Review: "Cruel Enchantment" by Anya Bast

"Cruel Enchantment"  
by Anya Bast
Series: Dark Magick #2
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 336
ISBN: 9780425236376
Published: September 2010

Goodreads Blurb:

Even the most powerful hands need a delicate touch…
Emmaline Gallagher is a master of wielding personal glamour. As a free fae who lives among humans, she must hide her true self at all times as she works undercover within the powerful Phaendir—for if certain factions within the Phaendir gain control, the fae will be wiped from existence. Now, an object of fae power lies within a locked ancient box. And there is only one fae who can forge the key.
Known as “the Blacksmith” Aeric O’Malley can create or destroy almost anything with his forging skills. Emmaline has come to him in need, but he and Emmaline have a past—and he has spent centuries wanting to take revenge on her for her transgressions. But now that he has her within his grasp, something about her keeps him from exacting his vengeance—or is it merely her glamour blinding him?
Trapped by fate, Emmaline must hope that she can reach Aeric’s furious heart before it’s too late…

Darcy's Review:

This is an interesting series where the fae are real, but have been banished to live in an area where they are all together. They don't really like this and are trying to gather the pieces of things to break the spell. At the core of this group is Emmaline, a fae, who for the last 300 hundred years has lived away from her people due to her past. She used to be the Seelie Queen's assassin and she was good at her job. She would have been happy to stay there until she accidentally killed an innocent woman, one who was the fiance of a man she had a crush on. She ran at this point to get away from her actions. She didn't want to go back to where the fae live, but since with the greater good in reach she goes back where she is promptly kidnapped by the man who's fiance she killed, who is bent on vengeance.

From here on in the story we see the inevitable coupling of these 2 people. Both have preconceived notions of the other, slowly those are are broke apart as they each reveal parts of themselves they have long kept hidden, sometimes even from themselves. Aeric isn't the only person who is after Emmaline and around every corner they come in contact with with people that want to kill Emmaline for her past actions, but they also find allies along the way.

We also learn more about the Phaendir, the organization that is bound and determined to keep the fae locked away.

With the actions of this book I look forward to seeing what will happen in the greater fae / Phaendir war and the Seelie / Unseelie battle for control.


This review was written by my friend Darcy at Goodreads.