#and a decent familiarity with common tropes and plotlines

[unfairlyfallen]

Day 4:

I have never read a book in its entirety for school (because of my moderate to severe dyslexia,) but I have LED every class discussion successfully based on context clues and vibes alone. No one ever knew...

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[fae-fucker]

Stolen Brides of The Fae, ranked

After the self-imposed challenge that became an arduous journey, we have finally reached the end where I can definitively rank all the books in the Stolen Brides of the Fae series of short, independent novels by various authors.

I will link each review, but if you can’t be assed to check and/or read them again, I’ll also write a shorter summary of my ranking and my opinions of each book.

The Good Shit

1. Stolen Mayfly Bride

Incredible originality within genre constraints, good use of the format, purposeful atmosphere and tone, compelling worldbuilding. Interesting and unique take on familiar tropes that offered a genuinely new experience compared to the other books.

2. Stolen Thorn Bride

Good take on common tropes, likable main characters. It’s honestly mostly on-par with Ice Bride and I do kind of prefer the couple in that one, but my own personal preference tends toward more action-y heroines, so this is a pretty minor thing that made it just a bit more fun to read for me.

3. Stolen Ice Bride

Cozy read, decently executed romance, likable main characters. This book delivers what it promises and should be a decent time for its target audience. It’s a little on the blander side compared to the top two, but still executes its tropes well and has a compelling lead heroine that I ended up rooting for.

The Middling Midlands

4. Stolen Mage Bride

Some interesting ideas, but most of the potential is squandered. The romance was decent, but fell into some tired hetero nonsense that made it feel a bit generic. Still, this one probably had the best action and the best “adventure” feel, so if you enjoy a slight enemies-to-lovers where they’re on a journey together, then you might have a good time!

5. Stolen Midsummer Bride

Bland, generic, inoffensive. Could be cute with some more work, but is otherwise a bit underbaked and reaches for things that are not within its grasp just based on the initial premise. The romance borders on insta-love but pretends it doesn’t by just telling you it’s not. Won’t hurt your brain but won’t stimulate it either.

6. Stolen Shadow Bride

Squandered potential, abandoned plotlines, generic characters with the hero being the weakest link. Nothing too bad, might still be a good time if you’re into these stories, but doesn’t have the potential fluffy charm of Midsummer Bride since it’s more traditional with the power dynamics of the usual female human/male fae romance.

The Stinky No-No Zone

7. Stolen Goblin Bride

Incompetently and amateurishly written all around. Awful main characters, no plot or conflict to speak of, confusing worldbuilding. Doesn’t get the last spot because at least this one was morbidly entertaining to watch fall on its face and twitch miserably on the floor. Bad time all around unless you’re in it to roast it with friends, but it didn’t make me want to never read fae stories again, so there’s that.

8. Stolen Threadwitch Bride

No originality, no passion, a regurgitated mess of tropes that adds nothing to the genre. Bland characters, bland plot, embarrassing dialogue, uncomfortably derivative and painfully heterosexual romance. I hated reading this book and suffered through it only out of a sense of obligation. If I didn’t have this blog or friends to rant about it with I would have abandoned it because reading it was a total waste of time and spoons. It made me hate the tropes it used even though I usually like them. And it doesn’t even have the balls to be funny bad or incompetently written. This is an assembly manual for fae stories. A sludge of artistic waste product. This book is nothing.

And with this, I am free. I hope y’all enjoyed this little journey I dragged you all on, and thanks for reading!