Title: The Thorns Remain

Author: JJA Harwood

Publisher: Magpie 2023

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 416

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

1919. In a Highland village forgotten by the world, the young people who remain after war and flu will soon head south to make something of themselves.

Moira Jean and her friends venture to the forest for a last night
of laughter before parting ways. Moira Jean is being left behind. She too planned to leave once – but her lover died in France and, with him, her future. The friends light a fire and dance. But, with every twirl about the flames, strange new dancers thread between them, music streaming from the trees.

The Fae have joined the dance.

Suddenly Moira Jean finds herself all alone, her friends spirited away.

For the Fae feel left behind and forgotten too. Led by the darkly handsome Lord of the Fae, they are out to make themselves known once more. Moira Jean must enter into a bargain with the Lord to save her friends – and fast, for the longer they spend with the Fae, the less like themselves they will be upon return. If Moira Jean cannot save her friends before Beltane, they will be lost forever…

I grabbed this off the library shelf mostly due to the beautiful cover. I was hoping for a great fae novel full of atmosphere and high stakes. Instead, we get a book that just seems to plod along with a main character that never seems to grow and has to rely on others to save herself and others. The only parts that I enjoyed were ones that directly featured the fae. Otherwise, I was pretty bored throughout this one. Sad that this fae retelling of Tam Lin just didn’t land for me at all.

Next up on the TBR pile: