Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Review: Fairy In The Flesh

Fairy In The Flesh by Katalina Leon

My Rating: 2 of 5 stars



FAIRY IN THE FLESH is a time travel fantasy romance novella for grown-ups. 2 out of 5 stars.   The concept of time travel has always intrigued me.  The possibility of traveling back in time opens up endless possibilities.  A classic like the Time Machine my grandfather introduced me to first.  My first time travel romance was Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series.  I was hooked.  This author and story introduce us to Maya and Andre.  Maya is modern woman traveling to France in hopes of finding a link to her favorite bad boy bohemian artist, Andre Bosco.  Andre lived and painted passionately in 1903 then disappeared into obscurity.  However, his paintings did live on to intrigue Maya in the present.    With the help of the “Green Fairy”, Absinthe, and a meddling gypsy, Maya travels back in time to Andre’s bed.    This is where my issues with the story start.    

WARNING - Some spoilers ahead:  

I read both sci-fi and fantasy so I have no problem accepting the idea of time travel.  However, there are inconsistencies that pulled me out of the story.

1. I never understood if her body traveled back or not. I think it did because of what happened towards the end.   Andre talked about finding her outside in the square and having her come back to pose for him.  However, Maya’s first appearance in 1903 is in his room already posing for him and she has period clothes.  Why would she have period clothes and how could he have picked her out in the square as his model if she first arrived in his room?  What happened to the woman he picked up in the square?

2.  She sketches a pencil portrait of him while in the past (which she sees before she gets transported back in time).  So in her own original timeline she had already traveled back and sketched the portrait. Andre wasn’t famous in the original timeline.

3. After she gets pulled back into her modern time.  Everything has changed.  Her entire original timeline has changed, supposedly because of her interaction with Andre in the past. I understand this was supposed to demonstrate just how much she inspired him.   He is a great well known and wealthy artist.  o.O   As evidenced by the charcoal sketch in the original timeline he had already met her in that one too so what changed????

4. I wasn’t convinced of their insta-love either.  It seemed to be merely fascination/infatuation with each other’s looks and admiration of his skill as an artist than any great love that could conquer time itself.  I can deal with insta/fated love with some PNR especially shifters and vampire couples but other than the time traveling thing Andre and Maya are just normal people.  The sex scenes were well written but pretty vanilla. 

5. The title was a bit misleading to me too.  There is magic but not really any fairies.  I assume this was a play on what Andre was painting and using Maya as his muse. A few editing issues but not bad.

6. Why would the mysterious Miss Ruby help them?  I didn’t see the connection. 


FAIRY IN THE FLESH just wasn’t my cup of tea.  I think I would like a bit more thought put into plot points to keep the inconsistencies to a minimum.  If they aren’t actually inconsistencies then more explanation is needed to clear up those points.  If that type of thing doesn’t bother you, you might enjoy this.  I am not likely to read another though, since this is a pet peeve of mine.  


✳✳ Copy provided by the author/publisher for an honest review.

✳✳ Reviewed on I ♥ Bookie Nookie Reviews by Guest Reviewer, Ramona

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