I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Cruel Enchantment
by
Anya Bast
urban fantasy in a paperback edition that was published by Berkley Sensation on September 7, 2010 and has 297 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Blood of the Rose, Hot for the Holidays
Third in the Dark Magick urban fantasy series.
My Take
Cruel Enchantment is a cruel let down. Most of this series has been bad…god knows why I’ve kept reading it. Hope, I think. I’m giving up after this one. Even her editor has given up. The main storyline is intriguing and the possibilities for Cruel Enchantment were good, but Bast must have been in a real hurry to finish this and her editor was in a coma. It’s a weird blend of fae and modern slang. Please…the fae “tinkle”?? And what’s with, “Wow, what was in that drink? I want the recipe”??
Aeric has hated Emmaline for centuries and he gives up his revenge so easily? Sure, I get that Aeric is a nice guy but couldn’t Bast have written a little more turmoil into this? He barely gets through one scene before he gives up on his centuries-old desire for revenge against Emmaline for the woman he loved! Then there’s Emmaline. She’s been doing this spy thing for centuries. She’s supposedly so good at it and she misses not supporting part of her strategy against a man she visibly despises for how incredibly evil he is. A man who, if he discovered who she was, could wreak incredible destruction upon her and the fae? Sure it makes an easy one-off to make Gideon suspicious of her but it’s not even the route he uses so what was the point other than to point up how stupid Emamline is other than to give the reader a salacious moment?
Almost every scene is rough and awkward or surface and without thought. The “building” relationship between Emmaline and Aeric is so fake, it’s gagging to read. Their internal arguments are just so much whining — please just let me finish this bloody book!
