What happens when you've been under an uglification spell your entire life and it suddenly gets lifted?
Well, read my book if you want to find out--it's what you might call a cautionary tale...
I used to be plain, boring, forgettable Emma Plunkett...but that was back when I thought I was human. Now, I'm something completely different. I have raven hair, purple eyes, and the power to Fascinate--not to mention two gorgeous Fae warriors who have both sworn their undying love and loyalty to me. (How can I choose between them when I want them both?)
I've heard the other students at Nocturne Academy whispering behind my back. Either I'm a lost Fairy Princess...or a creature so dark and evil I could change the fate of the Fae Realm forever--only I don't know which!
But I have a bad feeling I'm about to find out...
What happens when you've been under an uglification spell your entire life and it suddenly gets lifted?
Well, read my book if you want to find out--it's what you might call a cautionary tale...
I used to be plain, boring, forgettable Emma Plunkett...but that was back when I thought I was human. Now, I'm something completely different. I have raven hair, purple eyes, and the power to Fascinate--not to mention two gorgeous Fae warriors who have both sworn their undying love and loyalty to me. (How can I choose between them when I want them both?)
I've heard the other students at Nocturne Academy whispering behind my back. Either I'm a lost Fairy Princess...or a creature so dark and evil I could change the fate of the Fae Realm forever--only I don't know which!
But I have a bad feeling I'm about to find out...
Bran O'Connor was hard to look at.
I donât just mean he was ugly, although if I was being honest, he really was. He had lank brownish hair, small no-color eyes, and really just terrible skin. Like pizza-face bad is what I mean. He was also shorter than me, thin verging on scrawny, and one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet.
Haâsurprised you there, didnât I? You thought I was just going to go on and on about how awful he looked but I really donât need toâthe popular kids at Nocturne Academy did that plenty. He didn't need me piling it on too.
He really was a nice guy, though and there was something about him, something I couldn't quite put my finger onâŚ
But I didn't know that on the first day of our new unit in AP Biology. I just stood there at the front of the room, trying not to let my face sag into an expression of disappointment when Mr. Barron called out,
âEmma Plunkett, youâll be lab partners with Bran OâConnor. Go find your seat.â
Reluctantly, I went to sit beside my new partner. This was my faultâif I hadnât been late on the first day of this new unit, I might have gotten paired with someone elseâ someone like Elian Darkwing.
Yeah, I know his name sounds like something straight out of a vampire romance novel but that's because he is a vampireâor Nocturne, as they call themselves. He's tall and gorgeous and completely unobtainable but hey, a girl can dream right? After all, one of my best friends, Megan, is Blood-Bonded to a Nocturne so maybe it could happen for me too.
Well, not this time, apparently because now I was stuck with Bran O'Connor which was going to be a problem.
I donât mean it was a problem because he was hard to look at. No, the problem was going to be the extra attention having the ugliest guy in school as my lab partner was going to draw from the beautiful people at Nocturne Academy.
Wow, that sounds incredibly shallow.
I promise Iâm not the prom queen type that canât be bothered with less than perfect people. Iâm a lot less than perfect myself.
How do I look, youâre probably wondering? Well, look up the word ânondescriptâ in the dictionary and youâd see a picture of me. And then youâd promptly forget what I looked like because I am that forgettable. Seriouslyâdishwater brownish-blonde hair, muddy, no-color hazel-ish eyes, no figure to speak ofâthatâs me. Plain Jane and completely boring.
Everyone else at Nocturne Academy has something special about them. Theyâre cool, mysterious vampires, or witches with amazing magical powers. Or they can turn into freaking dragons and fly and breathe fireâwhich recently happened to another good friend of mine, Kaitlyn. Or theyâre pretty, sparkly fairies from the Realm of the Fae just slumming it here in the human world until itâs time to make their debut at the Seelie Court.
But me? Iâm nothing. Iâm meh. Iâm so bland I make dry toast look exciting.
Which is why Iâm usually able to fly under the radar of the pretty peopleâin this case, Morganna Starchild.
