Having Shona Husk visit us during our Paranorm'All Hallow's Eve event made me realize I'm a little behind on her Court of Annwyn series. I'm really glad I decided to follow through with this series and pick up LORD OF THE HUNT because, truthfully, it has everything you want in a Paranormal Romance. Sexual tension, steamy scenes and mysterious characters are all present.
Annwyn, the land of fairy, is in trouble. The King and Queen are fighting which makes the world of Annwyn unstable and start to dwindle and die. As the Lord of the Hunt, Verden tries to do as much as he can, but ultimately he knows the only way for Annwyn to survive (and not bring an apocalypse to the mortal world), a new King needs to be appointed or the current King and Queen need to get along (impossible!). Usually, Verden wouldn't care so much but the impending doom has brought a new fairy to Court and everyone, even Verden, is intrigued. Taryn is visiting the Fairy Court for the first time with a single mission: get a pardon for her father. If he doesn't get pardoned, he would need to stay in the mortal world during the power shift and perish when the new King is appointed. Taryn is set on doing pretty much everything in order to bring back her father to Annwyn, however, she never planned on falling for the Lord of the Hunt.
Verden and Taryn are the most unlikely pair but their relationship seems to work. If it weren't for all the court politics, their love story would be a simple one, but when it comes to fairies, nothing is simple. Their doomed romantic relationship is fun to read because Verden has his duties as Lord of the Hunt, and needs to be loyal to the King, however, Taryn wants something from the King and the only way to get what she wants seems to be flirt and befriend with the King.
I wish the characters could have been a little more developed. We know Taryn is a fairy that was raised in the mortal world but we don't know much about her life in general. As for Verden, we know he dedicated his whole life to climb to the top of the fairy court but the author doesn't go into much detail on how he got there. All we know is that he went from a farm boy to the King's most trusted adviser.
If the author didn't spend much time on character development, she did however go into quite some detail about her fairy world. The world building was exceptional and the Fairy Court and world very original. There's just something about an impending apocalypse that makes to want to read more and more. As far as Fairy Courts go, this one is not overly dark. It does, however, have the political mischief and the twisted court etiquette. It's definitely not a place I would want to find myself in since the fairies always need to look over their shoulder to avoid any backstabbing. Also, everyone's looking out to acquire extra favors, in order to advance higher in the court hierarchy, and they'll stop at nothing to gain popularity.
Some of my favorites scenes are when Taryn introduces Verden to the mortal world. Verden is no stranger to the mortal world, he just never took the time to mingle with humans. Taryn introduces him to burgers, however, he doesn't eat meat so he's not too fond of those. She also introduces him to alcohol, which he takes a liking to. Obviously, the scenes in the mortal world feel more natural, because they can be themselves, but back in the Fairy Court, they are back to ignoring each other, in order to play the court games.
Since the first book of the series is held mostly in the human world, I really appreciated that LORD OF THE HUNT is held mostly in Annwyn. It's easy to compare the two worlds and see the advantages of both. I anticipate the third book will link together the human and fairy world a little better, since the heir to the Fairy throne will be looking for his human Queen. As a fan of paranormal romance, I really enjoyed this short read. There's just something special about fairies and Shona Husk has a particular gift at giving them life and making their stories delectable. I'm definitely going to dive into the next book very soon!
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