This story can be summed up in three sentences. Girl and boy pine for one another. Outside circumstances seem to prevent them from being together forever. Conniving friends and relatives work to make couple realize their mistake.

There are two main couples that fit the bill in this story, three if you count the man sleeping with his brother’s wife. (Ah, ah, ah – you’ll have to read the tale to find out who’s doing whom.)

Thomas Richard Henri, aka Jake and heir to a human throne, is madly in love with a wandering half-Dryad named Marnie. Ten years ago, Marnie walked away from their relationship to prevent Jake from abdicating.

Carolyn, aka Cat, sister to Jake, is in love with Sam, Marnie’s shape-shifting half-brother. Only Sam takes after his philandering father, Lance Johnson. Trying to tie Sam to one woman is like attempting to fence water.

Lance and his friends have concocted a plan to take over a neighboring country, Terrantoo, through political maneuvering. Too bad they haven’t made sure the key players are on board. Here’s where the familial ties get closer than a polygamist sect. James, father to Cat and Jake, married the elf Melody, mother to James’ kids. Melody was sister to Queen Mab, ruler of Terrantoo. Lance slept with Sheba, Queen of the feline shape-shifters. This produced Sam, Cat’s lover. Lance also slept with Sylvan, Queen of the Dryads, creating Marnie, Jake’s sweetie. And then there’s Lance’s real wife, Violet, and their hoard of kids, including the youngest, a traitorous boy with his own ambitions. Naturally, Queen Mab would prefer to name her own successor.

Can taking a trip through Terrantoo, a country filled with elves, brownies, angels, unicorns, dragons, ogres, and such, solve everyone’s problems?

Some minor editing errors, including an aversion to commas, mar the smooth flow of this story. There’s an abundance of well done sex scenes, including a male-male incident between Jake and Sam. The latter surprised me. I understand the author’s need to showcase Sam’s generous and giving nature, but somehow that sex scene, no matter how well done, put a little damper on the re-budding relationship between Sam’s half-sister and Jake.

When you read Crossing Faeryland, it feels as if the author is sitting beside you and telling you a bedside story. It's filled with strong heroines, flawed heroes, and a mish-mash of fantastical creatures. Take out the sex scenes and the story could happily entertain children as well. My only desire was for a true villain or villainess. Few of the characters stepped up to the plate and all were pretty much de-vilified by the end. Don’t let that keep you from booking your ticket to Raine McIntyre’s fairy world. You won’t be disappointed.