Heart of the Fae: The Otherworld, Book 1

*takes a deep breath* I hope you guys have a moment to read all the words because I have a lot of feelings about this book and need to share them :) all of them are positive, because I loved this book so much, and even at the beginning of this review I'm a bit afraid that I won't be able to shut up about it, so this is my little warning for all of you ;) super long story really short: this book was amazing and all of you need to read it if you haven't yet ;) ok, now let's get into all the details why ;)First of all... why oh why I have waited sooooooo long to actually pick it up?!?!?!? seriously... what was I thinking??? :) I got it a while ago, because my favourite author (Bec McMaster if you are curious) recommended a further installment in this fantasy series... and when I checked it out I saw that this Beauty and the beast retelling was actually the first one... :) I know what you might be thinking right about now: "A, a Beauty and the beast fantasy retelling and you didn't pick it up immediately?" yeah... it gets worse ;) my sister read it before me and once she finished both books (because this is half of the story, more details in a minute) she came to me and told me I need to read it because it has everything I love in stories... the retelling aspect of my favourite trope, the strong heroine, slow burn romance... again, I will get into all the details later in my review ;) and yet... I did not pick it up immediately!!! I mean... why?!?!?!? I am actually quite mad at myself right now, because of course once I FINALLY read it, I absolutely loved it... so this is my long way of saying that I definitely should listen to my sister when she tells me that a certain book is a must read :) maybe I will finally learn that lesson ;) ok, now that I removed this from my chest, let me actually tell you what this book is about :)This is the first installment in a fantasy series set in Ireland, but in a little bit alternate version a bit back in time... a version with faes and fairies, magic and mysteries... although most people forgot all about that or choose to believe that it's all myths and legends and not real... our heroine is Sorcha... she's an orphan, because her mother got burned as a witch, and she was raised in a brothel... she wasn't working there, but instead cared for her foster family and became a midwife and a healer... she's strong, independent and still lives according to the rules her mother taught her... leaving gifts and offerings for the fae, respecting their hidden shrines... it turns out especially important when she looks for help with the horrible blood beetle plague, when her father catches it... it's a truly terrible sickness that slowly kills everyone and there seems to be no cure... so when Sorcha has an opportunity to make a deal with a powerful fae, even though it's very dangerous, she agrees to have a chance to save her family and other who are suffering... that decision will change he life forever... dun dun duuuunnnn... ;) sorry, but this moment needed a dramatic musical theme ;) after that agreement Sorcha starts a journey that will lead her to a very mysterious island with an even more mysterious master... fae prince, powerful and disfigured, banished from his family and his people... that's all I can tell you about the actual plot of the story, because I don't want to spoil you too many details :) this is definitely one of those books where the less details going into it you know, the better your reading experience :) especially when the story itself is writen with such a mesmerizing writing style... *sighs dreamily* and speaking of that... ;)Let's get into all the reasons why I loved this book ;) first of all, like I mentioned before, this is only half of the story about Sorcha... this installment ends in sort of a cliffhanger, so be prepared for that... my heart definitely ached when I finished reading that last paragraph... fortunately the next book is already available, so you can pick it up immediately ;) now we can get into all the good stuff... and I have to start with the writing style... because... *sighs happily* I have no words good enough to describe how much it mesmerized me... I was pulled into the story from the prologue, and it takes something special to catch my attention like that... the last time that happened was with "The bird and the sword" by Amy Harmon :) Emma Hamm is a new author for me, but after loving this story I have all her other novels on my #wishlist :) her world building is phenomenal, the way she creates complex characters that are flawed in the most human way is just... *sighs* again, words are failing me, because I am overwhelmed with my love and admiration for the story she created... :) Sorcha is everything I adore in heroines of stories I read... she's smart, independent, brave... but she's not perfect, she can be prideful and too curious for her own good... she loves her family and makes hard decisions because it's the right thing to do... she's not afraid to disagree with others and argue when it's necessary :) when I was talking with my sister after finishing this book about how much I adore her as the main character, she teased me that I should just wait and see how kick-ass she will become in the second installment ;) I can't wait :) of course besides Sorcha we have a whole bunch of other, very important characters, starting with the banished fae prince, Eamonn... another complex character, who at the beginning shows us only his angry and merciless side... it takes time to know him and see how gentle and kind he can be... there was also my personal favourite scene stealing unseelie fae prince Bran... :) and let's not forget about all the rest fae and fairies appearing throughout the whole book... yeah, some of them definitely gave me nightmares *shudders* but all of them added something extra to the story :) Emma Hamm created such a rich and vibrant world, full of complex characters, where nothing is as it may seem and you have to take some time to truly get to know someone... because people may surprise you :) it is a beauty and the beast retelling, so there's of course the romance part, but it's not at the center of the story... I think it's more about Sorcha and her journey to figure out what she's capable of when she puts her mind to it... but speaking of said romance... ;) it's my favourite kind... slow burn... full of little gestures and scenes that mean so much... *sighs* be still my heart... ;) this is a connection between two strong and independent people... and after this book let me just say... I cannot wait to see what the second installment will bring us... I'm almost afraid to read it :) because this first book was sooooo good that it took me what feels like forever to read... I cherished each chapter, each page, each word... that's the best proof of how much I love a book... because I have a pretty fast pace of reading... but when I get lost in a story... when I am enchanted by the writing style... when I fall in love with the characters as much as I did with this one... my reading slows down, so I can truly enjoy every little bit of it :) if you haven't read this beautiful gem yet, I implore you to pick it up as soon as possible... learn from my mistakes and give yourself the gift of losing yourself in this magical and mesmerizing tale :) I promise, the world will be a bit better after that ;)

Emma Hamm has a different take on fairies than I was used to, and I hope she is reaching back into Celtic lore for these characters. Her main character is interesting and I wish we had more of her background.It is cruel, however, that she ended this book before the climax of the story.

