Genevra Thorne re-imagines the classic tale of Cupid and Psyche. Cupid was the Roman god of love and Psyche was a princess so beautiful that she unwittingly became a rival to Venus. Cupid was sent by his mother to make Psyche fall in love with someone terrible as punishment for daring to rival the gods. Instead, he fell in love with her himself. To protect her from Venus, Cupid had Psyche carried off from a cliff to a magic palace where he visited her every night. Ashton is a Sidhe with the power of Allure; to see him is to want him. When he saves Eden from her fall off a cliff, Eden looks straight into his heart, until his Allure takes her over. Ash is captivated by that moment when Eden saw him, not his Allure, and performs a forbidden spell to remove the memory of their first meeting from her mind. He then devotes his nights to courting her, with the intention of revealing himself only after he has won her heart. Yet, when the other women at the brothel reveal the truth of his beauty, Eden flees and Ash must find a way to assure her of his love. Worse is yet to come for the couple when Ash's family learns he altered Eden's memory for his chance at her heart. Even if she forgives him, can he escape his people's laws and live happily ever after? The concept of Allure is an interesting one. Ms. Thorne takes the idea of faerie glamour and twists it until appearance becomes a trap. She has explored this concept in previous works, but in A FAERIE TALE: THE BELOVED, she looks at it from the inside. What happens when no one can see the real you but only the surface? It is a terribly lonely existence and his Allure leaves Ash feeling trapped by his power. Like any good romance novel, love conquers all and the heart can see much deeper than the eyes. Giving Eden problems of her own with appearance balances the characters as they each have experience being judged on their appearance. Besides being an interesting retelling of a classic myth, the author provides a scathing critic of those who judge a book by its cover. No story is told on the first page; it is only begun. If you are looking for a great fantasy story this summer pick up a copy of A FAERIE TALE: THE BELOVED. - See more at: http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=21304#sthash.Pq9AddEJ.dpuf
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AuthorElizabeth Ramsay is English tutor and ESL Teacher. Archives
February 2018
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