Dive-in Review: Traitor

It’s time for another book release from L2L2, they publish amazing YA fantasy books, and today’s book is a sequel to one of their previous releases. Click here to check out my review of Common, the first book in the tales to the Mystic’s series.

About Traitor:

Princess Penelope has finally found a way to redeem her past mistakes—if only it didn’t require betraying her new fiancé. Princess Penelope has been the object of gossip and ridicule ever since she returned home in disgrace following her failed engagement to the Crown Prince of Imperia. When her father offers a new start in a country far across the sea, she has no choice but to accept.

Even if it means another betrothal, this time to a total stranger.

Penelope arrives in Delunia determined to avoid bringing further shame upon her family. But her devoted, caring fiancé makes it harder to guard her heart than she anticipated, and rumors of dark magic haunt her with memories she’d rather keep buried far beneath her pristine exterior.

When a poverty-stricken village outside the palace gates looks to her as their hope for a brighter future, Penelope embraces the opportunity to make amends for her transgressions. But in order to help, she must manipulate her new fiancé, putting her reputation on the line once more. And her heart.

Can Penelope rise above the failures of her past, or will she forever be branded a traitor?

Ready to order?

All of the purchase links can be found here (L2L2 website), as well a link to Common.
https://www.love2readlove2writepublishing.com/books/traitor/

My Dive-in Review:

Traitor, by Lauri Lucking, is the sequel to her debut novel, Common.

Having previously read and enjoyed Common made me both excited and hesitant to dive into Traitor. Traitor is about Princess Penelope, the antagonist of Common.

I really struggled to get into the story, at first. This girl was really unlikable in the first book, and I was not ready to forgive her.

But surprise, forgiveness is the whole theme of the novel. This story was an excellent example of forgiveness, how we can never do enough good on our own to earn it, it is a gift, and how sometimes the person we most need forgiveness from is ourselves.

Once you spend a couple chapters with Penelope, you will like her, I promise. She knows she did wrong, and she has to live with the consequences. But she also works really hard to redeem herself by learning from her mistakes.

What I most liked about this book was the country of Delunia. It has a very exotic / Asian feeling compared to the very European feel of the previous book’s Imperia.

One thing that struck me as odd about Common was how magic was not mentioned until suddenly it was. Traitor mentions magic from the beginning and naturally builds to its climatic moment.

Lucking also does a fantastic job of building in the twist ending. I kind of suspected that it might go that way, but I wasn’t really sure until it did. Those are the best kind of twists. Obvious, but surprising.

*I received an advanced copy of this book. A review wasn’t required, but I left one anyway, because that’s how I do things.*

About the author:

Laurie Lucking loves hoarding books, singing at the top of her lungs, playing games that
don’t involve too much strategy, and spending time with her husband and three energetic
kids. A recovering attorney, she now spends her days as a stay-at-home mom and has
discovered writing young adult romantic fantasy is way more fun than drafting contracts.
Her fairy tale–inspired stories combine the excitement of discovering new worlds with the timeless enchantment of falling in love. Find out more about Laurie and her writing
adventures at http://www.LaurieLucking.com

Social Media Links:
Website: www.laurielucking.com
Blog: www.landsuncharted.com
Amazon Author: www.amazon.com/Laurie-Lucking/e/B0796DGHX8
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/laurielucking
Instagram: www.instagram.com/laurielucking
Twitter: www.twitter.com/LaurieLucking
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/luckinglaurie
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorLaurieLucking
FB Reader’s Group: www.facebook.com/groups/faithandfairytales

Cover Reveal Trifecta

I have some news. News important enough to drag me out of my sick bed.

Super author Michele Israel Harper is releasing three books this year, and she is revealing all the covers today!

First is the book I am most excited to read. Silence the Siren is the sequel to the most excellent book, Kill the Beast.

Silence the Siren 

Cover-Reveal-StS-MIHHuntress Ro LeFèvre is offered a job to hunt down and kill a pest plaguing the Seven Seas. A siren has been sinking the king of Angleterre’s ships, and in turn, vast amounts of his wealth.

Fleeing heartbreak, Ro gladly accepts, but there’s just one problem. The king will credit the Marquis de la Valère, and no other women are allowed on the voyage.

Ro will just see about that.

Hiring an all-female crew without the king’s knowledge, Ro hopes they will follow her to the Caribbean, not take the gold and flee.

But when Ro is plunged deep into the ocean by the siren she’s being paid to kill, presented the sirens’ side of the story at knife point, and pressed to join them or die, Ro must decide whether to complete her mission, join the sirens, or something in between.

Before the sirens sink the ship full of men above.

 This fast-paced, high-action adventure is a Little Mermaid reimagining and the second book in the Beast Hunter series.

 Read my review of the first book Kill the Beast here.

 

The next book sounds super interesting. I love science fiction but this sounds like it has elements of fantasy too. The best of both worlds.

Queen of the Moon

Cover-Reveal-QotM-MIHZy has no memory of life before ruling her moon. And it doesn’t bother her in the slightest. Each day is the same: get yelled at by her mother—who is not happy to have been dragged along to the moon’s wasteland—stroll through her town to ensure everything is running smoothly, and then dance under the stars until the Silvers show up for their nightly battle.

And her people watch her fight for them night after night, hatred burning in their eyes.

Her people may snub her, may whisper of overthrowing her, but Zy couldn’t care less. She is queen, and she will be until the Silvers defeat her or she finds a way out of her bargain with the King of the Underworld.

Or so she thinks until a stranger breaches the barriers of her moon for the first time.

As the only one standing between her people and the annihilation of the human race, Zy isn’t about to let some attractive stranger end her rule—but a little flirting never hurt anyone. Anything to keep him from discovering her secret.

 

The last book sounds hilarious, and the cover is so beautiful.

Ghostly Vendetta

Cover-Reveal-GV-MIH“Dare to spend the night in mysterious Rutherford Hall! When? The 175th anniversary of the Rutherford family’s unsolved murder. Ghosts guaranteed. Cash prize: $5,000. Want more deets? Ask Tyler, Stewart, or James.”

I laughed aloud as I read the flyer. Yeah, right. To think that I, Candace Marshall, world’s biggest scaredy-cat, would go anywhere near some haunted house, much less spend the night in one. I crumpled the stupid thing, pitched it in the nearest trash can, and went on my merry, oblivious, and soon-to-be-scared-out-of-my-mind way.

* * *

Candace Marshall doesn’t do ghosts. Or zombies. Or vampires. Or mummies.

Anything scary, really.

When she finds herself signed up for a dare she’s gone out of her way to avoid, things spiral out of control. Quickly.

Stuck in a mansion alongside a vengeful spirit, a miffed boyfriend, and a room full of people she doesn’t know or even like (if she’s being completely honest here), she must decide whether to act brave or let the coward within show.

Or kill the person who got her involved in the first place.

 Ghostly Vendetta is a prequel novella to Zombie Takeover: Book One of the Candace Marshall Chronicles.

Which of Michele’s up coming books are you most excited to read? Or which cover do you think looks the best?

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