Taken: The Coldest Fae by Katerina Martinez

In Arcadia, winter has no heart.

I make magic dresses for a living. I’m not rich or pretty enough to wear them, but I love what I do, working out of my family’s shop on Carnaby Street in London—until the fae show up.

It’s a straight-up kidnapping, and before I know it, I’m brought to this wintry place of cold hearts and beautiful nightmares, but that’s not the worst part. The worst part is, they think I’m fae, and I’m supposed to participate in some competition against a host of other women who have been training their whole lives for this.

The prize? The winner is to marry the Prince.

On the surface that sounds almost like a fairytale, only this competition is brutal and bloody, and the Prince is the jerk that kidnapped me. I can’t get too close to him or he’ll know I’m not fae, and then I’m dead. But I want to get close to him. His body burns with the fire of a cold star, and I’m drawn to him.

I need to fight the pull and survive long enough to find a way out of here, but these winter fae won’t make that easy.

TAKEN is an action-filled adventure in a fantasy world, with a funny sidekick, snowy wonderlands, and a slow-burn romance! Welcome to Arcadia, a land of beautiful monsters – now with a brand new cover!

My Review

This book is mostly fantasy, with a few moments in the city of London. I would enjoy the Prince more if we had his pov and if he wasn’t so cold and aloof. There are very few moments that lean toward romance but mostly just action and adventure. I like the character development of Dahlia as she progresses thru the trials. I know this is part of a series, but I don’t feel intrigued enough to continue it.

Dahlia is a seamstress with a magical pixie and many personalities but not a shrewd businesswoman. What her pixie says is accurate, and the author does give some hints. She is an orphan human living with three mothers who are mages. Each mother has her own way of her, but they each make up a portion of what a mother could be. She has a run-in with a beautiful, curious man in London. Her world gets turned upside down rather quickly by an unknown, unidentified foe.

Dahlia is very much out of sorts and very cold. Her first introduction to Arcadia, “land of Fae,” is less pleasant than she would like. While comical, her human nature also gets her in a lot of trouble. Somehow she ends up being part of the royal selection for the Fae winter court. As this is all from her point of pov, we have a little information. I do love that her pixie is along for the adventure. The Prince is cold and aloof but has a weird sensation when touching Dhalia. I don’t know what it means or even if they know.

The first trial is a mystery. We get to feel the moments with her, and she experiences them. She may not be in the lead, but she is undoubtedly creative, using her talents to help herself. She is the underdog in these trials, yet by fate or will, she keeps making it to the next one. The action and adventure kick up a notch, with her and a few others fighting for their lives against a fantasy monster.

This book ends unexpectedly, with more to come in this storyline. Still, the author has it correct with the description of a “beautiful nightmare.” This is from a single person’s perspective and definitely, so far, fantasy fiction more than anything else. There are more books in the series The Coldest Fae, but I may not be reading them anytime soon.

If you want to read Taken: The Coldest Fae by Katerina Martinez, you can find this book on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I earn on qualifying purchases.

If you like this book, you may also enjoy books with these tags and categories Fae, Winter, and Fantasy Fiction.