Spotlight: ES Carter: Feyness

ES Carter is one of my absolute favorite authors. I found her books during another author's release party last year and read the 3 she had out at the time in one day. I could not put them down. She quickly became that author whose books I'd one click no matter what it is. So it is my absolute pleasure to spotlight this wonderful author this week and introduce you to her work if you haven't already discovered these gems.
~Lei

Title: Feyness

Author: ES Carter

Genre: Dark Romance

Release Date: August 23, 2016

I don't see dead people.
I see you.
I see every incarnation of you.
I see the history of your soul.
I can see your aura soaked in the blood of your previous lives.
Most people are inherently good or evil.
Some flit between darkness and light.
Few can change the fabric of their essence; it's a fight that most are too weak to win.
He was once darkness.
An evil so pure that his very soul is black and yet I am drawn to him like a moth to a flame.
Some days, I feel like I am drowning, the waves of my feelings stealing the very air from my lungs.
Other days, I feel nothing at all.
I'm unsure which is worse; gasping for air or dying from this thirst.
Can you learn to breathe underwater when you find someone worth drowning for?

Feyness is a dark standalone.
Readers of a sensitive disposition may want to step away from the book.
Step away, nothing to see here.
Readers who like to dance on the dark side, come on in and enjoy the ride.

I am a huge fan of ES Carter's books. Her Love by Numbers series is one of my favorite book series of all time. So when Eli announced she was writing a dark romance, I didn't know what to expect. Could someone who writes such heartwarming, poetic and love soaked words really be gritty and raw and brutal? Well after reading Feyness I can answer that question with a resounding YES!!

"Love kills. It's not hearts and flowers. It's death and blood."

That is what Feyness encompasses. It's not sunsets and walks on the beach. The story is gruesome. It is gut wrenching. And it kept me glued to the pages in all its horrific glory.

Faye is a unique character. She's been through a lot in her young life and always did what she needed to survive. Now she's being given to a man that could prove to be a monster worse than anything she's been up against before. Her strength and resolve will be tested, and so will her heart.

"I want to obey this man. I need to please him and not only because I fear his wrath but because he has somehow bound me to him."

Cole Hunter is terrifying. He is the face of an angel, with the body of a God and the blackest soul of the devil. He is disturbingly violent and yet there was something about him, beneath the surface... I just couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I was drawn to him from the beginning.

"I am darkness. The blackest of black. She is light. Would she taint me with her goodness?"

Faye and Cole had a chemistry that neither were expecting. Their effects on each other created a lot of inner conflict for both of them. Forced together in the unholiest of unions each one needs to fight for survival, and they need to decide if they're against each other or fighting together against a common enemy.

"Humans innately believe that anything which pleases the eye must be good. Our instincts tell us that evil does not lurk beneath an alluring mask, it’s impossible."

This quote from Feyness was not only fitting in the story but also for the author. I'm not saying ES Carter is evil, haha, but she has a dark side that created a story far beyond anything I could have imagined coming from her. What I read was nothing short of sheer, twisted brilliance. Eli painted such explicit pictures through detailed descriptions and poetic analogies that I was completely consumed by what I was reading. The character development was also so advanced that every emotion and thought they each had provoked the same from me. I hurt and ached, I cried, I was frightened and I loved. I was on the emotional rollercoaster of a lifetime and when it was all over, I wanted to get back on and experience it all again. I craved it. Feyness ruined me, in the best possible way.

~Lei

If I didn't know any better, I would think that ES Carter writes a dark book every other day. However, I do know better. I know that she writes contemporary romance with a lot of heart and meaning, though I have yet to read her Love by Numbers series. This is uncharted territory for Eli, yet she pulled it off brilliantly.

Feyness is everything I love in a dark book and then some. She even manages to throw a little bit of paranormal in there, which is why I wanted to read it in the first place. I've spent days trying to figure out how to word this review. Even if I spent a week or two more weeks, I wouldn't be able to do this book justice. 

From the first word until the last ES Carter had me in a trance, she captivated me with her descriptive passages and the poetic way her words flowed. Writing style is one of my biggest turn-ons as a reader, I am a huge word nerd. The words that make up Feyness flowed across the page, leading me from one scene to the next, it felt real, it felt raw. Eli has a gift. Her ability to string words together makes the story that much more pleasurable. 

And then you get into the story itself. Feyness is dark, it's raw, it's what feeds the dark part of my soul. I haven't been a fan of dark books for very long, only since the beginning of the year. Yet, every time I read one that knocks me off my feet, it creates a thirst for more. That's what Feyness did. I need more of ES Carter going dark. I need more of her poetic words flowing across the page. I need more of Faye and Cole. Yes, Feyness is a standalone, but that doesn't mean I don't want to see them again. 

Faye and Cole have an undeniable chemistry, even if they seem to be opposites. Actually, they are opposites. Faye is good, she is the light that shines in the darkest dark. She is the soul that has survived many childhood horrors. 

Cole is the soul that encompasses all our nightmares. He wears the face of an angel and the body of a God, yet his soul is the darkest of them all. 

Maybe I shouldn't find that so appealing but I do. Because even the devil needs the light once in a while. 

Together Cole and Faye find that balance between light and dark, it's bloody, it's sickening, but at the same time it's so good. 

I don't know how ES Carter did it. Maybe I don't want to know. To write a book like Feyness you have to walk on the dark side, even if it's for a short period of time. I have to thank her for that sacrifice, because what came out of it is something beautifully twisted. I loved every single second of it.

-Abri

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Eli Carter is a mum of three from the U.K.

She is a stay-at-home mum and a part-time advocate for families of children with special needs.

Her life is pretty manic, and she often gets asked, "How do you find the time to write?"

The answer is simple; she never sleeps, but not from lack of trying.

Reading and writing are her therapy, her solace and often the one thing that gets her through the long nights. (That and copious amounts of caffeine and sugar!)

She loves to connect with readers, so please feel free to friend/follow her on Facebook, IG and Twitter or join her reader's group, E's Elite.

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