The Faerie Path by Frewin Jones

Anita is a city teen, used to the hustle and bustle of her hometown London. So, it comes as a big shock when she finds herself in a beautiful and mystical realm called Faerie after a boating accident. Brought back by Lord Gabriel Drake, Anita discovers that she is Tania, the seventh daughter of King Oberon and Queen Titania, a princess of Faerie. Unfortunately, Anita doesn’t have any recollection of Tania’s life, of her six older sisters, or her disappearance from the Faerie realm on the eve of her marriage to Lord Gabriel five hundred years earlier. She’s stuck between her life in the Mortal World, full of familiar sights and memories, and the realm of Faerie, where nothing is certain. She doesn’t know who to trust, her sisters, Lord Gabriel, or the boy she thought she loved in the Mortal World. But she’ll have to remember of find out why she disappeared so long ago because she’s the only one who can stop the treasonous plot afoot that started five centuries ago.

The Faerie Path is a cutesy fantasy tale that overlaps a magical realm with the world of humans. I enjoyed how the realm of Faerie isn’t just a hidden part of the Mortal World, but completely separate from it. It adds obstacles to Anita/Tania’s story by making crossovers so difficult. The realm of Faerie is a little more fantastical and frivolous than I would’ve thought; court life seems akin to that of royal European families except with a few extra quirks. The plot and characters are nothing special, satisfactory for their roles but nothing beyond that. In fact, Anita/Tania’s identity crisis is a little confusing and Jones’ long descriptions of the physical aspects of the Faerie realm are rather overbearing. The strongest reason I continued reading was probably due to my interest in the technicalities of the realm of Faerie, the included romance, and the feeling that there is more to come, not necessarily in this volume.

Good but not great, The Faerie Path is an innocent look at one interpretation of another realm, most likely to be enjoyed by younger teens. Fans of Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr and Tithe by Holly Black may also enjoy The Faerie Path, but they probably won’t enjoy this novel as much as those more intense faerie tales.

Rating: 3.25

Review copy from personal collection