Beyond the Aching Door by Victoria Mier Series: The Fatebound #1
Published by Jv Ventures LLC on March 26, 2024
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Urban, Fiction / Romance / Fantasy
Pages: 496
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9798990298125A mortal journalist. A mysterious series of drownings. An exiled Fey king. A forgotten Fatesong. A single, desperate chance to save magic from extinction.
All Raegan Maeve Overhill wants is to survive another October. It's the anniversary of the worst thing that ever happened to her: the unsolved disappearance of her father nearly two decades ago. But when mysterious drownings grip the city of Philadelphia, Raegan sets her mourning rituals aside for a career-making opportunity to lead her newspaper's investigation.
Her hunt for answers takes her to the city's shadowy places where magical beings appear in puddles, the Fair Folk offer bargains, and magic is very, very real. When Raegan uncovers a startling connection to her father's disappearance, she knows she can't just return to her normal life without uncovering the truth. To get it, though, she'll need to make a deal with the dark, deadly and alluring Unseelie King-and do her best to ignore their dangerous attraction to one another.
Inspired by Welsh mythology, Slavic folklore and Arthurian legend, Beyond the Aching Door is an adult urban fantasy romance for fans of A Discovery of Witches and Dark Night, Golden Dawn.
Content warnings: grief, off-page murder of homeless/houseless people, missing/presumed dead father, depiction of inpatient hospitalization, brief, non-gory violence, suicidal ideation, descriptions of sexual desire, and one on-page sexual encounter focused on feelings/sensuality
I’m pretty sure I heard about this book on Instagram and proceeded to immediately pre-order it. Wow! I am blown away by the beautiful writing and wonderful characters that Victoria Mier brought to life.
One tiny thing I will bring up is that it did take a minute to get into the story. It was a super slow start, and the fact that Raegan is still grieving over the disappearance of her father slows it down even more. Besides the slower pace of the novel, it’s still absolutely wonderful, especially as we get to know the characters with the plot not getting in the way.
The best part of the novel was definitely the writing. Mier’s writing is poetic and there are so many lines that you have to sit with, and I’m going to share some (actually quite a few) of them now. My writing about them doesn’t do them justice.
“Grief is a story. And it is one that demands to be told.”
“You are my deepest wound,” he murmured, eyes searching hers. “And yet I cannot live without the taste of blood in my mouth.”
“And beneath, there was only pain. Pain so bottomless and suffering so endless that the color of his eyes no longer seemed like an ocean or a storm but instead, the grayed-out hue of misery itself.”
“Love had always been a tricky thing for her. She had found out very early that people could disappear at any time, gone forever without a trace. Love was like opening a door, and Raegan was worried that if she stepped through, she’d only find another empty grave.”
“‘You and I were both flowers plucked by greedy hands,’ Blodeuwedd said, her words fervent, eyes holding Raegan’s. ‘They thought they might contain us in pretty vases or breed us for more blooms. But the plucking turned us into something else, didn’t it? Something with wings and talons. Do not forget that.'”
The language is beautiful but also the characters are wonderful. I love Raegan so much! She’s so hurt and feels an ache deep in her soul for something that is missing. As someone who recently lost her grandpa, and even though we didn’t have the best relationship, it was such a wonderful story about love and grief and how so many of our emotions are tangled up in each other. Oberon is such a grumpy guss!! I love him and won’t stop. The pain and grief he experiences is different from Raegan’s but it’s still there. The two of them together hurt each other so much even though they love each other, and I AM HERE FOR THIS!! I love me some angst.
This is definitely a dark urban fantasy that others need to read because I need to talk about this with everyone! If you love Holly Black, you’ll definitely want to get your hands on this.
Leave a Reply