Review: Stolen Away by Alyxandra Harvey

Title: Stolen Away
Author: Alyxandra Harvey
Publication date: January 17th 2012
Publisher: Walker Children's
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy- Fairies
Cover rating: 4/5
Content rating: 4/5
Buy: Amazon

Description:

When a cute guy dressed like a Victorian pirate kneels in front of Eloise the day after her seventeenth birthday, she knows that something strange is going on-and that's before he vows to be her champion and mentions her flaky aunt, Antonia, who's gone incommunicado once again. But this appearance isn't a coincidence, and when Eloise is attacked and pushed into an alternate world called Faery, she becomes embroiled in the underground politics of this world. Her captor is Lord Strahan, the ruler of Faery who is desperately clinging to his throne and will do anything to keep it. The only one who can break his power is his wife, Eloise's aunt Antonia-and Eloise has become his bargaining chip. 

Now Eloise must find a way to save her aunt from Lord Strahan, and she'll need the help of her best friends Jo and Devin, along with the other Fae captives of Strahan's hall, including his son, Eldric. With a whole world of Faeries out to get her, Eloise must stop Strahan both worlds are thrust into complete chaos.

My thoughts:

Finally, a fairy book that I was actually able to enjoy! I have read a whole bunch of fairy books and was contemplating just giving up on them as I figured they just weren't for me. I often find them confusing and hard to follow. Stolen Away has certainly changed my mind on that front, though! I actually really loved this book and it has made me more willing to try fairy books in the future. It was so well written and I liked every second of it. 

Alyxandra Harvey is a brilliant writer. Her writing flows really well and it's so easy to just forget your surroundings and get caught up in the world she has created! She describes everything really well without overdoing it and the book comes to life before your eyes. I was able to get into the book from the very start and new I would enjoy the rest of it! 

All the characters are well developed and Eloise is really likeable. She's smart and brave and just a great character all round. And Jo was just awesome! I loved following her and I thought her POV was a great addition to the story. I am picky about alternate POVs and probably would have preferred if this one didn't contain two but it wasn't bad. Both Eloise and Jo were characters I wanted to know more about. Eloise is strong-willed but not the most out-going person and Jo is different and a bit quirky. I enjoyed both characters. 

The story is easy to follow and the fey are explained in a way that's easy to understand and there is no info dumping. I liked the plot and found it very exciting to follow. Overall this was a good book that has made me eager to read more of Harvey's work.