Dog With a Bone by Hailey EdwardsDog With a Bone by Hailey Edwards
Series: Black Dog #1
on October 31, 2014
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 184
Format: eBook
Source: Kindle Unlimited
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three-stars

Half-bloods with Thierry’s skill set are given two options. They can join the conclave’s marshal program, or they can pack their bags. Turn down the job offer, and you’ve just shredded your residency pass for the mortal realm and booked yourself a one-way ticket to Faerie.

Texas is the only home Thierry has ever known, and she’s not going anywhere. Even if it means following in her notorious father’s footsteps as a peacekeeper. But pinning on the badge opens her eyes to the fact sometimes fae need protection too, and that sometimes humans are the real monsters.

I was in the mood for Hailey Edwards, but I’m all caught up in the two series I’ve read by her. Luckily she’s got a backlist! I grabbed book 1 in a series that sounded intriguing. This is book 1, however the author note says that this book was written as a prequel. It’s a longish novella, or shortish novel.

This book has very little world-building, and that’s a shame.

Thierry is 18 and she’s just become a Marshal for the fae. She’s half fae and is incredibly unique in where her gifts lie. She can kill with a touch. When she was 13 and came into her fae powers, she killed 5 of her friends who were at her house accidentally when her hand started glowing. This is just…glossed over.

Two things really bugged me about this book. The age. Thierry is 18. I asked around and she stays young throughout the series. I don’t necessarily want to read about a teenager, especially when the love interest is significantly older (he’s fae as well). Shaw is also her teacher. He’s been her mentor since she was 13, and then he becomes her partner. He’s an incubus and her power can’t work on him, so he’s the only fae who can work with her. I think what bugs me most, is that she’s now a Marshal at 18. Amongst centuries-old fae. We couldn’t make her like 24? Just a teensy bit older? I don’t think this is YA, so the age surprised me. If in the next book she were older, it wouldn’t have bothered me as much, but really? Graduating the academy to become a Marshal at 18 is normal? I don’t know, maybe it bugged me more than it should have. (If this is YA, then the age won’t bother you, but still beware that the world-building is minimal). If you read the blurb to the next book, it reads as if Thierry is older, but she’s maybe 19. I know I’m harping on the age thing here, but having her superior who becomes her partner be a love interest when he could be centuries old and she’s…18? It really bothered me.

The other thing was the lack of world-building. It really seems like an interesting world, yet we get glimpses only. We have to sort of read between the lines and assume. This author’s strength lies in her characters and usually the world. It is not in the romance. Not in any of her series. Don’t get me wrong, her books have a romance in them. but she’s not fantastic at creating sexual tension. That being said, this is Urban Fantasy and not Paranormal Romance, so I’m good with it. I just want to give you a heads up. Especially with this being an earlier book, her style and voice aren’t as developed and you can see it in the characters and their “chemistry.” Dude. She’s 18 and has a crush on her mentor. I don’t see this as romance. I see it as a hormonal teen. Maybe in my thirties I’m more judgemental on stuff like this, but in all their interactions, we are told they’re attracted to each other. We never actually see or feel the chemistry.

Moving on, they stumbled upon a nasty operation of two people poaching rare fae and selling them or killing them on the black market (they don’t know at first). The ending is left kind of open-ended, so my guess was that they would then follow the same plot but from what I’ve read of the next book, it’s very different. The author’s note tells us why, but again, things are glossed over. Not my favorite Hailey Edwards book. If you have Kindle Unlimited, it’s worth a look; see if it’s for you. I won’t be continuing on with it, however I look forward to both the next Foundling book and the next Necromancer book. Those two series are fantastic and I highly recommend them.

 

three-stars