Fairy Ring: Changeling of Janderelle (Fairy Ring: Book 2) by Jacque Stevens

4 Stars

Publisher: sjacquebooks

Date of publication: May 23rd, 2019

Genre: Dark Fantasy

Series: Fairy Ring

Fairy Ring: Shards of Janderelle—Book 1

Fairy Ring: Changeling of Janderelle—Book 2

Where you can find Fairy Ring: Changeling of Janderelle: Amazon | BookBub

Book synopsis:

Queen-bee of her freshman class, fifteen-year-old Grace is no angel. 

That spot was reserved for her brother, Gabriel. But now that Gabe has died, it seems everyone has forgotten him. Even her mother would rather focus on her new boyfriend than plan a funeral.

Grace can’t forget, and after discovering a way into the fairy world that killed her brother, she is ready to take her revenge. Even if that means befriending the trolls of that world and becoming their queen, their changeling child. 

But as accessing her full magic requires her to draw others through the fairy ring, it seems her revenge may come at an even higher price—her soul.

Sequel to Fairy Ring: Shards of Janderelle.

Clean Read. References to substance abuse, nonexplicit sexual references, and other more serious issues. Recommended for young adults and teens fourteen and up. 

---

My Review:

My brother, Gabriel, was a saint, right up there with whatever angel our parents named him after

I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to read this book when I came across it. I took one look at the cover and went, “Ugggh. Another YA fantasy.” Then I read the blurb, and my feelings changed. I couldn’t wait to dive into this book.

The author did a fantastic job of explaining why she wrote Grace the way she did in the author’s note. She drew on her experience of a mental health nurse to make Grace as realistic as possible. She also made it clear that in no way is Grace a hero, which I loved.

Like I stated in the above paragraph, Grace is not a hero. Grace was damaged. She was a bully who took pleasure in tormenting Livy. She never dealt with the car accident and then Gabe’s death. She was a hot mess. I did feel bad for her. She was hurting, and her mother wasn’t there for her.

You do need to read book 1 to understand this book. I didn’t, and I was lost for most of the book. Kaito does go into what happened the night that Gabe died, but that still wasn’t enough detail. This isn’t a stand alone book.

Grace caused a lot of harm in this book. She was going to do anything to get back at Kaito. Anything. That’s how she ended up becoming the Ogress of the trolls. That was also how she ended up with shards from Jaron and Cody. And finally, that is how she got in trouble in the human world for trying to kill Briar.

The end of the book was heartbreaking. Her confusion over what exactly happened that night was palpable. I will say that she didn’t have any regret for anything that she did. I am curious to see what her character will be like in the next book.

---

I would give Fairy Ring: Changeling of Janderelle an Older Teen rating. There is sex. There is language. There is violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 16 read this book.

I would reread Fairy Ring: Changeling of Janderelle.  I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**