Stolen Midsummer Bride by Tara Grayce

Pages: 193

Series: Stolen Brides of the Fae, Book 3

Genres: Fantasy; Romance; Fae; New Adult; Retelling; Fairy Tales

Publication date: May 21, 2021

Steal a bride. Save the library. Try not to die.

Basil, a rather scholarly fae, works as an assistant librarian at the Great Library of the Court of Knowledge. Lonely and unwilling to join the yearly Midsummer Revel to find a mate, Basil takes the advice of his talking horse companion and decides to steal a human bride instead.

But Basil never expected to find a human girl waiting for him, wanting to get snatched. Nor had he expected a girl like Meg, an illiterate farmgirl who has no use for books.

With the barrier with the Realm of Monsters wearing thin and the chaos of Midsummer Night about to descend, will this unlikely pair put aside their differences long enough to save the Great Library from destruction? And maybe find a spark of love along the way.

“Today, Lysander suggested I steal a human bride. Can you believe it?” Basil shook his head, staring at the ceiling. Why was he struggling to laugh the thought away? He should not find it intriguing.
“Actually, it isn’t a bad idea.” Buddy bobbed his head. “Get yourself a nice girl. Someone who can help you in the Great Library and provide a buffer from the antics of the Foolish Four. Besides, stealing a bride would raise your status, you know. Most fae take the easy route of joining the Revel or arranging a marriage nowadays. Your fellow librarians will be impressed if you steal a bride.”
Chapter 3

In case I haven’t already said it, this was a fun read. Meg gave up a lot to try and protect her family. She didn’t know what she was getting herself into, but she was willing to do it for her siblings. Basil had his heart broken in the past and never expected to find love again. Desperate times call for desperate measures and a stolen bride – right?

This story contained so much of what I love – libraries, the fae, fighting monsters, and saving the day. (I apologize for that but I’m not taking it back.) Meg and Basil might not have expected each other, but both knew what they’d need to survive and protect what they hold dear. The fae realm is twisted, the courts not always getting along or playing by the rules. It takes someone strong of heart and mind to be able to navigate the courts and not lose themself in the process.

**Spoilers ahead**

Cullen sucks. That’s it, that’s all I have to say.

…

Okay, I’m kidding. There’s more I want to say about this story. Cullen does suck, but it’s nice to have a human villain in a story sometimes. Even one that’s full of magic and mayhem. Honestly, having a mundane villain while there’s magic going around can be even more terrifying. It makes the villain feel more real, more grounded in life. If a mundane villain can exist in this world, it’s not hard to imagine someone like that living in our world.

That isn’t to say magic isn’t at fault here. It is quite often.

The Court of Revels is full of mayhem and they don’t keep it within their own boarders. Heck, the king and queen don’t even keep their issues withing their own union. It’s no wonder that Basil and the other librarians have to work so hard to fight off monsters and protect the Court of Knowledge.

Of course, it was great seeing Meg come into her own in her new world. Magic wasn’t a part of her every day life and neither was sword fighting. Sure she doesn’t always use a sword, but she quickly learned what it meant to be a librarian’s wife and to help protect the library.

It was also really sweet getting to see Meg and Basil getting to know each other. They truly did start out as two perfect strangers. Neither understood the other’s motivations or worlds. Yet they were willing to drop any preconceived notions about each other and get to know the person in front of them. Lucky for Meg that she ended up stumbling upon a fae man who was actually able to match her in both ability and heart.

I’m glad that Basil was willing to help Meg’s family by the end of the story. That Meg didn’t have to trick Basil into caring about the people she cares about. Sure a family of humans might not have been what Basil signed up for when he “stole” Meg, but it turned out to be exactly what he needed.

Aside from the cute romance that we get to experience between Basil and Meg, I really did enjoy Buddy. He’s a smartass sidekick who knows what he wants. It also doesn’t hurt to be a talking horse.

As this is a novella, there’s not much I can say about the story without getting into the nitty gritty stuff. So I’m going to end this post here. Just know that I enjoyed my time in this world immensely, and found myself pleasantly surprised to end up in this world a second time by pure coincidence. (More on that in a future post.)

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