Gosh! When is the last time I stayed up late to read a book? I can't even remember.
Fantasy Romance is not my typical go-to genre as I generally find it full of uncomfortable hormones making poor decisions or sweet and clean but really boring. But every once in a while I find a gem in this niche and FIERCE HEART is such a gem!
First off, ELVEEEEEESSSSS. I'm really picky about how elves are handled in books. I love Tolkien's elves, and I generally find other elves in fantasy fall short to that measure. But I enjoyed the culture presented here, even if the elves did have some irritating issues over beauty.
What really makes this book work is our heroine. She is both practical and plucky. Sweet and strong. I felt she is pretty rare fictional example of a very real type of girl. Her humorous outlook both on herself and the elvish world kept me laughing through the pages. She heads into this marriage of convenience realizing it doesn't need romance to make it work or keep her happy, but she soon realizes, that gee, romance would be nice, because who can NOT ogle over an elf for a husband. It's done in such a way that I was actually giggling with delight instead of groaning in annoyance.
Farrendel. ME OH MY OH ME. Yes, be still my heart, he checks all the boxes and he checks them beautifully. Actually, scratch that. He fulfills the Quiet, Handsome, Tortured, Actually Nice boxes but he does not have any of those Rude, Aggressive, Basically Abusive tendencies other fantasy fey males tend to have. Our Farrendel is a Good Boy, and he manages to be both cool and cute, which is my favorite thing.
Violence: There is some action in this book, mainly towards the last 20%. Some violence and blood, especially relating to bullets, but nothing super graphic.
Language: None.
Sexual Content: Here was my main concern. It's a marriage of convenience book romance fantasy. Can those ACTUALLY be clean? Prepare yourself for a shocker, wow, they actually can. This was a really clean romance with one semi-passionate, not very detailed kiss at the end. I assume they will be moving along with their marriage come book 2, but with as sensibly as everything was handled in this book, I have hope it will be just as clean and comfortable to read.
So uh yeah, I recommend.