To Love Your Elf presents this anxiety as Sorcha being afraid to love anyone because she simply loves too much and even makes herself physically ill over it. This is problematic in itself because it automatically makes her love interest appear like he’s taking advantage of a naive, impressionable woman who is certainly not ready for any kind of romantic relationship.

“When she loved, she loved too desperately. She loved without reason. She couldn’t be practical like Luciana, trusting like Brigitta, or clever like Gwennore. When her loved ones were in danger, she was overwhelmed with a sense of helplessness. Love didn’t make her strong as it did her sisters.”


Instead of growing on her own as a person and as heir to her adopted sister’s throne, (something she's really having trouble with), Sorcha falls in love with much more confident man with a mysterious background [spoiler] Don't worry, he's actually also the secret rightful heir to the Elf throne[/spoiler]. When she is kidnapped by the Woodwyn elves to ransom her in exchange her for her sister Queen Gwennore of Novreshki, she is rescued by a mysterious Robin-hood type referred to as the Woodsman. At first sight, he falls in love/lust with her and Sorcha, of course, is unable to resist his questionable charms. She wonders if he is “The One” for her as predicted by her sister’s Telling Stones, almost immediately, but laments that he does not have the hair color the stones predicted and therefore cannot possibly be her true love. Seriously? I could not believe hair color was an actual supposed conflict.

And if Sorcha’s maturity levels were lacking, the Woodsman’s general personality was too. In many romance novels, the male hero often straddles the line between being a healthy protector and supporter of his love interest and toxic masculinity. In How to Love Your Elf, the Woodsman is definitely the latter--possessive, controlling, and always in need of a plan. All of this makes it hard to root for his quickly developing romance with someone who seems so desperately young and out of her league.

“Whenever he married he would make sure his future wife and children knew who was in command. Sorcha’s words from earlier that afternoon flitted through his mind: Are ye going to make all the decisions without consulting me? Who put you in charge?”

As if their personalities--Sorcha’s insecurity in herself and fear of love and the Woodsman’s controlling confidence--don’t make it hard enough to support the romance, How to Love Your Elf struggles to present any dialogue or love scenes that didn’t make me cringe. Even the other characters protest to their romance and point out that they had only known each other for a literal week when [spoiler] the Woodsman proposes marriage to Sorcha [/spoiler], which goes to show just how little interaction and development takes place between the two. What's more is How to Love Your Elf tries and fails to set Sorcha and the Woodsman up as star-crossed lovers due to their opposite Embraced powers and Sorcha's prejudices against all Elves that aren't her adopted sister Gwennore.

"She was completely wrong for him. Even her gift was an utter disaster. While his Embraced power relied on wood, her power destroyed wood."

But really, their conflicting Embraced powers was the least of their problems. Due to Sorcha's innocence, the characters' instalove, and their very little interaction. I could barely stomach their love scenes, and actually skimmed to get through them as quickly as possible. And the brief hurdles to their blossoming love is dealt with almost as quickly as the protests to their [spoiler] proposed nuptials.  And no one really stops to wonder if Sorcha would actually make a good queen, even though she was struggling with being an heir already and has only lived in her new homeland for a mere few days.[/spoiler] Any obstacles the romance encounters feels contrived and not like an actual problem--either because they are simply silly problems, such as relating to the Woodsman’s hair color, or because they are dealt with and wrapped up so easily. There’s never any leftover feelings of animosity or similar emotions, because How To Love Your Elf tells us exactly what every empty-headed main character is feeling.  And what’s worse is that when the novel actually tries to flesh out characters it is in what is always snippets of pure, unnecessarily melodramatic flares of emotion, such as screaming, or collapsing to the ground. 

“‘Colwyn, my love!’ Tara clasped her hands together as she gave him an adoring look.
 He glanced over at her at her. ‘Who is that?’ 
Tara huffed, “You don’t know me? If it wasn’t for me, we wouldn’t have been able to kill those soldiers over there!’ She pointed at the men who had fallen from the bridge. ‘I can take care of myself, so who needs you!’ She flipped her hair over her shoulder as she turned and stalked away.’”

Despite these soap-opera-esque scenes, How to Love Your Elf does a fairly good job of world-building. There is some Elven and Embraced lore presented, but it's mainly in a bit of an information dump that might leave readers new to the series confused. Returning readers, however, are already familiar with these ideas and will enjoy the continued threat of the Circle of Five and the Chameleon, an Embraced who can turn into literally anything or anyone at will, and an interesting twist that the novel presents. This twist, as well as my continued investment in the prophecy of the five Embraced sisters and their bringing peace to their world, is what kept me reading through the disappointing character development and less than ideal dialogue. 


