In the Blast from the past post I’m going to recommend, review books, series that:
I’m going to try and do one every 2 weeks to one per month depends on my time. Not more frequently because my old review stash is depleting and not endless. I hope you are going to enjoy it. Also I’m going to try and write them as spoiler free as possible but some minor ones are unavoidable.
Amy Raby- Hearts and Thrones series
❖ Add to Goodreads ❖
As the sister of the Kjallan emperor, Celeste cannot choose where to bestow her heart….
The imperial princess has been offered in marriage to the Prince of Inya as part of an alliance needed to ensure Kjall’s military prowess. And despite having been hurt in the past by men using her to gain power, Celeste finds herself falling for the passionate fire mage.
Prince Rayn has no intention of allying his country with the militaristic Kjallans. But his political enemies at home may be the greater threat. The princess’s beauty and intelligence catch him off guard, throwing an unexpected and dangerous hurdle in the way of his plans.
As a deadly political plot threatens Rayn’s life, the attraction between Celeste and Rayn ignites into a sizzling affair. But to save her people and herself, Celeste will have to discover if Rayn’s intentions are true or risk having her love burn her yet again….
Other books in the series ❖ Assassin’s gambit ❖ ❖ Spy’s honor ❖ ❖ Healer’s touch ❖
This week Blast from the past choice is the Hearts and Thrones series by Amy Raby which is as the previous ones, one of my favorite. I absolutely loved it and it surprises me for this day how low the individual books average rating on Goodreads. They are really down rated and as I prepared this post I was reading a couple of review and most of them is low because let’s be honest there are a couple pretty gruesome scenes in it like rape and such. But people for crying out loud the time this book portrays was like that just opens a history book or watch a documentary. It doesn’t advertise i tor supports it just because it’s in a book and I don’t say it’s okay either but the book is freaking good despite it. Okay yeah I understand that everybody has a right to an opinion but t a shame that the book is so down rated.
My rant done, back to the review. I loved the first and the third book int he series, the second was just okay for me. However for this post unlike the earlier ones where I reviewed series as a whole I’m only going to review the third book. Simply because I can’t find my notes for the other ones. It was a long time ago that I read them.
I adored Rayn in this book. Sure it took me for a while to warm towards him even here but as the story progresses and you get to know her it becomes an easy task. He is a bit reserved at the beginning of the book but he has his reasons, especially for his standoffishness and rudeness towards Celeste. He as Prince of Inya has a lot of doubt regarding the Kjallans intentions so he is strongly against the alliance. Not least because this would mean avoiding his arranged marriage he really doesn’t want to have. Despite his best efforts he can’t resist Celeste stubborn and persistent nature. After the first spark there is no stopping the floodgates. I like the author way of creating her male main characters, avoiding clichés and making something new. Rayn is surprisingly complex character and his personality is influenced greatly by the politics and governmental structure of Inya. What is even better that we see and get to know all of his different sides, the leader, the fighter, the lover, the vulnerable child and so on.
Celeste shows u pin the first book to but only briefly and her role is nothing noteworthy but pretty traumatic so I was really curious how she ended up, what kind of woman she became. She is loyal and smart; she loves science and learning which made her as a woman an outsider in her time. Not much people understood her even less appreciated her. For this reason she was a bit shy and lacked confidence but she is not the spoiled princess you would expect. I think it was an exceptionally nice touch to make her do the chasing of Rayn.
Another pleasant surprise was Lucien and Vitala appearance (main couple of the first book), I like seeing the happy endings of my favored couples in other books. Although Lucien character changed from what we saw in the first book and not in the good direction.
I really liked the first book but I think this is my favorite in the series. It has an amazing world building to begin with but in Prince’s fire the author put an even greater touch to it, creating a mesmerizing backdrop for the story. Romance, political machinations, intrigue and adventure, just what I need.
Favorite character: Rayn and Vitala
Favorite scene: Celeste first time at the Inya palace, it so beautiful and most of the scenes with the army procession from the first book.
What I didn’t like: I was disappointed in Rhianne character from the second book
Favorite cover: Prince’s fire, it’s just so inviting
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