Elvish by SG Prince
The Elvish Trilogy #1
Romantic Fantasy
Summerhold Publishing | October 14, 2018
About the Book:
It’s against the law for elves and humans to fall in love. But laws can be broken.
When Venick is caught wandering the elflands, he knows the penalty is death. Desperate, he lies about his identity in hopes the elves will spare his life.
Ellina doesn’t trust the human, and not merely because he speaks the language of men. Men lie. In elvish, however, lying is impossible. In a moment of intuition, Ellina decides to give Venick a chance: learn elvish, reveal his truths, and she will set him free.
That is not, of course, what happens.
As Ellina and Venick grow to know one another, their feelings start to shift. Then Venick uncovers a dark secret, and suddenly the fate of the elflands seems to rest in his hands. But every choice comes with consequences, and Venick must decide if it’s worth risking his life to protect a race that hates him, all to save an elf he’s not allowed to love.
More and more, I’m finding myself looking at those advertisements on my Kindle, and sometimes they actually spark something inside me that makes me look at reviews. Depending on my findings –because, research research research!– and depending on if the book is on Kindle Unlimited, I will read them.
The reviews for Elvish were excellent!
I saw a lot of talk about “beautiful writing” and how the story was “character driven”. The author herself says she was trying to write a book with the best of fantasy and romance combined. It sounded like Elvish was right up my alley. Finding out it was available on KU was kismet. I immediately downloaded it and started reading.
I found all those glowing reviews to be pretty accurate. For a debut book, SG Prince’s writing was wonderful. She definitely knows her characters and their motivations. She understands the world she created, and I felt like she stayed true to the rules of that world. The romance wasn’t exactly a slow burn, but it definitely wasn’t instalove.
It was more like a love unspoken.
In this world Ellina and Venick are from opposite races. Elvish and Human. Love between an Elf and a Human is forbidden in both of their lands. While we as the reader recognize their developing feelings early, Ellina and Venick do a pretty decent job of attempting to stay away. No, not a slow burn, but still it created enough of a problem so as to create believable conflict.
Cause see, fast love just doesn’t work for me.
I need just enough conflict to create anticipation.
SG Prince gave me anticipation in perfect balance, because it easily could have been overly done. I’ve read many a book where the angst was so blown out I could only react with annoyance. It quickly ruins my enjoyment of the characters and romance. That didn’t happen in Elvish. There were enough teases and longing looks to make even the most die hard romance fan swoon.
I also have to say, if I had seen this book in the store I never would have picked it up. For me, the cover does the author a serious disservice. It looks like 50 other books I see on bookshelves at my local B&N. There’s nothing unique at all. Fantasy book with a posed warrior on the cover are a dime a dozen these days, and personally I’ve been over it for years.
The story beneath that cover is complex.
So, if you’re like me and covers like this make you roll your eyes, you might not want to pass this one by. I think you’d be impressed with this debut novel. I know I was.
Birdie Bookworm 
The cover does look pretty generic, but it’s wonderful to hear that the story is anything but. It’s great that the book actually fulfilled those positive comments and that you enjoyed the story! I, too, am not a fan of instant romance. It really ruins the potential tension and slow growth of a strong relationship. Sounds like the author managed it quite nicely. I may have to add this to my kindle library if I can find it 😀 Great review!
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Thanks! I’d love if someone else read it, so I could talk about it.
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