The Changeling with the Silver Hair

by Anna Lynn Hammar

Life for Princess Aoife Quinn had not been easy since the humans had attacked Changeling Court five years before. Branded with a magical seal, Aoife was stripped of her magic and married off to someone she didn’t know or like. During her wedding, however, humans once again attacked leading to Aoife being rescued by the dark haired King of the Elven Court. Agreeing to his marriage proposal, Aoife slowly learns about the occupants of Castle Gray and heals herself from the tradeties experienced during the human war. Only, not everyone from Changeling Court is happy with the marriage announcement, leading to an unexpected threat from someone she held dear.

Genres: Fantasy, Ebooks, Fae, Romance, Dark

435 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 11, 2022

About the author

Anna Lynn Hammar is a fantasy author based out of Connecticut. She lives there with her black poodle and library of books. When not writing, she spends her time at museums, at the beach, or playing dungeons and dragons with friends. Her trilogy, The Cursed Fates Series, debuted in the spring of 2022. Since then, she has been fueled by new worlds she has yet to show to the world. You can learn more about this series and future ones on her Instagram and TikTok @AuthorAnnaLynnHammar

Reviews

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's 7:20 in the morning. I got this book because I ran into the author on tiktok. She explained that this was her favorite book that she has written, and she only had a few reviews. So essentially, as a hobbyist writer, I wanted to support an independent author. I began the book with the intent to give a review. I continued reading because of the story. I sit here with tears in my eyes due to just finishing the book.

I'm not one for romance. At all. But this one, this one got me good. I absolutely loved this book, I loved how I fell in love with each character--including the horse. A lot of books just have a princess or queen with guards, you don't fall in love with the guards. A lot of books have a man saving a woman from peril, and yes that happens in this book. But equally as much, if not more, she saves him. She saves them all. She's powerful in her own right, without the man. Without the team. She was powerful before they came along and she only became more powerful once she learned what love and companionship felt like.

That's what I took from this book. It's about family, love, friendship. It's about understanding the culture of other's who are not of your own culture. It's about duty.

This book was very well written. The dialogue within it was believable, and at times it was funny. I found myself laughing, angry, shocked and upset along with the characters. I have already recommended this book to other's in my life, and I recommend it to you all!

[charlene ✿ · Rating 4 out of 5]

devastating read. would have been a five but it read a little too YA when it was aiming for NA and the ending really fucked up my parade.

If you read this, just skip the epilogue. Just imagine your own, blissful, happy and fulfilling ending to this book. Nothing good will come into ur heart reading that ending. What a mistake to end it like that.

if needs must, she could have been in a coma, waking up 4+ years later. She could have become a spirit and the spirit stone gave her some juice to come back to life. Like there were options and this one was not necessary. It was a betrayal to the reader.

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[Taylor Schmeelke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love the woman that Aoife grew into! She was a survivor and deserved so much. I'm a little frustrated with the ending after everything she had survived through and all the surprises she did, that it ended the way it did.

[Kate Carr · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was doing pretty well…until we got to the end. Our FMC becomes a martyr. Honestly her death scene was just so crappy. I also felt like the characters were extremely childish at times for being adults. Add to the fact how impossible it would be for the FMC to just be this badass fighter all of a sudden with zero to no training. The instalove was instaloving. We went from our MMC saying their marriage would be out of convenience one chapter to wow we have all these feelings. I wish our characters just had a little more depth to them.

[Janette Boren · Rating 5 out of 5]

great story

This book keep me on the edge of my seat! I could not put it down! I was worried it would have a cliffhanger, but it didn’t! Great plot and the characters came to life on the pages!! Thank you for a very moving story!!!

[Emi Porter · Rating 2 out of 5]

what was that ending!!!!

[sinead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect storyline

This book was pretty enexpected, in a good way! While there were a few errors dotted in the book, I can't fault the storytelling of this author. I simply couldn't put it down, reading well into the night. It's also very nice to see my sisters name in a book, a first for sure! Aoife is Irish, uncommon, but a beautiful name (pronounced eefa). Well done Anna Hammar and Thankyou for the ugly crying.

