(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

A ROMANCE OF APOCALYPTIC PROPORTIONS.

Two worlds bound by magic…
Three people joined by destiny…

Lord Kagan Donmall rules the Verge, the border that protects the magical Fae Inlands from the mundane mortal world. Recently, the Verge has been failing and he suspects the source of magic is fading. His prayers to Danu have gone unanswered, until now.

The young mortal, Lauren Montgomery, hears the message of Danu and eagerly agrees to be the Lady of the Verge, for she desires more than a mundane life.

But Lauren’s twin sister, Tessa-ever her sister’s protector, challenges the decision. The Verge falls, and the Fae and mortal worlds suffer a double apocalypse.

Now Kagan, Lauren, and Tessa must survive in this new, hostile world and discover a way to repair that which has been destroyed while navigating the bonds of duty, love, and vengeance.

[Full disclosure: I requested and received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

I have a confession to make about this book.  When I requested it on NetGalley I expected it to be a shameless romance involving little or no thought.  I was looking for guilty pleasure reading that day.  So imagine my surprise when not only does Fairytale Apocalypse turn out to be serious, it turns out to be good!

What really surprised me were the characters.  Yes, there’s the typical older protective sister dynamic with Tessa (she is the older twin) but there also is a lot of resentment about her role as the protector.  Since Tessa and Lauren are essentially the same age, their totally different personalities come into conflict constantly.  Tessa is grounded and very mature for her age whereas Lauren…well she’s definitely a dreamer, but she’s also kind of flaky and naive.  Lauren is not necessarily the best match for Kagan, the Lord of the Verge, who is very serious, could never be described as naive and old by mortal standards.

I was also pretty impressed when Jacqueline Patricks decided to modify the tropes she was using, rather than being lazy and playing them straight like so many authors.  I can’t really reveal all that much without giving away the storyline, but just imagine a double apocalypse (in the Fae world and mortal world) where powerful people like the Fae can’t use their magic any longer.  How would they cope?  Could they even survive in a mortal post-apocalyptic world, let alone a Fae one?  It’s actually very interesting because it makes the plot far less predictable.

The world-building was excellent, no doubt about that.  Yes, the Fae world is sort of a typical fairy world: there’s dangerous lurking around every corner and the pretty things are probably what will kill you.  But at the same time, Patricks put her own spin on it and included some fascinating new creatures as well as older creatures that are usually neglected in fantasy.  All of the fae have swords that communicate with them, something you would think would end up being ridiculous but really didn’t.  It was actually quite a fascinating bond and I wish we had learned more about it.  There’s always next book, though.

So here we have a fantasy with themes of love vs. duty and sacrifice for the greater good.  We also have amazing characters, a really interesting and unpredictable plot as well as some pretty great world-building.  I really can’t ask for anything else, other than for Jacqueline Patricks to hurry up with the next book!

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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