Tag: princess

REVIEW: Stardust in Their Veins by Laura Sebastian

REVIEW: Stardust in Their Veins by Laura Sebastian

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Delacorte Press in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Beatriz, Daphne, and Sophronia – triplet princesses, born to both rule and ruin. Each left for their assigned country and prince; each expected to marry and then enact their mother’s plan. But nothing has gone as expected.

Beatriz has discovered unexpected powers while also facing betrayal. She’s sequestered in a nunnery under charges of treason.
Daphne has been the target of several assassination attempts, but not from the corners she might have expected.
And Sophronia….

The triplets have gone off course from their mother’s plan – but the Empress has been working her own scheme all along. And she’s not the only one.

Review

AMAZING! This was fantastic! The minute I finished, I sat, stunned. What a ride.

In some ways this is the sort of mid-trilogy book that mostly serves to set up the big action of book 3. There’s not a ton of ground gained here. That being said, there were some fantastic moments and fascinating reveals. The book is completely engrossing, and I loved it! But at the same time, I feel like it mostly kept me in a holding pattern for book 3.

There’s some great character development going on in that “holding pattern,” though. We continue to learn about the triplets and their mother as well as other friends – and villains – from book 1, Castles in Their Bones. Once I finished the last page, I was ready to start over again. Sadly, I have fallen behind in my reading, so a re-read will have to wait. On the plus side, once my personal print copy arrives, (hopefully with the UK cover which matches book 1 better than the US cover), I’ll be able to book tab this like I did book 1.

This was a fun book annotation practice I tried in January. I really missed the ability to continue tabbing with my e-ARC.

Fans of book one should immediately pick up the sequel – and carve out time because you won’t want to put it down. Fans of the author’s Ash Princess series should definitely check this series out asap – I think you will love it!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥♥½ – I loved it! Would re-read.

REVIEW: Princess Juniper of the Hourglass by Ammi-Joan Paquette

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Princess Juniper of Torr makes a small request for her 13th birthday – a kingdom of her own. She longs for a place where she can be with kids her own age without having to follow the endless rules of her Comportment Master. A place where she can put all of her lessons into practice. Surprisingly, her father says yes.

Soon, Juniper and her “country men and women” are loaded up and ready to head to their new kingdom. Two things keep this from feeling as awesome as it should. One is Cyril, Juniper’s arrogant older cousin  who is sent along with two of his friends; they  have no intention of following Juniper as queen. The other is the “minor skirmish” Torr seems to be having with a neighboring kingdom. Juniper worries about her father, the king, and her people, but she sticks with the plan and heads to the Hourglass Mountains. Little does she know what awaits them in her new kingdom.

Review

This was fantastic! I loved Juniper right from the start. The kids who go with her to the Basin are an interesting mix. The kids are supposed to be 13 or younger, except for Cyril’s crew, which is a little bit of a stretch to me because in some ways they act older, but I chose not to focus on it. I enjoyed the story completely when I put that aside.

Juniper is a great leader, but she is only 13. She has a lot to learn about dealing with difficult subjects, balancing work and play for her people, and deciding what to share and what to keep to herself. Parts of this reminded me of the book The False Prince – the kingdoms, the swordplay and the treachery. It also reminded me of books like The Maze Runner in that it had kids making up their own society (although this is more light-hearted than The Maze Runner).

This book sets up the rest of the series nicely. There’s closure for many of the plot points in this story, but a larger conflict looms that Juniper and her friends will need to deal with. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½