Title: Stolen Goblin Bride

Author: Emma Hamm

Pub. Date: May 7, 2021

Pages: 118

Pub: TBD

Genre: Fantasy Romance

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Goodreads

When a mortal girl steals a necklace from a Goblin, there will be a price to pay…

Esther knows the rules. Don’t talk to the goblins. Don’t look at the goblins. Above all else, don’t buy or trade with the goblins.

Then, one day before market, she sees a young rat faced boy selling a necklace that looks eerily like her mother’s, what’s a young girl to do? Of course she tries to buy it, but he won’t sell it to her. So she steals it because it’s her mother’s necklace.

Lux knows the rules. He’s a jeweler and he can sell his wares to those who want to faithfully buy them. Something doesn’t feel right about selling this particular piece to the beautiful young woman who immediately steals his heart. So he doesn’t.

But when he realizes the mortal girl stole from him, he’s forced to enact magic that can’t be unwritten. Stealing from a goblin always has a price.

This will be a mini spoiler review. I knew I wanted to dive into this series fully after reading S.M. Gaither’s Stolen Shadow Bride, but this one kind of fell flat. Whereas S.M. Gaither’s book felt like a short fantasy romance, this one really just felt like a novella, leading up to Of Goblins and Gold. Which, okay, it is. But it didn’t feel like a standalone short story.

Honestly, I didn’t really care for Ester as a character. She did nothing for me. I was more invested in her sister and her brief encounter with the Goblin King. Ester’s journey of self-discovery just fell flat. She felt naïve and childish. The whole situation that led her to being a Stolen Goblin Bride was really anticlimactic. There was tension – but not the animosity, enemies to lovers type.

I don’t know. I had some expectations going into this, based on just how much I enjoyed Stolen Shadow Bride and it really didn’t live up. The premise is interesting, and I enjoyed the world – which just tells me I need to go read the Of Goblin Kings Series. Good thing it’s on my list. Maybe once I read the first book in that series my opinions will change, but as it stands, this really didn’t do much for me. I’m still going to read this series – and read more of Emma’s books – since what I have read, I’ve really enjoyed. This one just isn’t a the top of my list.