Morganna was a Fae with perfectly coiffed honey-blonde hair and huge blue eyes that sparkled like sapphires in her exquisitely sculpted face. Like all Faes, she looked a little like an Anime character come to life with eyes and boobs that were gorgeous and just a little too big and cheekbones that would make any plastic surgeon retire on the spot. She was just basically perfection.
And lately sheâd really had it out for me.
I donât know why Morganna started picking on me. Maybe because Iâm not as pretty as her. But then again, to the Fae, all humans look like toads. I mean, weâre just so much less perfect than they are, we might as well be one step down on the evolutionary ladder.
For whatever reason, Morganna had made it her personal mission to make my life miserable lately. And having Bran as a lab partner wasnât going to help her decide to ignore me and get back to her regular life of being flawless and pretty.
Speaking of Morganna, she was currently sitting beside my crush, Elian Darkwing and smirking at me as I settled in my chair beside Bran. She was flirting shamelessly with Elian, which was supposed to be against the rules. For time out of mind The Edictâthis really strong magic spellâkept the different kinds of Others from dating or having romantic relationships outside their own species. But since my friend Megan and her Nocturne boyfriend Griffin broke the spell, it seemed like all bets were off.
I tried not to notice the way she was whispering to Elian as she watched me, but I couldnât help hearing what she was saying.
âLooks like poor little Emma finally found a boyfriend. And heâs almost as pretty as she is!â she said, in a voice low enough that Mr. Barron couldnât hear it but loud enough that the pretty people in the roomâmostly other Faes with a few Nocturnes thrown inâwho were grouped around her like a court around a queen, could.
A ripple of unkind laughter followed her remark and I felt my cheeks getting hot and red. Great, this was just what I needed this morningâanother dose of Mean Girl hazing.
I didnât understand why Morganna wouldnât just leave me alone. But once someone like her decides sheâs got it in for you, thereâs not much you can do but just keep your head down and try not to attract her attention.
Which was why having Bran OâConnor for a lab partner was such a liability.
As I got settled in my seat, I saw that Bran was looking at me. I didnât think Iâd ever been this close to him before, even though he was also a Normâa regular human with no magical powersâlike me. Maybe because he didnât live at the school like most studentsâhe stayed with his family and commuted to Nocturne Academy every day. He also wasnât a Frostproof lifer like meâmeaning he didnât grow up in our crappy little town here in Central Florida.
In fact, he had just transferred here at the end of last semester, but that was long enough for the beautiful people, (Morganna and her crew) to label him a âtrollâ and dismiss him as nothing more than an ugly little guy taking up too much of the available oxygen.
âItâs all rightâjust ignore them,â he murmured and I got my first surpriseâhis voice did not match his body. At all.
It was deep and smooth like dark chocolate melting on the back of your tongue. The kind of voice that sends tingles and chills through your whole body, just to hear it. Hello, ASMR hottie. Or he would be if his body matched that voice.
I looked at him in surpriseâor tried to. But somehow my eyes kept sliding away from his face. Frowning, I tried again with the same result. I got only a glimpse of his awful skin, lank hair, and no-color eyes before my own eyes just kind of slid to the side and I found I was staring over his shoulder.
Weird.
See, this is what I meant when I said it was hard to look at him. It really wasâmy mind somehow didnât want to let me study him too closely.
Well, maybe it was a psychological thing. I knew having him for a partner was going to make me the butt of more of Morganna Starchildâs jokes, so I subconsciously didnât want anything to do with him.
Yeahâthat had to be it.
âOkay, people,â said Mr. Barron, interrupting my train of thought. âToday weâre going to start with an easy lab, just to get our toes wet. This exercise is called âMeasuring Heart Rate Accuratelyâ and it only has two requirementsâa partner with a pulse and a watch. Everybody good?â
Several of the girls complained that they didnât wear watches because they always just looked at the time on their phones. Most places in the Nocturne Academy castle cell phones donât even workâthe magic interferes with them. However, Mr. Barronâs classroom was one of the rare exceptions where you could actually get a signal.
