Reviewed by Nikyta
Title: The Winter Lord
Author: Jaye Edgerton
Heroes: Erik & Therial
Genre: M/M Fantasy
Length: 78 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: April 23, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: When Erik, a human scholar and amateur mage, sets out to find Alfheim, the legendary home of the light-elves, he has nothing to lose. His village suffers under a mysterious Unending Winter, and his lover died in a hunting accident while trying to find food. Erik wants to find a way to end the cold, but he doesn’t expect a beautiful but Winter-cursed fey lord who wants him for his champion—and his bedmate.
Lord Therial is an elemental creature, tied to the land, and the elves of his kingdom revere him like a spoiled but rightful ruler. A spell cast by a rival fey locks him and his little corner of Alfheim into a perpetual Winter that seems connected to the one afflicting Erik’s home. If Erik fails to defeat the enemy, both realms will remain trapped forever.
Review:
After losing his lover in a hunting accident, Erik has nothing left to lose so he sets out to find Alfheim in the hopes of saving his people from an unending Winter. Almost frozen to death, he’s saved by Therial, a beautiful fey lord cursed to the same perpetual Winter. With Erik’s willingness, Therial makes him his champion and lover because to end the non-stop Winter, Erik has to beat the very fey lord who cursed Therial to begin with.
This was SUCH an interesting world. I absolutely love reading about elves and the fey. There’s something magical and lyrical about them so I really enjoy stories that deal heavily with them. In this one, Therial is the classical lord, though. Arrogant and demanding but also uncaring. When he meets Erik, he plans to just use him to break the curse but he doesn’t expect Erik to bring out emotions and feelings in him. After losing his lover, Erik doesn’t care what happens next. He stays with Therial because there’s nowhere else he has to be but the more time he spends with Therial, the more the agony of his loss starts to lessen. I loved that Therial started out cold and uncaring but then slowly started to thaw out and show that he can love someone other than himself. At the same time, I really liked that Erik was such a broken character at first but that his love for Therial slowly healed his grief. I found them together rather sweet and, at the end, they put a lovely little smile on my face.
My biggest issue with this one was that it had too much smut. For such a short story, it was hard to grasp that the characters loved each other when the only time you really saw them together was when they were in compromising positions. I adored the characters and really enjoyed the conflict but I didn’t exactly feel like there was anything to backup the claim that they were fond of one another. So, really, I just wished there had been more depth to the characters, their interactions and ultimately the story.
In the end, though, I won’t deny I really enjoyed this one. Beyond the sex, I felt like there was a lot of potential to the book. It’s short so there isn’t a lot of depth but what there is I still liked because it touched the surface on an interesting world and showed just enough of a conflict to make it worth it to me. I hope there will be more to come of this world because I’m very intrigued!
Overall Impression: I liked it!
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*
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