Unfortunately this book was a DNF at 25% for me. I’m not entirely sure why I didn’t vibe with this Benoit, because on paper, this is absolutely my kind of thing. Far realms, post was, fantasy realism etc. but I just felt like the start was ever so slow, and I just struggled to get the full feel of the book.

I did, however, really like the main male character, and I feel that more romantasy books should have a male lead.

Part historical romance, part fantasy. The premise was different - Kit has just returned home from WWI, The Great War where he experience both inward and outward trauma. He is now engaged to his childhood best pal/cousin. When she gets stolen by the fae, he must find his way to rescue her. It was an interesting concept with themes involving grief, heavy expectations, shame and acceptance.

I found the pacing a bit uneven and as much as I love a historical, it took a bit to get into. I liked the different premise and the sort of old school, more historical take on the fae. I enjoyed having a male lead in a romantasy and also a gender fluid character, we need more of that. The ending was quite unexpected and bittersweet. This wasn’t a favorite, but I enjoyed it.

3.5/5

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Part historical, part romantasy, Dance With The Fae follows Kit as he grapples with trauma after being wounded in WWI and combines that with mysterious fae kidnapping his fiancée. Think Downton Abbey meets An Enchantment of Ravens. While the prose was a little dry at times, I really enjoyed the portrayal of the fae realm, the careful descriptions of Kit's PTSD and the LGBTQ+ representation in Kit, Valentine and others too. I would say it felt a little rushed and would have maybe benefitted from spending more time in each phase of the story to further develop it, but overall an easy and quietly magical read.

Set in post WWI England, our MMC Kit is set to marry his childhood friend Addie after returning from the war, both physically and mentally traumatised. After Addie falls into an enchanted sleep, Kit finds himself on a journey to the fae realm to rescue her.

I enjoyed this one. I did find the pacing quite slow especially in the first half. It really took a while to get going and once it had, I wouldn't say it did anything particularly unique. The plot and the world all felt a little bit simple and aside from Kit, all the characters felt a little two dimensional.

That being said I really liked Kit as a character. The poor boy has been through a lot and is really grappling with his guilt around events that happened during the war and his own feelings of shame towards his attraction to men. He felt like a well rounded, interesting man who, in a better story, really could have shone.

Another thing I really liked was the exploration of Kit's pansexuality especially in conjunction with Valentine's gender fluidity. Watching Kit undo his own internalised homophobia was a really satisfying journey to go on.

Valentine as a character was fine. She was let down a little by the lack of detail in the story (this was my main issue with this book overall) and thus, felt a little flat. I would have liked more of her backstory and more of her relationship with the villain to have been explored.

As I said above my main issue with this book is it's simplicity. Nothing was really explored in a huge amount of detail, the characters felt very surface level (bar Kit) and the plot was basic.

This is by no means a bad book and I am sure it will find its audience, I just wanted more detail and intruige to keep me gripped!

Based in post-WWI Britain, this book was an excellent blend of romantasy and historical fiction. The plot focuses on the interaction between the human and fae worlds, following rules that are akin to that of old British Folklore which I absolutely adored. This book weaves together beautiful threads of romance, grief and lgbt+ representation to create a unique fantasy tapestry blended with a cast of compellingly mysterious characters.

I did find that the pacing was not as balanced as I would have liked, as the start of the book built quite slowly whereas the end section of the book passed rather quickly, though I did still thoroughly enjoy the journey. The world building was atmospheric and presented very well, and though I would have happily read double the amount to see more of the fae world and of some of the characters origins this just shows me that there is a lot of scope to hopefully continue developing into this world in potential future works.

Thank you to Elisabeth J. Hobbes and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to give an advance review of this book. Dance With The Fae was such a fascinating adventure and I felt it had similarities to novels such as Stardust and the works of Holly Black which I really enjoyed, so I happily bestow a 4/5 star rating and would love to see more!

Thank you for sharing this ARC with me in exchange of an honest review. Unfortunately, this style of writing felt simplistic and not engaging. It was a hard DNF at 15%.

Really enjoyed this. Liked the way the fae are portrayed, the way of travelling from one realm to the other and the adventure that the mmc embarks on

This was amazing and such an original idea and not at all what I expected! Childhood friends/cousins Adelaide and Kit are reunited after he returns home from fighting in WWI, which has taken an enormous toll on him, and they are due to get married (despite his lack of feelings towards her as his heart belongs to another). However Adelaide cannot be woken up the morning after their engagement party and suspicious interactions with Mr Wilde and a Miss Dove, and she is declared to have the 'sleeping sickness'. The story then follows Kit as he embarks on a mission into the realm of the fae to save her. I loved the historical depth of the book entwined beautifully with the fantasy side and found the story really picked up on a new level once Kit crossed over. I loved the harsh and ruthless comparisons between the 'worlds' especially in an England back then. It was definitely a different twist on the usual fae stories and I adored it! I hope there will be a book 2!