I also enjoyed reading about the Wood Elves and their relationship with the trees in Woodwyn. Though it mostly read like a plot device to carry messages to Sorcha’s sister Gwennore, who can also speak to trees, it was fun to see this plot continued and explained from Eight Simple Rules for Dating a Dragon. 


“The elves have a special relationship with the sentient oak trees of Woodwyn. When we die, our bodies and spirits become one with a chosen tree. That, in turn, causes the tree to become one of the Living Oaks.” 


Though it was enjoyable to return to familiar characters and the world of Aetherlan, if I had read How to Love Your Elf as a standalone novel, I would definitely not continue reading the rest of the series. In fact, I almost couldn’t believe I was reading the same series by the same author--and the publisher changes also made me question that. Despite my surprise at how little I liked How to Love Your Elf, I really thought the other novels of the Embraced/Embraced by Magic series were a lot of fun and I’m still invested in what happens to the last of the five Embraced Sisters, Maeve. I can only hope that How to Love Your Elf was a fluke in the series and that the last novel has better, more believable character development, an actual romance I feel like I can support without moral qualms, and dialogue that doesn’t make me laugh for the wrong reasons.

This is the first book I've read in this series and I loved it. If you enjoy paranormal romances this book is one of the best I've read. I received an e-book from NetGalley in return for an unbiased review.

I loved this book. I read it in one sitting. This is the fourth book in the Embraced series by Kerrelyn Sparks. And like the others, this book kept me on the edge of my seat. I enjoyed the Robin Hood vibe of the Woodsman and the strong independence of Sorcha. Now I'm eagerly awaiting the next book in the series

ARC received for review

Another great book in the embraced series (why is it listed as book one in a different series too?) Sorcha is the next sister to fall, and it's with the yummy Woodsman. Lots of interaction with previous peeps, plus a side romance with a dragon and an elf.

Why only fours stars? It lacked the heat of the previous books and their ending was just okay.

I did love the preview chapter for Maeve's book.

This series just gets better and better and this title was fantastic!!

I have always loved Kerrelyn Sparks’ way of building an entire world in a series, and this title continued building on the world established in the first three titles. It was so much fun traveling back to Aerthlan that I’m rereading the first three books!!

The Woodsman is one of my favorite kinds of heroes: he tries so very hard to fight his attraction to Sorcha, but in the end he just can’t. He was just an all-around great guy, too. He took care of those around him without necessarily sacrificing his own happiness. Sorcha was great, too, and was a perfect fit for The Woodsman. I did feel like her Embraced power was a little underused, however.

The plot definitely kept me on my toes, and I lost sleep for wanting to stay awake and read one more chapter. So much stuff happened that I found myself done and wanting more far too fast.

The only thing that I didn’t enjoy was the characters’ overuse of the word “dammit.” I’m not at all offended by cuss words, but when one character or another says or thinks the same word every other paragraph it gets old.

Can not wait for Maeve and Brody’s story!!

I had started reading this book and then realized, to my delight, I had read the previous books in the series. This one can certainly be read as a standalone but, they are so good, why not read them all? There’s magic, shifters, dragons and romance. What more can a reader ask for? I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

<I>*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review *</i > 

<b>2 stars </b> 

Sorcha, a human princess, born 'Embraced' with magic, is kidnapped by Elven rival land, ans subsequently aided by the mysterious Woodsman. How to Love your Elf feels a little like a vague Robin Hood retelling.
 
I found this a bit confusing to follow initially, with a lot of info dumping, jumping between characters and situations without giving much explanation, and introduction of too many concepts for too few pages, with not nearly enough organic world-building.

After the initial confusion, the plot seems solely focused on the romance (or more so the angst caused by the romance and their instant attraction), which I found a little cliché and predictable. I felt like the relationships weren't given time to develop, and everything just escalates out of nowhere.

Also, the language used is odd  at times, for example the characters sometimes address each other as 'ye' interspersed with 'you' , as well as a strange mix of modern and more archaic language.

Overall, this just wasn't for me.

This is the 4th in the series and while it is not the best one I still enjoyed reading it and can't wait for the next one.  The only issue I had with this story was that the romance was a little forced and predictable.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an Ecopy in exchange for an honest review*

Note: I was unaware that this book was a part of a series, and this most likely was a factor in my enjoyment of this novel. I will be picking up the previous novels, and will update after that.

