SURPRISE!! There's a bonus book review up this month! :)
There were just so many good self published books on my TBR shelf I couldn't help myself! Flames of Auriel is a new romance-fantasy book that was just released January 26 of this year. It was Erin Bedford's debut novel. The links to purchase, Good Reads, and Erin's social media will be below after the review. There's even a chance to win a FREE SIGNED copy!
The book blurb:
When living in a world where the prince isn’t always charming, the princess has a mean right hook, and angels are worshiped like gods, love isn’t always easy to find.
Zoe has never been the lady-like princess she's read about in fairy-tales, even with her very own handsome prince to sweep her off her feet. She doesn't know what she dislikes more, his arrogant smirk or the way his grey eyes darken when they fight. Angels help him if he thinks he could tame her.
Asher won't admit it, but he admires the fighting style of his warrior princess. She reminds him of an avenging angel the way her fiery hair whips around her as she takes out her challengers. Dark One help him, but she is as tough an opponent on the battlefield as she is off.
With unknown and unwanted feelings starting to emerge between the two royals, a single goodbye turns into a frantic search for a missing princess. Asher has to find the one woman he never thought he’d miss and keep his kingdom safe from an old enemy. If he fails, the angels may not forgive him this time.
Sounds exciting, right? I was so pumped to read this book I even had the shipping expedited from Amazon! (So this review is completely honest and not influenced from receiving a free copy as I paid for it myself.)
*WARNING*WARNING* WARNING*WARNING*WARNING*WARNING*WARNING*
There is literally no way for me to talk about this book without talking about topics and plot points that are spoiler-y in nature. So if the above looks interesting, please go read the book first. I MEAN IT!
I'll just wait right here...
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OK? Ready to start?
Sweet!
The story opens with the arranged marriage between Princess Zoella, and Prince Asher. Many years ago there was a war (the Celestial War) that forced Zoella's father -King Brom- to assist Asher's. Sadly Asher lost his father, and their kingdom lost a great king. After this war, the Angels became upset and took away their blessings of special powers to their people. In order to strengthen the alliances and borders against another invasion, the widowed Queen Marie, and King Brom arrange to have their children married when they come of age.
Talk about setting up the story with punch and tension! Sadly, I am a huge fan of the movie The Swan Princess and it felt like the beginning was an "adult" version. The plot even had the princess missing for a chunk of the book as in the movie. I had the songs from that movie playing in my head...ugh. Oh well. Having an arranged marriage where the people involved hate the idea is a great way to increase tension, especially when the safety of large amounts of people are at risk.
So lets dive in to characterization. While I enjoyed the story, and couldn't wait to see what happened next, I am not in love with any of the main characters. Zoella is the brash, headstrong, tomboy princess, and Asher is the strong-willed, snotty, conniving prince. They argue a lot. No, that's not going to work...ALOT. Even after they admit they have feelings for each other, they constantly poke and prod and make the other upset. This bothered me quite a bit. I get it, they bump heads. That doesn't mean that they are allowed to argue over everything and purposely upset the other.
Some of their interactions bordered on abusive. Including a scene where Asher nearly forces himself upon her. It was a very hard scene to read as it was almost a rape scene. I understand what Bedford was going for. She wanted high tension, and to show that these two characters were essentially the same, but I felt at times it was over the top. One such example that sticks out:
Asher wants Zoe to confirm her feelings for him. So he arranges for one of his little whores to get caught providing a service for him in the training supply room where he knows Zoe is bound to find them. This I felt was a classless move, and if it hadn't happened I might have grown to like him. But as it stands I really don't feel bad for him when things go south in the book.
The only character that I really loved was Rebekah. She is the gypsy that helps Zoe hide in plain sight as a knife throwing act under the name "Josephine" or "Joe". She is spunky, has attitude in buckets, and in my opinion is a complete scene stealer! I can't wait to read more about her.
The world building is done very well. Angels that are "assigned" a kingdom to protect is an amazing concept! I wanted to know more. Especially about the Fire Starters and how they functioned before Auriel took away their power! I imagine them being something like a Fire Bender from Avatar the Last Air Bender. How many other regions and kingdoms have special abilities?!?! I must know!
The political intrigue was strong, but not overwhelming like in The Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. I actually liked it. When a story gets too in depth with political movements I get bored and skim. I not once skimmed this book. I rapidly absorbed everything, and eagerly await to see how the entire story plays out!
The voice of this novel was strong throughout. Though at times it was hard to follow the story when Bedford shifted out of characters heads at will. While Asher and Zoe are the main characters, in the span of two pages the reader shifts between four characters POV without any kind of warning. It was a bit disruptive and made me read a few pages twice as I got confused as to whose mind I was in and who was speaking.
Overall I really enjoyed this book! I think it is a great debut novel, and I can't wait to preorder the others!!
I am giving this story a 3.5 out of 5 stars, as well as a PG-13 rating due to the fighting and sexual content.
Erin is doing a giveaway now through the 23rd for a FREE signed copy! Please follow the link below and enter to win!!
http://erinbedford.com/giveaway
You can reach out to Erin Bedford, and order this book through the links below!
Goodreads- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27227149-flames-of-auriel
Amazon- http://www.amazon.com/Flames-Auriel-Caeles-Adventure-1/dp/1517089220/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Website- http://www.erinbedford.com/
Twitter- https://twitter.com/erin_bedford
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