Review: The Bitter Kingdom

THE BITTER KINGDOM
Fire and Thorns #3
Rae Carson
Young Adult/Fantasy
448 pages
Greenwillow Books
Available August 27th
Source: e-ARC via Edelweiss for review

THE STORY (from Amazon)
The champion must not waver.
The champion must not fear.
The gate of darkness closes.

Elisa is a fugitive.

Her enemies have stolen the man she loves, and they await her at the gate of darkness. Her country is on the brink of civil war, with her own soldiers ordered to kill her on sight.

Her Royal Majesty, Queen Lucero-Elisa née Riqueza de Vega, bearer of the Godstone, will lead her three loyal companions deep into the enemy's kingdom, a land of ice and snow and brutal magic, to rescue Hector and win back her throne. Her power grows with every step, and the shocking secrets she will uncover on this, her final journey, could change the course of history.

But that is not all. She has a larger destiny. She must become the champion the world has been waiting for.

Even of those who hate her most.

MY THOUGHTS
The Bitter Kingdom is everything the conclusion of a sprawling, epic fantasy should be – a long and exhausting journey fraught with challenges mental, emotional and physical that brings us around full circle from where we began with Elisa so many pages ago. Ms. Carson dives straight back into Elisa’s story with little to no recap of previous events – and very few hints to help us identify some of the secondary characters who don’t feature as prominently in our memories as Elisa and Hector do – so a quick review of some of the events of The Crown of Embers is recommended. That being said however, though we don’t necessarily recall all the finer details of characters and places, it’s easy to get immediately swept up in Elisa’s search for Hector, the foggy specifics of books past becoming ultimately irrelevant in the face of her desperate search for a way to save the man and the country she loves.

Elisa is the type of character about whom it’s an absolute pleasure to read, starting her time with us off a touch whiny and completely unsure of herself as she’s thrust into an arranged marriage, but ending up a fighter, a champion, a leader, and someone whose strength never fails to be awe-inspiring. In this final installment we get to see the many varieties of Elisa’s strength, the augmented power of her Godstone combining with her growing skill in hand to hand combat to show us just how formidable she’s becoming physically, but it’s her strength as a ruler that truly shines. Her Godstone is what guaranteed her ascension to the throne, but it’s her intuition, her ability to think on her feet, and her compassion that keep her there, leaving a trail of unwavering loyalty in her wake as she risks everything for a chance at a better life for her people.

While secondary to the many challenges Elisa faces as both Queen and living bearer of a Godstone, the romance with Hector has been a highlight in the past and continues to be one in The Bitter Kingdom, providing a comforting warmth just when her journey is at its darkest. We are treated to a few select chapters from Hector’s point of view, something that deeply satisfies in the first part of the story when he and Elisa are separated and things between them are a touch up in the air, but even with the uncertainty we know neither Elisa nor Hector are the type to play games or hide feelings. They are nothing short of truthful with one another at all times, expressing fears and concerns on an emotional level as well as a professional one given Hector is Lord-Commander to Elisa’s Queen, and the two of them together simply delight with the upfront nature of their relationship.

The only minor drawback to this final installment is with regard to Elisa’s act of service, something that’s part and parcel with being a bearer and something that’s weighed heavily on her throughout the series. We do find out what her act of service is, but it’s unclear as to why this particular act is so important in the grand scheme of things. Granted, we’re reminded again and again that God’s plan isn’t necessarily going to be readily apparent and that Elisa’s act of service may not be something significant for years to come, but a small hint or clue as to its role down the line would have been nice. Overall though, The Bitter Kingdom is rich of character and story, and I can’t wait to see what Rae Carson comes up with next.

Rating: 4/5
 

Find Rae:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Amazon • Goodreads

 

This book was sent to me by the publisher  free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: Scorched

SCORCHED
Mari Mancusi
Paranormal Young Adult
352 pages
Sourcebooks Fire
Available September 3rd
Source: BEA

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Trinity
Don’t leave me here... It starts with a whisper. At first Trinity thinks she’s going crazy. It wouldn’t be a big surprise—her grandpa firmly believes there’s a genuine dragon egg in their dusty little West Texas town. But this voice is real, and it’s begging for her protection. Even if no one else can hear it...

