Genre: YA Fantasy
Published: November 5, 2012
Series: #1 (Creepy Hollow)
Length: 285 pages
Source: author (review copy)
“Protecting humans from dangerous magical creatures is all in a day’s work for a faerie training to be a guardian. Seventeen-year-old Violet Fairdale knows this better than anyone—she’s about to become the best guardian the Guild has seen in years. That is, until a cute human boy who can somehow see through her faerie glamour follows her into the fae realm. Now she’s broken Guild Law, a crime that could lead to her expulsion.
The last thing Vi wants to do is spend any more time with the boy who got her into this mess, but the Guild requires that she return Nate to his home and make him forget everything he’s discovered of the fae realm. Easy, right? Not when you factor in evil faeries, long-lost family members, and inconvenient feelings of the romantic kind. Vi is about to find herself tangled up in a dangerous plot—and it’ll take all her training to get out alive.
[This novel was originally published in four separate parts: Guardian, Labyrinth, Traitor and Masquerade. It includes bonus scenes at the end that were not published in the individual parts.]“
Okay guys, seriously, that cover is super attractive. But what’s even better is that the story is as good as the cover! No matter how hard it is, I will try to not fan girl in this review. This book is seriously 100% top notch, incredible, excellent, breathtaking, and whatever awesome-sauce adjectives you could think of! I’m not really a fan of fairies and such, in fact, the only fairy stuff that I know is Tinker Bell lol. So at first I had my doubts whether to say yes to the author or not. I checked Goodreads and it had nothing but positive reviews so I was like “why not”! And I was NOT disappointed with The Faerie Guardian. I stayed up 3 in the morning reading this piece of perfection. It was very well written, with a 1st person point of view (Violet’s) and the world of faeries was explained and described perfectly that you feel like you’re part of their world.
In the world of Creepy Hollow, where faeries lived, the faeries has these assignments (a task) to do assigned by their mentor. Their goal is to save a creature, whether a faerie or human, basically someone who needs help. If they do an excellent job on their assignments, their rankings go up. Just like school, they graduate after 4 years. They are basically trainees being trained to be a guardian.
The main character is Violet (my favorite color)! Yes, she wears a purple outfit and has violet streaks on her black hair which I thought was super cool. I’ve always wanted to dip my hair in purple. Anyways, she is such a kick-ass heroine! She’s witty, brave, smart, wise, sarcastic, you know, just a perfect heroine! There’s something more to her character, more than just your typical “faerie” which I’m not going to say because I think it’s a spoiler.
One night, and this is actually where the book starts, she was given an assignment in the human world. Her task was to get this creature (I forgot what it was called
There is also another important character which is Ryn, Violet’s used-to-be-childhood-best-friend until his brother, Reed, died. He’s a faerie and he’s actually competing Violet in the rankings. He enjoys teasing Violet, calling her “pixie sticks” which is an insult to her lol. He’s funny, and a kick-ass faerie just like Violet. If you think the book’s going to be revolved around Nate and Violet, well HELL NO, there is more to it which hella-surprised me and gave my mouth a big-O like this :O. Everything intertwines with one another and was just perfect! I have no idea how many times I used the word “perfect” in this review, but I mean it.
I just love this book so so so much and recommend it to everyone! There was an insta-love with Nate and Violet, but I see the purpose of why that was relevant. Although there were a few stuff that didn’t have a conclusion, and was left hanging, I think it’s reasonable because it would ache the readers to read the next book. Super great job to Rachel Morgan, oh gosh, when I finished this book I wanted to cry because I finished it. I literally want the 2nd book in my hands right now! Did I mention the BONUS FEATURES? Yeah I didn’t, well I’m mentioning it right now. It’s like the deleted scenes in a movie. WELL, AFTER YOUR READ THIS POST, GET OUT OF HERE AND BUY THE FAERIE GUARDIAN!
Where did you come up with the storyline for The Faerie Guardian?
It’s actually hard to remember now! I think I may have come up with the name Creepy Hollow first (it just randomly popped into my head one day and I thought it was fun), and then I filled in the basic details after that: a group of faeries whose job it is to protect humans from all dangerous fae. The longer I mulled over the idea, the more details I came up with and the more complex the plot became (because, of course, The Faerie Guardian is not the end!).
Does anyone in your life inspire your characters?
Not in the Creepy Hollow series, no. Probably subconsciously there are elements of people I know in real life, but I didn’t plan it that way! I have a New Adult novel that I’m planning for the future, though, and there are characters in that book that are based on people I know.
What’s the hardest for you to write – beginning, middle, end?
Um … probably the middle. The beginning is always fun, and I’m always excited to get to whatever ending I’ve planned. So it’s generally the middle that takes the longest. But actually I enjoy that too! Let me put it differently – dialog is the easiest and most enjoyable part for me to write. Description (of settings, actions, anything) is less easy.
If you were a faerie, what kind of magic would you want?
Ok, that’s a tough one. So many options!
Every faerie has magic, but there are some who (for a reason not yet revealed) have certain extra powers … For example, there’s a character who can control the weather, and another who can make you see whatever he/she is imagining. For me … if I were a writer faerie (!), I’d like to have magic that can convert the stories I’m imagining in my head into words onto a page, as I’m imagining them. (Wouldn’t all writers want something like that
Do you plan out what the characters will do, or do you just let them take over?
Something in between. I know what kind of people my characters are, and I know what I want to achieve in a scene, so I just pick a place to start, get the conversation/action rolling, and see where it goes from there!
Do you have any messages for your readers?
Dear readers,
Without you guys, there wouldn’t be much point. I mean, I’d still write stories, but it’s the fact that I get to share this world and its characters with other people that makes it so fantastically awesome! So … THANK YOU for taking a chance on me! (And now I’m singing the Abba song in my head…)