UGH INFO DUMPING. SO. MUCH. INFO. I just couldn't get into this novel. I found myself just not caring about what was going on and completely confused most of the time.

Another great hit in the series. This is number 4, out of the 5 women who grew up together. Separated from their families for many reasons, but mainly because they were gifted with special powers. This is Sorcha's story, the female dragon princess. She cannot change into one, but can start fires. When she is captured by elves, and then saved by one she doesn't know what to think. They were the enemy, right? A great story, that was hard to put down. Highly recommend this book and author. Fun series too, although you wouldn't be lost reading it without the others.

**I was provided an ARC by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

I have been eagerly awaiting the publication of this book ever since I finished The Embraced Book 3, Eight Simple Rules For Dating a Dragon. And I’m happy to report that it didn’t disappoint! It’s so freaking good! I love the ongoing plot of The Circle of Five and the Chamaeleon, and how Sorcha’s story tied into everything.

Now the wait begins for the fifth and final book in this series. Can’t wait to see what happens next!!

The book didn't pipe my interest, i read and read - hoping i'd get sucked into the story and end up liking the characters, but i did not. The romance felt awkward and wierd, and it didn't help that i didn't like the main character Sorcha. I wanted so badly to like it, but i did not. The story felt pushed into too little of pages, maybe if the story itself had stretched and Sorcha and her romance could grow some more i'd like it. But i didn't.

The Circle of Five are still running amok but now that her sisters are settling down with their mates, Sorcha is feeling more and more like the odd one out. They only seem to think about mates, babies and marrying her off to some chinless wonder! That is not for Sorcha! She wants adventure and to be in amongst the danger, not having tea and crumpets. She is no Queen-in-waiting.

But someone has it out for Sorcha's brother and they figure out that to get to him they need his wife, one of Sorcha's adopted sisters. But things go a bit awry with their plan and they end up with Sorcha and a certain dragon-shifter. But before she can use her control of fire to bust them out, she is aided by the elusive Woodsman. He seems to have his own beef with this particular clutch of Elves.

The Woodsman is like Robin Hood on steroids! He can talk to trees and, let's face it, he is super easy on the eyes. But he also has a gentle soul, he hates seeing his people oppressed and hates injustice. But can he enlist Sorcha into his plan?

Great read and I loved all the nods to Robin Hood (my very first book boyfriend!). I cannot wait to see what we put Maeve and Brodie through next!

This is actually the 3rd book in the series and it is as action packed, suspenseful and well written as the prior 2 books. The hero is similar to Robin Hood and the heroine is strong and loyal. I just loved the world building. Can’t wait for the next one!

I was so excited to read Ms. Spark's next novel in the Embraced series. I greatly enjoyed the first 3 novels and greatly anticipated the same for the next novel. I love the interaction between the characters and each novel is a continuation of the previous one, trying to stop the Circle of Five and bringing back the characters from the previous novels. Five girls were raised on the Isle of the Moon, each brought there for different reasons, but all having special abilities. This novel is Sorcha's tale. Sorcha's brother is the king of dragons and has married one of her "sisters", who is half elf. The elves and dragons have been at war for a long time, but now the dragons are hoping for peace. However, not all is well in the elf kingdom and evil plots are afoot. Sorcha runs into trouble and an elf, the Woodsman, saves her. Sorcha cannot deny the attraction she feels, but elves are her enemies and he does not match what the stones predicted for her. Sorcha refuses to fall in love, for when those she loves are in danger, it causes her great pain for she loves fiercely. The Woodsman noticed Sorcha from the moment he laid eyes on her. He is a good elf, cares for those he is responsible for, has his won secrets and is a thief! Well, thief is a rather strong word for it, but he is like Robin Hood in a way. Sorcha and the Woodsman burn and yearn for each other but they need to get the elves and dragons to work together to stop the plans of the Circle of Five and their allies. Excellent novel and looking forward to Maeve and Brody's story next!

A good story that is written very clear and doesn't confuse the reader at all. The book is interesting and the plot is well written. The cover also fits the story and genre. The story is about Sorcha who is on of the Embraced. She was raised with four girls in a convent on the Isle of Moons. Sorcha can control fire and she finds out that her mate is an elf. The Woodsman can talk to trees and can control things made of wood. When Sorcha is captured the Woodsman rescues her and another man. They didn't get along well first, but when they get to know the other better, that becomes better. then the Woodsman will do whatever it takes to keep Sorcha safe. A great story with a well thought out fantasy word, strong characters and good writing style.

This is a great easy series to read. Looking forward to the arrival of what I imagine will be the last book in the series.