Title:  Stolen Away [indie bound] [amazon]
Author: Alyxandra Harvey [website] [twitter] [facebook]
Genre:  Paranormal
Publisher: Walker Children’s Books
Series: None
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher (via Net Galley)
Parental Advisory: violence, criminal activity
Teachable Moments: folklore

Describing Venus (from publisher):
For seventeen years, Eloise Hart had no idea the world of Faery even existed. Now she has been abducted and trapped in the Rath of Lord Strahan, King of Faery.  Strahan was only meant to rule for seven years, as aery tradition dictates, and then give up his crown to another.  But he won’t comply, and now chaos threatens both worlds.

The only one who can break his strangle hold on the Faery court is his wife….Eloise’s aunt Antonia.  Using Eloise to lure Antonia, Strahan captures his wife, desperate to end the only threat to his reign.  Now Eloise must become the rescuer.  Together with her best friends Jo and Devin, she must forge alliances with other Fae, including a gorgeous protector named Lucas, and Strahan’s mysterious son, Eldric who may or may not betray them.

How Mars & Venus Don’t Meet:
As much as I love Harvey’s Drake Chronicles series I can’t quite put a finger on exactly why her other books haven’t worked well for me.

So here’s the thing.  I think I would have liked this book so much better if the focus of the story had been on Jo and Eldric.  As characters they were far more charismatic and enjoyable than main character Eloise and her romantic entanglement Lucas.  The latter two were very vanilla in their personalities and didn’t have a whole lot of depth.  Whereas Jo and Eldric had personality to spare.

The plot was simple and predictable not that this is bad as it has been my experience that the ability to craft story in the Faery world is incredibly difficult.  There is only so much to work with.  It always ends up being a battle for the crown.  In this case, the plot should have been secondary to the characters (as it was) but unfortunately some of those characters just weren’t compelling so it dragged down the whole experience for me.

I’ll also add that there was a whole lot of insta-love in the romance departments here.  The kind where on one page there was nothing and the next it was “oh my gosh I need you forever”.  Again, with Jo and Eldric their characters were far more fun and had better conflict so that was more easily overlooked.  With Eloise and Lucas it felt far more disjointed.  This is most likely because neither made for a fantastic stand-alone character so putting them together made no real difference.

Harvey’s writing style is still the right combination of prose and dialogue (which I prefer) and there isn’t any shortage of action.   I was happy that it was so fast paced as it made for a quick read.

Maybe your Mars & Venus Align:
My inability to get into this book should not be the only thing you hear.  I’d much prefer you end on a positive note.  Please visit these reviews to get more information and make a more informed choice:

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