DONEGAL Sidhe - ARMY OF SORROW by Gail Wagner - GIVEAWAY/REVIEW

About Book

Being a leprechaun was so boring! Though Brea had a loving family and an amazing best friend, she was a trian—the third child in a leprechaun family. Leprechauns usually only have two children, each with a gift; the ability to fix things, affect the weather, talk to animals, or heal. Every once in a while, a third child was born. They were always very powerful. Except Brea. Not only did she not have a special power, she didn't even have a normal gift. Her mam was optimistic that she would eventually wake up one day with her new gift. No such luck thus far.

Brea O'Brien's family says nothing about Brea's undiscovered gift, but it has made her an outcast in leprechaun society. The O'Briens make the best of the situation and have dutifully cared for the Bradigans, a human family descended from druids, for over 500 years.

Though leprechauns don't normally socialize with humans, Brea is unlike most. She quickly makes friends with an Irish teenage boy, Caith, telling him all about the faerie world, and discovers that he might have some faerie powers of his own.

Meanwhile, when Trevor, grandson of old Mr. Bradigan, comes to visit, Brea is told not to involve him in faerie matters. But when a gypsy foretells of coming danger targeting Trevor and his grandfather, it becomes obvious that the only way to save him is to tell him.

As a magical battle looms, Trevor struggles to harness his druid powers, Caith tries to determine his mystical origins, and Brea fights to overcome her biggest flaw: having no magical powers. Find out what will happen to this unlikely trio in Gail Wagner's adventurous and romantic novel, Donegal Sidhe: Army of Sorrow.

Published by Tate Publishing
Published July 17th 2012
Paperback, 284 pages
ISBN 13 9781618628138
Series: Donegal Sidhe #1

Where to buy: Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Tate Publishing

About Gail

I have always had a love of books. I was the kid you saw walking down the hall with her nose in a book, the one who read under her desk while the teacher taught, and the one who had already read all the required reading assignments just for fun. I never wanted to be an author, in fact I hated writing! I find it highly ironic that this is what I've decided to do "when I grew up."

I started my first novel "Army of Sorrow" in February of 2009 and the rest is history. I am currently working on multiple projects including "Sea of Despair" the sequel to "Army of Sorrow" and two entirely new novels.

I live in the Four Corners area with my (very patient) husband and our three children.

Author's Website:  http://www.gailwagnerbooks.com/

Blarney Castle

Now for the giveaway 
 one print copy of 

DONEGAL Sidhe - Army of Sorrow

one winner

provided by author Gail Wagner

giveaway will be October 16-22, 2012. 

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 The winner will be announced on October 23rd. 

 GOOD LUCK!

My Thoughts

Fairies, Leprechauns, Trolls and Banshees. Oh No!

Brea O'Brien is out walking in the wood to find her sprite friend Orla.  When she finally finds Orla she is working to make the flowers and nature more lively and vibrant.  You see Orla is of the fairy world, she is a Sprite,  Brea is also of the fairy world but she is a leprechaun.  Brea is a trian which is the third child to be born to leprechauns when they normally only have two children.  As the trian she was meant to have a magical gift far greater than any other Leprechaun.  But it has yet to come to surface in her five hundred plus years of her life.  As she watches Orla do her magic on the nature around them she hears a strange music.  She and Orla go to search out the music when they see a young human man sitting under a tree.  Fairies are not suppose to confront humans in any way.  When the young man looks up at Brea she can't help but notice how very handsome is.  He introduces himself as Caith and apparently he can see Orla which is weird because humans are not suppose to see fairies.  As days and months go by Caith and Brea become close friends.

Brea's family name is O'brien and they have been chosen to watch over and guard a human family by the name of Bradigan, they are descended from druids over five hundred years ago.  Brea has been friends and played with all the Bradigan children through her long life.  Now one of her playmates is an old man and is getting close to the end of his years.  His grandson Trevor is coming to stay with him.  Mr.B has asked Brea not to approach or get involved with Trevor.  He does not want him to know about the fairy world.

Trevor arrives sooner than expected and he finds Brea in his grandfather's house.  His grandfather rushes her to leave without even introducing Trevor to the beautiful young woman.  He is determined to find out who this young young woman was because his grandfather wasn't offering any information.  Trevor's grandfather tells him he will be needing to attend a fair in his stead, as a judge.

The fair was any day now and  Brea told her parents that she was concerned for Trevor's safety at the fairgrounds and that someone in their family should watch over him while he attended the fair. This was actually just a scheme so Brea could go to the fair with Caith.  Her parents told her to guard Trevor at the fair to make sure he stayed out of harms way.  Her plan worked and she would be going to the fair with Caith.  When the day finally arrived she and Caith along with Orla were making their way through the crowd when got a weird feeling that Trevor was in danger.  She ran to where he was standing knocking both of them to the ground.  As they recovered their fall an old gypsy woman that had been talking to Trevor continued to warn him about some pending danger.

This is where the adventure begins. The old gypsy woman was really not a threat to any of them in fact she was there to warn them that the fairy world was in danger.  Apparently the banshees wanted to destroy the fairy world and Trevor's family and Brea's family were the only ones that could stop the destruction.  But how could Brea help when it was very clear she was not magically gifted.

Even though the book started out a little slow and sedate for me I felt it was necessary in order to get acquainted with the main characters, their species and their purpose in Ireland's folklore. Is it really folklore?

There are rules set up for all of the fairy world, sprites, leprechauns, trolls and banshees.  I have heard of the banshees but not the true definition.

As stated in an excerpt from this book banshees are the souls of women who were murdered.   "Murder is such a violent end to life.  The soul is trapped in those final moments of terror and anger. For eternity. Imagine never being able to do anything else and the pain, the sorrow that would cause."

The author did an amazing job at keeping my attention throughout the story. It was a constant puzzle trying to figure out who was good and who was out to harm the fairy world.  There are mysteries to solve, languages and dialects to translate and learn, spells to learn, and most of all the quest and the danger therein.

I was very impressed that this was the author's first book.  I surely hope she write another.  The character she created for this story were intriguing, romantic and charming. Although some were downright scary and disgusting.

I highly recommend this book for young adult/adults.

I rated this book a 5 out of 5.

Disclosure:
I received a free copy of this book from the author for review.  I was in no way compensated for this review. It is my own opinion.

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