The Thorns Remain

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Book released in UK on 16th Feb 2023.

Nineteen-year-old Moira Jean lives in a small village in the Scottish Highlands, a village where all the inhabitants are tenants to the absent landlords who own the 'big house'. The year is 1919 & there are few young people left in the village now due to the war & influenza that has ravaged the population. (continued)

OutsmartYourShelf The other young people have their plans & they & Moira Jean head into the forest for a last night of merriment, but as they drink & dance, Moira Jean notices something strange. There seem to be more of them than usual & these strangers give Moira Jean a foreboding feeling. The next morning, only Moira Jean has returned but the villagers think nothing odd of her companions having disappeared!
2y

OutsmartYourShelf Besides Moira Jean, only the oldest woman in the village seems to realise that something is wrong. Her friends have been taken by the Fae or Fairy Folk. Their leader, the Lord of the Land Under the Hill (aka The Dreamer) is angry that he has been forgotten by humans, but he strikes a bargain with Moira Jean - he will return her friends one at a time, but he requires an offering for each one. 2y

OutsmartYourShelf They have to be redeemed by Beltane, which is only six weeks away, or they will be lost forever. Moira Jean is about to learn that making a deal with the Fae can be very tricky indeed.

Wow, this is not my usual go-to genre, but it was definitely a very good read. I think the author conveys well the feeling of a people & village struggling to find their places in the more modern world after WWI, but still beholden to the old ways of doing things. 2y

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OutsmartYourShelf I also liked the range of Fae characters, brownies, kelpies, changelings, etc. Issues I had were with repetition, there was a lot of Moira Jean trudging in & out of the forest to meet 'the Dreamer' & it became a little too repetitive, & also many of the supporting characters weren't fleshed out - I kept forgetting who was who, & who was related to who. Overall though, I enjoyed reading it & recommend it if you like slow-building narratives. 2y

OutsmartYourShelf The cover is also rather pretty. 3.5🌟

My thanks to #NetGalley & publishers, HarperCollins UK, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5005878573

Read 13th-15th Feb 2023

#ValentinesDayReadathon @DieAReader @Andrew65 @GHABI4ROSES 2y

Andrew65 Well done 👏👏👏 A good review. 2y

DieAReader 🥳🥳🥳 2y

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