Brief Encounters

Title: Taming Sweet Puck
Author: Jackie Nacht
Length: 15,663 words (71 pdf pages)
Publisher: Extasy Books
Genre: m/m fantasy
Rating: B

Blurb:

The Gathering is called and after several years the King of the UnSeelie is bored out of his ever lovin’ mind. He sends his most trusted emissary, Puck, to the Earth realm to find two human changelings to mix the courts up a bit. Puck immediately sees the human he would like to take back to the fairy realm, but unfortunately he is more suited for the Seelie than the UnSeelie.

Torque is trying his best to get through college and make the most out of his future. When he meets the knavish Puck, sparks begin to fly immediately. When a hot and steamy encounter between the two puts Torque in danger, Puck will have to make some tough decisions. Will he take the human back—and if so, will his King accept him?

Review:

This is a cute story set in the fae world of the Seelie and Unseelie. I’m not familiar with the mythology, but in this case, the gist of it is the Unseelie live in winter, it’s dark, cold, the castle is black marble and they are rough and tough pranksters. They take great delight in making the Seelie, who live in summer and are light and happy, miserable with their tricks, like turning the beach into a skating rink.

Puck is a half-ling, but spends his time with Unseelie, of whom the King is his best friend. As they are bored, Puck is tasked to go and find two changelings, one for each side as the rules say they must be even in numbers. However Puck seems to get obsessed with little blond Torque he sees while searching for candidates at the university. Before long he’s rescuing Torque and taking him, along with his brother — who appears to fit more the Unseelie mold than Torque, back to the Fae realm.

I liked Torque a great deal (and the fact that is brother is called Axle is noted as being weird). He seemed like your typical submissive little twink who would not fit in, but the scene at the end with the Unseelie king had me chuckling at Torque’s chutzpah. Basically it came down to Unseelie and the creatures who abide with them, such as Banshees, are really not that bad. I especially liked the king Oberon, he seemed like a good friend and a reasonable logical guy, who liked to screw with people just to annoy them.

It’s fairly light and fluffy, beyond Torque’s attack, but when you’re in the mood for some fun it was an enjoyable read. I have a feeling that perhaps Torque’s brother has a story coming, maybe with Puck’s brother who lives with the Seelie. I guess we shall have to wait and see.