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid fantasy story with an unexpected ending. Things built and resolved too quickly with little explanation. Many typos took me out of the story at times.

[Tabitha · Rating 2 out of 5]

An appalling failure to proofread made every single page painful to read—most annoyingly, the insistent misspelling of “bodice” as “boddice” and “stolen” as “stollen,” and the constant misuse of the pluperfect “had been” instead of the simple past tense. Every time anyone talks about anything that happened in the past, it’s always “had been” this, “had done” that. And then there’s this tortured sentence construction:

> The commotion had led more humans to their location, Aoife getting nervous.

> He screamed, Aoife taking a blade from his belt and stabbing him with it.

> Blood spilled from the wound, Aoife’s eyes going wide.

> The horse stomped its foot again, Aoife brushing out its bangs with her fingers.

Obviously this author has not yet been permitted to glimpse the secrets of the Conjunction Junction.

The PTSD/trauma recovery storyline is embarrassingly shallow and should’ve just been scrapped. The 15-year-old asks if she will not go to heaven because she killed two people who had maimed and were about to rape and kill her, to save her own life and that of her mother. It’s moral absolutism gone mad, and it’s such a freaking juvenile take on a straightforward situation. And when the situation repeats itself 5 years later, she literally has a grown-up sit her down and say “Look, I am a healer and I save lives every day. Do you think I’m a bad person? No? Guess what, I’ve killed more people than you. That means you’re a good person too.” And then a magic scale tells her she’s still pure of heart. Great writing there, when a psychological problem is solved by literal magic.

Juvenile accurately describes every aspect of this plot, the characters, and just the bare basics of how the kingdoms are run. Seven different sets of kings and queens just show up to every event across the continent, sans entourage, and are greeted at the door like your cousin Michael. They blatantly talk shit about each other’s cultures and deeply held beliefs to each other’s faces. Diplomatic incident? Nuh-uh!

Two characters are introduced; the FMC immediately announces they’re into each other, they both deny it, and later on she talks to both of them separately and it turns out they ARE into each other, but they both think it’s one-sided, so the FMC convinces them to get together. It’s literally like a side quest you’d see in a video game where the two NPCs physically cannot just hash this out for themselves because their programmed routes never intersect, so they need the main character to do the talking for them. Guess it just took FMC two tries to pass that speech check.

The ending isn’t even a proper HEA; major character death warning. Meeting again in the afterlife doesn’t count 😒

[SARAH MERIZALDE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Met this author at 2023 Books, Gowns, & Crowns book convention and the author recommended this one to me, and it did not disappoint.
Overall, I really enjoyed this story, a bit of a slower read for me with how the pacing went, but overall a wonderful story that put me back in time and just let me experience things. I have the hardcover book and am so glad I purchased it. The cover is amazing, the map is helpful, and the pronunciation index in the back just add a chef's kiss to the storytelling element.
If you're looking for something new to read but want to stay in the realm of fantasy, I would recommend this one.
A classic fairytale setting with magic, dwarves, elves, orcs, goblins, and changelings in a constant battle with the humans (because let's face it, we sometimes suck) as they try to rule their kingdoms. Everyone has suffered from the wars in one way or another, but no one has suffered quite like Princess Aoife Quinn of the Changeling Court when she was barely just a girl. Attacked by the humans, she was branded with a magical seal that stripped away her magic and was just saved in time by an Elven prince. The trauma and bad luck seem to stay with her all the way to the day of her unwanted wedding where fate finally gives her a chance to decide her own fate in the world.
Aoife leaves with King Lysander, and doesn't look back, but the twists, turns, and spirals that happen while she is in the Elven court are things that no one could have predicted.
And the ending? Well, just read it for yourself.

