Book Blurb:
"Love is destined to find her..."
Dainy doesn't know that she is the lost Duchess of Jordinia, believed to have been assassinated fifteen years ago. Nor does she know that her uncle has implemented an illegal contest to seek her, offering her marriage hand as the reward! Though at odds, three clashing rivals - including a noble giant, a forest dweller and a thieving rake - voyage together by woodland, prairie and sea to recover the lost royal, notwithstanding the assassins and spies at their tail. Soon, young Dainy is swept into a comically complex romantic quadrangle as each suitor competes to capture her heart. Charmingly romantic and bursting with political intrigue, startling twists and vivid characters, readers of romance and fantasy alike will adore this original yet timeless tale of swashbuckling adventure and unlikely love.
Add the book on
Goodreads
Pick up a copy from
Amazon,
B&N,
Books a Million,
48Fourteen,
Author's Site
My Review:
3 Out Of 5 Stars
Genre: Another-World, Suspense, Royal-Court, Romance--
15 years ago, the royal family was murdered during an uprising…all but the 3 year old Duchess, whose life was secretly spared and she was smuggled away. Now, her existence has been revealed and her uncle has sent a search party to find her, full of willing able-bodied men who want 50 pounds of gold as well as the girl’s hand in marriage. The journey is fraught with potential disaster, betrayals and secrets, and it is a much dangerous journey than anyone expected.
I love the story of Anastasia, the lost and potentially only remaining member of the Russian Royal family, and I will admit that I was hoping to read something like that. My expectations may have been high and off target though, because that was not really what this book was. I think I would classify this as a sort of action adventure story set in a fictional world that has regions that are similar to Russia (with the comrade references) and Africa. There was a lot of dark subject matter such as death, murder, spies, betrayal, secrets, yet the story was not overwhelmingly dark or dreary. It was a fairly light read, all things considered.
I really assumed that the story would be predominantly about Dainy (aka the Duchess), how she learns who she really was and maybe some romance happily thrown in. Well, the story does have Dainy in it, but it also has a large cast of other characters as well. Each chapter was told from a different perspective, be it one of the three men in the search party, the uncle, the assassin sent to kill Dainy, the “Aunt’s” who raised her, her “Uncle”, just to name a few. I feel like I know the two men in the search party, Jon and Mac, much better than I could ever feel about Dainy (or any of the other characters mentioned). She was not really a big part of the book for at least the first 100 pages, and she was not a narrator at that time at all. I kind of felt that she was not the main character, but really a tool to reveal the personalities and depth of character of the two men who want her, as well as to represent the unrest in the nation. On a positive note, having the chapters be very short and from so many different points of view helped the story to fly by. It was easy to pick the book up and read a chapter and then like 10 more without realizing it.
There were a lot of secrets and surprising twists the story revealed that I could never have predicted. This is one of those books that have a LOT of moving parts and the reader needs to see everything for the book to come fully together. Overall I found it to be a fun adventure story, but it was not my favorite read. At times I felt like there was too much going on and so many characters that I could not keep it all straight for the longest time. I would recommend this to anyone wanting some court intrigue and danger set in a fictional world.
I received this title from the author in return for my honest review.
C.K. Brooke is a 2015 Shelf Unbound Notable Indie author with a five-star rating by Readers' Favorite. She holds numerous fantasy and romance publications with 48fourteen, Limitless Publishing, and Elphame Press. Her lifelong passion is books - reading, writing, editing, publishing and blogging about them. When not blissing out in literary land, she enjoys info-tainment podcasts, singing, songwriting and playing the piano. She lives in Washington, Michigan with her husband and young son. There's tons to check out at the new CKBrooke.com, so come and see what she's up to!
You can find her on
Goodreads,
Facebook,
Twitter,
Amazon and her
website
Enter the Giveaway
Here
Blog Tour provided by
YA Bound Book Tours
No comments:
Post a Comment