Connor
He’s come from a future scorched by dragonfire. His mission: Find the girl. Destroy the egg. Save the world.

Caleb
He’s everything his twin brother Connor hates: cocky, undisciplined, and obsessed with saving dragons.

Trinity has no idea which brother to believe. All she has to go by is the voice in her head—a dragon that won’t be tamed.

MY THOUGHTS
Scorched is a story that has our undivided attention from the beginning thanks its dragon-focused premise, dragons being a mythological creature that hasn’t quite yet taken the young adult fiction market by storm. As a result, an air of mystery is created for us readers before we even get to the first page, wondering how Ms. Mancusi is going to bring her beasts to life. Part of the appeal of this story aside from the creatures themselves is that Trinity’s world is in fact ours, no acclimation period necessary as we are instantly at home and comfortable with our surroundings, and we simply get to watch, riveted, as something out of myth and legend finds a new home and begins to thread together a story that doesn’t begin with “once upon a time”.

Trinity is a young women we have a few concerns about after reading the synopsis, worrying and questioning whether or not she’s going to be one of those girls who waffles between two boys, dragging us deeper into her romantic drama when what we want most is to learn about her role in the birth of a dragon and the subsequent end of the world. Luckily for us, Trinity has a good head on her shoulders, though she can be a bit quick at times to dismiss Connor when he tries to explain how he came to be in her time, but honestly, it would be far stranger if she simply accepted what he told her at face value and then jumped in with both feet, especially given her precarious family situation and difficult history.

It doesn’t take her long to be persuaded however, and when she is she proves again and again that in her story there’s no tower in which she idly waits for someone to arrive and set her world to turning, instead she beats all the men in her life to the punch, kicking a new life into gear and fighting tooth and nail to protect what’s most important to her. While she does have romantic moments with both brothers at different points in the story, it makes sense in the context of this tale specifically, with each brother on opposite sides of the battle for the life of Trinity’s dragon and each approaching her with very plausible and equally horrifying versions of the future if she doesn’t listen to their advice. There’s none of the game playing that so often accompanies a love triangle, and there’s no pitting one brother against the other, in fact there’s no declaration of love (or anything even remotely close) of any kind, removing any irritation we might feel at the setup before it can really take root.

There’s certainly potential for the situation between Trinity, Caleb and Connor to turn into a true triangle in future books, but in this first installment the relationships between the three of them are handled beautifully, our allegiance to each brother shifting back and forth along with Trinity’s as more and more about both of them is revealed. While the romantic element is certainly present, it remains secondary to the dragons and the role they are to play in the future from which both Caleb and Connor hail, and we find ourselves easily swept up in trying to figure out if it will be life or death that saves the world, all the while knowing the decision is not quite as black and white as it seems.

Rating: 4/5
 

Find Mari:

Website • Blog • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was given to me at BEA free of charge by the publisher for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Super Six Sunday: Bad Bookish Boyfriends

Inspired by Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and The Bookish, Super Six Sunday, a new feature from the fabulous ladies at Bewitched Bookworms, has different book-related topics each week and asks participants to address each one in the form of a list of six. Obviously.

This week's topic is bad bookish boyfriends, something those of you who read this blog with any frequency know is all-too perfect a topic for me. The hard part of course comes in narrowing this list down to only six–rather than say, one hundred–bad bookish boyfriends. *shakes fist at the Bookworms for limiting me so!* MY LOVE FOR FICTIONAL MEN CANNOT BE CONTAINED IN SUCH A MANNER! I have so very much to give you see, but I endeavored to adhere to the rules of this feature and picked only a handful. *exasperated sigh*

In order to help me compile this list, I narrowed the topic further and chose men who walk a fine line between hero and anti-hero, often saying or doing things that make me want to revoke their candidacy for Fictional Love of Jenny's Life, but yet I find them all the more interesting for their deep, and sometimes very dark, flaws.

