What do you think?
Rate this book
Sonny Preyer #1
Sonny Preyer: A Fairy Tale of a Different Kind #1
Sonny Preyer is an Illumenae; a person whose DNA is encoded with the ability to renew and sustain all life connected to him. At eighteen, he does not want that responsibility. With it, comes a body of unusual gender, unlike any among his peers. With it, comes seven nations looking to him to keep them safe. And with it, comes the knowledge that he is hunted by human and inhuman seekers of power, each demanding the one thing he fears to give to anyone. His body. Doing so, has already killed him once.
This is the first of three volumes.
This is the first of three volumes.
- GenresM M RomanceLGBTAmazon
306 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2006
About the author
Bridgette Hayden
7 books8 followersNative Tennessean, Bridgette Hayden, is an author who describes her fiction as a marriage between childhood wonder and adult conflict. She currently resides in Tennesse enjoying the success of seeing her novel become #17 in Bestselling Fantasy Epic (Amazon). Of her fiction, the 45 year-old author warns, "My fairy tales are not for children, but rather, they satisfy adult anguish over things that can never be." The psychological pull of her fiction is noted for its ability to disturb as well as fascinate. All of her published works can be found at her sonnypreyer site. Her Sonny Preyer series, was originally written as one novel, but the author wisely listened to advise to break it into three full-length books, making publishing more feasible and lowering expenses for readers. "I didn't realize that I had three books until it was pointed out to me. I was ambitious about the story's scope so I figured that's why everything was taking so much time and effort. Then creatively, I hit a wall and couldn't write for a number of years. I told myself, 'you used sheer force to process three times the material. Problems with structure and organization were compounded. No wonder you're suffering from writer's block.' I demanded a lot from my creativity. I'm just happy it delivered. She's currently working on the fourth volume in the Sonny Preyer series.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 17, 2015
I’m lost and no one will ever find me here. He wasn’t thinking about Oden, or the castle. He was thinking that he was simply misplaced in the furthest reaches of God’s mind.
This is really the first part of a 3 part story. I can't believe this book took all this time to read it, but Sonny full me with anguish for the character.
Sonny is a 17 almost 18 y.o. with a big secret, and that, plus a delicate health, push him into ostracism. And if he thought that sucks, well, he has not started yet.
You know that old thriller movies, and weird stuff happening and the protagonist feeling that he is losing his mind? And there are weird kind of religious-sect people that speak crazy things? Well, Sonny wake up in a strange world where everybody knows him and reverence him.
And all he wants is to return home.
A pesar de las referencias a Oz, claramente Sonny es más Alicia perdida en un demencial mundo de espejos, donde no puede creer en nadie, donde duda todo el tiempo si es una pesadilla o está en coma , se ha vuelto loco y tiene alucinaciones, o todo es una tremenda conspiración en su contra...
Si, todo el mundo quiere lo mejor para Sonny, perdón ellos lo llaman Sy, una especie de mesias resucitado -literalmente- y que aparece cada 150 años.
I don't like or trust the Doctor/Varce, nor Eldon.
Raeden I understand. Very interesting the jump between realities.
And very much like to know what follow next.
*Copy provided by the author in exchange of a honest review.*
This is really the first part of a 3 part story. I can't believe this book took all this time to read it, but Sonny full me with anguish for the character.
Sonny is a 17 almost 18 y.o. with a big secret, and that, plus a delicate health, push him into ostracism. And if he thought that sucks, well, he has not started yet.
You know that old thriller movies, and weird stuff happening and the protagonist feeling that he is losing his mind? And there are weird kind of religious-sect people that speak crazy things? Well, Sonny wake up in a strange world where everybody knows him and reverence him.
And all he wants is to return home.
A pesar de las referencias a Oz, claramente Sonny es más Alicia perdida en un demencial mundo de espejos, donde no puede creer en nadie, donde duda todo el tiempo si es una pesadilla o está en coma , se ha vuelto loco y tiene alucinaciones, o todo es una tremenda conspiración en su contra...
“The light they believe is sustaining their lands and their way of life, called the Light of Anora, is also called Illumenae. It means embodied light and creation. It means that every one hundred and fifty years, if they honor the light, it will walk among them and bless them, renewing their world for another one hundred and fifty years. It sounds like colorful folklore, but they take this very seriously.”
Si, todo el mundo quiere lo mejor para Sonny, perdón ellos lo llaman Sy, una especie de mesias resucitado -literalmente- y que aparece cada 150 años.
