Reviewed by Valerie
TITLE: Fight for This
SERIES: For This #1
AUTHOR: Suki Fleet
PUBLISHER: Stars and Ink Press
LENGTH: 229 pages
RELEASE DATE: January 31, 2020
BLURB:
Can a fairy who can’t control his glamour and the growly Guardian who adores him save the Veil that protects all fairykind?
Grey and Si have been dancing around one another for months.
Grey’s helpless attraction to fairies (and one fairy in particular) is a source of endless frustration—but as his energy can damage a fairy’s glamour, he can’t let himself get close.
Si is different to other fairies and he’s wearing down Grey’s defences. When Si discovers the Veil is thinning around the school where they both work—putting the students and teachers there at risk from detection—he needs Grey’s help to fix it.
Problem is, Si isn’t a true fairy, he’s just a magical mistake. For as long as he can remember all his glamour has done is messed up and broken stuff. Though Grey maybe older and wiser about a lot of things in the human world, he’s pretty clueless about all things magical. He doesn’t even know the Veil exists until Si knocks himself unconscious trying to save Grey’s reputation after a night out.
But it’s funny how mistakes work out. Even funnier how trusting one another can help even the most impossible events turn out all right.
REVIEW:
I love Suki Fleet’s young adult/new adult stories, but this is her first foray into a fantasy novel. I’m not a regular reader of this sub-genre but I’ll try anything they take the time to write. I was rewarded with a whimsical romance I would describe as fun and cute, with strong chemistry and highly appealing characters, main and secondary alike. I actually read through the book twice within a few days before reviewing it because I wanted to be sure I was doing the book and readers of this review justice. I didn’t connect with it strongly on the first read through – maybe because of my unfamiliarity with fantasy – but on the second time around it certainly resonated and I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed Fight for This.
Fleet has created a magical world of fairies, elves, and guardians. Grey is hired to protect the Folk (magical beings) at a school. He was given a second chance at employment after a checkered past. Grey believes he is a nome (non-magical entity) and therefore unworthy of fairies. Per his employment contract he’s not supposed to get involved with fairies, either.
Si is an anomaly, half-fairy, half-human and much more powerful than anyone knows. Because of this, he can’t control his glamour (magic) properly. Grey has been longing for Si for many weeks and has resorted to driving Si to nightclubs every weekend just to spend time with him. But he believes Si – or any fairy – would never be interested in him because he’s a nome. Unbeknownst to him, though, Si reciprocates his feelings and has been pretending to like anonymous hook-ups, while Grey desired the opposite:
“The thing was, uncomplicated, anonymous sex was the last thing he wanted. What Grey wanted was complicated, intense, and consuming. He wanted a mate. Which given his current feelings, was impossible.”
An ill-fated night out for Si and Grey sets off a series of events that lead to legal trouble for Grey. Using his glamour, Si is able to prove Grey is innocent, but by doing so he becomes so severely depleted he is almost lifeless. Grey is shocked to learn he can help Si, which eventually leads to the consummation of their relationship.
The primary conflict is the thinning and lifting of the Veil which surrounds the school, and it’s up to Si and Grey to repair it. If the Veil falls, the Folk will be targets of “bloodshed and fear” and possible annihilation at the hands of humans.
Fight for This has a well-developed cast of characters including nosy neighbor/teacher Tabitha, who is invaluable to Si and Grey, and Jaime and Robyn, two young men struggling to understand and control their magic. This is the first book in the For This series that will clearly include Jaime and Robyn, either as a couple or separately, it’s not clear. Both men will be wonderful MCs. Fight for This is much lighter in tone than Fleet’s angsty YA offerings, but it shares the quality writing they possess. Combine that with a sweet love story, hot sexy times, and great characters and it results in a book I can wholeheartedly recommend, even for non-fantasy enthusiasts like myself.
RATING: 
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