Review: Fairyproof by Constance Phillips

Title: Fairy Proof
Author: Constance Phillips
Series: N/A
Pages: 262
Publisher: Crescent Moon Press
Date Published: September 4, 2012
Format: eBook
Genre: Paranormal (Adult)
Source: Provided by Bewitching Book Tours

Synopsis:
When Monique finds out her brother, Kieran, is planning her future with the one fairy she wants nothing to do with, she seeks refuge in the human world. Now Kieran fears she will be the next victim in a string of murdered fairies and is determined to bring her home.  Hiding should be a breeze. She can control any human with a flirtatious smile and an attraction spell. Until she meets Daniel Elliot, the only human who's immune to both. A year ago, Daniel's fiancee disappeared with the engagement ring, an Elliot family heirloom. He's ready to move forward with his life, but his mother's obsession with retrieving the ring makes that impossible. Then Monique walks into his office to apply for a job.Daniel and Monique can't deny their attraction, but will the reason he's Fairyproof be too much to overcome?

My Review:
Of all the paranormal creatures out there, fairies are not my favorite. I mean...when you can have Edward Cullen, who wants Tinkerbell? Also...they all smack of the exact same plot so it seems like once you've read one fairy book, you've read them all. Of course, as soon as I think something like that, I find a fairy book that brings some life back into the genre...but that's okay...sometimes it's nice to be proven wrong :) Fairyproof was an interesting take on the fairy issue, and it definitely had a lot of promise and potential. 

Notice how I say it had promise and don't go over all gushy and-praise worthy. Well...despite being pretty interesting and kind of cool, I was still underwhelmed by the world building in the book. It's hard to write a good Urban Fantasy series anymore. It seems like every thing's already been done and that authors are tromping back and forth over the same tired territory over and over again. (how many "magic/fairy/vampire/etc boarding schools have YOU read about lately? I'm probably in the hundreds). There was a lot about Fairyproof that was new and different. For example, I've never read about a governing fairy council. I would have loved to know about the inner workings of the council and a TON more about the history. Monique makes it sound like the council has always been and will always be and blah blah blah. I would have loved to get a bigger glimpse into the fairy families as well. You finally get a sort of explaination near to the ending, but you never know how many families, which houses are the so called "great houses" and I really need that kind of depth to be able to become entirely engrossed in a story.

There was basically two main plots. Monique has escaped from fairyland to the human world to avoid her brother arranging her marriage to a man she doesn't love. Unfortunately, something connected to the human world has been killing fairies, and Monique could be in danger. Now her brother AND angry almost-fiance are chasing her across the mortal realm. Throw in a hostile takeover of fairy government,  Monique falling for a human, and some magical stones that steal fairy's powers and there is a lot going on. In fact, it seemed like I was reading two entirely different books until the very ending. I would get frustrated because while Phillips tried to tie everything together, it just seemed like there was a whole lot of information being thrown at you that didn't fit or didn't piece together. It led for a bit of confusion as I tried to sort out what was important and what didn't make sense to the rest of the plot.

Though they started off being pretty well rounded, the characters seemed to struggle as the book went on. Monique constantly bugged me when she used her looks and spells to get men to do things for her. I've read similar things that didn't bother me because the heroine was snarky or funny about bewitching asshats into doing their bidding, but the cold and almost...cruel way that Monique used her powers made her seem less like a heroine you could stand behind and more of a mean girl in high school who would wear low cut shirts and flash your boyfriend for answers to the math tests...All of the characters were stuck in their ways as well. In normal conversation there is a natural give and take as someone expresses their opinions, their partner either agrees or disagrees, and then they spend some time convincing each other of how THEY are right. In this book it was like I was witnessing a conversation between three or four of the most stubborn, ignorant people imaginable as they shouted out "No I'm RIGHT!" "No ME!" "THIS is what's right...not YOU"...it got annoying, frustrating, and sometimes downright painful to read.

Though unique, Fairyproof really dragged for me. A book that should have taken me a day got drawn out literally for weeks. Did I hate it? No...but you won't find me pre-ordering any more of Monique and Daniel's story any time soon. I found my attention wandering even at critical moments and sex scenes...my friends, when there is a supposed Sexy-Beast man getting naked and seducing the heroine in a bathtub of rose petals you should NOT be thinking about what you are going to make for dinner. But that's how I felt almost the entire time while I was reading. It was a mediocre paranormal book. One of the hundreds that are out there right now. I'm sure it will be enjoyable to a certain few, but I doubt it's one that you are going to want to read over and over again. My advice is to stick this one in the Library/Borrow/Win stack and spend your money on something a little more ground breaking and earth-shaking.