Reviewed by Chris
TITLE: Stolen Hearts
AUTHOR: Sasha L. Miller
PUBLISHER: Less Than Three Press
LENGTH: 140 Pages
RELEASE DATE: January 25, 2011
BLURB:
Mervyn is accustomed to the unusual and strange. People of all walks come to him with problems that only magic can solve. A wizard of no little skill, he enjoys the challenges that come with his job and that he can offer help to people who have nowhere else to go. Even fairies, long abused by wizards for the special energy they can provide, find their way to his door.
But when Callisto, a terrified and maliciously attacked fairy, shows up to ask for his help, he presents a challenge that even Mervyn has never encountered before—instead of a heart, Callisto has only an inadequate charm—a charm that will kill him in a matter of days if Mervyn does not find a solution.
REVIEW:
Mervyn makes a living creating charms and working spells to help the people who come to his door. Normally a wizard is the last place a fairy would go to for help, but Mervyn has been known to freely give his services to those fairies that come to him, without demanding a bond or any service from them. To be bound to a wizard, especially against one’s will, is a bit of a taboo (at best) for fairies and a life-sentence, at worst.
That’s why Callisto comes to Mervyn. He had seen the fairy-lights on the wizard’s door and hoped that the sign of a fairy’s favor meant he could trust the man inside. See he has already come across one wizard–and it has left him without a heart and with a badly working charm in its place. As that wizard uses their connection to Callisto, Callisto is being slowly drained of his magic…and very soon his life-force. If Mervyn can not help him it is very likely that in three days he will be dead.
I totally swear that I didn’t do this on purpose, but it seemed I really needed some metal-heart-swap in my life, because this is the second book in the last week I have reviewed with that in it (the first being Clockwork Heart by Heidi Cullinan). Turned out pretty well for me since both books were great. This isn’t a story of steampunk, though. Here we have magic and fairies and wizards (oh my!).
Also, there are fewer orgies here. Fewer as in none. This is a very sweet, no-sex story. Which I loved. The romance between Mervyn and Callisto is still all that I want it to be, just there is no sex going on on page. Seeing how I mostly prefer this, I didn’t have any problems with it. Plus, there is mystery and flirting and magic…what more could I want?
While the whole bad-guy thing was a tad obvious, I can’t say I cared all that much. I still think there are shady things going on with certain other wizards, and I’d love to be proven right (or, wrong) in another book in this series. Not to mention that Denzil and Malone have a lovely hate-crush going on.
The workings of this fantasy world were very well done. And quite interesting. The book doesn’t spend too much time getting overly descriptive of either the magic or the world, but it really doesn’t need to. The story tells itself with just enough to make you want to know more, but not so much you feel like you fell into a Wikipedia page by accident.
I had a lot of fun reading this and would love to see more in this universe. I totally recommend it if you are looking for some light fantasy with supper cute protagonists.
RATING:
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