mignon mykel { reviews }: review || IN LOVE WITH A WARRIOR

Sunday, November 30, 2014

review || IN LOVE WITH A WARRIOR

In Love with a Warrior by Kara Griffin

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services (12/1/2014)

Series: Gunn Guardsman, book 4
Genre: Historical Romance
Source: NetGalley
Buy it from Amazon || Goodreads

My Rating: ★★★★1/2

Besotted by the Princess

James Gunn knew his heart would forever be hers when she bested him in combat. Never had he met a formidable foe such as Emlyn. Mayhap it was the way her body felt above his when she pinned him and he had no choice to submit to her…

A love coveted but forbidden

Princess Emlyn would allow no man to victor over her on the field, especially the arrogant, sexy highlander. It would do well for him to know she wouldn’t fall at his feet and worship him. Aye, he was God-like in his appearance, strong, capable, and a protector: all the things she said she didn’t want in a man.

All it took was one kiss

Neither could deny their attraction. When Emlyn is betrothed to her clan’s enemy to save her people from being besieged, she beseeches James for help. The only way she can escape her ill-fated destiny and have the man of her dreams is to wage war and triumph. Not so easy a feat for a warrior such as her.

- - -

With this book I learned that while I like most historicals.... I have a much easier time reading those set in the 17-1800s... This one is more medieval and was harder to follow the English (Scottish-English, at that) at times.

But once I got past that (as much as I was able to), I was sucked into the story.

Princess Emlyn was to be married, but he was killed. Princess Emlyn is a bit of an anomaly -- while she is a princess, she's a tomboy -- well, whatever a tomboy would be called in the 1200s. She prefers a tunic and bottoms, to gowns; would much rather wield a sword than keep after a man's house.

And all of this is to her mother's deepest chagrin.

Her father allows her to train in sword fighting -- Emlyn thinks that she'll go to war for her father. She wants to be a soldier. Beyond that, she's not exactly 'pure' in the way a lady should be -- no man is going to want her, regardless of her inability to be a true lady.

When she meets James, a guardsman who is to bring her to Marshall, of whom she is being betrothed to, she falls for him -- but he could never accept her. She knows that when she gets to Marshall, she'll likely be killed -- as Marshall and her father are at war. When her father gives her the ok to find a way out of this arrangement, she decides James will do -- for if she's going to lay with a man, may as well be one that she wants to be with.

They both go on this journey with a secret -- she goes with James as a way out of Marshall's hands and with the idea she'll return home and fight for her father's army; James is taking her with a handsome bride price, so long as she agrees to marry him. James, as much as he's enthralled with Emlyn and her ability with a sword... he's of the mind that women do not belong on the war field. He takes her weapons, and when she realizes that as much as she wants James, he'll never want her for her... she leaves him.

Half of the book was leading up to the climax of the story, and the second half of the book was them fighting their ways back to the other -- a bit different than most stories. Most stories take 75% to get to the big fight, and 25% is groveling.

I had a hard time choosing what would be good excerpts for this, but bottom line:

I like Emlyn. I love her fierceness. I love her mind. I love her ability to play people.

I like James. I love his loyalty to his beliefs and as much as he doesn't want his faerie fighting... he recognizes her fighter spirit.

I hate Emlyn's mother.

Yes. Hate her.

And even though it took me a great minute to figure out how to wrap my mind around the dialogue...

I'm pretty hopeful to read Griffen's book -- he's a good brother and I'd like to see where this betrothal of his and Anne's goes, because surely something happened during their two-day ride...

Right?

Right?? Maybe...?

We'll see!

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a quick note from { mignon } ...

I AM NO LONGER ACTIVE IN REVIEWING

The last two years has been incredibly rewarding, giving me the opportunity to pick up new-to-me authors, as well as new-to-the-world authors. I have enjoyed supporting publishing houses as well as the indie author, and in doing so, I learned a lot about the marketing aspect of writing a book and selling it as a self-published author.

I have re-focused my journey to more writing-minded. I still read and review! But not nearly at the rate I was; three books a day has turned to three books a month.