Unfortunately, this one is a DNF-for-now! (DNF'd at 22%)

The things I absolutely loved: the main character. I absolutely adored the MMC and do hope we get more men as the main character in these romantasy books! I loved his narration and backstory. But because I loved him so much, I found the side characters a bit lacking and I couldn't get into the actual meat of the story. I love historical fiction, but I didn't feel totally immersed in this post-war period. I think this may be a 'me' problem, so I do plan on returning to this.

I was intrigued by Dance with the Fae from reading the initial description, it combines historical fiction and fantasy and promised something more than the traditional fantasy story.

To be honest, despite my love for historical fiction, I found the initial part of the book to be quite slow but, it was a great introduction to Kit. Kit returned home a hero from World War I but, is struggling with the trauma, grief and loss he suffered in the trenches. On his return, he is expected to step back into the life he had before, including inheriting the family estate and the planned engagement and future marriage to his childhood friend Adeline.

Kit and Adelaide’s engagement party introduces them and us to the enigmatic Mr Silas Wilde and Miss Alexandra Dove, who introduce a sense of eeriness and magic to the story, soon followed by a mysterious illness that plunges its victims into a sleeping sickness. Kit finds himself enmeshed in this mystery, as Adeline is one of the victims of this illness and finds that he must venture into the Fae realm to rescue Adeline and his village.

It is from this point that the pacing of this story picks up dramatically, it almost feels like the slow pacing at the start as we are introduced to Kit is a deliberate tool to introduce us to a character who has survived a traumatic war, is suffering as a consequence of this and feels totally isolated from all those around him, amidst a society that is struggling between returning to the norms and attitudes of pre-WW1 England but, unable to turn the clock back from an era that offered a glimpse of a different world where intolerant, conservative society demands was slightly less prevalent.

The second half of the story is so much more open, with great LGBTQ representation and a society that offers the freedom for people/fae to be whom they want to be, rather than what a restrictive society demands, which is a real credit to Hobbes’ world-building and characterisation. I won’t say this book is perfect, there were some quirks in the pacing and characters that I didn’t quite gel with but, this is a read that offers a true balance of fantasy and historical fiction.

This is definitely a read for those who enjoy historical fiction and / or fantasy, bringing elements of both together to create a world you might not want to escape from.

-Forbidden Romance
- LGBT Representation
- Humans/Fae/Shifters
- Arranged Marriage
- Historical Fiction/Fantasy
4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ‘s

Kit Price is a Great War veteran left with physical scars on his face and even greater wounds on his heart. He is set to marry his childhood friend, Adeline, to inherit his family estate. However, everything changes when they meet a peculiar couple at a party.Mr. Silas Wilde and Miss Alexandra Dove. Soon after, Adeline falls mysteriously ill, and Kit must venture into the fae realm to rescue her. While I didn’t particularly like Adeline’s character, I found Kit to be perfectly flawed, relatable, and far from your typical hero. I rooted for him, hoping he would find himself and that his romance or lack thereof with Adeline would come to an end.

This book was unlike anything I’ve ever read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I believe anyone who has struggled with their sexuality or coming out will find it especially relatable. Initially, it took me a while to get into, but once the plot picked up, I was reading on any device I could find.

I absolutely love the author’s writing style. It had a bit of everything—romance, grief, sadness, and strong world-building. The story truly intrigued me, and I look forward to reading more from this author.
Thank you so much, NetGalley and Elisabeth Hobbes, for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review! It was a pleasure.

This was an exciting, lyrical historical fantasy for fans of Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries. I do think it was a little longer than it needed to be, but I really liked the quest through faerie land and the way the characters grew.

I expected a typical fae fantasy when I read Dance with the Fae. In fact, I wanted a typical fantasy. What I got was a story much more original. In early 1900s Great Britain, Kit Arton-Price is a war hero betrothed to his childhood best friend, Adelaide. A marriage of convenience. When a mysterious pair shows up to their engagement party, Kit is suspicious of them. When Adelaide falls under a sleeping curse, he is called to action. What ensues is a journey to the world of the fae to save Adelaide, and by default, the fae from a terrible ruler.

