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War by Jennifer Anne Davis

Title: War

Author: Jennifer Anne Davis

Series: True Reign #3 (last)

Genre: Medieval, Romance, YA, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Swords

Source: Kindle

Pages: 252 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Available at:

Amazon(.ca) • Goodreads • Amazon(.com)

Blurb: (via Goodreads)

When Rema chose to be crowned queen and join the rebel forces, she knew she'd face the fight of her life. What she didn't expect was to be kidnapped by an Emperion assassin and taken to the mainland to be executed in front of the emperor. How can she save Greenwood Island if she can't even save herself?

Darmik knows he doesn't have much time to rescue Rema. He’s denounced his position as Commander and Prince in order to join the rebels. But now he must rely on his family name in order to go before the Emperor—his uncle—and beg for Rema’s life.

If Rema and Darmik have any hope of being together and saving their kingdom, they must survive the greatest threat of all—Emperion.

This is the heart-pounding conclusion to The True Reign Series.

My Review:

I have reviewed the first two books of this trilogy. The first book is The Key, which you can read HERE, and the second is Red, which you can read HERE. I will have a few spoilers in this review, but I will warn you before you can read them.

So first and foremost, if you have gotten this far in the series that means you know the worst part of the first two books… THE CLIFFHANGERS! As soon as I finished Red, I had to start War right away. It was already 10pm, and I was tired, and I had to get up early, but I read it anyway because the cliffhanger just draws you back in. I am happy that the end of the third book didn’t have some twist and end in a cliffhanger… thank the Book Gods for this being the last in the series! I don’t think my sleep schedule could have taken it.

Another love: Nathenek (AKA “Captain”). Every time there was an interaction between him and Rema, I was grinning like and idiot. They were by far my favorite parts of the book. I don’t know if I loved him because he was kind of a badass, or because he actually had a sense of honor, or what. What I DO know is that I wanted Rema to throw Darmik out the window and fall into Nathenek’s arms so they could live happily ever after. SPOILER: I was thoroughly disappointed when it didn’t happen (not that I thought it really would… there was too much foundation between Rema and Darmik to just throw it all out the window… But still!!) I kind of hope to see a spin off series that has Nathenek as the main character; I would love to see the world from his eyes.

BIT OF A SPOILER HERE: Another think I enjoyed was seeing Darmik and Rema together again. As much as I love Nathenek, Darmik has earned my trust at this point and I wanted Rema to get the happily ever after she deserved. I like how accepting Darmik was of Rema’s new status. He didn’t want either of the crowns for himself, although he could have fought for them. I expected more of an inner conflict about all this new information that was thrown at him concerning Rema, but he didn’t even flinch. In the end, all of the tiny things that made Darmik Darmik made me accept him as Rema’s True Love once and for all… ^{Sorry Nathenek!} As a side note, I also loved the fact that Darmik was the Emperor’s illegitimate son. It explained so much; mainly why he was treated like crap going up by the man he THOUGHT was his father. It was a interesting and unexpected twist.

Now for some of the things I didn’t love so much. The biggest issue I had with this conclusion to the trilogy was that it was very rushed. It definitely could have used at least 50-100 extra pages. Additionally, while changing perspectives from Darmik and Rema, I think the timeline gets a little muddled up… and if it doesn’t, then I was definitely just confused. I had to go back and reread to make sure I understood certain things correctly. Lastly, most of the story takes place in the sandy empire, rather than their home country. I wanted to see more of the civil war between the tyrant and the rebels! I wanted to see Darmik fight his brother and father more. I wanted Darmik to confront his father about how he treated him all this time. We see a bit of it at the end, but it was very rushed.

In comparison, the pros outweigh the cons by far. The cons that do exist are mostly nit-picky things that are based on personal preference. The ending to this trilogy left me pleased and content with the story that spanned over three books. The only wish I have is that we got to see more of Nathenek from the start. I would have liked to see his development throughout the books. Maybe we will get to see a spin off series with him… CROSSING MY FINGERS! This was a great job by Jennifer Anne Davis. I suggest it to all those who love Romance, YA, Historical Fiction, Medieval Fantasy, and Swords.

Book Haul!

Hey all! So, I just recorded my first book haul, and the list of books I have bought in such a short frame of time is ridiculously long! Check it out here!

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I just want to give a quick thank you to everyone who has supported me and followed me these past few years. You are all so amazing and patient for those months I am too busy to post much of anything. You are the reason I keep doing what I do, so from the bottom of my heart, Thank You.

