Of Dawn and Fire

Of Dreams and Nightmares #3

by Nicki Chapelway

“What…did you do?” I demand, my voice coming out gravelly and raw. It barely sounds like me.
But then… am I really myself now?
Ravven’s eyes are wide and brilliantly purple. “You’re beautiful.”

Jaye MacCullagh has managed to save Ravven Crowe from dying, but at what cost? Now a faerie and bound forever to the Otherworlds, Jaye is left feeling betrayed. Her choice was taken from her by the man who claims to love her. She never wanted to be a faerie, and she must now come to terms with the fact that she has become the very creature she swore to defend humanity from.

Jaye never wants to see Ravven again, but when a faerie ball goes terribly awry she finds herself once again forced to ally herself to him. The vengeful spirits of long dead faeries have been released on the world and they will wreak havoc on everything unless a faerie is crowned as the high ruler of the Otherworlds. Only such an individual will be strong enough to defeat the ghost of the former high queen. But to wear the crown of dawn and fire is no small feat and requires one to have the fealty of all the courts. An all-but impossible task. Even if they succeed in their kingmaking, who will wear the crown and rule eternal over all the Otherworlds? And can Jaye truly trust Ravven after all they’ve done to each other, or will their cycle of betrayal bring about the destruction of themselves and all the faeries?

Genres: Fantasy

Unknown Binding

Published October 10, 2023

About the author

Nicki is a twenty-something author of swoony romantic fantasy. She has been writing since she was eleven and has since published several works. She enjoys creating stories with twisty-stabby faerie romances, retellings that take a darker turn, and epic fantasies in worlds full of monsters and magic.

Nicki lives in Ohio where she spends far too much time watching TV, playing video games, and sleeping. She listens to music basically all the time, and adores obsessing over mythologies, her shows, and her slew of fictional boyfriends. When not writing, she can usually be found at her desk with either a paintbrush or a pen in her hand.

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Reviews

[Grace Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars!!! =D

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author/publisher for promotional purposes. I was not required to write a positive review. These are my honest thoughts and opinions.

*** Spoiler Warning ***

I try my best to keep my reviews spoiler-free. However, this is the last book in the series. Plus, each book in the series builds up on each other. So if you haven’t first read the first two books in the series, I recommend that you don’t read this review. Or do, I’m not about to tell you what to do. Just know that this review is probably going to spoil the first couple of books.

Here are the first books in the series:

"Of Gold and Iron" (Of Dreams and Nightmares #1)

"Of Stars and Shadows" (Of Dreams and Nightmares #2)

Things I Liked:

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2023 and it was fantastic! I can’t even tell you how happy I was when certain things started to fall into place and I was just wandering around the house with a big smile on my face. I waited for this book to come out like forever and even was trying to come up with my own theories and stuff. And I’m pretty sure some of those theories came close, maybe (I might not remember my theories a hundred percent), and perhaps even better than I imagined!

There is something about this world and characters that just captivates and immerses me. It feels magical with dresses that fits you no matter what or the land working and following their king or queen. And there is this wickedness of the fae that fits with the fairytales, which is both entertaining and makes me feel adventurous or sometimes even scared for the characters. The writing style has that sarcastic sass that never fails to make me smile or even laugh out loud. And as the final book in the series it tied all the loose ends that I’ve been trying to tie since the ending of book two. That’s the thing with this series, it stuck with me. I couldn’t stop thinking about it or its characters. And now I’m a bit sad to have to say goodbye to them.

Maybe someday the author will write another story in this world. 😉

The story is based on the Celtic version of the Winter Solstice, which is basically like Halloween. Lots of ghosts and that kind of thing. So absolutely perfect for some cozy, creepy themes for October that aren’t too cozy or too creepy. I’m not much into Halloween myself, but I do like a somewhat creepy story once in a while. Also, the little details of Jaye’s family celebrating Christmas in the faerie realm while everyone else is separating the Winter Solstice is just perfect. Love how Riagan was confused, but also totally went with it.

Also, Jaye’s mom telling O’Clonnel the recipe for lasagna is just perfect and I was all there for it!

But I’m pretty sure that the best scenes were the Javven moments (yeah, sorry. XD I have never done ship names before). Ravven and Jaye had so far to go, both were able to make good arguments, made me laugh, and that one scene was one I’ve been waiting for and had a great delivery. Just eek!

