The Strong & The Stolen (Gifted Fae Academy Book 3) – Brittni Chenelle
Synopsis
The Fae have fallen.
Our world isn’t what it used to be. Fae were once revered as saviors and now? Hated doesn’t even begin to describe it.
As if it wasn’t bad enough that the elites no longer hold the power in Ancetol, the guy I love is in prison for life and my best friend? She disappeared without a trace—kidnapped—and I’ve made it my personal mission to save her.
To call my life complicated would be an understatement, but it gets worse when an old enemy resurfaces and threatens to slaughter the already tenuous peace in our city.
The strong have to rise, before life as we know it is stolen.
Review
I supposed more than anything I wanted them to know that the gifts we were given didn’t define us. A person’s worth comes not from their superhuman abilities but from their human ones. Our will to help and protect others is what makes us strong. It’s true that some people are born with extraordinary gifts, but we’re all capable of heroic deeds. I know that things won’t sort themselves out overnight, but one act of kindness at a time is all it will take to heal Ancetol.
After the ending of the last book, I was super excited to start this one, so I opened it and this is what I see…
Two years later… So, you want to tell me that now that I finally don’t hate Kai, he has been in prison for 2 years and knows nothing about the outside?! 2 “[bleep]” years?
I was mad, but I still wanted to know what happened, so after pouting a few minutes I took my book back and kept reading.
Everything went to hell. Bri was kidnapped and Kaito was sentenced to prison for life. The Fae had officially fallen and were even losing their gifts for a weird epidemic. Most of them fled from Ancetol, leaving in on the hands of Yemoja Roux, but even she was getting old.
Reina wasn’t ready to help Yemoja, and had all her focus on finding Bri. She had the help of Oden and Miranda, and a group of search that was getting everyday smaller, as they didn’t seem to get any closer to find her.
Without a moment of hesitation, Yemoja scrambled for her phone.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
She ignored me, holding the phone far too close to her face and typing into it. A minute or two later, she looked up. “Done.”
“What did you do?”
“Only you can make a decision like that, but either way we’re going to need ice cream.”
Like things were not bad enough, DT is alive, and he’s acting like a Serf and trying to get the Chairman place to control the whole city, that loves him by the way. The city was happy as they lose the fear of touch, almost every Gifted was gone.
Now Reina needs to find a way to stop DT, without Kaito’s help…
The darkness hid the silent tears that fell as I realized I’d made a horrible mistake. For a few minutes, I’d allowed a parasite back into my body, one that had nearly destroyed me years ago. A parasite called hope.
I don’t know how to begin to describe my feelings with this book. I give it all the stars, but I know that is not the best book I’ve read, and had the typical problem that I find in some endings that is the secondary characters seem to have gotten stuck while the life of the MC resolves. But then, why do I give it all the stars? Simple my friends, because this is MY blog and I CAN ?. But loving a book doesn’t mean you are blind to it’s “mistakes” and as they may be fatal for some people I feel obliged to point them out. Also, if you need a scientific explanation for everything, this is not your book. Gifts simple exists, and you can have them or not as simply as a mole, which is perfectly fine for me ?♀️.
I truly loved this saga. The first book was entertaining at the begging but had a bad ending (bad for the characters, not for the reader). The second book had a lot more action and things got even worse. But in this one everything was truly messed up. All the system of the city collapsed, and Reina found herself trying to save a city that now hated her. All while trying to not get broken as her search wasn’t working. And tried to make peace with the fact she would never see Kai again.
The only thing left for me and Kaito was a goodbye. Now or after years, it all ended in heartbreak…
It had been us against the world since we’d met. Why wouldn’t the universe cooperate?
I got the opportunity to hear the audiobook and read the book at the same time, which I absolutely recommend. Matthew H. Longoria did a great job as Kaito, but Lessa Lamb as Reina truly was the star. There’s a particular scene that I’ll put as spoilers just in case. This is the first time I understood the importance of the narrator.
[su_spoiler title=”Scene I’m talking about” icon=”chevron-circle”]So, there’s a particular scene from Reina’s perspective when she and Kaito had their goodbyes. The scene was emotional, but it was the emotion that Lessa put in the reading what made it unforgettable. My tears were truly falling along Reina’s and my heart broke with theirs.[/su_spoiler]
Love may be over, but it’s not dead.
Even though I’d never see him again, each memory was vividly etched into me…
My strength broke. I didn’t have enough time with him. No amount would have been enough, but at least I know that it was real. Otherwise, it wouldn’t hurt this badly.
As the other ones, this book is full of amazing descriptions and characters. Every emotion felt so real, everyone was so real. Miranda wasn’t as bad since last book but in this one she proved to be an extremely loyal friend and a good person deep inside. Her Gift, visions, was an important part of this book and I think Brittni did an amazing job playing with them and the development of the story.
I completely forgot about the political game in this book. It has a pretty interesting game of powers in the background. Showing how Ancetol people wasn’t happy with the system and was ready for a change, no matter the cost.
Long story short, I loved this saga, goes to my favorites shelf and obviously recommend 100% to give it a try.
Bye bye ?