Parting Worlds by Kaitlyn Davis | Everything comes full circle

If you all thought I was done shoving the Once Upon a Curse series after reviewing Chasing Midnight and the cover reveal for Parting Worlds, you were definitely, surely wrong.

And really, it’s my job as your favorite residential a bookwyrm to shove books at everyone as often as I can. It just so happens today is Parting Worlds by Kaitlyn Davis (besides, this week can’t be 100% negative reviews). 😌

Welcome to the final stop on the Parting Worlds blog tour! Before I screech about this book, you’re probably wondering what in the world the book is about. We’ll have a little intermission first. 😉

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Parting Worlds by Kaitlyn Davis
Once Upon a Curse #4
Published by Self-Published on November 18, 2019
Age Group & Genres: Fantasy, Retellings, Young Adult
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Author

She'll risk it all to be with the man she loves… Don't miss PARTING WORLDS, a fantasy romance from bestselling author Kaitlyn Davis that reimagines the classic fairy tale of The Little Mermaid.

"I know humans like to start these sorts of stories with 'once upon a time,' but I'm worried that's setting the stage for false hopes. Because we don't all live, and we aren't all happy. Not every curse can be broken, after all."

Humans are dangerous. That's the lesson faeries are taught as soon as their flower petals unfurl, welcoming them into the world. It's the first thing Aerewyn remembers the priestesses telling her as a young girl. Humans are dangerous—don't show them your magic and never cross into their lands.

Why then, when she stumbles upon a human boy in the woods, does she find him so intriguing?

His blue eyes don't shine with malice. His smile doesn't menace. His laughter is as warm as the sun against her cheeks. And when she later discovers he's been knocked unconscious in a storm, injured and alone in the forest, the only thing he seems in danger of is dying.

So she saves his life—a single act that will change the fate of both their worlds…

*This is the fourth book in Once Upon a Curse, a series of interconnected stand-alone novels all set in the same fantasy universe.

A copy of the book was provided for review purposes - thank you! Receiving a copy does not guarantee a positive review and therefore does not affect the opinion or content of the review.

Parting Worlds brings everything together.

Parting Worlds is the fourth and final book in the Once Upon a Curse series, a retelling based on The Little Mermaid. This starts right where Chasing Midnight ends before going back to the very beginning and bringing everything to full circle.

We get a little intro to who Aerewyn is back in the third book, but Parting Worlds is where we truly get to know who she is and her side of the story. We get the chance to see her bond with Nymia and how it forms from complete strangers as young faeries to best friends as they train to become priestesses, where they can use their magic to protect fellow magical creatures.

I personally loved seeing their friendship bloom and how it ultimately withstands in the centuries of time they’re apart from each other. I also loved seeing how they have ups and downs in their relationship and how they try to overcome those without straining it. It shows how they have a close bond with each other despite their differences.

I think Parting Worlds also gives us a chance to truly see Nymia’s growth as a character as this is set before the third book but still connected. Chasing Midnight also shows her growth, but it was brief and fleeting as much of the focus was not in the past and rather on how she changes throughout the book through the events.

Going back to where all the disaster begins.

And finally, through Aerewyn’s story, Kaitlyn Davis shows us how all of this began in the first place. I had so many questions after reading the third book and a lot of them were answered in Parting Worlds. Aerewyn’s a faerie full of mischief and seeks to bend the rules whenever she can this sounds like me. She questions how the world can be different, where humans and magical creatures can live together in harmony, especially when she meets Erick and starts forming a relationship with him. Honestly, it’s the Butterfly Effect in a fairy tale dystopia and I am living for it.

The majority of the book focuses on how Aerewyn and Erick meet and how their meeting becomes fateful for the rest of the world. But Aerewyn still grows as a character: she’s still mischievous and up to no good, but she learns how her actions became major consequences for everyone, including herself. And I love how Davis does this really well.

A bittersweet end, but maybe there are more stories.

I don’t know about anyone else, but Parting Worlds feels bittersweet with a (sort of?) happy ending. This puts the final piece of the story together with no loose ends in the story; it’s answering all of the questions that have been there since Gathering Frost and connecting all the books together. At the same time, there sounds like there could potentially be another storyline in the future. If that happens, you know what I’m doing.