[Islamae Plunkett · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first half of this book but only because it reminded me of ACOMAF. The plot was basically the same. The FMC has experienced some trauma and is being married off and then the MMC has saved her. Then someone from back home has tried to save her because he loves her. The two main characters have night terrors which they comfort each other in. They both share the same group of friends who have become their family. Each member in the group has experienced some kind of loss or trauma. Because of this, I find the book to be lack luster since it is trying to impersonate such a great book. I feel the magic system in this book wasn’t thought out all the way. Like a specific magic wasn’t exclusive to one court and the people with magic in those courts couldn’t be more different. Like with aofie and her brother. Aoifies magic is elemental with storms and lightning. While Jeskers magic is that whatever weapon he touches becomes poisonous. I feel the ending didn’t make much sense. Seeing as Lysander just died with no real reason and then he found Aoifie after 476 year. Overall I think this book was trying to be ACOMAF so much that when it tried to resort to its own plot it wasn’t that well thought out.

[Mary Kirkland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aoife is a changeling but when humans attack her people, she is branded with a magical seal that essentially seals her powers. Years later her father just wants to marry her off since women aren't really worth much else but making good treaties through marriage with neighboring courts or royals. But Aoife is against this marriage to a man she doesn't love. Once again during her wedding day humans attack and kill her intended but Lysander the King of the Elven Court spirits her away to keep her safe.

Elven Court is so different from what Aoife is used to but she finds herself there as she and Lysander become closer. Everyone in Elven Court is welcoming to her even if some of them don't trust her right away.

Once the huge secrets are revealed, it all started to make more sense. I felt sorry for all she endured all because someone close to her was not right in the head. Lysander was one of the best hero's I've read in a long time. Gosh, I loved him. He is such a great character. Aoife ends up being stronger than she ever thought possible and I loved that for her. The way she was brought up, she was supposed to be quiet and look nice. But Lysander shows her that she can be more and oh boy, she sure is.

[Shelby Gentry · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, I’ll begin with saying that the concept and story was compelling. The world building needed more fleshing out. But the characters, while similar to many others in similar books in this genre, were decently done. My primary issue with this book was in editing, or lack thereof. There are multiple instances of the wrong word usage (stollen instead of stolen, for example), misspellings (boddice instead of bodice), the main characters last name was misspelled in one sentence and then spelled correctly the next, and the very first mention of the titular silver hair was misspelled as sliver.
I pressed through because I was invested. But the second half of the book felt rushed. I’m far used to the FMC who has no training and is somehow able to not die in ridiculous fashion, but those “dire” circumstances and sequences in this book were so brief that there was no sense, as a reader, that there was any lasting peril. Then the ending was very unexpected and really made little sense. She went through all those things and then just opens herself up to dying that easy… and with the longest death speech ever.
I beg the author to hire some beta readers. But to definitely keep writing.

[Mackenna Burke · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the absolute hell was this. Let me tell you what it was, weird.

The beginning had me hooked but as it went along it got less detailed and more weird…..there was no character development after page 20 and the romance was…..predictable at best.

Plot….princess gets rescued from her wedding by a nice mysterious hot man, who turns out to be the greatest person of all time. She gets takin to the perfect kingdom who accepts her immediacy with no questions asked. Her brother tries to kidnap her and turns out he is in love with her and wants children with her….puke…..she dies in the last two pages. The epilogue is about the king naming his successors and killing himself so he can be with her….450 years later.

It was weird ar best.

[Ashley Blumenfeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have followed Anna for some time on Tik Tok, and have wanted to purchase one of her books. Sadly, I had yet to do so. When she made a post that she was willing to give out ARCs for two new upcoming novels, I was elated and jumped at the opportunity to read this one.

The story has everything one would like...if you are into dark fantasy romance, that is. Love, hardship, trauma, and overcoming it (and a rather dashing Elven king sprinkled in there just makes it all the sweeter) wrap up a lovely little stand-alone novel I think a lot of people will enjoy.

I look forward to reading more from her and seeing just how much she grows as an author.