1. RYODAN

The Fever Series (adult urban fantasy)

I know. I talk about him a lot. There's just so much to say! He has layers, my friends, LAYERS UPON LAYERS and I adore him. I'll spare you my fawning all over him because I already did that in a previous post, but suffice to say he pretty much owns the term badass and skates the line between someone I love and someone I could easily hate so very, very expertly. I need Burned in my hands as soon as physically possible.

First book in the entire series: Darkfever

First book in Dani's series in which Ryodan is a major player: Iced

2. KAIDAN ROWE

The Sweet Trilogy (paranormal YA)

Okay, like Ryodan, I may have mentioned Kaidan a time or two on this blog. Or possibly 23849203394 times, but that's completely beside the point. The point is Kaidan is the son of the Duke (think demon) of Lust, and he won me over the minute he came on page in Sweet Evil. He's more than just a bad boy who happens to ooze sex appeal; underneath the sharp wit, the British accent, and the devil-may-care attitude lies a young man stuck in a situation he's powerless to change, and he has perhaps more fear in him than he does cocky swagger if you take the time to really look, something very few actually do. If you couldn't tell already, I'll let you in on a little secret: I love him.

First book in the series: Sweet Evil

3. COLE

The Everneath Series (paranormal YA)

Oh, Cole. What a tangled web you weave my friend. Though Cole plays second fiddle to primary love interest Jack in this series, he remains the far more intriguing of the two (but my love for Jack is still epic!), his motivations for every action always shrouded in an untold number of mysteries, and just when I think I have a handle on the man he is, he cracks a sinister smile and laughs right in my face for being so dense. He is both kind and cruel, genuine and devious, and I simply cannot wait to see where things go with him in the third installment of this series.

First book in the series: Everneath

4. GREYFRIAR

Vampire Empire Series (adult urban fantasy/steampunk)

This trilogy completely and unexpectedly blew me away when I first picked it up a couple years ago, the world a welcome yet devastating return to a time when vampires were not the stuff of romance novels, but rather the monstrous killing machines of legend. The Greyfriar is one who hunts them, but as things unfolded in the first book I quickly realized the mask he wears hides far more than just his features from the world, and once I got a peek at what was underneath, I had to know everything there was to know. Like the others on this list he sometimes straddles the line between black and white, though he proves again and again that gray is a far more attractive and addictive color.

First book in the series: The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire)

5. PHOENIX

The Violet Eden Chapters (paranormal YA)

Phoenix has led me on a merry dance through this series (though like Cole, he is not the primary love interest, that honor falls to Lincoln). In one book I despise him and everything he is, but then in the next book he shows a completely new side to himself that has my fingers turning from claws that would slice him open to clutching digits that would pull him closer and never let him go. He can be brutal and plays a mean emotional game with Violet and Lincoln, but in the rare moments when his guard drops he shines brighter than any other character, and the glutton for punishment in me never fails to rejoice when he makes an appearance on page.

First book in the series: Embrace

6. RAPHAEL

The Guild Hunter Series (adult paranormal Romance)

Ooooo Raphael, you are a sexy bastard. I am an enormous fan of all things Nalini Singh, and though you've probably seen me gush most often about my love of alpha wolf Hawke from her Psy-Changeling series (YOU'RE STILL MY FIRST LOVE HAWKE!), I absolutely adore her Guild Hunter series as well. In these books we get to spend time with Raphael, the archangel of New York, a man who is all power and steel and immortality, and who time has hardened and shaped into someone unyielding and unrelenting. He is perhaps the most alpha of all Nalini's many alpha men, but when Elena enters his life we have the pleasure of watching the rigidity of him start to ever-so-slightly relax (though not much mind you), giving but the barest of inches before his archangel superiority snaps back into place. He's infuriating and intoxicating and if you've yet to meet him, you're missing out.

