I love Mercedes Lackey. I've loved almost every book by her I've read, and that's most of them. This series has always been dear to my heart since it's about elves hiding in modern society and quite often rescuing unwanted and abused children. Old mythology about Elves often has them stealing children, Lackey turned that into rescuing instead. Since they so rarely have children of their own they can't stand to see one abused.I fell in love with the idea that there was hope out there for these poor lost kids and so this series has always been one of my favorite from her. But as much as I wanted to like this book I didn't really. I didn't hate it. It was an okay read. It just wasn't what I've grown to expect from her at all.It wasn't the predictable trope of the inattentive distant father, spiteful stepmother, and alcoholic mom that bothered me, like it has some reviewers. Things are sometimes a trope because they are actually common, and this situation is far from unrealistic. It really bothered me that.... okay to be honest it felt a bit like fan fiction. This girl, just an average teenage girl attracts the attention of the two hottest guys around, okay. The right kid wants her for plot reasons and that's fine.The elf who is hundreds of years old wants her because... ?!?! I have no clue. She's really not special or unique in anyway and I'm confused what he could see in a girl who can't be more than a toddler to him. It's every teen girl's fantasy, as evidence by Twilight, but it just didn't connect as plausible to me. I honestly think I'm only giving it 3-stars because I love the rest of the series otherwise it would get 2.