Poor Ravven though. He was so depressed that he changed out of his maroon coat and went all emo on us. Poor guy.

And Thomas! Ahhh! I gasped at how cold their family dealt with certain news, especially after someone just died. Like what! But Thomas, he was there to stand up and then sit down to stay with Jaye. He literally gets the best brother award for looking after Ravven and Jaye before himself! And he even got his own happy-ever-after. We all know that Wolf Boy deserves it!

My Little Critiques:

It was too short. I don’t mean that in the way that I just wanted to spend more time with the characters (because obviously, that is part of the case), no, it was actually a bit on the short side. I don’t know how many words this book is, but it felt novella-length rather than a full-length novel, much to my disappointment. While it did resolve everything it needed to resolve, everything felt a bit rushed. There was this one scene where a character gave us news that was supposed to strike as impending doom when there was an hour left in the novel, but was resolved within 15-20 minutes later. I don’t know about you, but I like that kind of news in a story to stick for a while. Let it fester, then give us a satisfying ending.

And unfortunately, there were other cases of this happening in the book. Characters who didn’t normally agree with each other were super agreeable. A big villain reveal lasted for only a moment before getting taken care of. (I wished there was more about that, to be honest). A character who felt important in the second book had a very minor role in this one.

There were also no trials in this story, unlike the first two. Which I was very surprised about. I thought it would have been significant to find a High Ruler but oh well.

Content in Book:

1. Sex. Pretty much none. (There was a passionate kiss between two characters. A character implied that he had sex off-page, not really mentioned, very clean.)

2. Magic. (Able to cause someone to destroy themselves with magic. Possessing someone’s mind and forcing them to do things they don’t want to do. Able to read someone’s thoughts. Teleportation. Immortally. Forcing mortals to do things they don’t wish to do. Etc.).

3. Alcohol. (Characters drinking. Getting drunk. Being spread along the ground, passed out. Etc.)

4. Supernatural. (Ghosts. The dead coming back and killing people or trying to control them. Possessing people and using them as their host.)

5. Violence. (Killing people with swords. Killing people with magic. Some description of someone’s skin melting off, not very descriptive. Etc.)

6. Parental neglect and abandonment.

7. Other. (Manipulation. Talk about torture and death that happened in previous books in the series. Murder of someone’s entire family. Committing suicide to possess someone. Etc.)

Who I Would Recommend This Book To:

Those who have first read the first two books in the “Of Dreams and Nightmares” series. "Of Gold and Iron" and "Of Stars and Shadows". Those who want a clean faerie fantasy romance read that falls along the same lines of Holly Black’s "The Cruel Prince" and Sarah J. Mass’s "A Court of Thorns and Roses series but without the sex. Those who want a fun read with an arrogant fae, a sarcastic heroine, with Celtic mythology thrown throughout. Those who want a cozy, creepy Halloween-ish read but doesn’t fall into the lines of horror or too cozy. Highly recommend!

Review first seen on my blog here (with fan art of Ravven and Jaye that I drew) https://gracemmorris.wordpress.com/20...

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ravven and Jaye return. Both are full-blooded faeries now, something that one of them is handling better than the other. About half a year has passed with very little happening, but Ravven's cousin has to pop back in during their reunion and offer up trouble.

This book was the shortest of the trilogy. I almost wish it had been dragged out a touch more because it's the last book with this characters at this point and the problems felt almost too easily resolved. It was nice to see both characters embrace their respective roles as well as each other.

[Carinkla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book about the loved and not so loved characters, again introduces new characters and new problems. This book is shorter then the others and, although I wish for it to be longer so I could enjoy this series for a longer time, I understand that the story is strongest written this way.

Again a slightly different unpredictable adventure, that leaves you wanting for more even though the series seem to have ended with this part.

[Kat M · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was another strong entry in this series, it had that charm that I was looking for from the previous two books. Nicki Chapelway had a strong writing style and was able to create a great new book. I was invested in the characters and how they worked in the universe. It left me wanting to read more in this world as each book has been really well done and left me wanting more.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[A Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh what a conclusion!
If you have made it this far then you what happened to Jaye at the end of book two. This book picks up right then and flies through to beautiful and dramatic ending.
Fantastic ending for this trilogy.
Clean sweet romance in fantasy setting with mild violence and zero to mild language.

[Kjb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Summa summarum: their relationship is extremely toxic.