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ЯED by Jennifer Anne Davis

Title: ЯED

Author: Jennifer Anne Davis

Series: The True Reign # 2

Genre: Medieval, YA, Romance

Source: Kindle

Pages: 367 pages

Rating: 5 stars!

Available at:

Amazon(.ca) • Goodreads • Amazon(.com)

Blurb: (via Goodreads)

Sentenced to be executed.

Betrayed. Alone.

Hung on the gallows.

Rema thought her life was over, but she was wrong.

Saved by a rebel force she’d only ever heard rumors about, Rema finds herself in a forbidden place. She is finally safe—free from the king and Prince Lennek. But not everything is as it seems at the rebel fortress. Secrets are whispered, and loyalties are tested. Once Rema uncovers the truth of her heritage, will she flee? Or will she ascend to the throne, taking on the responsibility of an entire kingdom?

Now that Darmik knows Rema’s true identity, he’s on a quest to save her. But when an Emperion assassin arrives on Greenwood Island, Darmik knows he doesn’t have very long to find her. In a deadly game with high stakes, will Darmik remain loyal to his family? Or will he break away and join the rebels?

Kingdoms rise and fall.

Heroes are born and made.

But one thing remains the same—love conquers all.

My Review:

Gah! The second book of the True Reign series was basically everything I had hoped for.  It had a very Scent of Magic (by Maria V. Snyder) feel to it. I am so excited to review it! If you haven’t read my review of The Key, the first book in the series. I suggest you read it before reading this review. If you would like to read my review for The Key, you can read that HERE. Spoilers ahead. You have been warned.

So Rema has been saved! She is now at the Rebel Camp (*cough* fortress *cough*) and is being healed before she starts training. She still doesn’t know who she really is and despite her best efforts, no one is telling her the truth. Meanwhile Darmik is all torn up about how he feels about Rema, but he is determined to find her. AND an assassin from their Sister Country has come to make sure that Rema dies because he DOES know whom Rema really is… Lastly, we have good ol’ Lennik who is being a spoiled little brat as usual. Now that we are all caught up on the brief summary here, lets get to the technical stuff.

The writing was a massive improvement from the first book. There was less of a cheesy factor at the entirety of the novel flowed a hell of a lot better than the first. The plot deepened nicely. Jennifer Davis continued the story right where she left off and introduced us to a whole range of new characters. In the first novel we only got to see brief fights with rebels. In this sequel, we got to see the Rebels in their entirety. It was a nice contrast to see the other side of the silent war. The most important role the Rebels play, in my opinion, is helping Rema really develop in this novel.

Gone is the girl who will accept things lying down. In this novel, she learns to defend herself, she learns how the other side has been living, and she learns a bit about herself and who she wants to be. On the other side of this battle, we see Darmik in his inner conflict about how he feels about Rema. He gets to truly see the ruthlessness of his father and brother and the cruelty they have inflicted to the country. Because of his love for Rema, he is able to see past his blind loyalty to his father to see the horrible ruler he is, and how much worse his brother will be.

I liked how the romantic aspect of the novel played out. We got a little bit of that love triangle going, and though I would hesitate once again to call it a TRUE ‘love triangle’, we did get to see other possible suitors for Rema’s love to decide how we felt about Darmik.

The one thing I didn’t like about this novel was the constant bouncing back and forth between Rema and Darmik. I know it was necessary, but I felt that it did interrupt the flow a little bit. It wasn’t a huge deal, more of a preferential thing, and I didn’t away points or stars for it, but I would have liked to see more of a focus on Rema’s POV, with the occasional POV of Darmik to learn what was going on behind enemy lines.

Overall, a GREAT second installment for the series. I can’t wait to read the third (and last?) installment! In typical Davis fashion, the sequel ends with a huge cliffhanger, so it will be interesting to see where things play out. I highly suggest this book for any Maria V. Snyder fans, and Sarah J. Maas fans out there!

The Key by Jennifer Anne Davis

Title: The Key

Author: Jennifer Anne Davis

Series: The True Reign

Genre: Medieval-esque, YA, Romance

Source: Kindle

Pages: 342 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars!

Available at:

Amazon(.ca) • Goodreads • Amazon(.com)

Blurb: (via Goodreads)

Within these pages lie kingdoms with castles and princes who fall in love with fair maidens, but make no mistake−this is no fairytale.

