Daybreak

by Mindy Hayes

In order to save Rymidon from another gruesome war, Sarai showed mercy with a difficult sacrifice, but that sacrifice brought on new strife. Contention within the kingdom with the elves’ presence stirred a rebellion. Still coming to terms with Prince Marcus’s betrayal, her heart and loyalty to her kingdom were on the line. And choosing between the two things she loved most didn’t come without suffering.

Always one to keep a tough front, Lia wanted to shield those she loved from the weakening effects of her transformation, but as her condition worsened, it was impossible to remain hidden. No one had been able to find a cure for a flawed transformation before, but Cameron wasn’t willing to let Lia go.

When Cameron chose a life with Lia and gave up the human world, he knew risks were involved, but he was willing to take a chance to be with the one he loved. As Lia’s health declined, so did the life of the realm, a forewarned disruption of the balance.

With the entire fae race’s fate in jeopardy, they must band together with Calliope and Kai to restore the balance and save the realm or lose it all.

300 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 29, 2020

About the author

Mindy is the youngest of six children and grew up in San Diego, California. After graduating from Brigham Young University-Idaho, she discovered her passion for reading and writing. Mindy lives in Summerville, South Carolina with her husband and daughter.

She is the author of the Faylinn novels and the Willowhaven series; as well as the standalones, Stain and The Day That Saved Us. Mindy is also the co-author of the Paper Planes series and the Backroads Duet, which was co-written with Michele G. Miller as Mindy Michele.

www.mindyhayes.com

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Reviews

[Porch Swing Pages · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sarai, Lia, Callie, Kai, Cameron, even Marcus have all became characters dear to my heart. I loved following their adventures through Faylinn and was sad to see them come to an end. Daybreak is an epic conclusion to the Faylinn series.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love these characters!! So glad we got to visit Faylinn again. Catching up with familiar characters and absolutely falling in love with new ones. So good!

Favorite Quote:
"But, to me, he’s proven to be a devoted force, willing to protect and avenge those he loves. If he did that for one woman, imagine what he’d do for his kingdom."

[thesnarkysnake · Rating 2 out of 5]

What can I say? I loved Kaleidoscope. I loved Ember. I loved Luminary. I loved Glimmer. I didn't love Daybreak.

Let me start by saying that I LOVE the Faylinn series. Kai and Calliope are my OTP and my favourite characters of all time. I LOVED LOVED LOVED this series, but Daybreak just didn't match up to my expectations. I'm currently here heartbroken by the events of the last book and pretending that it doesn't exist.

First things first, what ruined the book for me entirely was the ending. [spoiler alert] So the great evil creator of the world, Viridessa, conveniently never mentioned before in the previous books, carries out her cruel punishment to innocent people who didn't know it was against her “rules”. Therefore, instead of actually helping the fae to understand the importance and dangers of their actions, she decides to do some creepy, gruesome shit instead. Proceeds to rip out Lia's womb, Cameron's testes, chop off Marcus' arm, and curse Calliope and Kai's unborn daughter, whom Calliope is conveniently pregnant with, despite the fact that she's only 20 years old, just barely out of her teenage years. Maybe fae culture works differently and they have their children young, but it just seems kinda forced since Calliope was still barely a full adult. Besides, their daughter gets pulled a reverse Elsa and instead of getting blessed by winter, she gets cursed??

Another issue. Viridessa was never mentioned before. She's just randomly inserted. They don't figure out a way to fight her. They were in the dark, upset the balance and get punished for it. How is that fair?

Wow. The fifth book was suddenly significantly darker and way more gruesome than I remember the Faylinn novels to be.

Honestly, I might be a little biased. Because Viridessa just essentially ruined the beautiful, mythical world of my dreams by being evil. Faylinn has always struck me as a magical place, where nature lives in harmony with the people who look after it. It never struck me as malevolent and vindictive like its creator. Truthfully, when I got to the ending part I thought I had the wrong book, or it was some sort of mistake!

Other smaller issues that I have with the book: I would've loved to see more Kai and Calliope, and Allura and Declan. I'm a sucker for those four. But those are just my personal opinions.

To be fair, half of the book was fine. I liked the parts where we dive down to the origins of the splitting of the kingdoms, Elena, Cameron's mom. Gives a great glimpse into the history of Faylinn.

SO I JUST REALLY HAVE A PROBLEM WITH VIRIDESSA AND HER OVERALL CREEPINESS AND EVIL. I HAVE NO CLUE HOW A MALEVOLENT BEING SUCH AS HER COULD CREATE A WORLD THAT I LOVE SO MUCH. She just ruined it for me, and the ending was sorely disappointing.

Overall, the first half of the book was solid, but the ending took a deep dive and became kind of dark, gruesome and disappointing. Daybreak could've had so much potential, but I did not feel like it lived up to its namesake. Daybreak is a symbol of hope, but the ending was almost devoid of it.

Note: I still love the first few books. I lived for Kai and Calliope's story, and they will continue to be my OTP. I'm sorry if I came off as harsh and offended anyone, it's just my personal opinion of the book and I felt like it didn't do the other four books justice.