Fragile Eternity

Written by Melissa Marr, Fragile Eternity is book 3 in the Wicked Lovely series.

This book follows Seth as he struggles to deal with his humanity in a circle of immortals - including his girlfriend.  On his quest to become Faerie, Seth meets the reclusive Sorcha, Queen of the High Court, and strikes a deal: one month a year in Faerie to become one.  Unbeknownst to him, one day in Faerie is 6 in the real world.  When he finally serves his month, 6 have passed and Aislinn has turned to Keenan to give their Summer Court a true queen to his king.

I did not like this book at all.  While the bits about the High Court and his deal with Sorcha were fine, the angsty love triangle/rectangle was a little much.  Keenan was still trying to win over Aislinn, and when that didn't work, he stuck it out with Donia.  However, when Seth went missing, he immediately dumped Donia to be at Aislinn's side.  Aislinn starts to feel strongly about Keenan with the approach of summer, so instead of being open with Seth, she hides it from him.  Seth, for his part, knows that something is up with Aislinn and decides to completely change to be with her.

Those elements are wrong on so many levels.  I can forgive Aislinn and Seth since they're young and dumb, but Keenan is 900 years old.  You'd think that having to back off for 100 years-ish, would be super easy, especially now that his powers are unbound.  Instead, he actively tries to seduce Aislinn and then when Seth is gone, he jumps at the chance to soothe her.  His only saving grace is that when she offers her body, he turns her down.  

Aislinn's behaviour at Seth's disappearance is pathetic.  She becomes reclusive, to the point of shutting out her grandmother and close friends, and she leans heavily on Keenan - who I believe she had no right to demand that kind of attention after turning him down so often.  She even offered to sleep with him to make herself feel better!

And Seth?  Seriously?  He seemed to be the only character who was completely satisfied with who he was.  Until he got it in his head that he needed to be with Aislinn forever and went against everyone's wishes to do it.  I believe that compromise is necessary in a relationship; but changing who and what you are to be with someone?  On top of that, Seth has a Persephone-esque contract: 6 months in Faerie and 6 months with Aislinn.  As much as I like happy endings, I almost hope this ruins their relationship.  I think it would be too tidy to have Keenan and Donia together, as well as Aislinn and Seth.

I guess I'll find out eventually.  The next book, Radiant Shadows, is available now.  I, however, am going to read Mockingjay next, book 3 of the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins!!!