A popular trilogy for fans of LGBT sports fiction, these books are definitely not like a lot of other stories you will read: there’s running from the mob, the found family aesthetic amongst a group of outcasts, drugs and alcohol, setting bodies on fire then burying them in the beach, there’s drugging without consent, queer romance, diverse cast, and possibly 1st degree murder! It’s truly a lot, and thats not even all of it! They may not be for everyone to read, but fans of extra-dramatic shows like Teen Wolf, Riverdale, Elite, and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina will really catch the appeal of this trilogy.

Here’s the official blurb:

Neil Josten is the newest addition to the Palmetto State University Exy team. He’s short, he’s fast, he’s got a ton of potential—and he’s the runaway son of the murderous crime lord known as The Butcher.

Signing a contract with the PSU Foxes is the last thing a guy like Neil should do. The team is high profile and he doesn’t need sports crews broadcasting pictures of his face around the nation. His lies will hold up only so long under this kind of scrutiny and the truth will get him killed.

But Neil’s not the only one with secrets on the team. One of Neil’s new teammates is a friend from his old life, and Neil can’t walk away from him a second time. Neil has survived the last eight years by running. Maybe he’s finally found someone and something worth fighting for.

To see my review of The Foxhole Court (All for the Game #1) – Click HERE

To see my review of The Raven King (All for the Game #2) – Click HERE

My third and final review is coming soon!

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Here’s my official Fancast/Dreamcast:

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Neil Josten: Froy Gutierrez, Jake Cooper, or Ronen Rubenstein

Image courtesy of the model’s Facebook page

The first two names have been incredibly popular castings from other fans of the books, and so completely agree with them, so I included them on here, but Ronen is my personal choice to throw into the mix! He’s on ABC’s 9-1-1: Lone Star and his character TK in some instances give me heavy Neil vibes, so I know he’d be an excellent choice.

Andrew/ Aaron Minyard: Matthew Noszka, Austin Butler, or Michael Provost

Image courtesy of the model/actor’s Twitter account

I’m honestly not all that big of a fan of ANY castings for the Minyward twins…but to everyone’s credit, Andrew and Aaron have really specific details about them, so I don’t think there is actually any one person who’s a unanimous choice for them.

Kevin Day: Brant Daugherty, Laurence Coke, or Matthew Daddario

Brant was my first choice, but he may be too old by this point to be playing a college student. Laurence seems to be the popular choice around the board with other fancasters, and Matthew is another choice who I think would be able to play the part.

Riko Moriyama: Charles Melton, or Darren Barnet

Image courtesy of ourdailynewsonline.com

Image courtesy of the actor’s IMDB profile

Charles plays Reggie Mantle on the CW’s Riverdale, and Darren is becoming more well known from being in Mindy Kaling’s Netflix comedy, Never Have I Ever!

Nicky Hemmick: Steven Krueger, or Drew Ray Tanner

Both actors were discovered by me on two separate CW shows: Steven was on The Originals and Drew is currently on Riverdale.

Coach David Wymack: Skeet Ulrich, Henry Ian Cusick, or Benjamin Bratt

Skeet Ulrich may not exactly look the part in terms of ethnicity, but he has been a name thrown in based solely off the vibes he gives off, which match the unorthodox ways of Coach Wymack. The other two have been mentioned that maybe follow the character’s background more accurately

Dan Wilds: Sierra Aylina McClain

As soon as I saw her in 9-1-1: Lonestar, I instantly got Dan vibes from her. She has a strong, subtle powerful presence that isn’t intimidating in her role on the hit show!

Renee Walker: Erika Bowes

So no joke, but Renee was another hard character to cast. No one really pops up when you look into what she’s described as looking like; the only person I could come up with initially was Dua Lipa, but she doesn’t have the “cute as a button” aesthetic that Renee is supposed to have. This model’s name came up, so I’m going with it!

Allison Reynolds: Gianna Jene Daddio, or Samara Weaving

Gianna is not as well known, I’m following my habit of having at least one WWE wrestler in my fancasts, and she’s a gorgeous blonde who goes under the name “Liv Morgan” when she steps foot inside the squared circle. Samara is a more well known name; the australian bombshell who could be Margot Robbie’s younger sister was just in the Netflix mini-series Hollywood, and has been in thrillers like The Babysitter and Ready or Not.

Abby Winfield: Candace Cameron Bure

I think this casting was because I was watching Fuller House on Netflix around the same time I was reading The Foxhole Court, so I put the two together like that.

Matt Boyd: Jacob Artist, or Michael Evans Behling

For some reason, I originally casted Robbie Amell for the role, but as soon as I started seing other fancasts that told me how off that was, I switched it to it being either of these two actors.

Seth Gordon: Drew Roy

Honestly, this one was kind of a toss up…

Jean Moreau: Julian Haig, or Dominic Sherwood

Julian is Australian while Dom is English, but other castings have put actors with medium-toned skin, so I’m not sure about these choices too much…

Betsy Dodson: Rochelle Aytes

Image courtesy of the actress’s IMDB profile

Does anyone remember the gorgeous reporter, Denise Porter, from the classic comedy, White Chicks? Now that you’re refreshed, Rochelle has that unnerving, welcoming face that anyone could unload and open up to, don’t you think?

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Thanks for Reading!

— Nick Goodsell

Image from @goodyreads, my bookstagram account!

