Book Review: Elfin by Quinn Loftis

       Holy macaroni and cheese!  I reread Elfin so that I could read the sequel that came out in December, Rapture , and I COMPLETELY forgot how jaw-dropping and belly-achingly funny it is!!!  Quinn Loftis does it again in an epic fantasy tale about friendship, love, and saving the world, one sarcastic joke at a time.  Basically, this book rocked my fuzzy socks... As in, I'm not even wearing socks now because this book just blew them away!  Yes, it's that good.

       The story happens a little fast but you never get bored.  Some of the love is sappy and gushy but all the crazy sexual tension, jokes, and sarcasm (without the sex, thank goodness) make up for it and keep you blushing right along with Cassie.

SUMMARY:

       Cassie and her best friend, Elora, are your average high school students, whose only worries are about passing classes and what costume to wear for Halloween.  On one particular afternoon, Cassie is going about her day, helping her dad at his work building, when she passes a room filled with beyond-beautiful looking men talking about things she doesn’t have a clue about.  They notice her watching them and she runs to hid in the next room.  After locking the door, the last thing she expected was her life to change.  She turns around and stares into the most handsome and breathtaking face she has ever seen. And that is where our story begins folks!

       Trik is a dark elf.  Not only that, but he is in the service of the Dark King: best spy and assassin in both the human realm and the elvin realm.  He is merciless in his missions and enjoys the hunt of his victims.  When it come to skeletons in the closet, his past is full of them, figuratively and literally.  When he sees Cassie, time stops.  He's heard of this happening once before but never thought it could happen to him, never thought he would be given a Chosen, and a human at that.

       As the story continues, Cassie is in for a roller-coaster ride of information: the centuries-long war between the light and dark elves, Elora's prior knowledge about the elves, and Trik's dark past: it is a bloody one.  She is his Chosen, she is his other half, the one his soul cries out for.  She has to make a choice: is love really all it takes to forgive someone of their past sins?  Will her love and encouragement help him to become the man he was meant to be? Is love strong enough to fight away the darkness in his heart and the guilt that starts to eat away at him?  Is he ready to accept her love and forgiveness that he doesn't deserve?
Trik has a hard time dealing with finding his chosen.  His soul longs for her because they were made for each other and it is physically painful for them both when they are apart unwillingly.  He doesn't want to want her.  He believes that his past is too dark and full of death for anyone to ever chose to love him.  Who could love a killer?  His struggle is with forgiving himself and learning to accept Cassie's live for him as a gift... because gifts are something that we don't deserve but that are given out of love.
The story is full of life lessons and good words of wisdom from the Forest Lords (you'll see soon enough).  It is a story about accepting ourselves, forgiving ourselves, and looking beyond who we've been so that we can hope for a future where we can begin again and become a better person... there is hope for every person, not just the ones who've been good.  Hope is usually the strongest when we are at our worst (not weakest).

(Please forgive my rambling!)

 

CHARACTERS:

       The characters are some of my favorite ever!  Cassie is a sweet thing, but don't let that fool you.  She's got some bite to her, especially when it comes to her friends and family.

       ELORA IS MY FAVORITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  LET THE WORLD KNOW IT!  She is bold, blunt, speaks her mind, sarcastic to a "T", spunky, a little naughty (or a lot), hilarious, and never forgets to get in the last word.  Personally, I think she rocks the whole book, though her part plays more of a role (a huge role, yeay!) in the second book.  She says things that everyone wishes they could say and get away with.  I would love to be a bit like her but know that my personality just couldn't handle it... it'd be like shakin' up the soda can before you open it!