All that Glows by Ryan Graudin

Series: Standalone

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy

Subjects: faeries, magic, supernatural, royalty, princes

Setting: Modern day London, England

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense: Emrys

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 463 pgs.

HC/PB: Paperback

List Price: $9.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “Emrys—a fiery, red-headed Fae—always embraced her life in the Highlands, far from the city’s draining technology, until she’s sent to London to rejoin the Faery Guard. But this isn’t any normal assignment—she’s sent to guard Prince Richard: Britain’s notorious, partying bad boy and soon-to-be King. The prince’s careless ways and royal blood make him the irresistible for the dark spirits that feed on mortals. Sweet, disheveled, and alive with adventure—Richard is one charge who will put Emrys’s magic and heart to the test.

When an ancient force begins preying on the monarchy, Emrys must hunt through the London’s magical underworld, facing down Banshees, Black Dogs and Green Women to find the one who threatens Richard’s life. In this chaos of dark magic, palace murders and paparazzi, Emrys finds herself facing an impossible choice. For despite all her powers, Emrys has discovered a force that burns brighter than magic: love.”

My Review:  This book seemed so promising at first. It fell pretty flat though. Maybe because I don’t like British book that much. Maybe because I’m sick of books about faeries. This book may have had some fighting and magic, but it just wasn’t that exciting.

Emrys is a faery that supposed to protect Prince Richard. Richard like to party and drink. He’s kind of like Oliver Queen from Arrow, but the prince of England. Emrys reveals herself to Richard, and then they fall in love and she’s thinking about becoming mortal to be with him. Some kissing and romantic dates, and all that fun stuff. The fact that the main character is a guardian of a Prince seems unique to me, but most of the story is riddled with clichés that I’ve seen in paranormal romance and urban fantasy.

I don’t want to discourage people about this book. It is kind of long (463 pages), which is probably part of why I got bored with it. It moved pretty slow too. But if you love books about Fay and don’t get bored with them, or if you love anything set in the UK, then you’ll probably enjoy this. It has luscious and descriptive writing.

 I loved the magic that Emrys used. She could shape-shift and cast spells. There were creatures like banshees and green woman and black dogs. Emrys fought those creatures to protect Richard. There’s Queen Mab, Titania,  Herne of the Wild Hunt, but no Oberon or Puck. There’s mentions of the Arthurian Legend being real and Emrys knew Arthur.

I recommend this book to fans of the Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr, the Wondrous Strange series by Lesley Livingston, The Faeries Path series by Frewin Jones, The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa, or the Glimmer Glass series by Jenna Black.

Cover Art Review: I love this cover. The hand lettering is so awesome and detailed. It has a beautiful effect on it. The photo of the fairy girl looks like the girl on the Faery Path series covers. I like the pink hue.