I don't like or trust the Doctor/Varce, nor Eldon.
Raeden I understand. Very interesting the jump between realities.
And very much like to know what follow next.
*Copy provided by the author in exchange of a honest review.*
April 19, 2015
An intriguing fantasy novel starting off in the modern world where Sonny is a bullied high school senior scared that his peers will discover that he is a hermaphrodite. But then the mystery deepens as Sonny (Sy) wakes up in a fantasy world of castles and magic where he is regarded as some kind of god. I did get a little annoyed by Sonny's inability to accept his situation but I am, nevertheless, dying to get my hands on the next installment.
"You're in a frightening new world. You want to go home. You're not going to get home by hiding in the broken house that landed in OZ, are you? You're going to have to risk what might be outside of your reason."
"You're in a frightening new world. You want to go home. You're not going to get home by hiding in the broken house that landed in OZ, are you? You're going to have to risk what might be outside of your reason."
January 7, 2024
I read some of this years ago while it was being posted online. I wish I could go back to that time and read this series again for the first time.
May 11, 2015
I was contacted by the author and asked to read and review the book. She was kind enough to send me a hard copy because I didn't have a Kindle and that's what the digital version was. I had absolutely no idea what the book was about, but I'm always up for something new so in to it I dove. What an absolute breath of fresh air! It is so different from anything else I have read. The author must be brilliant and she has such an amazing and unique imagination. I loved it so much I couldn't wait to get a hard copy of the next book so I downloaded the Kindle app and bought it as soon as I was done with the 1st one. I'm about halfway through with it and love it even more than the first. Can't wait to see what else she comes up with! Keep writing Bridgette. You have a fan for life!
December 15, 2013
Fun and interesting sci-fi read. On to part 2 to find out what happens next...
May 14, 2015
First, a whole bunch of qualifiers. This is of a genre I do not typically read, and it is the first book I have ever read online rather than in print. I received my online copy free from the author Bridgette Hayden. I do not know Ms. Hayden, but I think it takes so much hard work to ever get a book written and then a whole lot of guts to reach out to strangers to get them to read it. And so I did.
I gave the book 4 stars because the story itself is really compelling, or at least it was through the end of part 1. Apparently, it was originally written as one incredibly long book, but subsequently it has been broken down into three parts. I’ve only read part 1.
I was a little reticent as I launched in, being aware that the central character is a hermaphrodite and the book contains what some classify as “M/M” — as I mentioned, not something I would normally pick up at the bookstore. So I kept anticipating being shocked or finding myself reading something I might prefer not to be reading . . . but that never happened.
This is really a fantasy tale about good & evil. It begins concretely enough by introducing the reader to Sonny Preyer, a seemingly ordinary enough 17-year-old boy in high school, with a very private & personal biological secret that he and his family have dealt with all of his life. As the story unfolds, we learn more about Sonny than he knows about himself: that he is no accidental mutation, but rather a god-like figure known as Illumenae who was placed here in our time & plane to protect him from those trying to kill him in his own. The author does a fairly masterful job of gently leading us from reality to fantasy in a for-the-most-part credible way. Once we find ourselves on the continent of Realm in the town of Oden, along with Sonny we begin to learn about the reason for his existence, as part of a centuries-long pact that protects the seven nations and all its inhabitants. Things are required of Sonny (known as Sy in this alternate reality) to ensure the continued peace and prosperity of all, things that he recoils against, as he has no memory of ever being anything other than a human boy. At the end of part 1, both Sonny and the reader are just beginning to get a sense of what might happen next in this land full of mythical creatures and teleportation mirrors and wizards and such.
There are some things about the book that make it less than perfect, though perhaps these are the result of the on-line version or the lack of a professional editor (I’m assuming about the lack of an editor). Occasionally there is word choice that seems wrong, duplicated words that are plainly typos, and misplaced commas. None of that was enough to stop me from furiously turning the online pages to find out what happens next, though it likely would have brought my rating down to 3 stars had the story not been so compelling.
All in all, this book series will likely appeal to older adolescents and young adults, particularly those who enjoy fantasy, sci-fi, and/or edgy romance. But as a much older reader for whom this book was something of an unusual walk-on-the-wild side adventure, I do want to know how the story turns out, so I’ll be purchasing the part 2 and part 3 books. And I hope Ms. Hayden continues to write. She has an astonishing imagination and a compelling way with words.
Wowsers. So now I've read volume 2, and you can see my review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
But all I can, or should really need to, say is keep on reading. You'll be so happy you did.
