by Dana Marie Bell
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I enjoy the Gray Court series. Bell takes familiar Seelie characters, and then spins them a bit. Leprechauns, fairies, Oberon, Tatiana, and The Hob all have their roles, and within this world she incorporates vampires as a type of Sidhe, sirens, and dragon shifters. And somehow with all that mish mash, she makes it work and weaves it into something really cohesive and interesting. They have action, a story arc that ties it all together, lovely romances, and since these are from Samhain, a rather high steam rating.
Never More is the 6th story in this series and is not remotely a standalone. Honestly, this is the LEAST capable of being a standalone because it is one of those books that serves to bring the entire main cast back together to serve the overall arc, while still giving us a satisfying new romance. But it is a series I recommend to Fae and paranormal romance lovers. It is also a hard one to recommend because I think this series started out a little shaky and then really hit its stride around book 3. Unfortunately this a series that must be read in order. The first two books are by no means bad, I just don't think they adequately show how good this series gets.
As for this story, it features Raven Goodfellow (yes, related to THAT Goodfellow) and Amanda Pierson. Amanda played a pivotal role in the first book but has only been mentioned since then. She is a fire cracker with a penchant for dares and a smart mouthed attitude that I enjoyed tremendously. And in this story we get to see the sweetheart behind the bad-boy image Raven has previously presented to the world. There has been more than one heartbreaking incident in his past, and consider this your trigger warning, because Bell goes to a trope that is only rarely used on male characters. It is neither graphic nor gratuitous, but it is definitely a significant element of this story because it impacts what Raven does. With all the wedding shenanigans and appearances of other characters, the romance is a bit shoehorned in, but lovely nevertheless. I was so glad to see Raven get his happily ever after. And the thing I enjoyed most about this particular story, is how very playful the tone is. Raven has had a hard life but when given the chance and the freedom to play by Amanda, he goes full tilt toward it. This results in a barrage of goofy, groan inducing puns. If you are like me and adore some good groan worthy puns, you'll get a big kick out of it. If you don't you might just find this story "hawkward".
4 stars
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