Rating: 3.5🌈

Never Darling by Sam Burns and W.M. Fawkes is the sixth book in the terrific multi-author fantasy series and I found that it was a great read about 50 to 75 percent overall. That other percent? Well, the authors as well as their own push to bring in more voices in formatting and concepts were overwhelmed by their complexity. So much so that I felt much of the narrative potential and fascinating character development got lost. That includes the entire fantasy aspect of the book. There just wasn’t enough time or story space to develop it sufficiently.

To start with, it’s a heartbreaking story. And Burns and Fawkes almost scored a perfect formula with how they handled the challenges of moving the narrative forward. They started with the ground zero of the event and introduced the characters so we immediately knew them and loved the location.

Then the heartbreaking event. A child goes missing.

Then each chapter follows the return of one of the grieving fathers back each year to the small town where his child went missing and the Inn where they stayed. He returns there to the Inn and slowly to the chef who co-owns it. The chef is having his own issues being back in his hometown. He’s there with his loving aging grandmother and both are grieving the loss of his grandfather. It’s an alternating pov that’s powerful and realistic.

The story is grounded in love, loss, small town community, cooking, and shared memories. This is where the story shines in its layered characters and beautifully depicted scenes of home and family.

The character of Connor Darling, married wealthy businessman when we first meet him, along with his equally wealthy, successful husband Trevor and 5 year old Jesse, is one who is fully stressed, aware of the strains in his marriage, and that Jesse’s awakening of being gender fluid is something that Trevor is having issues with. We understand this family and hurt for each of them.

Same goes for Mattias Hall, a NYC chef who has returned home to the Inn where he was raised by his loving grandparents because his grandfather has died and his grandmother needs him. Pain, loss, stress and family are all factors here.

Each man is an alternate pov until the shocking happens. And Jesse goes missing. I think all the readers can empathize with the situation. It’s realistic and emotionally compelling.

But then the authors chose to add an additional element and throw in another pov. For me this is where everything starts to go off the rails. Because the format where a year goes by and we see what grief and mourning has done to Connor and his husband. Or to Mattias and his grandmother. How they changed from year to year, that’s broken up when this strange third pov comes into play. I understand why the authors decided to do this but think it undermines the power of the dynamics and emotional story they are building. Plus this element isn’t well developed and just further muddled the plot lines.

Basically Burns and Fawkes have a fantasy and contemporary narrative running side by side and never fully integrate them into each other’s stories. They tried but the lack of development and exploration into the fantasy side or world was just too lacking to make sense. Especially that ending.

That was incredibly nonsensical. Old people disappeared and no one is going to notice? Nothing makes sense or given credibility, magically.

The magical traveling Fae coin is given short shrift here. It’s hardly even worth it as a token element more an afterthought. There’s a note at the end that there another book that continues on in this universe. It includes Peter, a lost child and yes, you’re right in what you are thinking. He appears here as a minor character, to pick up the coin and make sure that he has an introduction into the next book.

Honestly it feels to me as though the coin was inserted into a story that was about ready to be released. And a new series by set to go. One doesn’t seem to relate to the other.

Never Darling is a book that has the potential to be a fantastic story or two, one contemporary and one fantasy. But as it is, it doesn’t do the fantasy side any favors and only the contemporary romance is the main reason for reading the book.

Strange title because it really doesn’t fit in with the story. But looks to connect with the new series/book from the same authors with the title Never Landings. Ah me.

These covers are fantastic , some of my favorites in years.

Fortune Favors the Fae – 15 books:

✓ A Fae Coin Transported Me Into Another World and Now I’m the Gay Holy Maiden by AJ Sherwood #1❤️

✓ The Wolf’s (Un)Lucky Fae by Michele Notaro #2 ❤️

✓ Bound to the Wild Fae by Tavia Lark #3 June 13❤️

✓ The Sorcerer’s Thief by Lee Colgin #4 ❤️🔷

✓ The Fae Menagerie by Edie Montreaux #5

✓ Never Darling by Sam Burns #6

◦ Prince of Poison by Alice Winters #7 – July 11,2024

◦ Grave Misfortune by Nazri Noor #8 – July 18,2024

◦ Fae for Pay by Meaghan Maslow #9 – July 23,2024

◦ Kisses at the Crossroad by Morgan Lysand #10 – August 1,2024

◦ Smoke and Mirrors by Kai Butler #11 – August 8, 2024

◦ Siren in the Rain by Chloe Archer #12 – Aug 15,2024

◦ I Destroyed the Elf Prince’s Harem by Jocelynn Drake #13 – Aug 22,2024

◦ A Fae Called Wylder by Michelle Frost #14 – Aug 29,2024

◦ Lucky or Knot by Eliot Grayson #15 – September 5,2024

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Never Darling

Blurb

Connor Darling has the perfect life. Beautiful husband, million dollar company, and the most adorable tow-headed kid any man could ask for.

When the worst thing imaginable happens, it all crumbles through his fingers. He’s left revisiting the scene of his real-life nightmare over and over, not sure if he’s coming back to try to fix things or figure out where he went wrong. Or if maybe, this is where he belongs now.

Mattias Hall has come home, because the worst has already happened. His grandfather, the man who raised him, has died, and left his grandmother alone to run the family inn. So Mattias gave up his flashy New York chef life for one he’s perhaps better suited to: small town innkeeper.

When Connor Darling returns year after year, neither is sure what the other is looking for, but in Cider Landing, anything is possible. Maybe they’ll both find just what they needed in each other, and in the magic of the woods outside of town.

Never Darling is a part of the multi-author series, Fortune Favors the Fae. From spicy to sweet, zany romps to epic adventures, there’s something for everyone in this mystical series. Discover destiny and true love and follow the coin on its fickle journey to the next world and a new magical adventure.