Reviews

The Fox and the Dryad by Kellen Graves

ethias's review against another edition

1.0

The very tail end of this was good, but basically nothing else was. The characters were quite difficult to care about. Mal was kind of… nothing? I got nothing from him at all. Briar acted like an edgy teenager with a crush on his teacher, which made the sex scenes pretty uncomfortable to be honest. They had almost no chemistry in my opinion.

I wish the pronoun usage was more even/consistent through the book. I like having a nonbinary protagonist since I myself am nonbinary but some editing should have been done to make it smoother. It was way better by the end of the book which makes me think no one fully edited this, no one went back to the beginning to fix the clunky pronoun shifting.

I like the concept, and the ending was enjoyable, but I am seriously questioning the average rating on this one when the execution of this story was simply not there at all.

Also, on a more petty note… every time a luxury brand name was randomly mentioned I had to close my eyes and count to 10. Absolutely not. What was the author thinking.

homoerotten's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

frenchtoesticks's review

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A beautiful, beautiful story of two fey deals gone wrong made by the same cruel fey lady. Bringing together a fey lord and an unsuspecting human with the love of ballet. "I wanted to dance for someone beautiful" 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Grief

felixthesmexyfox's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This is easily one of the best books ive read. I want to find love like this someday.  Everything was just as beautiful as their dancing. I felt all of the emotions potraied through the characters. I litetally could not stop reading the book.

lune33's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

babblingandbooks's review

dark emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

braincell4rent's review against another edition

3.0

I have been pondering for a while what score should I give this thing, because I quite liked it at first but, as the story progressed, I realized the enchantment I had with it was dissapearing easily.
Let me explain here what happened.
I quite liked the premise, and the first chapters looked promising. I enjoyed the change of perspective and found interesting the fact there´s a fey world and a human world which they are separated but the existence of this supernatural creatures is normalized. I also loved the characterization of Malric´s mother, who barely appears in the beginning but you still get a sense of how dreadful she is just by hearing other characters talk about her and their reaction to her.
Now, the problem I had with this book I think it was more a thing of personal taste than a blatant "this book is so bad" (mainly because it isn´t). There was a few things done plotwise that I wouldn´t have done and therefore I did not enjoy reading.
An example?

Spoiler

Malric being so keen in keeping his identity hidden in the fey world and then, when discovered, just pretend nothing happened in the human world and go as far as to have s.e.x with Briar before talking things out. It´s like okay, I broke your trust, but let´s not address that and just move forward with the power of love. I didn´t appreciate that.

I didn´t like Malric, though he was mostly tolerable. I wholeheartedly disliked Briar though, during the entire story he seemed a bratty rich kid who´s too naive, too trustful when he doesn´t have a reason for it. So I got to confess I didn´t read the entire story; I dropped it 70% in because I couldn´t stand this characters any longer.
Unlike other people, I didn´t mind the use of he/they to refer to Briar. What I did find odd, though, what the use of the term "bottom" and a couple more phrases that reminded me of my dark past of reading asian BL stories (a period, I assure you, I don´t wanna go back ever again).
So, my conclussion: It´s a good book. Just not for me.

moonlitcrows's review

adventurous emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

avis03's review against another edition

emotional

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

M/NBi (Achillean), Urban Fantasy, Fae, 3rd Dual POV 

Status: KU, Spinoff Standalone, Third Act Conflict -

External, Internal, Breakup

Briar: NBi (He/They), Human, Ballet Dancer/Student, Made a Deal with a High Fey Lady (Malric's Mother), Anxiety, Depression, Long Hair, Smoker, Painted Nails, Enjoys Designer Clothes, Affection Shy, Bottom,

Sleepwalks, Panic Attack

Malric: High Fey (Autumn Court), Ballet Dancer, On the Run from an Abusive Mother, Staying in the Human Realm, Glamored as a Human, Enjoys Designer Clothes, Smoker, Top,

Becomes a Ballet Teacher at Briar's School, Unable to Dance Due to a Fey Deal

Notes: Fey Deals Gone Wrong, Travel Between the Human and Fey Realm, Secret Identity (Mal), Artist's College, Antagonists to Lovers, Slow Burn, Hurt/Comfort, Artist Angst, Queer Normative, Gender-divergent Normative, Diverse Side Characters

Sex Notes:

Blowjob, Fingering, Lube Use, Condom Use, Penetrative Sex, Bondage (Wrists)

CWs:

Anxiety, Depression, Sexual Harrassment and Intimidation (Not by MMC), Gaslighting, Body Horror, Gore, Emotional Abuse/Control by a Parent, Unhealthy Behaviors Involving Drugs and Alcohol, Panic Attack

icarrion's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75