Gossamer in the Darkness by Kristen Ashley

Fantasyland 5.5. Fantasy Romance. Can Stand alone but better if read in order.

Though it took me a long time to finally try, The Fantasyland Series by Kristen Ashley is one of my all-time favorite series. So I can’t tell you how excited I was to hear that Kit wrote another book in the series! I think Gossamer in the Darkness by Kristen Ashley is enough to pull in the last holdouts who think they don’t want to read fantasy.

Gossamer in the Darkness takes place in another realm. It’s another dimension of our world with no electricity and modern conveniences, but there is a “twin” of every person from our realm. In many ways, it’s like a regency romance, with gowns, carriages, and royalty, but the heroine is from our realm.

In the other realm, the handsome Loren Copeland, the Marquess of Remington, was arranged to be married to marry Maxine Dawes, the daughter of the Count of Derryman, since they were babies. But the Count has been hiding that Maxine has an injury that would prevent such a marriage. He needs the money and clout that the marriage would bring, so he hires a witch to secretly bring over Maxine’s twin and her mom from our realm to his, to pose as Maxine and marry the Marquess.

Luckily, even though they are forced to be there, Maxine/Satrine can’t complain when she meets the handsome, sweet and sexy nobleman.

“Oh God, if you’re as good of a kisser as I think you are, I’m about to die,” she said, watching his mouth fall. With that mouth against hers., he caught her eyes and warned, “Prepare, sweeting. But rest assured, when I’m done with you, I’ll revive you.”

Loren and Satrine (the Maxine from our world) ended up falling for each other, but Loren has some darkness in him that he doesn’t want to bring on Satrine.

“Don’t let me go.”
Her lips parted.
“My hold is slipping, Satrine, don’t let me go.”
“Your hold on what?”
“On anything that is good in this world.”

It was so great being back in this world, and I so hope that Kristen Ashley writes more from here. I loved all of the side characters, and it was great visiting with characters we already know from previous books.

Likes:

Visiting Fantasyland again.
Cameos from our favorite couples from Fantasyland, and even from The Rising (I think).
Read the whole thing with a smile on my face.
You couldn’t help but love Satrine.
Loren was a great guy from the beginning, he never had an alphahole stage.
Such a nice change from contemporary.
Having a little mystery throughout.
The politics of the other realm.

Dislikes:

The other books in the series are double as long. And though this is still a fully fleshed-out story, I wish it were a little longer.

The Down & Dirty:

It was SO GREAT going back to Kristen Ashley’s Fantasyland world again! I tried to read as slow as possible because I just didn’t want to leave. Though the whole Fantasyland series is best read in order, Gossamer in the Darkness easily stands alone. I have a few friends that read this and are now FINALLY agreeing to read the Fantasyland Series. You don’t have to like fantasy or regency to love this, you just have to love romance. I am so happy to have this as a new addition to one of my favorite series, and now I may have to go and listen to the entire series again.