I will no longer be accepting individual review requests (unless it's specifically author-to-author, then it will be highly considered).

I will definitely be posting reviews for commitments I have already made, though.

Thank you for understanding, & thank you to all those I have worked with over the last year plus!

~ Mignon

http://mignonmykel.com

GOODREADS updates

Dirty Saint: A Secret Baby Sports Romance by Vesper Vaughn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book almost failed to get my attention. Why?

The hero.

He is the exact public person I despise. You know the type -- all biblical with publicized praying and verses all over his public persona. Great. Good for you. Bet you're not like that behind closed doors...

Which is exactly what Esther thinks of him.

Saint and Esther attend the same super religious college. Esther is on the fast track to becoming a nun, and no I do not kid, and Saint, given name Francis, can do just about whatever he wants, because he is the star athlete and the school knows he has connections. What in the world can these two have in common? The actions of their parents.

But where Saint does what his father says, usually, because his father is pushing him toward a pro-football careers, Esther follows her parents (father) because if she didn't... Her life would literally be a living hell.

I really enjoyed these two, once we started to get to know Saint a little bit better. My only drawback with the book would be the last half goes by in super-fast time. While it helped to keep the story moving, I would have liked to see more of that time drawn out so the feelings and emotions of our two characters felt more genuine and real -- rather than simply a two month courting that their lives demanded.

I'm giving the book the full 5 stars because it came out of left-field for me. It was a book that I didn't expect to like, but the author wove it in a way that I fell hard for our characters both as individuals and as a couple. I liked watching Esther grow and find her voice in life, just as I liked watching playboy, always for the chase Saint, settle down and find a person to be terribly protective over. I loved him most in the last two chapters.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

Everything by Erin Noelle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Here's something you may know about me if you've followed my reviews -- I'm an epilogue reader. I will almost always read the epilogue first. Call me a spoilsport or no fun, or whatever but that's how I've been reading books for years. It's no wonder that when I write books, I tend to have the epilogue all figured out before I even start with "Once upon a time...".

That said... I read this epilogue and while I liked it, I just couldn't get past the ages of our characters. Couldn't do it. So I read the beginning. Still... If anything, the age of our characters was even more pronounced. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to read this. You see, I have an issue with "Happily ever after" and the hardly-twenty crowd, let alone an eighteen year old.

But that's my hang-up.

Another thing you may know about me? I will sometimes read a book in what I call a inside-out fashion. I jump all over the place until I find a snippet of story that absolutely grips me. And people -- there are a few of those parts in Everything. So because I found those gripping parts, I put my faith in Erin Noelle, and I started from page one -- and I gave Everett and Belle a chance.

And I'm so glad I did.

Everett and his twin sister have been making music forever -- literally. They're the children of a rockstar; music has always been their life. When their father's group decides to get back together (dad always said he'd go back when the twins were done with school), Mason tells the label -- if you take me, you're taking my kids: thus, giving Everett and Ashlynn the opportunity to take their music to a larger level than they have before.

Along the way, with a local gig, Everett meets Belle -- and so begins their story.

This is a story about growing up. This is a story about following your heart -- be it for a person or a career, or even both. It is about learning to trust the person you are giving your heart to, and about taking the ever-looming jump into unknown feelings. When you put your life, your wants, your desires in someone else's hands, the world opens up -- and it certainly does for Everett and Belle.

The part I most appreciated was that the author made Everett true to his age and situation. Belle was too, yes, but it was Everett and his new lifestyle that had me wanting to see true characterization for. He's a guy; he's a musician; he's new to love. He makes mistakes. And for those mistakes, I truly got on board with this story.

Everett and his Tinker Bell were incredibly cute. I liked that there's a decent time jump at the end, further allowing -- you guessed it -- growth of our characters. I'm excited to watch more of them when (if?) Ashlynn's story comes out.

*ARC received in exchange for an honest review

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Sunday, November 30, 2014

review || IN LOVE WITH A WARRIOR

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