Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: If A Butterfly Don’t Fly
SERIES: Out of Underhill #2
AUTHOR: Mell Eight
PUBLISHER: Less Than Three Press
LENGTH: 124 Pages
RELEASE DATE: March 13, 2019
BLURB:
Merridy has always loved music, but can’t sing. The only job in the music business he can get is as a security guard for The Bard and Sons, a premier record label. He keeps their secrets and patrols their hallways, always secretly wishing for a big break he knows will never come.
Changeling’s Court is a brand new band struggling to cut their first single and record. Merridy chances upon a scrap of their lyrics without accompanying music notes and can’t help composing a simple ballad for them. If he’s found out he’ll probably get fired.
Instead, he finds himself in a strange new world of magic and faeries—and danger.
REVIEW:
I loved the first book in this series so much that I was worried I’d be disappointed with this one considering it has all new characters. But as usual, Mell Eight has wowed me with the way she can write a book that seems so simple, yet delivers so much. While the characters aren’t the same as in the previous book, I would definitely recommend reading Kelpie Blue first, my review of which can be found here. The world of Underhill is introduced and explored more thoroughly in the first book.
So this book gives us the story of Merridy, Merry to his friends. Because Merry can’t speak he has given up on his dreams of joining a band, though his lack of voice doesn’t affect his music. When the mysterious new band, Changeling’s Court, asks Merry to join them, he thinks their offer is too good to be true. There has to be a catch. And there is. In the form of B-grade horror movie monsters called the Fomoiri. Now Merry and the rest of the band, who are of course the good fae, have to slaughter their way through slimy, slithery and fanged creatures as they work to release their first album.
As usual with this author’s book the romance, in this case between Merry and Fion, isn’t the major element of the story, and is sweet rather than sexy. The secondary characters are interesting and involved and add to the story rather than taking up space. Like the first book, the majority of this story takes place Overhill (aka in the real world), but the time spent Underhill feels intense, like that place would confuse anyone and cause a headache. It was super interesting but I liked the fact there was a mix of both worlds.
I loved that the author included so many song lyrics, considering music plays such a huge role in Merry’s life. The way that he hear the beat or the rhythm of everything around him, was endearing and well, it was just really cool. I especially loved the way the author incorporated a song into the big fight scene.
I can only hope that Mell Eight chooses to continue this series, because I would love to see more Underhill. Besides, there’s still the mastermind plotting the downfall of Team Good-guys from the dreaded UnSeelie Court that needs unmasking. So surely we’ll be gifted with at least one more book.
RATING: 
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