I gave the book 4 stars because the story itself is really compelling, or at least it was through the end of part 1. Apparently, it was originally written as one incredibly long book, but subsequently it has been broken down into three parts. I’ve only read part 1.
I was a little reticent as I launched in, being aware that the central character is a hermaphrodite and the book contains what some classify as “M/M” — as I mentioned, not something I would normally pick up at the bookstore. So I kept anticipating being shocked or finding myself reading something I might prefer not to be reading . . . but that never happened.
This is really a fantasy tale about good & evil. It begins concretely enough by introducing the reader to Sonny Preyer, a seemingly ordinary enough 17-year-old boy in high school, with a very private & personal biological secret that he and his family have dealt with all of his life. As the story unfolds, we learn more about Sonny than he knows about himself: that he is no accidental mutation, but rather a god-like figure known as Illumenae who was placed here in our time & plane to protect him from those trying to kill him in his own. The author does a fairly masterful job of gently leading us from reality to fantasy in a for-the-most-part credible way. Once we find ourselves on the continent of Realm in the town of Oden, along with Sonny we begin to learn about the reason for his existence, as part of a centuries-long pact that protects the seven nations and all its inhabitants. Things are required of Sonny (known as Sy in this alternate reality) to ensure the continued peace and prosperity of all, things that he recoils against, as he has no memory of ever being anything other than a human boy. At the end of part 1, both Sonny and the reader are just beginning to get a sense of what might happen next in this land full of mythical creatures and teleportation mirrors and wizards and such.
There are some things about the book that make it less than perfect, though perhaps these are the result of the on-line version or the lack of a professional editor (I’m assuming about the lack of an editor). Occasionally there is word choice that seems wrong, duplicated words that are plainly typos, and misplaced commas. None of that was enough to stop me from furiously turning the online pages to find out what happens next, though it likely would have brought my rating down to 3 stars had the story not been so compelling.
All in all, this book series will likely appeal to older adolescents and young adults, particularly those who enjoy fantasy, sci-fi, and/or edgy romance. But as a much older reader for whom this book was something of an unusual walk-on-the-wild side adventure, I do want to know how the story turns out, so I’ll be purchasing the part 2 and part 3 books. And I hope Ms. Hayden continues to write. She has an astonishing imagination and a compelling way with words.
Wowsers. So now I've read volume 2, and you can see my review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
But all I can, or should really need to, say is keep on reading. You'll be so happy you did.
July 16, 2015
SPOILER!!
This is a non-con story, but it's full of love and empowerment. It's even beautiful. It has a soul, and is not violent for the sake of violence. The whole point of Sonny's suffering is to get him to face his inner trauma once and for all. When he does, he becomes a more powerful person, but not before facing the thing that scares him the most, sex. I don't agree to real violence, but I had to make peace with writing fantasy non-con because I couldn't heal myself until I dealt with pain on that level.
This book healed me. It's full of pain, but it's full of triumph as well. The most beautiful parts of life are when you succeed in coming through a problem, out of darkness into light. That's Sonny's journey. I welcome you to read my explanation on non-con:
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
I'm placing this here, to help sensitive readers decide if they should give this novel a chance or not. The fun in reading, for me, is not having all the mystery spelled out and revealed for me. The unknown has a huge part to play in stimulation and excitement. But readers have preconceived notions about non-con that automatically scare them away. I hope to show that it's not the subject, but the way the subject is written about, that determines the soul of a book.
BH
This is a non-con story, but it's full of love and empowerment. It's even beautiful. It has a soul, and is not violent for the sake of violence. The whole point of Sonny's suffering is to get him to face his inner trauma once and for all. When he does, he becomes a more powerful person, but not before facing the thing that scares him the most, sex. I don't agree to real violence, but I had to make peace with writing fantasy non-con because I couldn't heal myself until I dealt with pain on that level.
This book healed me. It's full of pain, but it's full of triumph as well. The most beautiful parts of life are when you succeed in coming through a problem, out of darkness into light. That's Sonny's journey. I welcome you to read my explanation on non-con:
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
I'm placing this here, to help sensitive readers decide if they should give this novel a chance or not. The fun in reading, for me, is not having all the mystery spelled out and revealed for me. The unknown has a huge part to play in stimulation and excitement. But readers have preconceived notions about non-con that automatically scare them away. I hope to show that it's not the subject, but the way the subject is written about, that determines the soul of a book.
BH
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews