When Princess Cecily Degalt travels south to wed a prince she's never met, she's ushered into a strange new world alongside her best friend and bodyguard, Rory Castille. With an MIA fiancé, his handsome twin brother, and a kidnapping gone wrong, life in Myrzel isn't quite what Cecily expected.
Rory will do anything to keep Cecily from harm--but when Rory's darkest secret comes between her and Cecily, the greatest danger to the princess might be Rory herself.
Torn apart for the first time, each girl will have to think like the other as she faces not only the darkness of Fangralee Forest, but a dangerous enemy closer to home. (Pub Date: Jan 17, 2017)
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
This is an adventure about friendship and trust. You may also be surprised by some nice plot twists.
This certainly deserved 3.5, could I give them.
Cecily arrives at her soon-to-be-reign only to find her fiancé didn't know she would be coming so soon and is thus away. At the same time she starts being courted by the twin brother of the prince, her best friend and mentor and bodyguard and almost-sister Rory behaves differently.
I enjoyed both the new air and the nostalgic feeling this book represented to me. Considering I don't usually read fantasy, the fantasy part of this story was simply amazing. It made me revive other fantasy stories—not only books.
Although I can't say opine whether the world-building was creative—although it did seem so to me—, it was certainly entertaining. We have princes, myths, magic, shape-shifters, a dark forest and love potions that actually work and are widely used.
The main characters are Cecily, the princess, and Rory, a guard disguised as one of Cecily's ladies. Their bond was pretty impressive from the start. I don't think there are enough books focusing on friendship but this was a rare example. And I should say this also had romance, because many that do focus on friendship usually do so never mentioning a romance. And if they do, it is because the two friends will dispute the same guy. No, it doesn't happen here in any way. I need to add this, but I also kept cheering for some twists so the couples could be together, so you won't hear me complain about romance. Just wait until the second half of the book, because there is enough.
Not only the main characters but the remaining characters were also very pleasing to read, aside from the villain. I feel I needed more motive for him. In fact, if this story has a flaw, it is how shallow the plot is in spite of all the back story the author has managed to build.
Also, this is the second in a series, and the first I read. There shouldn't be a real need to read the first to understand but because of how story is told and characters are introduced, for a while I suspected I had missed something from book 1. I was wrong, however. So, don't worry. You can go straight for this book. On the other hand, I now want to read every part of the series, so you might as well start from #1, A Stolen Kiss.
I recommend this to younger people, since they are the target audience and the plot never goes as deep as a more mature reader would have wished. Nonetheless, as someone out of the target audience, the nostalgia from this read compensated for any flaw. Additionally, plot twists aren't hard to guess but they were well thought of, and the author never dumbed-down the story. This was a great pick, and I regret nothing!
Rating: 3 out of 5.
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