It didnât matter though because Mr. Barron had a strict no-phones policy in his classroom. He had one of those clear plastic shoe holders hung over the back of his door, only instead of shoes, the rectangular pockets were full of phones. They were numbered and everyone had to turn off their cell phone and slip it into a pocket at the beginning of class. No exceptions.
Woe to the hapless student who tried to keep his or her phone, or who forgot to turn their phone off, or at least on silent. Mr. Barron was pretty easy going about other things but he was death on cell phones ringing or beeping in his classroom. He said he could remember when everybody couldnât get hold of you any time they felt like it and it was a much âbetter and simpler time.â
My own phone was in pocket seventeen, down near the bottom of the shoe/phone holder since I was late. It sat there in its plain green case, staring at me mutely from across the room. It wasnât far from a glittery pink rhinestone case with fluffy feathers sprouting from the top. That one belonged to Morganna Starchildâno surprise there.
Morganna was one of the girls complaining most vociferously about needing her phone because she didnât have a watch. But if she thought she was getting it back in the middle of Mr. Barronâs class she was sadly mistaken. Instead, the Biology teacher picked up a battered cardboard box and started handing out rusty, antique looking stopwatches to people with their hands up.
âYou have a watch?â Bran asked me. His deep voice was still freaking me out.
I pulled back my sleeve and displayed the modestly pretty silver watch my mom had gotten me for my last birthday. It wasnât an expensive brand but we didnât believe in luxury items in my houseâwe couldnât afford to since it was just Mom and me. The watch was pretty, though, and I wasnât ashamed to let him see it.
âGood,â Bran said, showing me his own watchâa chunky leather and metal thing with a face that appeared to show about fifty time zones. It was totally the watch a science nerd would wear, which make me like him a little better. I was kind of a nerd myself.
âOkay, now hereâs how it works, people,â Mr. Barron intoned in a bored voice. âUsing your first two fingers, find the pulse in the thumb-side of your partnerâs wrist. Count the number of beats you feel in thirty second's time. Then multiply that by two to get their resting heart rate. Do this three times each and take the average. Write it all down and then list some activities you think would lower or raise a personâs heart rate.â
âAny activities?â Morganna Starchild gave Elian Darkwing a flirtatious, side-long look and giggled.
âKeep it G rated, please Miss Starchild,â Mr. Barron said dryly. âA good rule of thumb is, if you wouldnât want your parents to read it, then donât write it. Okay? Everybody got it? Goodâgo to it.â
He went back to the front of the room and settled himself behind his desk with a newspaper and a cup of coffee, leaving the class to fend for itself.
Mr. Barron was not exactly what youâd call a morning person.
âOkay, well I guess weâd better get started,â I said. Getting out a piece of notebook paper and a pen, I got ready to go. âYou want to go first or should I?â I asked Bran.
âYou go.â He held out his wrist to me and I took it awkwardly between my thumb and my first two fingers, feeling for the pulse.
Touching him this way gave me a strange little tingle, though I didnât know why. I tried to keep my head down and focus on my watch face but it took me several tries to get an accurate count.
âYou okay?â he asked at last.
âHmm?â I looked up at him and the strangest thing happened. For just an instant my eyes focused on his face and I sawâŚwell, I donât know what I saw but it wasnât the Bran OâConnor I knew. The face I somehow glimpsed looked like an angel or a godâhigh cheekbones, blazing blue eyes, a sensuous mouthâ
I gasped and ripped my hand away from his wrist. What the hell just happened?
âAre you all right?â Branâs deep voice sounded concerned. He leaned closer to me and for the first time, I noticed his scent.
It was amazing. He smelled fresh and wild, like cedar wood and salt from the ocean, and some other dark spice I couldnât classify.
Like his voice, his scent didnât seem to match the rest of him. Of course, I didnât know what I had expected him to smell likeâmaybe glue from putting together model airplanes or chemicals from playing with a chemistry set? I donât know.