First book in the series: Angels' Blood

Damsel Distressed: Cover Design Contest

I'm absolutely giddy today to share with you an exciting opportunity the fabulous team over at Spencer Hill Press is putting forth for anyone artistically inclined: the chance to design the cover for Damsel Distressed by Kelsey Macke, a 2014 release. All the details about the book and the contest are below, and I hope many of you are as excited to enter as I am!

Kelsey Macke’s DAMSEL DISTRESSED Cover Design Contest

  

Kelsey Macke’s DAMSEL DISTRESSED (Spencer Hill Contemporary, 2014) is the story of Imogen Keegan, a seventeen-year old girl who has been stuck in a cycle of clinical depression, self-harm, and baked-goods-addiction since her mom died seven years ago.

The book, DAMSEL DISTRESSED, is equal parts hurt and heart, and is held together by Imogen’s journal entries of poems, doodles, lyrics, and the “back stage” musings of a theatre-loving girl who is so much more than the sum of her parts.

Imogen’s journal is part of the prose, but the line between fiction and reality blurs when readers have the ability to use their computer or mobile device to access all kinds of interactive online content.

The cornerstone of this supplemental content is the album of real life songs, written and performed by the author as part of the band, Wedding Day Rain called IMOGEN UNLOCKED.

The inside of the book is highly interactive and driven by the readers’ experience.

The creative team wants nothing less for the outside of the book as well!

So, in the spirit of community and collaboration, we’re having a cover contest!

The DAMSEL DISTRESSED cover contest will be open from August 16th until September 22nd, 2014.

We’re so excited to see all of the incredible ideas you have that will tap into Imogen’s story.

There will be three rounds, each narrowing the entries, and culminating in a public vote for one of three top slots! Additionally, ten semi-finalists will win a $10 itunes gift card and a $10 Barnes and Noble gift card. The grand prize winner will not only earn the design commission and a copy of the book once printed, but will also have the opportunity to design the album artwork and swag!

If you or someone you know is eager to dive into the world of publishing design, this is a great opportunity to grow a portfolio and get paid!

For full details on the contest, including all terms, conditions, and instructions for submitting your design, visit www.damseldistressed.com!

Kelsey Macke is a twitterphile, (@KelsNotChels) and enthusiastic Nerdfighter. DAMSEL DISTRESSED is her first novel. www.KelseyMacke.com

Cover Reveal + Giveaway: Trust In Me by Jennifer Armentrout/J.Lynn

I'm thrilled today to be a part of the cover reveal for Jennifer Armentrout's upcoming novella, Trust in Me, which gives us Cam's side of the story from Wait For You. Ahhhh! YES! I'm a huge fan of Jennifer's books so I of course will be devouring this one the minute I get my hands on it in October, so without more rambling from me, check out the cover and synopsis!

It’s Wait for You as you’ve never seen it. Trust in Me lets you in on Cam’s side of the #1 New York Times Bestselling story.

Cameron Hamilton is used to getting what he wants, especially when it comes to women. But when Avery Morgansten comes crashing into his life – literally – he finally meets the one person who can resist his soulful baby blues. But Cam’s not ready to give up. He can’t get the feisty and intriguing girl out of his head.

Avery has secrets, secrets that keep her from admitting the feelings Cam knows she has for him. Will persistence (and some delicious homemade cookies) help him break down her barriers and gain her trust? Or will he be shut out of Avery's life, losing his first real shot at the kind of love that lasts forever?

• • • • • • • • • • 

GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cathy Reviews: Terminated + Possession

I'm excited today to welcome back yet again my fabulous mother in law Cathy to share with us her thoughts on a couple more of the books she so graciously agreed to read and review for the blog (even though these are both later books in series she's never read). As always, a huge thank you to her for sharing in this blogging experience with me!

