Fairytale Magic

By: Merrie Destefano

Narrated by: Sally Hanan

Length: 2 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

3,000 years ago, a war began between the immortals and the mortals. It's a war that continues to this day....

Before history began, a legendary queen battled a foreign army, braved the death of her husband, and faced betrayal at the hand of someone she trusted. This is the story of Eire, Queen of the Faeries, the Immortal One, and the leader of the Tuatha de Danann.

To this day, her homeland, Ireland, bears her name, and this is the story of the war that drove the Immortal Ones into exile. It's also the tale of how she found help from an unexpected place, leading her to a love like she had never known before.

Fairytale Christmas is a story that spans thousands of years. It's also the beginning of all of our fairy tales and legends; it's where mortals and immortals survive because they love one another, proving that love is the greatest gift of all.

This is the first installment in the Saga of the Fair Folk, a journey that lasts until the end of time.

©2017 Merrie Destefano (P)2017 Merrie Destefano

This is a wonderful story and performance.

This is a wonderful story and a fabulous performance. I would like to know what happens next.

haunting

Have you listened to any of Sally Hanan’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This narrator is great and perfect for this story. It creates a haunting, surreal effect that's needed in this particular one.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I love Merrie's books. This one didn't disappoint.

Ireland's Faery folk face battles

*I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

We start with the banishing of the faery from Ireland by the Milesian. Then see through Eire's eyes and mind that the fair folk are dividing, and she's losing standing with her people. But, Eire will find another life years from now.

Sally has a slight accent that fits the tone and place of the story. It's not strong, but slight so to feel the story setting. The nice thing here is there are lyrics of songs for Eire to sing, and Sally does sing them. It's lovely to hear. I'm starting to think my iPod is acting up, but it sounds okay for other stories. At times it sounded as Sally was in a bucket and not near the microphone. Then the next chapter it's back to normal. There were a few small moments of mouth noise, closing or opening lips. There are moments that Sally sounded a different feel to her words than what felt to flow with words afterward or in the moment I would have thought would have fit. But these last two items were limited in listening. The lilt she uses to tell the story feels true to the characters and a lovely addition to the story.

This is a tale of the battle the faery folk have to fight, how it started. Not only do they have an enemy that comes to take their beloved land, but as they travel to exile their people start to divide between the queen who's lost her husband in battle and the man who's stepped up to control the army.

People, immortal and mortal, are not perfect but in terrible times what one experiences steers them to what they will do. Their actions then starts to drive who they are. We start to see this with the faery folk.

Eire is the Queen of Faery in Ireland, and who the story is focused on. When the faery are exiled and the betrayal of one of her own, it brings her to another life she'll live. Yet Eire still has some strong allies and carries a love for her people as she's on the run for her life and her twin boys.

I very much enjoyed the Celtic and faery feel to the story along with events that take place. It feels as the old stories were used to create this story and the world we find them in.

This is a short story but each chapter moves forward for Eire and tells how she comes to where she is in the end. And how she finds love. This story is not a light read. It's deeper with Eire's story and the events that come to pass. Each event important to move the story quickly along. There is also a dark blood magic that is present in the story as well.

The story does bring us to Christmas time, making it a very nice creation for a Christmas story. There's a blend of Christmas brought to an Irish Faery.

Lovely fairy tale, fitting narrator

I read this as an ebook and also listened to the audiobook. I loved the narrator's lilting accent which complements this Irish fairytale so well. The story is a nice length to read in one sitting (although I spread it out). It felt old-fashioned in the best way. The title doesn't encompass everything about the tale, which tells of the time the Fair Folk inhabited Ireland and what drove them out. This is one of my favorites of this author's works.

The only criticisms I had were minor. There are some sound artifacts that remain, such as mouth sounds or small clicks or echoes. Nothing too bothersome or intrusive. A few times I thought the tone of the narration didn't fit how I read the text. Again, very minor, and open to interpretation. She spoke with more levity than I attributed to the moment when I was reading the ebook to myself. Others might think she delivered those lines just as they should be. I certainly enjoyed her voice and would read more narrated by her.