Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Rosewood, the magical Renaissance Faire’s psychic and company manager, has been single for over ten years—ever since he accidentally revealed his psychic abilities to the love of his life and lost him. He has devoted himself to the Faire and the magic within ever since. The last thing he expects when hiring a new business manager is for Oscar—the “one who got away”—to walk back into his life as the most qualified applicant.

While Rosewood tries to deal with Oscar as his new business partner, his abilities start going haywire. He senses danger coming, and it’s somehow tied to Oscar’s dark past. They will have to work together to recover Rosewood’s abilities, help Oscar heal, and save the Faire itself.

And if they can do that, then maybe, possibly, the “one who got away” will become his greatest catch.

First edition published by Loose Id in July 2015.

 

Book Review

“Life is too short to wake up with regrets. Love the people who treat you right. Forget about the ones who don’t. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy. They just promised it would be worth it.” ~ Greg Hawkins

'Faire Diviner' by Madeleine Ribbon, takes us back to the magical Renaissance Faire where we get to visit with many of the characters from the other Faire stories and get updates about what they are doing. This time, it’s to tell Rosewood's story.

For ten years, Rosewood has mourned losing Oscar, his lover in college. He's avoided intimate relationships for fear of being hurt again. Try as he may, Rosewood can't let go of his love for Oscar. Lately even the Faire won't let him forget. She has plans for Rosewood and Oscar as well. The Faire attempts to tell Rosewood of them, but, for whatever reason, his usual methods of divining are not working properly. Rosewood either receives no impressions, or ones which are too vague to make sense. Rosewood does not need the added stress of having Oscar show up at the Faire and is especially not ready for him to be hired as business manager, which will mean seeing him on a daily basis. Rosewood can not understand why the Faire would want this to happen but since he can't 'hear' her properly, he's going to have to figure out a lot of it for himself.

Oscar wants to see Rosewood again, if only to explain that Rosewood overreacted and ran away before Oscar had time to sort out his feelings about Rosewood's confession about his “gift”. Their breakup has been very hard on Oscar too, who in a moment of weakness and loneliness became involved with a man who was abusive, demanding, and unstable. Oscar comes to the Faire hoping to recover and heal like so many others have done. The Faire wants Oscar there for that reason, and she wants Oscar and Rosewood to be together, and not just romantically. The Faire knows that they make an unstoppable team when they cooperate, and with the crisis which is coming, they will need to be in the best shape possible in order to prevent total destruction of the Faire and all the people who work there and live in the Glen.

Madeleine has created a fantastical world within her magical Renaissance Faire. Her explanations of the characters and atmosphere is very much like Renaissance Faires I've attended, which made the story more realistic, even with all the supernatural events happening around it. I especially liked how the Rennies (faire employees) and management worked together, having enough faith in him to blindly follow Rosewood and the others. Madeleine also did an excellent job explaining characters in the previous books and did so in a concise, but informative manner. The pace in the beginning of the story was l little slow for me, but really picked up toward the ending which made up for whatever lag there may have been before. Oscar and Rosewood, once they finally got over their initial shock and guilt about their breakup and what they should and shouldn't do, made a great couple and were very hot in bed. Readers who are already fans should enjoy this installment; those new readers who enjoy Renaissance Fairs; interesting costumes; paranormal happenings and special talents; and a happy ending may enjoy this book. It can be read alone, but is much better if they are read in order. Thanks, Madeleine, for letting me visit in your magical world again and for giving Oscar and Rosewood their well-earned happy ending.

 

 

 

 

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Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novel, 277 pages/79000 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	24-May-2018
Price	$5.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Faire-Diviner-Folk-Book-ebook/dp/B07D9TJBPP