It sounds crazy but I couldnât help thinking if I just closed my eyes and listened to his voice and smelled his scent, I could almost imagine him as someone else. Maybe the god-like being Iâd somehow glimpsed for just an instant when I touched him.
Which was nuts.
âAre you okay?â Bran asked again.
I kept my eyes open and answered him as calmly as I could.
âSorry, I just got a little, uh, shock. Like, static electricityâdidnât you feel it?â
âAs a matter of fact, I did,â he murmured in that soft, deep voice of his. I didnât want to think about how it made me feel so I stuck out my arm at him.
âHere. Youâre turn,â I said.
He took my hand in both of his and I found that his touch was surprisingly warm and gentle. My body was reacting in all kinds of weird and crazy ways which I was trying desperately to ignore as he found my pulse.
âHmm,â he murmured. âYour pulse is jumping all over the place. Are you all right?â
âIâm fine,â I said tightly, trying not to look at him because I was afraid Iâd get that same freaky optical illusion of his face that I had when I was touching him a minute earlier. âIâm just fiââ
And thatâs when my cell phone started to ring.
I knew it was mine because the ring tone was the Bach Cello Suite No. 1 Prelude. Yeah, I know Iâm a geek but it so happens that I like classical music and Iâm not ashamed of it.
Or I wasnât until my phone started blaring in the middle of AP Biology.
Mr. Barronâs head jerked up at once like a dog on a scent.
âAll rightâwhose is it?â He sounded like a dog tooâhis voice was a low, angry growl.
I felt my stomach drop all the way down to my school-issued Mary Janes. Mr. Barron had actually been known to suspend people for cell phone infractions and a suspension does not look good on a college application. Especially when you donât have the money for college so youâre trying to get a scholarship to get out of this crappy little town in the first place.
In an instant I saw my whole life flash before my eyes.
I saw myself suspended for my cell phone, then refused any kind of scholarship, then stuck waitressing at the I-Scream, U-Scream ice cream parlor slash diner, which is currently my after school job, for the rest of my life.
All because I forgot to put my damn cell phone on silent.
Bran seemed to understand at once what was going onâI must have looked really panicked and guilty. That or else my pulse, which he was still taking, had suddenly gone into overdrive.
âItâs yours?â he asked me in a low voice.
I gave a quick, jerky nod, unable to speak.
âAll right,â Mr. Barron snarled, slapping down his cup of coffee so hard that the bitter brown liquid slopped over the side and splattered his newspaper. âI said whose is it?â
âWhich pocket?â Bran asked me softly.
I frowned at him, what was he planning to do?
âNumber seventeen,â I whispered back.
He nodded and then looked at the shoe rack, concentrating so hard it almost seemed like he was trying to burn a hole in the plastic pocket which held my phone with his eyes. I thought I saw him whispering something to himself but none of the words I heard made sense to me. They sounded like they were in some other languageâone Iâd never heard before.
Suddenly my phone cut off in mid-ring. I threw an amazed glance at Bran. Did he do that or was it just a coincidence?
Whichever it was, I wasnât out of hot water yet. Mr. Barron was stalking over to the phone holder, a scowl still on his face. He looked like he was dying to suspend someone.
âWhose was that?â he demanded, glaring at the class. âI donât care that it stopped ringing, whoever owns that phone had better come up here and turn it off now, so it doesnât ring again. If you get up here quick I might only give you detention for a month.â
Detention for a month? That would spell the end of my after-school job and then I wasnât sure how Mom and I would make ends meet. She earned enough as a medical transcriptionist to pay the rent on our crappy little apartment and keep the electric on but my salary from the I Scream was what mostly bought the groceries and paid the water bill.
Still, detention was better than suspension. Maybe my boss, Joey down at the I Scream would let me take a leave of absence or maybe just come in an hour later. I doubted itâhe wasnât exactly the most understanding managerâbut I had nothing else to hope for.
Slowly, I began to raise my hand.
