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Monday, January 6, 2020

REVIEW: PROTECT THE PRINCE (CROWN OF SHARDS #2)

BY JENNIFER ESTEP


SYNOPSIS FROM AUTHORS WEBSITE⇣
Magic, murder, adventure, and romance combine in this second novel in the exciting Crown of Shards saga from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Estep.
Everleigh Blair might be the new gladiator queen of Bellona, but her problems are far from over.
First, Evie has to deal with a court full of arrogant, demanding nobles, all of whom want to get their greedy hands on her crown. As if that wasn’t bad enough, an assassin tries to kill Evie in her own throne room.
Despite the dangers, Evie goes ahead with a scheduled trip to the neighboring kingdom of Andvari in order to secure a desperately needed alliance. But complicating matters is the stubborn Andvarian king, who wants to punish Evie for the deaths of his countrymen during the Seven Spire massacre.
Dark forces are also at work inside the Andvarian palace, and Evie soon realizes that no one is safe. Worse, her immunity to magic starts acting in strange, unexpected ways, which makes Evie wonder whether she is truly strong enough to be a Winter Queen.
Evie’s magic, life, and crown aren’t the only things in danger—so is her heart, thanks to Lucas Sullivan, the Andvarian king’s bastard son and Evie’s … well, Evie isn’t quite sure what Sullivan is to her.
Only one thing is certain—protecting a prince might be even harder than killing a queen…



THE KEY POINTS OF THE STORY⇣


⬥HIGH FANTASY WITH AN URBAN APPEAL
⬥POISONINGS & ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS
⬥INTRIGUE
⬥MAGIC
⬥ADULT ROMANCE (DEFINITELY NOT YA)
⬥GARGOYLES


BOOK DETAILS⇣


AUDIO PERFORMED BY⇢ Lauren Fortgang
BOOK COVER I liked the cover on Book #1 better...but it's cool.
SETTING Bellona & Andvari
SOURCE Libby Audiobook (Library)
AUDIOBOOK LENGTH 12 hours, 40 minutes


MY THOUGHTS⇣


Despite excellent narration, an intriguing plotline, and exceptional action scenes, I found myself not into this quite as much as I was the first book in the series, but only slightly.  The best part and a new addition to this series were the gargoyles...I've never read anything with gargoyles before...and I quite liked this author's take on them.  Who knew a stone could be so lovable.

If I had pinpoint what it was about this book that I didn't care for, it would have to be all the lies and deceptions going on between the two main characters.  I guess I thought Evie wasn't into that kind of drama and whatnot. Overall, I will continue with the series and I'm still hanging in there until the end, Book #3, Crush The King is due out March of 2020.


MY RATING 4.3 STARS | GRADE A-


THE BREAKDOWN⇣

Plot⇢ 4.2/5
Characters⇢ 5/5
The Feels⇢ 4/5
Pacing⇢ 4.3/5
Addictiveness⇢ 4/5
Theme or Tone⇢ 4.3/5
Flow (Writing Style)⇢ 4.5/5
Backdrop (World Building)⇢ 5/5
Originality⇢ 5/5
Ending⇢ 4.3/5



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