Another Man's Bride by Ariel MacArran

Isabella is on the run from English court, moving from England to Scotland to marry a young noble whom she has never met before. Carrying her dowery in the procession she is an enormous target for outlaws and vagabonds alike. Isabella has accepted her future as a lady of the court and a marriage to a man she has never met, until she is captured by Lord MacKimzie. Held prisoner in his castle, Isabella must find a way home, before she's tempted to stay forever.

"A gate to Hell was known to exist in Scotland. She would not put it past MacKimzie to be leading them all there."

A beautifully researched historical romance, Another Man's Bride takes what can sometimes seem to be a boring and monotonous time period, and turns it into an exciting journey of love, loss, and murder. For one who does not normally take to historical romances, this one really brought me over. The linguistics of the writing are superb, capturing the essence of a 15th century highlander, without it being incomprehensible. Even the smallest details, like what the people ate a drank were carefully kept within the standards of the time. While none of my European studies classes have reached so far back, the history seemed nicely incorporated, and I'm sure it was all very accurate. Bringing Joan of Arc into the story–and using her real spelling–as a great touch.

Isabella is a great heroine, though there are a few face-palm moments. She's a strong heroine who has the pressure of duty to her family resting on her shoulders, all the while she's slowly falling in love with someone she knows she can never have. Her actions are always quite warranted, and so many sad things happen to her that I found myself wanting to reach out and give her a hug. She does the best she can in a tough situation, especially for only being nineteen.

MacKimzie was also a great main character. He portrayed the highlander very well, with his quick temper but also extreme love and loyalty to his people. Any scene he was in he brought to life, and made that much more colorful and exciting.

There's a great quote I was going to insert in here, but then I realized it would be a huge spoiler, and I just can't do that. This book doesn't need spoilers, it needs to be read.

The only thing that I didn't quite love about the book is how little time Isabella and MacKimzie got to spend together. Don't get me wrong, when they were together it was like magic, but compared to other books by Ariel, they weren't together very much.

As tragic and beautiful as Juliet and her Romeo, Another Man's Bride will take you by the hand and submerse you into the vivid world of Isabella and Colyne MacKimzie, holding you prisoner on the edge of your seat, until the very end. Thankfully however, unlike our infamous friend Mr. Shakespeare, Ariel doesn't find pleasure in crushing her reader's hearts beneath the sole of her boot. So do not fear all you fellow hopeless romantics, the resolution will not leave you injured and bleeding.

I highly recommend this book, even for people you normally do not appreciate historical fiction. Trust me, it's worth it.

Five Stars

Rosalie Williams

Another Man's Bride on Goodreads

The Seer by Ariel MacArran

In the Realm, Seers are not citizens. They are no better than animals and are to be executed on sight. That's why Arissa has been in hiding her entire life, after her parents faked her death at the age of five. But when she sees a Fleet Commander being held at gunpoint in an alley, she can no longer cower in the shadows, and steps into the light to save him. Bound by honor to save Arissa's life, Jolar has no choice but to take the beautiful Seer on his mission to a corrupt and dangerous planet, where dark intentions are afoot. It doesn't take long for Jolar to realize that Seers are nothing like the Realm makes them out to be, and in the dangerous world that he has brought Arissa in to, he's going to have to give up everything to keep her safe.

"Just in case my thoughts and feelings aren't shouting it to you, my beautiful Seer–I'm madly, wildly in love with you and nothing is going to keep me away from you."

Drawn in by the beautiful cover, I picked up this book, though I'm usually not much for the Science Fiction genre, and fell in love. This was a stay-up-all-night-because-you-can't-put-it-down read, and I regret nothing. From the opening line I was sucked in to this fast-paced, intricately woven story, and wasn't released until well into the afternoon.

Arissa is beautifully innocent and strong at the same time. It was great getting to see her excitement at finally being a part of the world around her. She maintained her belief in good despite the corrupt world around her, and no matter what, she was always looking out for others.

