Review: Fierce Heart

Since this is February is Fantasy month, and Valentine’s Day happened recently, I’m going to review Fierce Heart by Tara Grayce!
The focus of this FiF is worldbuilding, so those aspects will be mentioned first. :D

Check it out!

SPOILER FREE!

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5 out of 5 stars!

Worldbuilding

So much of the fun in this book came from the culture differences between elves and humans. It wasn't just "oh humans are emotional and exciting; elves are disdainful models."
Through Essie's eyes, we discover, among other things: the ties between the ruling class of elves and their people, the divisions among the people themselves, and nitty-gritty elements like food, gestures, and technology.
The elves have treehouses, comfy clothes, running water, and refrigeration. Tarenhiel (yes I had to refer back to the book to make sure I got the spelling right :P) sounds amazing, even if they have to deal with trolls.
I can't wait to learn more about Essie's homeland in the next book! Assuming that human culture gets the same treatment as the elf, and Essie gets a chance to explain everything to Farrendel.
A few things like weaponry and the state of the nation are referenced, but since Essie spends most of the book in Tarenhiel, we don't get much detail.

My absolute favorite nitty-gritty detail: conditioner. Essie, the determined and clever heroine, uses elven conditioner as a tool to help seal the peace between human and elves. Sure, her marriage was supposed to do that, but people are silly and need something more tangible than their princess’ willingness for such an odd arranged marriage.

One thing I appreciated was the fact that this world's equivalent of modern conveniences/beverages weren't horridly renamed (eg, "hot brown morning potion" instead of "coffee." Lookin' at you, Dragon Prince. :/). They were just there, and their functions accepted as a part of everyday life. Running water, refrigeration, more modern/steampunk weaponry, etc.

The politics, thankfully, were minimal--enough to understand the situation and get an idea of how slow and tedious the processes were, and how they helped/hindered, but not so long that they took up pages of explanation and backstory.

Romance

THIS IS A CLEAN ROMANCE. THE ADULTS KNOW HOW TO COMMUNICATE.

Also:

Quote: Ugh. She gave herself another mental shake, harder this time. She was not going to turn into one of those princesses. The ones in books where they went on and on describing the absolute perfection of their handsome lover’s face, chest, muscles, and so on.

Do I need to say more? XD

The sensuality part of this romance lies in the realization that friendship is growing into something more. 

The couple shares two kisses--semi-detailed, near the end of the story--and they mean so much. 😭

I have a few quote blocks to share, but it may take a little while. Adobe Spark and my computer are being weird...
This review has been sitting in drafts for over a month, and I want to hurry up and get it posted.

Characters

I'm going to stick to gushing about the two MCs, and summarize everyone else. Otherwise I'll be here all day.

Essie (full name Elspeth) asks questions, is aware of herself, and mischievous while also having a good amount of sensibility. I'm tearing up right now, I'm so happy she wasn't a ditz. 💗

She's not the standard "strong female character" that everyone loves to hate. (I know you can't technically define something by what it isn't, but gosh it was refreshing that not even a whiff of that trope existed within her character.)

She's curious, determined, tender, and ready to face the world's challenges--whether she's prepared or not. Are you getting what I'm putting down? I've re-written that line no less than ten times trying to make it clear... XD

While Essie was a...uh, chatterbox (quote: “You’re lucky I only say a fraction of the questions I have in my head.”), and it got on my nerves sometimes, her willingness to face her fears and conquer them more than made up for that light annoyance.

Farrendel is a quiet and wounded warrior, not a broody jerk. He treats his subjects with patience, even if they scorn his scars. He's also kind, inventive, and willing to risk/suffer insanity to protect his family and homeland. His slow but steady opening up to Essie was gush-worthy. But, I don't want to copy/paste the whole book here, so I'll stick with this brief paragraph. ;)

The family dynamics are amazing. Essie's brothers cornering Farrendel after the human wedding ceremony, Farrendel's sisters confronting Essie about not hurting Farrendel, Essie's letters to her mother...
I'm tearing up again; it's not often I hear of, let alone find, a romance story with strong family dynamics.