Taunting Destiny by Amelia Hutchins (The Fae Chronicles #2)

5 Stars

I have already finished book #3 and when I finished #2 it was my favorite, but now I am having a hard time remembering this one.  I remember what happened in book 1 and book 3, but book 2 in kind of a blur…

This book takes up right where the first one end (which was right in the middle!).  Syn had just looked through a window to see Rider and his 13 in black robes and brutally interrogating a group of men…some of which Syn knew…from The Guild!  Syn runs away right as rider looks up to see her (end book 1), Syn makes it away from Rider and to The Guild where she is persona non grata anymore because she is fae and not a witch!  Her mentor Alden coldly tells her to get lost.  She ends up going to her parents’ house where she is living with Adam.  Except is going into transition faster than Syn and has to be taken to Rider’s so he can transition in safety. 

Syn has signed another contract with Rider which gives him the sole right to guide her through her transition.  On top of this, the mages are still out there killing fae and they are also after Synthia now.  She ends up moving back in with Rider and his men.  The bombshell in this book is who they think Synthia is.  They know who Adam is (another bombshell) and because of this it puts Syn in a position to choose her own happiness or the death or thousands of fae.  Fae that she thought she hated for killing her parents, but she is learning that not all fae are evil like not all humans are good.  She meets her mother and father and more as she is taken back to Faery to fulfill a prophesy. 

Fighting Destiny by Amelia Hutchins (The Fae Chronicles #1)

4 Stars

I started reading this book without expecting much.  I had never heard of the author and it was a fairly cheap book, but I am a sucker for books about the fae.  I am really glad I ran across it because I devoured the entire series (so far, books 1-3, but at least 2 more are supposed to come out).

The main character is Synthia Mckenna.  She is a witch for The Guild in Spokane, Washington.  The book opens up with Syn taking a job that is nearly impossible.  She has to break into the Dark Prince’s abode and steal his crown.  Synthia ends up in a binding contract with the fae, working with the same Dark Prince (Rider) to catch a killer.  They are after a serial killer who can take out both witches and the immortal fae with very little resistance. 

Syn has her own reasons for hating the fae which make this assignment particularly difficult.  Her parents were murdered by the fae when she was very young.  She trusts very few people and is finding this number shrinking more each day.

This is a great starter to a series.  I have two complaints.  One is there was too much sex!  Often when you see that kind and amount of sex it is covering up the lack of a storyline and/or writing skills.  But the author is clearly talented and the storyline is A-MAZING.  I could have cut out 75% of the sex and built up more of the sexual tension and been happier with this book.  My second complaint is that the story seemed to just off in the middle.  There was a point in the book where it would have made sense to end the book and leave it open knowing there is more.  This is so far beyond a cliff hanger.  It is like the editor (or author, not sure who to blame) opened up the pages at random and said, “we will end it here.”  It was a very odd place to end the book. 

Overall, when I finished it, I went right online and bought the next book (which is my favorite so far), and started it right away.