TERMINATED
Revivalist #3
Rachel Caine
Urban Fantasy
304 pages
Roc/Penguin
Available now
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Already addicted to the pharmaceutical drug that keeps her body from decomposing, Bryn has to stop a secretive group of rich and powerful investors from eliminating the existing Returné addicts altogether. To ensure their plan to launch a new, military-grade strain of nanotech, the investors’ undead assassin—who just happens to be the ex-wife of Bryn’s lover Patrick—is on the hunt for anyone that stands in their way.

And while Bryn’s allies aren’t about to go down without a fight, the secret she’s been keeping threatens to put those closest to her in even more danger. Poised to become a monster that her own side—and her own lover—will have to trap and kill, Bryn needs to find the cure to have any hope of preserving the lives of her friends, and her own dwindling humanity…

CATHY'S THOUGHTS
Terminated is the third book in the Revivalist Series, but I have not read the previous two books. If you want a deeper understanding of how the characters came to be in their current circumstances, I'd recommend starting with the first novel, though I will say Ms. Caine does a good job catching us up on the plot even while dropping us into the middle of the continuing saga.
 
Bryn is ex-military, part of an experiment that turned her into "Dead Girl Walking"(her words). She is basically an engineered zombie. This is not usually a genre I read because of all the eating people and things, but Bryn has a lot of heart. She realizes that her humanity is slowly waning, so she and her friends try to find the cure that will stop this from happening to others. 

Ms. Caine has well-developed characters and you can feel their angst as they try to make some moral and ethical decisions. The way in which the characters are written is almost enough make you forget they are zombies and concentrate solely on the storyline.
 

This book has something for everyone: Villains, spies, lots of action and even some romance. While I was reading, I could picture this story as blockbuster action movie as it has all the elements needed for the big screen. I don't want to give anything away but in the end, there are tough decisions, sacrifices and a small twist. Everything you need to keep you turning the pages and leaving you a little sad when the story is over.
 
Rating: 3.5/5

POSSESSION
Greywalker #8
Kat Richardson
Urban Fantasy
368 pages
Available now
Roc/Penguin
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
When a comatose woman suddenly wakes up and starts painting scenes she’s never witnessed, with a skill she’s never had, medical science has no explanation. As more bizarre phenomena manifest, even her doctors start to wonder if the woman may be possessed. Frustrated and frightened, the patient’s sister reluctantly turns to Greywalker Harper Blaine to discover who—or what—is occupying her sister’s body.

As Harper digs into the case of apparent possession, she discovers other patients struck with the same mystifying afflictions and a disturbing connection to one of the most gruesome stories in Washington’s history…

CATHY'S THOUGHTS
Possession is part of the well-established Greywalker series which follows Blaine Harper, a private investigator, as she travels between the normal and the paranormal worlds. This is a stand-alone case, but Ms. Richardson does make the (logical) assumption that we've read the other books in the series and are completely up to date on the characters and backstory. I have to admit this is the first book in the series that I've read, so I naturally felt there could have been a few more details earlier in the story to help me connect sooner.
 
Ms. Richardson does have great character development though, not with just the main characters but also with the many quirky acquaintances she introduces us to who are highly amusing. She also has clearly done in-depth research into the Seattle area, making me want to pack up and visit as soon as possible (except for the weather!). Ms. Richardson's plotline is well-developed and rooted in some true and haunting Seattle mysteries. She had me looking up these murders and murderers online.
 
This book has ghosts, mystery, spies and yes, romance. Because it's a continuing series though, there is a plot thread that is left hanging so as to carry on to the next book. I would recommend at least reading the first book, which I intend to do, to get a fuller picture of how Blaine started on this career path.

Rating: 3.5/5
 
* I found a common thread between these two books. Both had strong and compelling heroines who both just happen to have died and been brought back. Though "dead" they both maintained their humanity and were trying to help those around them, and I really enjoyed that about both books. Hopefully you will enjoy these women as well.
 

 These books were sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my (or in this case, Cathy's) honest opinion.