This review was first published on my blog: http://rlhendrian.blogspot.com/2015/0... 
 Amy Bearce's debut novel was one of the more unique fairy stories I've read. The characters were well-developed and thought out, and the world was well rendered. And the Fairy Keepers - everything about this concept was interesting to me - the book definitely delivered in that respect. Sierra was a believable character, and her struggle with her lack of choices, her relationships, and her antipathy for the fairies she is bound to were well thought out. 
 As for the other primary characters: 
 Sierra's father, Jack, is a horrible, twisted man, and he constantly uses her younger sister, Phoebe, as leverage against her. This keeps Sierra under his thumb, and helps her rationalize how she harvests nectar for him. 
 Corbin, Sierra's older best friend, is nerdy and gentle. However, he also harvests nectar from his fairies without a second thought, because his parents are healers who can use it to help people. 
 Nell, the "worst enemy" in the description, reminded me of Astrid from How to Train Your Dragon [Movies]. She was prickly, grim, and capable. However, traveling with Corbin and Sierra drags out Nell's back-story, and reveals that she and Sierra have more in common than they think. 
 Five things I liked: 
 1. The Characters. They were (for the most part) well-developed and thought out. 
 2. NO LOVE TRIANGLE. 
 There are moments when it could have gone this way and it didn't. The issues of attraction, different kinds of love, and feelings were all dealt with in a mature and realistic way. 
 3. The whole morality issue with the Fairy Keepers' positions: did they have any right to take the nectar, what was it doing to the world, etc., was never dropped and was a major aspect of the story. 
 4. In that same vein, I felt like the world and its magic system had a lot of interest and depth. I would love to hear more about it. 
 5. There was a great underlying message about being a steward and caretaker of the land that was never preachy. 
 Five things I didn't like so much: 
 1. The tone was a bit uneven, especially at the beginning. All of the stuff with Jack and Flight was dark and very YA, but most of the remainder was a little more Fablehaven. I would have trouble deciding exactly what group to recommend it for. Too old for middle grade, maybe 12 to 16 year olds? (This might be a marketing problem-I don't think it's an author problem) 
 2. My usual complaint. The world seemed like it had so much to offer, and like Bearce had put a lot of work into it, so I would have liked to read more about it. 
 3. Micah wasn't my favorite. He was the least necessary and least developed of the characters. 
 4. In that same vein, I felt like Sierra and Micah's relationship was a little off. She was only fourteen, after all, and still confused by her feelings about everything else. 
 5. I felt like the ending was a little too easy. But this is really minor, as it all made sense, and played into the themes of making the harder, right decision, and doing right by the land and its creatures. 
 OVERALL: 4 out of 5 stars. Give this to teen girls who enjoy relationship centered stories, or liked Fablehaven and Inkheart (especially if they are looking for something shorter than both of those).