Only to hear Bran say, âExcuse me, Mr. BarronâIâm afraid that was my phone. It sounded like my ring-tone, anyway.â
âAll right then get up here and turn it off, OâConnor,â Mr. Barron snarled. âAnd you can count yourself lucky all you get is detention.â
âYes, Sir.â
As I stared incredulously, Bran made his way to the front of the room, fished my phone out of pocket seventeen, and turned it off. Thank goodness I didnât have an overly-girly phone case like Morgannaâs. My plain green case really did look like it could belong to Bran or any other guy in the class for that matter.
âAll right, good,â Mr. Barron grumbled as Bran let the phone slide back into its pocket. âAnd it had better not happen again, Oâ Connor.â
âNo Sir, it wonât,â he promised and came back to slide in beside me at our lab table.
I waited until everyone had gone back to their lab, including Morganna Starchild who was staring with sharp interest at the two of us. But when she finally turned around and focused her attention on flirting with Elian Darkwing again, I felt free to talk.
âYou didnât have to do that,â I murmured to Bran. âI mean thank youâit was amazingâbut you really didnât have to do it.â
âI know.â He gave me a smile that was surprisingly attractive on his homely face. âBut chivalry isnât deadâat least where I come from. I couldnât leave a lady in distress.â
âWhere did you come from?â I asked curiously as we resumed doing the lab. âI mean, I know youâre not from this armpit of a town but where did you transfer in from?â
âSomeplace very far away,â was all he said but there was a distant and almost melancholy look in his no-color eyes that touched me somehow. Wherever he came from, it seemed like he missed it and wished he was back there instead of here in Frostproof at Nocturne Academy.
Not that I blamed himâFrostproof isnât exactly the most exciting place on the planet. Itâs just this tiny little town in the belly button of Florida, right in the middle of a bunch of orange groves. The townâs website likes to point out that itâs a short distance from Legoland (if you call an hour and a half drive through the middle of nowhere short.) But really, the orange groves are all it has going for it. In the spring when the orange blossoms bloom, the whole place smells amazing.
And thatâs it. Thatâs the nicest thing I can say about my hometown.
God, sometimes I wanted to get out of here so badly I could taste it.
We finished taking each otherâs pulses, making small talk as we did, and I was surprised to find that Bran had a quick, witty sense of humor. Several times he made me laugh and I found myself really enjoying his company. There was just something about himâŚI didnât know what it was but it was definitely there, like a gem buried just under a thin layer of dirt.
Which may not seem like a very nice description of a person, but it was the best I could think up.
As class was about to end, Bran reminded me that Iâd better take his cell phone on the way out the door and he would take mine.
âIâll walk with you to your next class and we can switch there,â I told him.
âWorks for me,â he said, giving me that smile that had no business being so attractive again.
I was a little dazed about the fact that Iâd just offered to walk with him even knowing that Morganna Starchild was going to make jokes about us. But suddenly I didnât care so much what she said.
Yes, she might make my life here at Nocturne Academy hell, but I wouldnât be here forever. Someday soon I was going to get far away from this crappy little town and never look back.
Of course, at that moment I had no idea how soon my exit from Frostproof was going to be or how far I would go.
But I was about to find out.
What A Wonderful Adventure
Iâve been going through a reading slump over the past week, so I was delighted when I stumbled across an ARC of Stone and Secret. This fabulous YA paranormal romance has reignited my interest in reading. Stone and Secret is a gripping page-turner you will find difficult to put down for unimportant things like eating, drinking, or sleeping.
The opening chapter is great. It establishes two of the main characters and introduces an element of conflict that becomes ever more important as the story develops. It ends on a nice little hook.
This is the third book in the Nocturne Academy series. Iâve not read any of the other books but didnât encounter any problems reading this one. Nothing was confusing and the author carefully introduced information from preceding books where necessary.
However, there was one thing I didnât like. In Chapter 2, there are 2 1/2 pages of names and backstories. It was a horrible info-dump list that I was sorely tempted to skip. I forced myself through in case any of the information was essential, but it didnât help. When the characters appeared again, Iâd forgotten who they were because their introduction in list form wasnât interesting.
