Hi and welcome back to our weekly chitchat! Hope you’ve had a great week!
Today, I’ll be reviewing a book I read at the beginning of this year that has quite stuck with me.
PRESENTING:
Fairydale by Veronica Lancet
Genre: Dark gothic historical romance
Here’s the official blurb from Goodreads (skip below for my version :)):
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐡𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞?
August 1955,
When Miss Darcy O’Sullivan, an orphaned English teacher from Boston, receives a letter that her biological father passed away, she is surprised to find herself included in his will.
There is only one condition.
She must travel to Fairydale to attend his funeral.
With the promise of a sizable inheritance, Darcy decides to journey to the small coastal town that holds the secrets of her birth. But the moment she steps foot into Fairydale, things start to go amiss.
Odd residents. Odd rumors. Odd…deaths.
Everything about Fairydale is odd.
Including brooding Caleb Hale—part of the infamous Hale family.
During the day, she falls deeper and deeper under his spell as he forces her to step out of her comfort zone and embrace her inner sensuality.
But at night it’s another man who haunts her dreams—Amon d’Artan, a nobleman who lived two centuries ago.
Amon is sweet and suave where Caleb is intense and dangerous, and Darcy feels more torn than ever. Soon, she finds herself embroiled in a web of lies, deceit, and inexplicable events that make her question her sanity.
When an ancient evil threatens the town and everything Darcy holds dear, she must make the ultimate choice.
But will she survive it?
My thoughts:
Summary:
Let me try to summarize what happens in bullet point (no spoilers, I promise):
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Darcy receives a letter stating that her father passed away and she must be present for the will reading. Mind you she never knew who her father was in the first place as she grew up with her mom then in an orphanage;
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Darcy decides to go to Fairydale after checking with the nuns that the lawyer is truthful. Besides, her half siblings are “excited” to meet her, or so the lawyer claims;
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The journey there IS NOT going well at all. Between trying to find her way, stolen suitcase, and the weird lawyer who seems nice one sec and rude the other, the trip doesn’t seem promising;
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Weird cryptic messages to “not trust them.” Making the whole experience more ominous and reaffirms what Darcy already suspected. Hidden schemes are at play and she must keep herself cautious;
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Okay, her half siblings don’t seem to like her that much. Her step mom, while outwardly nice, seems superficial. It seems the whole family wants something from her and trying to disguise it…
Review:
The book is divided into three parts, with each part revealing more than the other.
I must warn you that reading this book is a commitment in itself, like it could have been two books and I think the author did a risky job by leaving it this long (around 800 pages!!! What are we?!) However, I must admit that it was done well enough that I didn’t mind a lot. The issue wasn’t the length itself but the fact that it was longer than it NEEDED to be.
Not to spoil the whole story but the main theory of the book is quite cool. The ending revelation is predictable. Even so, I loved that author was leaving us enough hints throughout the whole book. Actually, we have as much knowledge as our main character Darcy…who seems to discover more things about herself and her origins the more time she spends in Fairydale. Does she trust what her intuition tells her or that she trust what the people of the village are telling her? What’s so special about her that they all seem to want her?
Overall, the events flowed nicely from one scene to the next, for the most part.
I don’t think it’s ideal for a one sitting reading session but to each their own.
Good story, mid execution, that’s Fairydale by Veronica Lancet!
PS: Feeling more leaned towards standalones that will help you out of a reading slump perhaps? Read my post about my best 5 standalones here!
Source: GIPHY
Have you read Fairydale? Do you have book recommendations with similar vibes (maybe less book pages lol)??!
