Hello lovelies,
Today I bring you a tour blog stop that I am super excited about! I haven’t been reading as much as I’d like to (all this writing is really putting a damper on that), but I did have the chance to read Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian and it was so so good.
SUMMARY:
Theodosia was six when her country was invaded and her mother, the Queen of Flame and Fury, was murdered before her eyes. Ten years later, Theo has learned to survive under the relentless abuse of the Kaiser and his court as the ridiculed “Ash Princess.” Pretending to be empty-headed and naive when she’s not enduring brutal whippings, she pushes down all other thoughts but one: Keep the Kaiser happy and he will keep you safe.
When the Kaiser forces her to execute her last hope of rescue, Theo can’t keep her feelings and memories pushed down any longer. She vows revenge, throwing herself into a plot to seduce and murder the Kaiser’s warrior son with the help of a group of magically gifted and volatile rebels. But Theo doesn’t expect to develop feelings for the Prinz. Or for her rebel allies to challenge her friendship with the one person who’s been kind to her throughout the last hopeless decade: her heart’s sister, Cress.
Cornered into impossible choices and unable to trust even those who are on her side, Theo will have to decide how far she’s willing to go to save her people and how much of herself she’s willing to sacrifice to become queen.
MY REVIEW:
I didn’t have many expectations going in. Which is how I like it. I don’t like having preconceived notions about a book, and I’m so glad this came to me that way, because it made a name for it all on its own.
I love when books surprise me. To be honestly, the beginning chapter didn’t pull me in. I had to make past it. But once I started to get to know Theo and what she’s been going through and who she’s become, it all just took off from there.
A times, it’s a difficult book to read because it deals with a lot of heavy subjects. Being in captivity for so long, paraded around as a trophy for a victory and constantly abused is not a pleasant thing to read. But I enjoyed getting to know Theo and how she dealt with many of the unfortunate circumstances that seem to surround her. Even when she was beaten down, she comes back up again. Figuratively and realistically. My heart broke for her but it also cheered, when she did just lay down and continue to take the hardships. She could’ve. This could’ve been a whole different story.
I have my opinions on the other characters, and all I’ll say here is that they’re probably not going to be the popular ones. But I’m used to that, so I’ll deal.
I think Laura crafted a very interesting beginning to a series that I look forward to continuing on with (which will be a while since the book doesn’t even come out till April 24th.). I flew through the book and cannot wait to pick up the next one!
Preorder it here:
Valia Lind 