Heart of the Fae by Emma Hamm is a Beauty and the Beast retelling with heavy, heavy inspiration from old Celtic mythology. Now, I can’t remember exactly how I heard about this book, but it was on my Amazon wishlist for a while and I stumbled across it again.I love books about faeries. I love books about healers. I love fairytale retellings. This is all three, and it is wonderful. The main character, Sorcha, is a midwife who lives in a brothel (side note: this book is sex work positive. How rare is that? Definite plus for me!) Her home, Uí Néill, is being plagued with horrible parasites, and her adoptive father falls prey to them. When begging for help from a mostly-forgotten goddess, Sorcha is sent on a journey that takes her to an island of exiled fae where a banished king, Eamonn, hides in an ancient castle.The writing is wonderful. Hamm is witty, descriptive, and thrilling in her style. Nothing moves too fast or too slow, and we get gorgeous descriptions of the fae lands and the aforementioned fae king. It’s full of banter between Sorcha and the fae, and I will always be a lover of banter. I will say that I was at first a little worried about instalove when Sorcha and Eamonn met, but make no mistakes, this is a true enemies-to-lovers story, or at least hate-to-love. The attraction is instant, but I can’t blame them from how the two are described. I do have a tiny complaint in that Sorcha talks to herself a lot in a way that feels a little unnatural, but I feel like criticizing that while continuing to enjoy Geralt’s constant monologue to himself in The Witcher III: Wild Hunt would be a tad hypocritical of me.Also, this book is full of tiny little details of underutilized fae lore. Sorcha has a hagstone that she wears around her neck, and I love that. The last time I saw one of those properly used was in The Spiderwick Chronicles, and that was a long, long time ago. Also, the law of true names! One old piece of fae lore was that knowing a faerie’s true name gave you complete control over them (and vice-versa). A cute little detail related to this is that, at first, the faeries introduce themselves as the type of fae they are. For example, a pixie is simply called Pixie at first, and a boggart is just known as Boggart. Again, this isn’t a piece of lore I’ve seen used well in a long time, and it’s delightful!Now for the characters and romance! Sorcha is a tough girl, aware of her own flaws. She has nothing but respect for her sisters (the other women who work at the brothel, who aren’t blood related but still love each other like family), and, to put it simply: girl got game. Without saying too much (coughcough) Sorcha knows how to take charge even in the face of a seven-foot-something fae king. The king himself, Eamonn, is the perfect Beauty and the Beast love interest. While intimidating in appearance, and very, very flawed, it doesn’t take long to sympathize with him. He’s easy to recognize as someone who’s been hurt and hides from the world for fear of being hurt again. The side characters are, in a word, wonderful. They provide a lot of fun scenes and funny dialogue while also helping further the plot. As for the romance… it’s swoony, it’s sexy, and it’s thrilling. Sorcha and Eamonn’s scenes together are filled with chemistry, the romantic tension between them was enough to make me hold my breath. Honestly, one of the best parts for me was when Eamonn started the stereotypical possessive fae man bullshit we see so often (and still kinda love a bit when done well. Maas fans know what I’m talking about) and Sorcha shut him down right away. Like I said, she’s a tough woman. She takes no shit.A couple of quick warnings:This book has smut. It made me blush. I don’t recommend reading the last quarter in public.And the mother of all cliffhanger warnings. I exclaimed “No!” out loud when I swiped a page and found myself staring down at the Kindle end of book screen. However, the second book is out, so it could be worse.Overall, this book is a full 5/5 for me. I can’t wait to continue Sorcha and Eamonn’s story in Veins of Magic.

Un libro de fantasía con romance muyyy lindo 🤍 ame

I enjoyed the storyline. Its not as trite as some other fae roance. Looking forward to the next book.

From the capricious high fae to the kind little folk....all who seem monsters at first, turn out to be just 'different' in the end. The kelpies stay true to what nature made them to be ...... and what seem like flaws from the outside, hide geodes of precious gems inside.This story teaches us much - to neither be too quick to judge nor judge something from its appearance alone. It also brings forth many questions. When told to choose between the fate of her family and that of an unknown man, Scorcha chose her family and condemned the man. But, now that the unknown man wears the face her beloved.... would she come to regret her choice?This story has completely captivated me. From the numerous heart-pounding adventures, new twists and turns and steamy encounters....this book has it all and I cannot wait to read the next one.

When my kids were little, and we started to watch the old disney movies, I remember watching beauty and the beast thinking this story is such a wonderful one and how it could get rewritten into another version and be even better. Skip forward a few years and watching the remake, and again I thought a rewrite would be so incredible. The story was always one of my favourites.Emma has done such a wonderful job rewriting a favourite into something completely different but very familiar. I absolutely loved reading this story, I actually think I like this version better.Thank you Emma Hamm

Conte celtique excellement écrit! Des contes, des mythes et légendes, une touche d'hsitoire médiévale pour ancrer le début dans une sorte de réalité, et des supers personnages bien écrits. Et ca fonctionne merveilleusement.L'héroïne est une jeune femme courageuse, intelligente, bornée prête à tout pour sa famille. Et qui part à l'aventure dans un monde de légendes celtiques bien mis en place. Le ton et le rythme sont justes ce qui donne un excellent moment à passer avec ce livre.