A Review for Stolen Away by Alyxandra Harvey

Posted by Donna
Expected Published Date: January 5th, 2011
Finished Date: December 16th, 2011
Publishers: Bloomsbury
Source: Finished Copy for Review
Format: Paperback
Pages: 277

The Blurb from Goodreads: For seventeen years, Eloise Hart had no idea the world of Faery even existed. Now she has been abducted and trapped in the Rath of Lord Strahan, King of Faery. Strahan was only meant to rule for seven years, as Faery tradition dictates, and then give up his crown to another. But he won't comply, and now chaos threatens both worlds.

The only one who can break his stranglehold on the Faery court is his wife. . . Eloise's aunt Antonia. Using Eloise to lure Antonia, Strahan captures his wife, desperate to end the only threat to his reign. Now Eloise must become the rescuer. Together with her best friends Jo and Devin, she must forge alliances with other Fae, including a gorgeous protector named Lucas, and Strahan's mysterious son, Eldric—who may or may not betray them.

The Review: I have been a huge fan of Alyxandra Harvey’s ever since I read the Drake Chronicles and then of course, there was Haunting Violet which I loved too but for me, Stolen Awa y was an enjoyable read but my least favourite out of her all of work so far.

The story follows Eloise, who is a young girl who soon finds out that Faeries are real and  that her aunt; Antonia is the Queen of Faery. When the King of Faery kidnaps Eloise to try and lure out Antonia so he can end his only threat to his kingdom, Eloise goes on a dangerous journey to try and save her aunt. Along with the help of her two best friends, Jo and Devlin, Eloise's only option is to team up with the other Fae.....but who can she trust?

It seriously pains me to only rate Stolen Away a three because I adore Alyxandra's work, I really do but with Stolen Away I just didn’t connect with this story as much as I have done with her previous work.  Nonetheless, I still did enjoy this story and Alyxandra is still one of my favourite authors.

My favourite highlight of the book was the characters. Eloise and Jo were both very likeable who have similar traits with great sense of humours and are completely down to earth. It was easy to see why they were best friends. I found myself liking Jo more at one time because of her boy crazy attitude but then Eloise would shine threw with her strong personality, so it became quite hard to pick which one I liked more. Now Devlin is the third in the trio and best friends with both girls, I loved how they all stuck together and how loyal they were to one another. And I also really enjoyed Lucas and Eldric who were both completely swoon-worthy and yeah…..hot! ;)

The story itself had a good pace and I really liked the Fae aspect. And although it wasn’t overly complicated, I would have liked a bit more back ground information. But my main problem was I felt the general story started far too quickly for my liking. I would have preferred to have gotten to know the girls better before meeting Lucas and even Eloise being kidnapped.

Overall, Stolen Away really showed the potential that Alyxandra has in writing with different mythical creatures, and even though it wasn’t my favourite, I do believe it will be a hit with the readers so I still highly recommend it.