Rating: 3 stars out of 5
David is in love with Tulip, a kind and unusually quiet fairy in his social circle. But everyone knows Tulip doesn’t date humans. David tells himself he is happy to be Tulip’s friend, because he doesn’t believe a fairy could love him and Tulip has never tried to “keep him”—as fairies refer to relationships with humans.
Fairies are drawn to David, describing his great “shine,” but David knows only too well how quickly fairies can forget humans, and thinks he’s destined to be alone. He can’t see his own brilliance or understand how desperately Tulip wants him, even if Tulip believes David can do better.
But exhausted and more than a little tipsy at a Christmas party, David makes his feelings too obvious for Tulip to deny any longer. Because of a past heartbreak involving a human, Tulip is convinced someone as shiny as David could never want a “silly, stupid fairy” in his life. Now, if he wants to keep David, he’ll have to be as brave as his shiny, careful human.
A Dandelion for Tulip takes fantasy to another level with the acceptance of beings as part of society. Even so, they’re mostly kept as a secondary group and this affected the humans that befriend them. There still a touch of ignorance about how they acted and associated with.
This is book six in the Being(s) in Love series but can be read as a stand-alone. I even went back and read all the blurbs to be sure I wasn’t missing anything important. I only noticed a cameo by one of the couples, which perhaps, can be considered an update on their relationship. The author did an excellent job building a believable world and beings that were easily identifiable.
I like David and Tulip individually, but basing a complete story on the MCs lack of communication didn’t work for me. If they had talked for two minutes, the story would have been done in less than fifty pages. I think I was as confused as the characters with the constant assumptions between them.
Their coming together felt forced, perhaps because the reader got the initial impression of them being friends and the unrequited love angle came out of nowhere. I understood the characters pasts and fears, but a lot happened off page as time passed by, leaving several questions unanswered.
I wanted to like this story more because it had all the elements to be great, but the long philosophical discussions were hard to appreciate when I wanted to smack David and Tulip on the back of their heads. I needed more of a connection between them to carry into their happily even after.
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Paul Richmond captured an important scene in the story with this cover. I’m not entirely sold on the characters’ features, but overall, it’s a good match for the story.
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Book Details:
ebook, 200 pages
Published: June 24, 2016, by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN: 1634773144 (ISBN13: 9781634773140)
Edition Language: English
Series: Being(s) in Love
Book #1: Some Kind of Magic (Beings in Love, #1
Book #2: A Boy and His Dragon (Beings in Love #2)
Book #3: A Beginner’s Guide to Wooing Your Mate (Beings in Love #3)
Book #4: Little Wolf (Beings in Love, #4)
Book #5: The Firebird and Other Stories (Beings in Love Stories #5)
Book #6: A Dandelion for Tulip (Beings in Love, #6)
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 