In Holly Black’s enchanting and twisted trilogy, Jude Duarte is a young mortal girl when Madoc comes and kills her parents. He takes her and her sisters back with him to the High Courts of Faerie, and ten years later wants nothing more than to belong amongst the folk despite their hatred for humans. Among the worst is Cardan Greenbriar, the youngest and most sadistic prince of the royal court, and Jude must evade him and his threats in order to secure her place.

As she gets herself caught up within the many twisted webs of courtly intrigue, she discovers her own skills and willingness to shed blood and tell lies, and discovers not only a shocking betrayal in the works but a scandal that could rock the whole future of Faerie. Jude must make some deadly deals and align herself with some dangerous players in order to secure not only her own safety, but everyone else she loves too.

My book review for The Cruel Prince (Folk of the Air #1) is here!

My book review for The Wicked King (Folk of the Air #2) is here!

My book review for The Queen of Nothing (Folk of the Air #3) is here!

My book review for How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (Folk of the Air #3.5) is here!

The Folk of the Air trilogy is full of twists, deadly surprises, and enchanting romance that entranced me into Holly Black’s world of Faerie, and has been a vastly popular series for fans of YA-Fantasy everywhere!

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Here is my official Fancast/Dreamcast:

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Jude Duarte/Taryn Duarte: Daisy Ridley, or Sofia Carson

Who I really need as is a young Natalie Portman, but Daisy is an awesome choice to play the twins if I do say so myself! Based of her portrayal of Rey in the new “Star Wars” movies along with her role in “Murder on the Orient Express”, she’d be great at capturing both Jude and Taryn’s split personalities.

Daisy was my original choice, but once Holly Black confirmed that the Duarte’s are Latina, I had to update that! Sofia Carson is probably a more fitting choice for the role of the twins in this twisty series!

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Prince Cardan Greenbriar: Mitchell Wick, or Raphael Say

Raphael Say, Image courtesy of vanityteen.com

He’s got the flow, he’s got the smoldering gaze, and the sexy body! My pick for the wicked king of Elfhame is none other than this gorgeous male model.

I recently discovered Raphael, who’s an international French model, and is NOT afraid to show off in the camp get ups that we all know Cardan absolutely wears, so he’s a younger, maybe even more accurate choice!

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Vivianne Duarte: Ana de Armas

Ana de Armas, who stared in Rian Johnson’s whodunnit film, Knives Out, definitely has a certain look that I believe is quite similar to Jude and Taryn’s older half-fae sister.

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Locke: Jamie Campbell Bower

Just dye his hair a fiery orange, and you’ve got yourself my version of Locke! This British actor has been in the ultra-intense-popular latest season of “Stranger Things” and also is known from “Mortal Instruments: City of Bones” and even a small but notable appearance in Harry Potter as a young Grindelwald!

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Balekin Greenbriar: Aidan Turner

The older, more sinister of the Greenbriar siblings needed to be played by someone who is able to play a villain and look good doing it. I think I was watching The Hobbit movies when I came up with Aiden Turner as my choice, who was also in the And Then There Were None mini-series, but it worked!

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Eldred Greenbriar: Anthony Hopkins

If these books were turned into a film franchise, it’s something that no one would expect Hannibal Lector to be a part of, so I thought it’d be fun to see Anthony as the elderly king of Elfhame and get him all campy and fairy-like.

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Madoc: Keifer Sutherland

Kind of a random/filler answer to who would play the role of Madoc, but from what little I’ve seen on his old show, 24, Keifer would hold his own as the General.

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Nicasia: Aja Naomi King

I love her in ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder, and for some reason I pictured Nicasia being black—why not?—so Aja Naomi King would excel at the role of the elitist princess of the deep!

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Dain Greenbriar: Tyler Hoechlin

Another Mr. tall, dark, and handsome to play a Greenbriar sibling! Catch him from the Teen Wolf TV show that used to be on MTV (if you feel up to it, I know that sentence makes it really tempting).

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Heather: Kat Graham

Kat Graham has been a favorite of mine ever since her witchy days back on The Vampire Diaries, and she’s always switching up her look, so I thought she’d be a good fit for the alternative, artistic character named Heather.

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Valerian: Dan Stevens, or Dacre Montgomery

Dacre Montgomery, image courtesy of dacre-montgomery.net

Dan Stevens was pretty decent in the recent live-action Disney film, Beauty and the Beast, alongside Emma Watson, so he’s familiar with playing in fantasy settings for projects. After seeing him in “Stranger Things” as Billy, Dacre should be getting roles left and right now! He certainly knows how to play a sadistic and cruel fae highborn like Valerian!

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The Ghost: Matthew Noszka

Matthew Noszka kind of makes me feel like he’s the gen-z version of Chad Michael Murray…he’s got the golden-boy-next-door all american good looks, a total heartthrob that both girls and guys can all collectively have crushes on! Or is that just me?……..

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The Bomb: Melvnin

This instagram model has such a beautiful, unique look; she looks like a faerie in real life!

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Oriana: Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow is an actress who hardly needs any introductions or reminders of what films she’s done. Oriana always seems like she has a cloud hanging over her head, but she still pulls it off with such grace and splendor…Our girl Gwynie would rock this part!

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Queen Orlagh: Viola Davis

Since she works with Aja (above) in “HTGAWM,” why not have her play Nicasia’s mother, the Queen of the ocean?

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Asha (Cardan’s Mother): Sarah Paulson

Say what you will about American Horror Story, but there’s no denying that Sarah Paulson is an absolutely brilliant actress! Asha seems like an incredibly complex character, and I would love Sara to bring her character to life!

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