Title: Of Goblins and Gold

Author: Emma Hamm

Pub. Date: January 5, 2021

Pages: 242

Pub: Not Listed

Genre: Fantasy Romance

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Goodreads

To save her sister, she must beat a goblin at his own game…
Freya knows the sound of goblin bells. She knows to move to the side of the road and let them pass. Never buy any of their wares. And above all else, never make a deal with the monstrous beasts.

But when her sister takes a necklace and is kidnapped, Freya knows there is no other choice. She must journey to the realm of the fae where the Goblin King himself has stolen her sister. Once there, she must perform four tasks to save the only family she has left.

The Goblin King won’t make this easy, however. He always seems one step ahead of her. To defeat him, she’ll have to put everything on the line.

Even her heart.

This will be a spoiler free review. I listened to the audiobook via Audible. This has been on my radar for months, and I got really excited when I saw that it was finally coming out on audio. I read Emma’s Stolen Brides of the Fae book – Stolen Goblin Bride (you can check out my spoiler free review here) and I got even more excited for the book.

I’ll admit, it took me a bit to get into this book despite my excitement. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting – not that that’s a bad thing. I guess I was expecting more of an enemies to lovers kind of vibe, but it honestly felt more whimsical and more along the lines of Alice in Wonderland. I’m pretty sure this book primarily meant to set up the world and the conflict and introduce the characters – whereas the next book (and subsequent books after that) will really delve into the plot, conflict and the characters.

I really liked the more whimsical vibe of this book – I enjoyed Freya as a character. I liked her a whole lot more than her sister, for sure. Freya has very much convinced herself of what she wants, but she clearly yearns for more. I find when characters double down in their beliefs they tend to want more than what their lives typically provide them – and Freya is no different.

When she makes the decision to go after her sister – to enter the Fae Realm – things get a little strange.

I don’t know exactly what I was expecting – maybe almost more of a Beauty and the Beast set up (even though this isn’t a retelling), so I was a little put off by the tests Freya goes through. I did love that everywhere she went and everything she went through came to life in my mind, it was so easily to visualize. It was just stunning. But I was hoping that there would be more of an enemies to lovers aspect similar to BATB. I don’t know why I mentally kept comparing it to that story, but I did.

But there’s another part of me that (in retrospect) loved how Freya and the Goblin King’s relationship grew and changed over the course of the book. And like I said, I think this book is mainly to set up for a much bigger conflict. It sort of set the stage for what’s to come – and what’s going to happen next is going to be intense and possibly epic. With the way the book ends, with what Freya does and accomplishes, the things she unlocks – I can only wonder if the Goblin King has a much bigger plan at work, and it revolves around Freya’s actions. Or if what he assumed she would do, was different than what she did and now everything is up in the air.

I’m really glad the second book is coming to audio in July – though I might have to read the eBook and find out what happens next.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The beginning was a big slow and a little hard to get into, but the second half had me utterly hooked. Things just kept happening, Freya learned how to play the game and accept what she wants. I’m definitely reading the second one (and the rest of the series) because I’m kind of in love with the world, the Goblin King and Freya and I want to see how their chemistry builds and grows as the series progresses. I really can’t wait to see how they annoy (probably) and challenge each other