Also, I wish I hadnât read the Forward just before the Map and Authorâs Note. It gives away the big reveal at the end of Chapter 32. I would have enjoyed the book much more if I wasnât aware in advance of what would happen. If the last two paragraphs of the forward were deleted, this novel would be more enjoyable.
Emma is your typical fantasy hero. Sheâs a strong female protagonist, a sympathetic character, extremely proactive, doesnât know who her father is, lives in poverty where she must labor hard to survive, and has magic sheâs unaware of. She is quickly established as sympathetic through a combination of the underdog complex and how she wants to help her mom.
Bran is fabulous. He is attracted to Emma from the outset despite her mundane nature. He makes sacrifices from the very beginning, making him very likable. Lachlan is similarly likable to Bran and for the same reasons. He is a more interesting character through his mysterious past and hints of darkness within him.
Morganna is one of the more interesting and developed characters. She is an important antagonist in the story, but really sheâs simply a plot device enabling Emma to practice her defensive magic and to grow in power and ability. Sheâs also a catalyst enabling various important plot turns to occur. However, I was disappointed we didnât learn more about her fate at the end of this story.
I loved Airgead despite the fact that heâs a homicidal horse. I would have liked to have seen more of him. To be honest, I was saddened that he didnât feature much in the climactic action or resolution. It felt like he was created to be this wonderful and important character and then set aside. Perhaps heâll appear in a more important role in the next book in the series.
In Chapter 1, Joey is introduced as âwasnât exactly the most understanding managerâ. However, by Chapter 22, he has magically transformed into a boss who ânever tried to keep me late when I had school workâ. His positive attitude toward her school work continues and is reinforced. Also, later, it is implied heâs a nice guy who was always fair toward her. All this is inconsistent with how he was initially introduced.
This engaging tale follows two major tropes of fantasy and paranormal romance. The action plot follows the classic heroâs journey archetype. Emma is born in a humble position with no knowledge of her father, she discovers she has magical skills, Lachlan is her mentor, the lifting mentioned in the blurb is the call to action, and the journey is short but with the same set of events typically found in any heroâs journey.
There is a nice twist in the action plot at exactly 80%. The resolution of this plot line is predictable yet satisfying. The key moments in the action are well foreshadowed so that they never feel implausible.
The relationship plot follows the reverse harem trope. This was a complete shock to me. Iâd never expected to find a YA romance with a reverse harem. However, it the relationship arc is well crafted, and itâs a sweet romance. No serious hanky panky in this one. You could ALMOST read it to your granny.
The setting is well developed. I had no problems visualizing this Hogwartsesque high school in Florida.
I loved the magic system. The Wiccan concept of balance is expanded in interesting ways to create a unique and logical system that makes everything feel like it makes sense.
I especially liked what happened in Chapter 29 with the fusing of the Suva and geas and the rationale for the big plot development there. But there were lots of other fabulous elements to the magic system, including the symbiotic ties between marked people in a relationship.
Emmaâs voice is especially strong in the first-person narration. Generally, this novel is really easy to read. The prose isnât purple, and there are lots of humorous incidents that keep the reader entertained, such as the pop quiz incident and what happened to the nasty landlord. At times, it kinda reminded me of the Weasley twins and their constant pranks and mischief.
I love the little end hooks found at the end of some chapters, like a teaser what what might happen next. For example, at the end of Chapter 49: âŚbut I was about to find out.â
Somehow, a few small typos escaped the editorâs notice. I wasnât searching them out, but here are a few I stumbled across.
In Chapter 1: âHere, youâre turn,â I said. In Chapter 46: âWhy is okay if half my parentage is from the Winter CourtâŚâ In Chapter 49, the rationale behind âjammy-britchâ is explained in the first page. But it was already covered in a prior chapter, so this was redundant here.
Stone and Secret is a memorable page-turner. Its unique magical system and even more unique relationship arc will fascinate (pun intended) YA paranormal romance lovers. I have no hesitation it rating it a solid 5 out of 5.