This story is chock full of sexually fluid characters that work so well in the way they do because they don't have to fit societal norms. The fae can be who and what they choose without bounds. My favorite part of the story is the way it reflects the myth of Orpheus. Kit travels to the land of fae to save Adelaide without looking back. In the end, both he and Adelaide travel to the land again for their new loves without looking back. What can I say other than the story of tragic love will always. be compelling in some way.

awesome chemistry and awesome character building. would definitely recommend. i found Kit a great protag who you never get bored of despite his self-flagellation and the rest of the chars are awesome too. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Thank you to Elisabeth J. Hobbes, HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter, and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the premise of Dance with the Fae and the cover was beautiful too. I enjoyed the blend of historical fiction and fae fantasy and the depiction of fae as ethereal, otherworldly creatures. Unfortunately the pacing was completely off and the book fell flat for me because of it. There is definitely potential there though.

This is such a fun story. I loved the world building and characters. The fairytale vibes made me want to read on and I fell in love with Kit and Valentine.

This was such a fun take on a fae story. Dragged into a realm of magic, Christopher tries to figure out what's going on with his fiance.

“Dance with the Fae” is, put simply, a historical fantasy romance. But underneath that it has other layers too; the exploration of grief, trauma, loss, shame. I thought that the execution of those specifically was very interesting and compelling. The protagonist, Kit, is challenged by these throughout the entirety of the book, but in a way that feels realistic and thought out. I do wish that they were explored a bit more in-depth at times, but for the most part I think it was utilised well.

The story is set just after WW1 (or The Great War) which Kit had previously fought in, which causes a lot of distress for him and is a large contributor to the plot. After returning home from the battlefield, he is arranged to marry his childhood best friend and cousin, Adelaide, despite his lack of romantic interest, and his feelings towards his previous lover who he still isn’t over. Despite that, when she suddenly falls ill - into a deep sleep - he can’t help but feel the need to rescue her.

I did enjoy the plot and thought it was actually really quite unique - definitely not what I was expecting and it was refreshing and immersive. I particularly enjoyed the segments of traversing between the worlds and the adventuring.
There were actually a couple scenes where I was genuinely stressed on behalf of the characters too, which doesn’t happen very often for me, and made a nice change!

I do feel like the pacing could’ve been better - it had a slower build up (which I actually quite enjoyed) but the last 20% or so did feel just a bit too fast for me. I would’ve liked longer and maybe more action scenes and a little more time with relationship development between Kit and the love interest, as it does kind of feel like it was quite sudden.

A pretty fun read, and definitely one I’d be happy to recommend.
Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins, and of course to the author for providing me with an eARC for this in exchange for my honest review.

Dance with the Fae by Elisabeth J Hobbes is a fabulous Fae filled tale with an interesting historical setting that gave it a unique feel. Set in the immediate aftermath of the first world war, we meet Kit Arton-Price , heir to the family estate at a party to celebrate his engagement to Adelaide. Recently returned from the trenches the emotional and psychological scars he bears are even worse than the physical ones that mar his once handsome face, and the secret that he is hiding is weighing heavily on him. When he sees Adelaide dancing with a mysterious stranger, Mr Wilde, he is more curious than jealous but when she fails to wake up the next morning and medicine is not yielding any answers he is forced to look for a more supernatural cause and finds himself traveling to a mysterious and dangerous land in the company of the enigmatic but captivating Miss Dove. His only hope of saving Adelaide may be to trust the Fae, but given their reputation as tricksters, how can he believe anything they tell him?
I absolutely loved the melding of history and fantasy in this book, I think the author did a wonderful job of depicting the horrors experienced by soldiers during the war and the addition of the love story between Kit and another soldier was heartbreaking , the scene where he finally opened up about what happened and the guilt and shame he carried almost had me in tears. I also loved the characterisation of the Fae, both Mr Wilde and Miss Dove were complex and had a certain level of moral greyness that made them particularly interesting. The pacing of the book did feel a little uneven, it definitely started quite slowly, which I did not mind but some readers might find off putting and by contrast the ending felt a little rushed, almost abrupt, which surprised me. Even though I had not read anything quite like this before, I appreciated that the Fae aspects of the story adhered to the many traditions of the genre, the dangers of eating food offered by one of the Fae and the need for specificity in any bargains for example. I went into this book not knowing what to expect and I was very pleased and pleasantly surprised - I can already think of several friends I will be recommending it to. I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I regret to say that Dance With The Fae didn't capture my heart as I'd hoped. While the concept of blending historical fiction with fae fantasy is intriguing, I found the execution lacking. The world-building is undeniably rich and immersive, but the plot unfolds at such a sluggish pace that it was hard for me to stay engaged. I found myself struggling to connect with the characters on a deeper level, which is crucial for my enjoyment of a story. Sadly, this disconnect made it challenging to fully appreciate the book's unique blend of genres.

In short, despite its ambitious attempt to cover a multitude of aspects, Dance With The Fae fell short in delivering a cohesive and captivating narrative for me.