Jolar was strong-willed and honor bound, but his character was so great because after meeting Arissa, he came to question beliefs that he had simply accepted before, and so the character development was great. It was fun to watch him softening toward Arissa during their journey, and it was intriguing how he took for granted the things that were so fantastical to her.

This is a long book, and it was chock full of action and twists and turns in the plot, it never gets boring. Honestly this was one of those books where the plot seems very narrow-minded and you assume you know the ending and how the book will progress, but it turns into so much more than that. The book has an incredible scope by the end, and it truly was breathtaking. The galaxy was well thought out and the foods and animals remained consistent, which can be hard to do in SciFi. It's clear the author had the planets, and aspects of them very well documented, because there weren't inconsistencies.

Jolar and Arissa are great together. Arissa's innocence complements Jolar's jaded attitude, so that they each make each other a better person. While they did seem to fall in love a little quickly, it didn't bother me the way so many insta-love stories do. The conversations between them flow, and the author didn't cop out by say something like, "And they talked for hours, getting to know the little things about each other" or something like that, as authors that don't know how to write chemistry do. They interract well, and maturely with each other. The only thing is I couldn't get a good read on exactly how hold Jolar is. We know Arissa is right around twenty, but Jolar's age is never mentioned, though I got the impression that he was at least a few years older than her. I would put him in his late twenties.

This was a great book, especially for a self-publisher. There were a few editing issues, but there wasn't anything chronic, which made it easy to handle. I really appreciated this book, and while there isn't another in Arissa and Jolar's story, I will look in to other books by this author.

Five Stars

Rosalie Williams

The Seer on Goodreads

Indebted by Amy Bartol

The third book in The Premonition series, Evie is struggling to find her place in the violent world of angels and demons. Pursued on all sides for different reasons, Evie must discover who she can trust–before it's too late.

The writing in this book is eons beyond the previous two books. The first two, while the plot, dialogue and characters were strong, the writing made me feel like I was reading a self-published Amazon book that I should have gotten for free or $0.99. But this was a 180 degree turn around as far as the quality of writing, and even the editing seems to have been stepped up for this novel, as there were far fewer errors. This leads me to believe that the second book was a bit rushed, and she spent more time on this one.

I loved the plot in this. I came to actually really likes Brennus, and I feel bad for him because he really does love Evie, but she can never love him. He is fiercely protective of her–a trait that I totally love–but also treats her as an equal. He fills her in on plans and while he wants to keep her safe, he allows her to participate. He's also startlingly compassionate, and the funeral scene was particularly moving for me. I love how Amy wrote their accents into their words, and I very much look forward to seeing what roll Brennus and the Gancanagh will be playing in the next book.

Reed really isn't in this book too much, but I liked all the scenes he was in. I do feel like his character may be slipping a little, because I don't feel the same chemistry between him and Evie that I did in the first book. To be honest, I was leaning a little more towards Evie and Brennus by the end of this.

Here's the thing though. People are always coming after Evie, and I love the plot, because it's exciting and fresh. But nothing really bad ever seems to happen to her. It's always red-shirts that are dying, and I feel like that makes it unrealistic. She's always crying about how awful her life is, and yet compared to most people (especially other people in the group) nothing terrible has happened, and yet they all treat her like she's survived worse things than them. Shall we recap? She hasn't been physically tortured (Russell, Brownie, Reed, Zephyr and probably Buns, though it doesn't mention it). She hasn't been raped (every girl in the Gancanagh castle). She hasn't had the love of her life turn on her (Reed, Brennus and Russell). So I just don't understand why Amy is making it out that her life is so bad. Sure she's always running, but she seems to have escaped the worst of it.

I'm very interested to see where the plot leads. I'm not completely sure if the fourth book is the last, but I think it is. The story ended with a lot of potential, and I hope that the ending lives up to the excitement of the rest of the series. I can honestly say I can't predict the ending, which is very new to me. I just hope that it's a good one, and doesn't ruin the series for me.

