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FindingJane
May 04, 2015FindingJane rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
This novel threads its way through the trappings of old-fashioned romance novels, fantasy and modern YA literature with confidence and style. It traces the current trend for dangerous lovers in modern fiction back through Gothic literature and ancient myth. While humor isn’t a major theme, the novel is by no means dreary as our heroine finds herself battling evil forces and her own desires. While I was thrilled with most of the novel, it irked me that it took many characters so long to figure out who the succubus was; she was rather obvious with her waning and waxing health and mysterious past that she alluded to only in the vaguest of terms. But the rest of the book shines as it introduces us one by one to the very special people who inhabit Fairwick. The humans are just as compelling in their way as the supernatural inhabitants, each with their own quirks, foibles and social tics. When Callie discovers that underneath their otherworldly allure, the fae are just as vulnerable to supernatural attack or human heartache, we truly feel for them. We also share her incubus’s frustration as he tries to figure out that age-old question: what is it that women want from their boyfriends, anyway? This is a very good read, riffing pleasantly on the typical romance novel setups.