Thorn Queen

This is the second book in the Dark Swan series where we find Eugenie settling into her role as Thorn Queen. In the first book we learn that Eugenie is a Fae/Fairy hunter of sorts. She really despises the “shining ones”. Her perception of them is that they love to come into the Earth realm to rape human women and take what they want. They don't belong in this world and she will send them back to their own world or to the underworld until her dying day. We also learn that she is 1) the Storm Kings daughter 2)is half Fae 3)has a half sister 4)is part of a prophecy where her first born will be the Storm King's heir and be the most powerful Fae ever. Along the way we meet Kyto a half human who morphs into a killer fox, Dorian a Fae king who helps Eugenie tap into her powers, and of course Eugenie's mom and dad. At the end of the first book Eugenie goes toe to toe with a pretty bad Fae king, kills him and then takes over his land.

Most of the second book is just Eugenie getting used to being the new Thorn Queen, meeting her subjects and adjusting to Kyto being a new father. Kyto and Eugenie fell in love in the last book and it turns out that he is waiting for a baby with another Fae queen. This book was just ok. I think what is turning me off is that there really isn't much of a story here. Because of the prophecy Eugenie is being hunted by every supernatural being in hopes that they are the ones to father her child. In this book Eugenie is kidnapped and raped by a fae prince who thinks that what he has done was ok in every sense of the word. That part was hard to read/hear because it was descriptive and the rape went on for about a week or so. In the end this fae prince is killed by Dorian and a war begins as a result of it. Eugenie breaks up with Kyto and hooks up with Dorian within a day... True enough there has been this attraction between Dorian and Eugenie since the first book but it just felt like DANG! I mean she was supposed to be in love with the Kyto and the moment she breaks up with him she jumps in Dorian's bed after being repeatedly raped about two weeks before.

Again, my biggest pet peeve is that the book doesn't seem to have much of a story or at least not enough to really keep me interested or in like with the book. It's all about SEX! Sex is good but it's all meaningless sex. I find that Eugenie is forming relationships with people but they feel empty. They don't feel real to me at all. She has this conversation with her adoptive dad where she tells him that not all fae are bad and that she has a duty to protect them as well as the humans on Earth.... but I don't feel her loyalty or her feelings growing towards them throughout the book. Even the moments were she is in tuned with the land... you should be able to feel the spiritual connection because her emotions dictate the state of the land but the way it was written didn't do it for me. You should be able to feel that connection as a reader.

As I stated in my last review, I will read the rest of the series but I'm not in a hurry to make the next book the next one I will read. Not a priority right now. I have Richell Mead's other books which are YA and will probably read it this year but the adult ones are not doing it for me at the moment.

Read at your own risk but then again you might like it!