[Rosie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked this book, I liked the story and the characters
There were quite a few grammatical errors and wrong words you had to figure out what they should be but I get that it’s an independent author
I liked that it was a full story in one book, no cliffhangers, sequels, just a good one book story
The main character got a bit big for her boots once she was queen and I didn’t like her undermining her husband… wasn’t the vibe
It sounds awful, but I’m glad she died. I’m so used to there being some potion that saves them at the last minute, or a spell, but it was the conclusion the book needed

[Hannah Denneny · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF.
This was so bad. We start with a spoiled princess who hates her betrothed basically because he's old and ugly. I get it, but she's so hateful to him and he's kind. If the author wanted me to sympathize, make his personality slimy as well.
Then she dances with some king. Their interaction is weak, and she's googley eyes after him.
Then she whines that no one understands how broken she is because she's killed. Whatever.
Why is her brother kind of flirting and smirking and looking her up and down?
All before the end of chapter 3, she is a whiny, entitled, bitch who also squeaks and giggles. The writing has no subtlety.
Not worth continuing to read.

[Lea Propst Fedder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received the audiobook in a giveaway and just realized that I didn’t leave a review.

I really enjoyed this book. The names were hard for me in the beginning because I was bundling them all together.

I messaged Anna the author and may or may not have freaked on the ending like MAAM. I will say though that the way the book came together was how it needed to. And the brother is a fucking creeper mictotal creeperston to the 100th.

[Haley Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

100/10!! I was very skeptical going in and I could not stop reading. I read 421 pages in 6 days. The story between the two main characters was so powerful. In the midst of both having not the best lives, they were able to find one another. Yes I cried at the end, but this love story is so powerful and what was done to protect a country by a leader... Powerful. Speechless. Fantastic read

[Katherine Fiedler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really didn’t love the writing style of this book and ended up DNFing the book after getting about 75% of the way through. The pacing didn’t feel very natural to me and made it hard for me to stay focused when reading. The plot idea was unique and I did like the concept but ultimately I couldn’t finish it.

[Megan Porter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book - the characters and story had so much potential! Spelling and grammatical errors aside, the lack of depth, character development, and repeated ex machina occurrences had me so frustrated with this book that I wasn’t even upset with the ending. Just so disappointed.

It’s a fun romp if you don’t look at it too closely, though.

[Elisabeth Valienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, while this book wasn't bad per se, it wasn't my favorite either. The pacing was a little awkward, as was some of the main character's growth. The ending really surprised me too. I really didn't feel like this was a happily ever after, which definitely affected how I felt about it.

It was decent, but not my favorite for sure.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a freebie on a recent stuff your kindle day! Truthfully, I didn’t know much going in but was pleasantly surprised by the story. Loved the ending honestly (which I’m sure is an unpopular opinion) but I think a few of the plot points could have been fine tuned. Very low spice level but still entertaining.

[Shanna Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a little longer to read than I would have liked. Not due to the book in any way, except I didn't want it to end so I keep putting off finishing it. I went through so many scenarios in my head of how I wanted it to end. Nothing I thought of came close to the truly amazing ending.

[Mikaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first book from Anna that I ever read, it ripped me apart, crying at 2am. This is the kind of book I wish I could read again for the first time again and the reason I have read everything she has written.

[Nickie Rager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully Written

I found the author on TikTok saying this was her favorite book she had written, so I decided to read it and share it with some friends. I’m glad I picked it up.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

PHENOMENAL!

This was an amazing story that truly engulfed me! I laughed, a lot, I cried, and I fell in love with the characters and their relationships.

[Anna Hammar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm the author and think I did a good job.

[A.D. Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

shred my heart why don't you!

If you want to cry over fictional characters, this is the book for you.


Found Family, strong FMC, heart-wrenching scenes, magic

[Mia H · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐️

Omg! Couldn’t put this book down! It has everything in it. Never a dul moment while reading. If you like LOTR I think you would like this to.