Isobel is highly skilled at Craft, the name fairies give to mortal skills like artistry, cooking, the creation of things. She paints portraits for the fairies, who are very desirous of human Craft, for it is something they cannot do. When the autumn prince, Rook, comes to have his portrait painted, Isobel doesn't realize her whole world is about to change. When she paints the mortal sorrow she sees in the fairy's eyes, his title is endangered and he spirits her off to his kingdom to stand on trial for this crime she has committed. Through their journey, however, Isobel and Rook become closer and find that they might be in more danger than they realized.I would give this story a higher rating for its descriptions. Rogerson has a wonderful way with words and her setting, characters, and the magic of the world she has built are sumptuous and painterly. I can tell she has a pretty solid art background because each scene is exquisitely detailed, as if she were painting a picture with words. Each new page brought new depictions and more enjoyment.
It is the inclusion of art as part of the story that also made this book enjoyable. As an artist myself, I loved that the main character was an artist, a highly skilled painter, sought out for her artistic abilities. And it isn't just a passing whim of hers that she enjoyed to do, it is integral to her life, she makes art for a living, and even the main conflict she solves through her art. I have to hand it to Rogerson that this is something I have never seen done and I very much appreciated it.
That being said, the story itself was not the strongest. It is very much a romance, and though the story is interesting by itself, I feel most readers will enjoy this book mostly for the romance and not particularly for the plot - which, if I'm being honest, reminded me very, very much of A Court of Thorns and Roses. Both main characters are artistic, both stories involve fairies who rule seasonal courts (i.e. Rook is prince of the autumn court), and, inevitably, both stories involve a mortal/fairy romance. I wouldn't say this bothered me, after all, many stories are built out of inspiration from other stories, but I would say that it was a bit of a hurtle for me to get over before I got into the meatier bits of story that were different and more original.
One last thing that kept me from rating this story four stars would be the fact that I wasn't quite sure about the mechanics of the world Rogerson has built. There's a blight in some of the other courts, there is a "World Beyond" that people go away to, but who knows how or why. It's always summer in Whimsy for some reason, I guess because that's the only place in the mortal world the fairies visit. There's a "Wild Hunt" that goes on perpetually, but it's unclear exactly why or for what purpose and why it poses a threat to the other faries. I could go on, but you get the gist. Once I got into the story, I suspended my disbelief and just rolled with it, but it did bother me that the world that was so well described in terms of physicality, wasn't being described well in terms of how it worked. It kept me from truly loving the story.
I won't say I wouldn't read this story again. I might, if I have a hankering for beautiful, descriptive prose and an easy romance, and characters that I enjoy. Isobel is a wonderful main character and I highly enjoyed reading her thoughts and descriptions of the world around her. I'd definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a fantasy romance or someone who really enjoys beautiful world building.
