Melissa Marr

Melissa Marr returns to faery in a dramatic story of the precarious space between two worlds—and the people who must thrive there. The combination of ethereal fae powers, tumultuous romance, and a bloodthirsty faery queen will have longtime fans and new readers alike at the edge of their seats. Lilywhite Abernathy is a criminal—she's half human, half fae, and since the time before she was born her very blood has been illegal. A war has been raging between humans and faeries, and the Queen of Blood and Rage, ruler of the fae courts, wants to avenge the tragic death of her heir due to the actions of reckless humans. Lily's father has always shielded her from the truth, but when she's sent to the prestigious St. Columba's school, she's delivered straight into the arms of a fae Sleeper cell—the Black Diamonds. The Diamonds are planted in the human world as the sons and daughters of the most influential families, and tasked with destroying it from within. Against her will, Lilywhite's been chosen to join them . . . and even the romantic attention of the fae rock singer Creed Morrison isn't enough to keep Lily from wanting to run back to the familiar world she knows.

Seven Black Diamonds

Ashlee

I am kicking myself for not reading it sooner! This was quite good, and I am surprised it doesn’t get talked about more! 

Seriously, this checks so many boxes for me:
- Seelie and Unseelie court fae
- Wicked royals
- A lost heir
- Ruthless political machinations
- The fae have a vendetta against humans
- A secret team of fae hidden in the human world
- Top tier banter!
- Swoony, fun romance (multiple couples!)

This book was such a delight, and I wholeheartedly recommend it for fans of YA fantasy and stories with fae, alike!

Lila Harrison

My Rating: DNF at 85%, 1/5 Stars

My thoughts: Brace yourself for a rant, ladies and gents, because boy did I dislike this book. The premise of this book was super interesting–fairies and terrorists and Hollywood–but the execution was horrific. I’m sad to say this is my first permanent DNF and 1 star read of the year, but I’m even sadder that I wasted so much time trying to read the bloody book.

The characters were so bland and had no defining personality traits whatsoever. This made it really hard to get invested in them. They all felt the same. I don’t even have anything to say about any of them and that’s sad because this was a multiple POV book! You’d think that with a POV from almost all of the main cast we’d get to know them a bit but nope!

And the plot! Argh! I mean, excuse me, but can someone tell me the actual plot of this novel? Because there was literally no point to the story. All of the actions lead nowhere. And there were two plotlines! And they both lead nowhere!

Not only that, but there were no real explanations as to why things happened. Why was the Queen of Blood and Rage so awful? Why did she need the sleepers? What was their point other than to blow things up???

And holy instalove! I mean take a chill pill, guys. One minute Lily and Creed are meeting, the next they’re pledging their life to each other! WHO DOES THAT?!?! YOU DON’T KNOW EACH OTHER!!!!

The writing was bad. There was way too much telling, not enough showing. The writing was too description and the prose was clogged with long descriptions of how people looked. I don’t need a paragraph describing how a character looks!

And the multiple POVs–there was no point to them! They didn’t add any new information to the story or advance the plotline! It was like the author just threw them in the story for kicks!

There’s a fair bit of racial commentary (the fae and half fae are often characterized by dark skin, causing them to look Hispanic or African American). It’s noted how people get discriminated against for being African American or fae. Once it is even noted how one of the main characters would be racially profiled and arrested if he had’t been so famous. I think the commentary was done tastefully. It didn’t beat you over the head, but it wasn’t so hidden you couldn’t see it either. So that was nice, I guess.

As for the audiobook, the narration was okay, not great, but okay. The narrator spoke with an Irish accent for Lily, but otherwise there wasn’t much to distinguish the characters from one another aside from using a lower voice for male characters. I don’t know why the narrator used an Irish accent for Lil,y though, as nothing in the text indicated she spoke with an accent or was from Ireland. I think the story would have been better suited to have multiple narrators, just because there were so many POVs.

All in all I’m so disappointed with this book. I was hoping for so much more, but was so let down. 1 Star.

Wren Hardwick

I was fifty pages in, and it was a chore to remember everything. There were names thrown at me on every page that I needed to know. There was a history that was explained but not really explained. Insta-love kind of killed it even more. 

I just wasn't even enjoying it so I'm going to go on to another book. Sorry guys, it wasn't my style. The writing was also a little young for me, so maybe someone else would enjoy it!

Ruby

Zahia Saeed 

Melissa Marr’s return to faery is now in paperback! The combination of ethereal fae powers, tumultuous romance, and a bloodthirsty faery queen will have longtime fans and new readers alike at the edge of their seats. Lilywhite Abernathy is a criminal—she’s half human, half fae, and since the time before she was born her very blood has been illegal. A war has been raging between humans and faeries and the Queen of Blood and Rage, ruler of the fae courts, wants to avenge the tragic death of her heir due to the actions of reckless humans. Lily’s father has always shielded her from the truth, but when she’s sent to the prestigious St. Columba’s school, she’s delivered straight into the arms of a fae sleeper cell—the Black Diamonds. The Diamonds are planted in the human world as the sons and daughters of the most influential families, and tasked with destroying it from within. Against her will, Lilywhite’s been chosen to join them … and even the romantic attention of the fae rock singer Creed Morrison isn’t enough to keep Lily from wanting to run back to the familiar world she knows. Melissa Marr’s newest series explores the precarious space between two worlds—and the people who must thrive there.

Seven Black Diamonds

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