milescrossTitle: Miles Cross
Author: Rachelle Cochran
Publisher: Less Than Three Press
Length: 50k words
Genre: m/m Historical Fantasy Romance
Heat: 2 – Romantic & Tame
Sex Frequency: 2 – Few and Far Between
Keywords/Tags: Fae, Enemies, Slave/Captive (not sexual), Machiavellian Bad Guy
Rating: Really Liked It

BLURB

On the way to visit his uncle, Lord Ciarnán McKay and his guards are attacked. In search of assistance, he finds his way to Oakwood Manor, where he meets the mysterious Leannán Roxbrough. Immediately drawn to Leannán, but unable to linger as he would like, Ciarnán takes his leave with a promise that he will return.

Upon his return however, Leannán immediately turns him away…

REVIEW

To be honest, I wasn’t going to read and review this book, but I decided to try it out anyway. i think this is the longest thing I’ve read by this author and definitely the first thing in a long time, at least over a year. So I was curious. I was at first … nervous, shall we say. I knew this was going to be tale of the fae from the beginning of the story and as it unfolded and I started to see a rather cruel side of the fae I wasn’t sure whether this would be to my taste or not. I’ve learned over the years that while I love stories of the faerie, I’m not a big fan of them when
they only show a cruel and terrible side of them with no redeeming qualities. I prefer, instead, a lighter side. But, in the end, I was very happy with this story and I enjoyed reading it very much. I even stayed up through the night to finish instead of waiting until the next day.

Ciarnán McKay is in route to visit his sick uncle when his party is attacked. All his guards are killed and he barely makes it away by the swiftness of his horse. His flight leads him to a manor very like his own. They quickly shelter him and nurse him back to his proper state. While there, he becomes friendly with the family — the two brothers, Lord Tiernan Roxbrough and his younger brother Leannán Roxbrough. The situation at Oakwood Manor seems a bit strange, but Ciarnán quickly learns that the brothers’ parents died the year before, leaving Tiernan the Lord of the estate as the oldest and their sister, the middle child, already married and moved away. The strange vibes come from Mr. Boyle, the steward and friend to the late Lord Roxbrough. He seems displeased by many things, but the brothers assure Ciarnán that he was once a disciplinarian to them like their father and old habits die hard. Tiernan leaves quickly after Ciarnán arrives to visit his intended wife, and in the week that Ciarnán has delayed his visit to his uncle, he and Leannán become close, both of them recognizing the attraction to the other. But their days of walks into the woods and picnics under the trees on the estate (as well as a few shy kisses) must be put aside so Ciarnán can finish his intended trip. Leannán asks him to stop by for another visit on his return.

A month later Ciarnán returns to Oakwood Manor, but finds a very different scene than the one he left. Tiernan is still gone, leaving Leannán with Mr. Boyle. Leannán has changed, however, and urges Ciarnán to leave and never return… that no matter their feelings it is the best choice for all, no matter how obviously difficult it is for Leannán to turn Ciarnán away. But when he leaves, Ciarnán can’t seem to stay away. When he hears rumors about the strange fae happenings at Oakwood Manor at a small inn not far away, he returns not knowing what he’ll say to get Leannán to reconsider. Instead, he finds Mr. Boyle talking to a beautiful and strange man with wings, and learns the truth of the whole situation: that Leannán is one in a long tradition of lords from Oakwood Manor who are required to pay the tithe. His sacrifice will ensure protection for his family and replenish the fae in a seven year cycle of renewal. By not leaving as he should, Ciarnán is taken prisoner under the hill to work as a servant for the cruel fae queen, where he’ll be released after the sacrifice of Leannán. No matter how much he tries and how many friends he makes among the fae, there’s no escape. And now that Leannán and Ciarnán have more time together, even if it is borrowed time, they’ll make the most if it, falling further in love.

I mentioned earlier that I have a difficult time reading books with really cruel fae characters in a situation like this, where the characters are being held captive by them. So I was really pleased to see a well balanced representation of the faerie characters. The queen is quite Machiavellian, but she’s really the only one that is shown as cruel. The others range from remote and aloof to Ciarnán to friendly and sympathetic and we get to see Ciarnán spend much more time with these characters. Most of the story takes place under the hill, while the two are held captive. I also thought that the relationship between Ciarnán and Leannán was sweet but not too sweet. The tone that comes across when they spend time together is really loving and they reassure themselves a lot of their feelings for one another. Sometimes this bothers me in other books, it can be a bit much. But it never went too far to me into sickly sweet territory, partly because of their circumstance (which requires reassurance), but also because of the time period. The story isn’t placed firmly in any time or place, but resembles a historical period with Irish influence. And the “love that dare not speak it’s name” type romance set apart from their world and in a place where anyone is free to love anyone else (the faerie realm) went really well with the sweet romantic periods the two had when they’re together. And even more than these two things, I liked that their relationship was very much based on how they felt, individually, about their circumstances. Ciarnán never refuses to give up looking for a way to escape, because he’s facing the prospect of losing Leannán and then having to carry on without him. Leannán, however, vacillates between his need to accept his fate to assure the well-being of his family (and assure that one of them isn’t taken in his place) and his desire to forget the circumstances and envision a life with Ciarnán. His feelings fluctuate with the actions of the faerie queen.

I won’t get into it much, but I really really loved the fae characters that get close to Ciarnán, Sorcha and especially Cáel. If there is one thing that I didn’t like about the book, it’s that the turn in the climax of the story rests on what seemed to be a rather easy bit of information. The answer to all of Ciarnán’s problems just seemed to come a little out of the blue for me, and while it didn’t bother me a lot, it made me sigh a little. I would have preferred the outcome to come a little more organically.

I definitely recommend this one and I really enjoyed reading it!


Posted by in 41-75k, 5 Really Like It, Authors A-C, Fantasy, Heat 2 - Romantic & Tame, Historical, Romance, Sex Freq 2 - Few and Far Between Tags: , , , , ,