Greta and the Goblin King by Chloe Jacobs

             
I stumbled across this book while I was hunting for more fae books after reading Hidden Huntress by Danielle L. Jensen and A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. Since I have a huge nerd-on for Labyrinth (1986) and subsequently anything along that line, I had to check this book out.

It's a okay book, the plot was a little rushed and confusing at times. The characters could have used a little refining, but overall it was a quick and enjoyable read. The book starts out with Greta already in Mylena and has been for a while, establishing herself as a bounty hunter. All the while concealing her humanity and posing as a sprite. She has been taken in and claimed by a high elf like creature who trains her and becomes a father-figure to her in this world that is not her own. We also meet the Goblin King, Isaac who has dream invading abilities, an ability to get under Greta's skin, and for some reason you cannot say his name because that gives him the ability to invade your dreams???

The fae(ish) creatures of this book are pretty standard, though they're kind of like weres in the sense that during eclipses they lose their ability to reason similar to a werewolf during the full moon. And of course that's a big plot point in the book. Anyway Greta's adoptive father gets murdered, leading her to seek revenge with a half-baked, ill-conceived plan and an overestimate of her abilities. She meets a group of human boys living in the woods who have escaped from an evil wizard who seems more like an afterthought than an actual nefarious villain. The books gave me serious Peter Pan feels in the sense they reminded me of the Lost Boys, which there was a joke about later in the book that had me smiling!

These boys have some hairbrained scheme to free the other human slaves working for the big baddie, which they rope Greta into. She quickly forms a bond and has a sense of camaraderie with the boys, all the while there's a bounty on her head because it was revealed to the world that she's human, and Isaac is looking for her because he's in love with her. There's this big deus ex machina ending and basically everyone goes home happy. Don't get me wrong I really did enjoy this book, I just feel with a little more work the plot could have been expanded upon and made this a better read. I'm still going to read the sequel(s) and see where this goes.