New Book Alert: Magic Sleep by Cherie Smith; Tantalizing Story About Fairies, Humans, and Vampires

New Book Alert: Magic Sleep by Cherie Smith; Tantalizing Story About Fairies, Humans, and Vampires

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: If the last two Fantasy books that I reviewed are any indication, there is a new trend of crossing the Fantasy genre over with others. Carl Cota-Robles’ novel, Sand and Smoke is an interesting amalgam of Fantasy with Steampunk Science Fiction and Westerns.

Cherie Smith's Magic Sleep is another book that skips from one genre to another but very differently. While Cota-Robles’ book has a setting that brings all of the different tropes to life, with Smith's book it is within the characters.

The setting is a modern city that is surrounded by humans, fairies, and vampires. Each with their own lives going about their own businesses. However, every once in a while, the groups meet and sometimes forbidden romances happen which bear unfortunate consequences.

One of those fairies is Aurora. She is observing human behavior when she sees a handsome human man. Falling in love at first sight, she sneaks into a Halloween party (perfect, she doesn't have to hide her wings), and chats up the man of her dreams. Five months later, she is in a lot of trouble, running from her fairy kin, desperately ill, and with vampires closing in on her.

Several years later, we get two more stories. The first is about Avalyne, a young woman who just escaped from juvenile detention. She had a hard life, from the revolving door of foster parents, to getting into violent fights, to having chronic pain and fever and strange welts on her back. Her only escape is into her fantasy novels and stories which she writes and publishes under an assumed name.

Her teacher and surrogate mother, Ms. McKenzie, helps her escape from juvie and sends her to a furnished house with strict orders not to contact anyone except for provisions or as a last resort.

After checking out her new mysterious home, particularly the stocked wine cellar, the large beautiful bed, and women's clothing perfectly in Avalyne's size, Avalyne is filled with questions. Who lived here before? What happened to them? How does Ms. Mackenzie know about it?

Avalyne settles into her new environment and learns about the previous occupants, the Mansons, who had a daughter before they mysteriously disappeared. It was believed the daughter went with them, but some have reported seeing her along the beach outside the house.

This information leads Avalyne to the next story in the book. She finds the diary of a young woman named Ivi, the aforementioned daughter, who reported being abused by her parents. While trying to escape, Ivi sneaks out to a club and falls in love with a mysterious man named Phoenix. Ivi uses her relationship with Phoenix as a means of escape from her toxic home life. Unfortunately, it does not go well.

Magic Sleep gives us a unique perspective of fantasy creatures. While the fairies have unusual traits such as wings on their backs and are very powerful, they live in regular dwellings with house pets and are just unseen by mortals. While vampires are feared by the fairy and mortal characters, they turn out to be some of the more helpful creatures in the book just a bit...uh hungry.

Magic Sleep also gives us three memorable lead protagonists. Their connections are pretty easy to guess (though one revelation is surprising). But they are all very well-written in their struggles and adaptability within their circumstances. Aurora, the sweetest and most naive of the trio is an impetuous little fairy. From her entrance, the Reader is under the impression that she is bored with her immortal sameness. She falls in love with a handsome man, true, but she also sees her romance out of a life of predictability. It isn't until later that she realizes her hasty errors in judgement lead to more trouble.

Avalyne and Ivi are more cynical and hardened by their circumstances of abuse and abandonment and retreat from them in their own ways. Avalyne hides within her creative imagination which allows her to write fantasy novels but also propels her to investigate the mystery behind Ivi’s existence.

Ivi meanwhile escapes by outward rebellion such as sneaking off to clubs and referring to her cruel parents as “Mortitia” and “Lucifer.” It's not surprising that she would fall in love with someone who is offering her a chance to escape from her abusive home life.

I don't want to give too much away, but the three women converge in a way that opens a lot of possibilities. We learn of some new creatures with abilities and limitations showing that Smith thought of how these creatures would move and operate.

The story moves along at a brisk pace and climaxes in a surprising way that suggests more. If Cherie Smith could write it as well as this one with an interesting amalgam of fantasy and horror creatures and give us such memorable female characters, then I am looking forward to it.