After stumbling upon the first book in the series and loving every page, naturally I had to find the next two and read them as well. Finally I get to know if Amber and Charlie are supposed to be together, why Amber’s powers are so broken, and maybe see more of Amani and Vincent.
The Fairest Kind of Love (2019)
Written by: Crystal Cestari
Genre: YA Romance
Pages: 312 (Hardcover)
Series: Windy City Magic (#3)
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
The Premise:
Amber Sand has spent half her life solidifying other people’s happily-ever-afters. As a matchmaker, she has the ability to look into anyone’s eyes and see their perfect match. But lately, her powers have been on the fritz, and not only is she totally unsure whether her matches are true, she can’t see anyone in the eyes of her boyfriend Charlie Blitzman. With Amber and her friends graduating high school and about to take off for various colleges, Amber is hoping to have one last carefree summer — but she’s also dying to find a way to fix her powers, and learn, for better or worse, if she and Charlie are truly meant to be.
So when an online matchmaker named Madame L’Amour comes to Chicago, Amber sets out to talk to her and find out who her match is once and for all. Of course, when it comes to the magical community, nothing’s ever that easy, and Amber soon finds herself caught up in a breathless showdown that involves a fairy family feud and a magical-creature auction — and requires teaming up with a certain siren nemesis. Can Amber and her friends save the day one more time before setting off for their new lives? And will Amber ever learn whether Charlie is her one true love?
Contains some spoilers (may contain spoilers from the first two books)
Discussion: As usual I enjoyed the characters’ personalities as well as the world we’re in. This time around we’re introduced to fairies as well as the darker side of the magical world. Amber is still her sassy self and Charlie is super adorable. We get glimpses of other characters and their changes from what they used to be, such as Amani finally being cool with her match, Vincent the vampire, and Ivy, once super-bitch siren now more mellowed and seeing the error of her ways.
The plot for this book was interesting, to be sure, though the pacing felt kind of weird at times. Normally when you read a book, you’re going, going, and then heading up into the conflict, hitting the climax, and then riding back down again. Not to say that there can’t be other mini-bumps in the way, but here it felt like one thing after another — and things that were pretty important. Such as Ivy and the fact that she is literally dying. Sounds important, right? Yet here we are, hanging out at a fairy dust farm and not concerned about it at all. Ivy’s falling apart and yet no one ever makes mention of it or ever seems truly worried. Look, Ivy sucked in the first book and I wanted her to lose her powers, but even I didn’t want her to straight-up die, and the fact that no one seemed perturbed about her situation (she even looks like she’s at death’s door, for heaven’s sake) in a serious fashion.
There are also other random issues scattered about that niggled at me. Amber’s powers are glitching out, yet there’s never an answer as to why. And I don’t recall her ever mentioning it to the people that can (and ultimately do) fix it. They’re fizzling and then they’re not — but what started it in the first place? Her overwhelming desire to be Charlie’s soulmate? Charlie’s overwhelming desire to be hers? Both of them combined? There’s no answer, and I’m kind of miffed about that. At another point in the book, Amani sees something awful about Ivy and someone else, and Amber never goes back to address it. I assume it happened — I’m just not sure which thing it was. Death? Imprisonment? If it was death, I mean, everyone already knew Ivy was dying so there’s no real shock there. So what was it?
I’m also kind of bummed that Amani was just suddenly “Oh, okay,” about Vincent. Nothing interesting happened between them to bring them together; she just realized he was an okay guy. Disappointing. I still feel like those two could have had their own book. I often harp on vampires, but I do really love them when they embrace who/what they are and make it interesting. Given what we’ve seen with Vincent in the past books, he could have really been any supernatural creature and it wouldn’t have made much of a difference.
Also, can someone please tell me just what the hell happened to Victoria? In the previous book she’s turned into a block of ice but never once is she mentioned here. Did she die? Get her powers stripped from her? Is she still stuck in a block somewhere? I HAVE QUESTIONS.
It felt a little strange, too, that things led to a pretty serious deal. Yet given how fluffy the rest of the book was, it didn’t feel as serious as it should have been. There was some dangerous Battle of Hogwarts-type stuff going down, yet I never felt a sense of danger or concern. I’m all for a good, floofy time, and these books have not disappointed, but I absolutely would not have turned away from this book had it gone down a more sober path. Things are not great for people here — Amber’s magic failing her, Ivy dying, fairies flipping out over magic use, and a good-evil magic fight, and yet it’s all, “Meh. Whatever.”
Oh, and Charlie never gets to see dragon eggs.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the book and all the new things it brought to the table. I just wish it would have kicked up the seriousness a few degrees. That would have been perfectly okay and understandable. As it is, I did like it and would have zero problems reading more stories from this world, featuring Amber or a few other characters. I would sign up in a heartbeat for an Amani/Vincent story.
In Conclusion: For anyone looking for some nice, fun reading this spring or summer, this book — and the first two, of course — are perfect for such an occasion. I’m really glad I found them and hope that more people pick them up and enjoy them just as I have.
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