Book Pub with Madilyn Smart

A Spoiler-Free Discussion (Rant) About How Does It Feel? By Jeneane O’ Riley

Buckle up Book Pub fans because we are about to have a spoiler-free discussion on a book that had me saying “what the actual hell” about every other page. How Does It Feel? could not have been a better name for the first book in the Infatuated Fae series by Jeneane O’Riley and if I am being honest, it feels uncomfortable.

A forbidden obsession
Unyielding family allegiance
Three deadly challenges

THE HUMAN.
When a trip into the forest to collect a rare mushroom goes horribly wrong, I find myself falling through a fairy portal and straight into the arms of the Unseelie Fae prince. The dangerously unhinged and handsome Unseelie Fae prince.
What could be more horrible than that? He thinks I'm an assassin sent by the humans to kill him, not a biologist.
Determined to kill me first, and rid himself of the human he has unwillingly grown obsessed with, yet also needing to entertain his people, the villain challenges me to three deadly trials.
If I survive, I gain my freedom. But if not...
The Fae.
I've never felt anything but hate and loathing until my eyes found hers--the vile human assassin's. She is a parasite that has mercilessly latched onto my mind and won't let me free.
My hand itches to be ungloved and feel her smooth skin, even though I would never. The Unseelie Fae royals would rather burn than touch a repulsive human.
I fear that if I do not destroy the girl soon, she may be the only thing that's capable of truly destroying me.

Basically, we have a pretty blonde petite barbie (I am not trying to be stereotypical. She legitimately brings up her looks about a thousand times, so you don’t forget how good looking she is) named Callie, who is also a small-town biologist because she is unique and not like other girls, who is our protagonist. Her affinity for animals, moths, and mushrooms, lands her in a fairy portal where she is most definitely not welcome. Next, we have our antagonist who is so far past morally grey that we are going to just stick with, ‘villain’ whose name is Malum Mendax. Don’t worry guys, he is sexy. He is also the shadow daddy prince of the Unseelie Court and of course, they HATE humans. Like no regard whatsoever. Then we have the Seelie Court which is known the be light and more tolerable towards “the other species”.

You can probably gain the basics of what is to come from the synopsis, but when I say this book lays in the enemies to lovers trope, I am not exaggerating. These are true enemies. Like he really wants her dead type of enemies. He tells her as much on frequent occasions. The trials just get worse each time and I feel like I need to include my own personal trigger warning for that which is the Forest Bog. I literally just gagged typing that out. To put this into perspective, one of my favorite characters in this book is a rat. I am not joking. That being said, the ending will leave you in shock and possibly left reeling.

I know I am making this seem like I hate this book, and to be honest, the jury is still out on that one. However, as much as it made me want to toss it through my window at times, it also had me where I could not put it down. As if there was some type of gravitational pull that did not allow me the chance. It is chaotic and downright uncomfortable at times, but it was written with that purpose. Apparently, this is true dark fantasy romance and maybe this was the first step into a somewhat scary world, but this book trapped me and there was no getting out. There is still no getting out. In fact, I was working on a review for a new trilogy I had just read when I saw a post that the second book had been out for a little while and I just knew I had to lay my previous review aside and write this crack post of a discussion instead.

You see, I want y’all to experience this with me. I don’t want to be alone in this. So, jump in. I promise you the water is not fine, but you will probably end up wanting this as much as me and you will more than likely hate yourselves for it. To top it off, the name of the sequel to this one is called What Did You Do? The more uncomfortable the name, the better right?

Like always I am recommending that you do research the trigger warnings before diving into this one. 

For this week’s drink selection, we are going to keep it pretty straight forward. First, I want you to go and find your favorite cup or shot glass. Once you have completed that step, pull out your favorite bottle of tequila and fill it up to the very tippy top. The next step is simple. Throw that bad boy back because I promise you are going to want it while reading this book. The final step is to take a moment to question whether you really want to do this. If you still go forward with it, take the time for some reflection as to why you listen to me in the first place.

Yours Truly,

Madi Smart