His father’s kingdom is on the brink of upheaval and at the center of it all is an ordinary girl who could be the key to its undoing. When faced with the ultimate choice, will he choose the girl he’s falling in love with or the kingdom he has sworn to protect?

An ordinary girl with an extraordinary past. All she wants is to be free. What she doesn’t realize is that freedom comes with a price she can’t afford to pay. She’s forced to accept the proposal of a prince she despises, even though her heart belongs to someone else . . . his brother.

Seventeen-year-old Rema lives in a brutal kingdom where travel between regions is forbidden, people are starving, and looking at someone the wrong way can mean death. Nineteen-year-old Darmik is the king’s son and Commander of the King’s Army. He spends his days roving the island, doing his father’s bidding and trying to maintain control over the people.

When a chance encounter throws Rema and Darmik together, they share an instantaneous connection, but any sort of relationship between them is strictly forbidden. Darmik’s brother, the Crown Prince, notices Darmik’s interest in Rema and, in a calculated, political move, blackmails her. Faced with an impossible choice, Rema is forced to sacrifice her heart in order to save her family.

As Rema is taken to the palace with the Crown Prince, Darmik confronts the growing rumor that a legitimate blood heir to the throne exists and is trying to overthrow Darmik’s family. In Darmik’s quest to hunt down and kill the threat, he discovers that nothing is as it seems. Locked in the king’s castle, Rema finds herself a key player in a massive power struggle. When Darmik shows up, she’s not sure if she can trust him. The line between friends, enemies, and loyalty becomes blurred. As truths are unlocked, Rema understands that she just might be the key to finding the rightful heir and restoring peace to the kingdom… if she can manage to stay alive long enough.

My Review:

I was pleasantly surprised with this book. The first book in the series is technically free, and that isn’t always a good thing. However, free is free and the description sounded really interesting so I decided to give it a shot.

There wasn’t a lot that I didn’t like about it, 2 things really, and they were both pretty technical. It is obvious to the reader who Rema is. Given that you read the prologue, the reader knows for a fact that Rema is the secret princess almost right away… we are just waiting for everyone else to figure it out, including herself. Saying that, the first point on my con list is that there were SOO many clues as to who Rema actually was and Darmik is so blind to it. I was getting pretty annoyed. And when he does figure it out, he gets all peeved because he thinks she knows who she is and lied to him and planned this huge scheme all along, which wasn’t the case at all. The second part I had a problem with was the riddle that is given. It was SO vague and it was solved in no time. It wasn’t really that great of a riddle to begin with, which is a major pet peeve of mine when it comes to that type of thing. It definitely could have used some revising.

Now on to my loves! I LOVED the characters. Rema was headstrong and free spirited and wild, but had a fierce sense of loyalty and showed compassion. Important qualities for a princess… even if she doesn’t know she is one.  Darmik was also well structured. I liked how dedicated he was to his job, he was actually sentencing executions and trying to defeat the rebels, he wasn’t helping them escape or showing mercy like I expected his character to do. I don’t think I would have liked him so much if he didn’t have that hard, military side to him. He is a man full of flaws and it was perfectly done… even if I didn’t agree with some of the writing choices, I did like how it tied together with his character.

I WAS a little disappointed by the lack of character development. Darmik maybe develops a tiny bit, but everyone else pretty much remains the same. However, I am willing to cut the author some slack because it is the first book in the series and she was pretty busy laying down the plots foundation. Saying that, I am loving the plot! It has definitely been done before, it reminds me a bit of Sarah Maas’ Throne of Glass (which you can read my review about HERE). Secret princess, tyrant king, love triangle between the prince and the commander of the army. Very similar, even though I would be hesitant to call whats between Rema, Darmik and the prince a ‘love triangle’ seeing as there is an obvious love interest… or at least there is for this first book. I would be interested to see if that changes in the next two novels.

Overall, it was pretty well done. The writing was engaging, the plot is pretty good, I don’t always agree with the artistic choices the author made, but I don’t necessarily disagree with them either… some things were done differently than I would have imagined but the same outcome came out of it. I would definitely recommend this book to my medieval lovers out there, and those who are fond of the whole secret princess aspect. I can’t wait to read book 2!

