A resourceful, grieving young woman makes a fateful deal with the fae to save her sisters and rescue her father in Mary E. Pearson's transportive first novel for adults, The Courting of Bristol Keats. As in her YA novels, Pearson (The Remnant Chronicles) features a compelling heroine and plenty of action. Destitute Bristol Keats is suspicious when someone claiming to represent her late father's nonexistent aunt offers her the solution to all of her problems--a priceless sketch by Leonardo da Vinci--in exchange for her help closing a magical portal. It's not until they promise to help Bristol search for her father, who is supposedly not so dead after all, that she agrees. Little does she know that deals made with the fae are unbreakable.
When she enters Elphame, Bristol joins a group of fae and part-fae recruits being trained and tested for their ability to close portals. Except human Bristol doesn't have any magic, so what do King Tyghan and his allies want with her? As secrets about her father, the fae, and her own past are revealed, Bristol must decide whom to trust and how to uphold the conflicting promises she's made. The last thing she needs is to fall in love with someone holding her fate in his hands.
Unlike many heroines pulled into faerie lands, Bristol has strong familial and platonic relationships. These, combined with a romantic relationship that isn't unnecessarily delayed, make The Courting of Bristol Keats well equipped to enter the crowded field of fae romantasy. This series starter is perfect for fans of Holly Black and Sarah J. Maas. --Suzanne Krohn, librarian and freelance reviewer