Review: Sweet Fairytale
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 18, 2014
Love Rising was given to me by the author through the M/M Romance Group’s Don’t Buy My Love book review program for an honest review.This story is told through the eyes of Francis Holland a young man on the Isle of Sagrario.Love Rising is a fairy tale of the growing relationship between a man and the merman he rescues and nurses from an injury.  It takes place on the island of Sagrario. Sagrario is an island where men can love men without repercussion. Where thieves live and women can safely walk the streets. I realize the story is a fairy tale, but the idea of thieves living on the island and women being safe to walk about untouched, is far-fetched to me and that image always lingered in my mind while reading the story. I’m guessing there were probably other criminals on the island also, so I find it difficult to believe the women would be safe.Francis is a very lonely man on the island of Sagrario. He finds a merman; he calls Wick, washed ashore. After Francis cares for Wick he takes him back to the ocean but finds he misses him desperately. Wick returns during a storm after a few weeks and they begin a relationship. The interesting thing is that Francis could almost hear Wick call for him to go down to the beach to find him during the storm. They spend their time together until the next storm arrives, and Wick is very, very anxious about leaving Francis.Here’s my theory about the story. Since this is a fairytale, I think that someone like Neptune allowed Wick to visit with Francis with a timetable. The timetable was from the first storm to the second storm. If Francis fell in love with Wick during that time, then Wick could get his wish and return as a man. That’s why Wick was so anxious about leaving Francis. Francis had yet to tell him he loved him, but he did at the last minute and then Wick told him he had to ‘go change.’ I think Francis was so distraught about Wick leaving him, he had no idea what change meant. And Wick couldn’t explain more. So Wick is gone for at least three weeks. In the meantime Francis wastes away and is waiting for death. Poor Francis! I would have loved for this story to have been longer, but poor Francis! The author did a great job of conveying his loneliness and how broken he felt that I don’t think I could have read more of his suffering.Love Rising is a wonderful short fairytale. The only problem I had with it were the thieves, and women able to walk about without problems, it sat in the back of my mind the whole time. Other than that, I really like this story. It’s a very fast, enjoyable read. I give it  5 stars.