Lord of Hearth, Lord of Hollow

Title: Lord of Hearth, Lord of Hollow
Author: Sera Kane
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: April 20, 2016
Genre(s): Fantasy
Page Count: 52
Reviewed by: Vallie
Heat Level: 1 flame out of 5
Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Blurb:

Culinary school is hard enough for Aimes Cully without mixing in an utterly underwhelming physical appearance—too small, too delicate, too red-haired, too freckled, too human—added with the inability to magically improve the food—still too human—and facing the too beautiful, too fae-looking Aleksi’s teases and taunts. When rumors surface that Aimes’s older brother’s success is a lie, Aimes is determined to prove them wrong and show that pure-blooded humans are the equal of anyone with mixed blood.

But things get worse after Aimes is caught in a faerie ring and transported to the fae hollow of Lord Keanewyeth Ordioral. As the attraction heats up, it becomes obvious that there’s something wrong in the magical home. A cursed creature appears, and everything becomes jumbled as the secrets of their lives collide into a painful concoction of Aimes’s past and Keanewyeth’s present. But if they can meld their talents, they might be able to save each other.

New to me author Sera Kane managed to build quite a complicated fantasy world of fae and humans, full on with curses and magic spells, banishments into the EverDark and redemption based on will and love. To fit all of that into 52 pages was quite a feat and the story had promise for a longer novel but I have to say I did not quite enjoy reading this short.

The plot was quite overburdened. As a result, there was more telling than showing in a lot of parts and I became overwhelmed with information overload at some point, trying to keep up with who was who and what was happening. The heavy language of the fae did not help matters any, either.

”May thy form reflect more truly thy soul! Thou try me too far!”

Yeah, I couldn’t hack it with the thous and thys here, sorry. It made everything more convoluted than it already was and did not make the reading experience easier or more pleasant.

I would have been a little more forgiving of all of those things, but there was insta-lust/love and the one sex scene was completely fade-to-black. There were a couple of kisses on page and that’s about it.

So…I enjoy fantasy and I wasn’t expecting erotica or anything, but I was left wanting. Maybe some more investment into the characters than the history of the villains would have paid off more.

Perhaps look at other reviews before deciding on this one but I was not a very happy reader.

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