To Love a King

In Husk’s limp third Court of Annwyn fantasy-romance (after Lord of the Hunt), poor Prince Felan sees misery all around him. His fairy land is dying, his father is fading away, the parallel world of humans is perishing from plagues, and he’s got just two weeks to marry and impregnate the only woman he’s ever loved if he wants to save both dimensions. Jacqui is nursing emotional wounds from their former relationship and the loss of their fairy-human hybrid child, who would have saved both their worlds. She thinks she has moved on to a normal fairy-free life, but when Felan steps back into her California coffee shop, she realizes she’s still addicted to the swoon-inducing, green-eyed prince who wants her to give up her soul and be his queen. Romance prevails, of course, through fairy intrigues, feats of derring-do, and delicious human frailties. The story is only a little clouded by chatty dialogue and predictably erotic interior monologues. Husk offers a quick romp through a breathless and occasionally tasteless fairyland, but no real magic resides there. (Oct.)