Four Stars

Rosalie Williams

Indebted on Goodreads

Intuition by Amy Bartol

Taking place right where Inescapable left off, Evie is living with Reed and still trying to survive. After being attacked by non-Fallen angels, Evie realizes the risk that protecting her Reed faces, and decides to take matters into her own hands–even if it means leaving the man she loves.

The second book in this series is strong on plot, just as the first one was. There was one lull in the story that was a little boring, but for the most part it kept me invested. The narration switches to Russell at one point, which is interesting to see another perspective on everything that's going on. I do like reading from Evie's POV more, but it was a nice change.

While the writing did improve some, I noticed a lot more little issues with this one, like missing quotation marks at the end of a spoken sentence, or a word in the wrong tense. It didn't bother me too much though, and the writing was a little better so it makes me even more optimistic for the next book.

There's an introduction of a new "villain" in this book, and I really like his character. Brennus is intriguing because he loves Evie and will do anything to get her back, but unlike Reed's love for Evie, he wants her because she makes his life better, not so that Evie's life can be better. This dichotomy really shows the difference between Reed and Brennus' love.

The time Evie spends with Brennus is interesting and kept me on the edge of my seat. The slow shifting of her thoughts and feeling toward the Gancanagh is really intriguing, and while I didn't want her to become one of them, it was just a really good part in the story after things got a little boring with her and Russell up in Canada!

I liked that Reed, even though Evie left him, doesn't hold that against her and try to push her away. He's upset that she did it, but realizes why she did, and accepts the blame for his part in her leaving. All in all I think it made them a better couple, and once they were together again it was like breathing a fresh breath of air after drowning.

I very much look forward to the next book.

Three Stars

Rosalie Williams

Intuition on Goodreads

The Last Princess by Galaxy Craze

The Last Princess is a novel about the royal family after the devastating Seventeen Days destroy almost all of England. After the annual Roses Ball is attacked by Cornelius Hollister's army, only Princess Eliza escapes, thanks to mysterious help from a Sergeant. Siblings taken captive, Eliza sets out on a journey to avenge her murdered parents and captured siblings.

This was a one sitting book, and not in a good way. I knew that if I put this book down I would not pick it back up again, and since I own it, I wanted to have it read (I hate owning books that I haven't read). Reviewing my notes it's very difficult to decide what to say about this book. So let's start at the beginning.

The characters never become multi dimensional. Eliza sometimes shows courage, but then there is never a connection with her. She makes stupid yet valiant decisions, and it makes her an unrealistic heroine. Sergeant Wesley is innately kind, but as with Eliza, there is no connection with her character. Their romance is flimsy and practically nonexistent, when she suddenly declares she loves him.

There are a lot of inaccuracies in this book. Some mainly being the way the wild foxes acted in the forest. Wild foxes are extremely aggressive when they're starving. Living just outside of Yellowstone National Park, every year we get a story about a starving fox attacking a tourist. They don't snuggle into your hand. The other main one was the horses and more specifically the travel. Eliza travels 380 miles in less than a day on horseback. That's nearly impossible in a car, much less on a horse. Also, horses can't run flat-out for very long. Contrary to what John Wayne movies lead you to believe, you can't run a horse for very long or they die, and yes, True Grit got that part right, horses will run themselves literally to death.

So I will wrap up this short review by saying this: There is no connection with the story whatsoever. The writing is two dimensional and the characters are flat. The story lacks those things that make it seem realistic and draws the reader in. I considered abandoning it halfway through, but decided that it was necessary to read it to its conclusion. Unfortunately it was a waste of my day, and I wish I'd spent it reading a better book, or hiking, or cleaning, or baking, or doing classwork. Honestly, I'd rather do about anything than read this book again.

One Star

Rosalie Williams

The Last Princess on Goodreads