True Colors by Melissa Pearl

Title: True Colors

Author: Melissa Pearl

Series: The Mask Series (book #1)

Genre: YA, Ability, Romance

Source: Kindle

Pages: 370

Rating: 2.5 stars

Available at:

Amazon(.ca) • Goodreads • Amazon(.com)

Blurb: (via Goodreads)

Caitlyn Davis always cruised through life, not being the type to ruffle feathers or involve herself in high school drama. That is, until a chance encounter with a strange, homeless man changes everything.

Suddenly, Caitlyn has the ability to see behind people's masks. She discovers that her life isn’t as simple as she imagined and high school is filled with secrets...some very sinister ones.

Unable to ignore her new gift, Caitlyn embarks on a mission to learn why one of her friends suddenly appears terrified, but masks her fear with a bright, smiling veneer. Will Caitlyn's new ability lead her into hot water? Or is her newfound vision a blessing that will expose her friends' true colors?

Her quest will lead Caitlyn to lose friends, stand up for those in need, and even find love.

At Palisades High School every face tells a story...

My Review:

I have been on a reading hiatus, and I am SO happy to be reading again! Not so happy that this was the first book I read of my Summer Reading List. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t BAD per se, but it wasn’t particularly good either. It was very much caught in the middle of the two.

The first thing the novel had against it was how generic it was. It’s about a friendly girl who is apart of the ‘in crowd’, only to find out that her group of friends aren’t that great. She discovers this via her new superpower to read people true emotions through their eyes and was granted this gift through a homeless man whom she showed a bit of kindness too. She falls for the boy next door, he falls for her, OH, and the conflict! There is a cheating scam at school and only she can figure it out with the help of some new friends and her new boyfriend. It doesn’t sound that bad overall, it has just been done so many times it’s ridiculous. However, I didn’t really take off points for generity (is that a word?... I am making it a word.)

Dislikes:

The first thing I took point off for was how easy it was to guess what was going to happen with the conflict. Unfortunately, the author lacked the ability to make subtle clues to give to the reader and basically just put a neon sign reading “CHEATING SCAM!” I did almost think it was drugs, because of the level of violence involved with the ringleaders seemed a bit too extreme for a cheating scam, but drugs didn’t make any sense.

The second thing I took points off for was the romantic aspect. The relationship between Eric and Caity happened really fast, in my opinion, and had no real conflict. A great potential conflict was presented, but was never used. I also would have liked to see Stella (Caity’s [ex] best friend) find out about the relationship. Considering she had major hots for Eric, the blow out would have created some much needed tension. On that note, I also didn’t like how Stella and Caity’s friendship just ceased to be. It also wasn’t given the drama it deserved and had no real fallout.

The last thing I want to address in the con side of things was how easily her superpower was controlled. After gaining this new power the reader is given maybe half a chapter of the main character freaking out and trying to control it before she suddenly learns how to master it. It was yet another area the author could have taken liberties to create sub conflicts or some tension, but it wasn’t really utilized that effectively.

LIKES!!!

Ok, just so you know, I didn’t hate this book. I mean, when I post this review on Goodreads and Amazon, I’ll round it up to 3 stars. It did have some great points!

First, the character development was a major savior. Caity doesn’t just save the day in this book; she discovers who she is and who she wants to be. She realizes that she doesn’t want to continue to be this naïve follower that she starts off as at the beginning of the book, and as she develops her power, she finds a new group of friends (and a boyfriend) that she can be herself around and who she enjoys to be around. I felt the author did an AMAZING job developing her and it was something that happened fairly gradually and realistically.

                                            

Minor bonus points were given for not making the conflict about drugs; the overdone factor would have made me stop reading half way through it. Minor points were also given for the GORGEOUS book cover. I am a huge “judge a book by its cover” kind of reader, it’s what draws me into a book and makes me read the blurb on the back, and True Colors had that going for it in spades! Probably one of the main reasons I bought it actually. *Yoda voice* Good sales technique it was!

Although it was definitely a book that has been done before, it reminded me a lot of The Body Finder series by Kimberly Derting and the Clarity series by Kim Harrington. It wasn’t executed nearly as well as either series, but it definitely was in the right direction. I think the biggest difference between the two above and this series is that the main characters of both Derting’s and Harrington’s novels knew when the police needed to be contacted. In True Colors, contacting the police was an obvious step that was taken way too late and probably would have helped the book more if it were added earlier.

Overall, this was a simple read. It wasn’t anything extraordinary in my opinion, but I didn’t hate it. It wasn’t something that memorable, and I probably won’t read the sequels, but I’ll have to keep an eye out for the author. I think she has a lot of potential that has yet to be utilized!