A Young Adult Dark Fantasy from Hell. Crowned A Traitor is like no fantasy you have come across.
Heir to Hell and the Dark Forest of Malum, Klara has been called upon to take her place as High Queen of Malum. Though Klara has no intention of ruling, her guardians want her head on a spike. Klara’s only option – escape to Kalos, Fae ruled lands free from Dark Magic. To survive the perilous journey, she needs help…
A Leprechaun with a talent for smuggling. A mischievous Demon with swaying loyalties. The soul of a greying Warlock. Lycaon siblings with a talent for deception.
Destiny has an awful habit of catching up with those who run.
Crowned a Traitor is a fabulous, action-packed fantasy that pulls you in from page one.
I found Klara to be a strong heroine. She wasn’t perfect, but her imperfections are what made her so wonderful. In battle, she was fearless, yet she also showed mercy. It was a trait many thought made her weak, but was one of her greatest assests.
There were multiple twists I didn’t see coming, and a plethora of supernatural beings, which made the book all that more amazing. Demons, fae, witches, lycaons, and Lucifer himself… just to name a few.
If you enjoy paranormal tales of intrigue, suspense, action, and a bit of romance, you can’t go wrong with Crowned a Traitor.
*Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The review posted above is merely my opinion.
Centuries ago, there was a beauty who did not live happily ever after. She fled her vampire Ottoman Prince, who now rules the Primati supernatural on earth with his half-brother Alaric, the terrifying Enforcer. The runaway beauty’s only living descendant, seventeen-year-old Stella Avery, is juggling the care of her ailing grandfather with the discovery that life is not what it seems in Portland, Oregon.
Stella’s Romany family shadow her every move and she discovers that an ancient enemy wants her dead. Her best friend, Amanda, reveals herself to be an actual witch and Stella must uncover the truth about the curse that has killed every woman in her family before their twenty-first birthday—or suffer the same fate.
For Alaric, his role as Primati Enforcer means utter loyalty to his brother. Half-angel, half-demon, he has no place in his heart for a mortal. Feared in his own right, Alaric finds himself torn between the law he has protected for hundreds of years and a young girl who cannot be loved without bringing about her own death.
I have to admit, I don’t often get pulled in by a book cover, but I did this time. I saw it and had to know more. Paranormal YA is right up my alley, and Everwish didn’t disappoint. Vampires, witches, demons, and more. If you love the supernatural and romance, Everwish is an excellent choice.
I did feel that while the world-building was relatively great, it felt like the author was cramming in so much that it could have easily filled at least another seventy pages, if not an entire second book. The book description kept me reading, even though the beginning didn’t really hook me. It wasn’t until Stella met Alaric that I became truly invested in the story.
I found the storyline to be somewhat unique and compelling. In all honesty, I’m hoping there will be more books set in this universe. For some, her “engagement” while still in high school might be pushing the line a bit, but in the world Ms. Oz created, it fit well with the story. Besides, fairy tales (and certain animated movies most of us loved as kids) have been marrying off teenagers for a really, really long time.
Not only do I want to find out whether or not Stella breaks the curse and can be with Alaric, but I want to know if Lila and Murad get their happily-ever-after. Do the M&Ms get a chance to find love and happiness to soften those hard edges? And what will become of Tess? I hope I get the chance to find out!
*Disclaimer: I received an ARC for an honest review through NetGalley. Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read Everwish. The review above is merely my opinion.
High School senior Lily Rhodes has been in love with her brother’s best friend nearly all her life. When nineteen year old Jake joins the Marines and is shipped overseas, she worries she’ll never see him again, and wishes she’d been braver before he left. Lily vows that if Jake comes home, she’ll tell him how she feels. But when Jake is injured by an IED and is discharged from the Marines, he comes home changed, bitter and broken. Despite the fact he’s loved Lily for the past three years, he no longer feels worthy of someone like her. Not one to back down from a challenge, Lily knows the best things in life are worth fighting for.
Lily carried the food to the kitchen and got down a plate for her father. She knew if she just gave him the containers, the food would sit uneaten on his desk. Giving him a plate and fork seemed to make a difference though. Shrimp fried rice, orange chicken, and lo-mein covered the dish. She snagged a bottle of water out of the fridge and carried it down the hall to her father’s office. The door remained open from her previous intrusion, but he was clicking away again, hard at work.
She set the plate down on his desk along with the water. Her dad didn’t break stride with his writing, looking almost feverish with his obsession. The thunder boomed overhead, and the lights flickered for a moment. It was enough to make her father pause, at least long enough to hit the save button, and then he glanced her way.
“Sorry, Lily. I didn’t realize you were there.”
“It’s okay, Dad. I brought you some dinner. I decided to go to the store first so will eat mine when I get back. The clouds coming in are getting darker, and I want to get there and back before the worst of the storm hits.”
“I should go with you.”
She knew that wasn’t what he wanted to do. The quick darting of his eyes from her to his screen and back again was all the assurance she needed that he wanted to keep working on his book. Considering the drought he’d recently been through, where he barely wrote a few hundred words a day, she knew he needed to spend his time writing while the story was speaking to him.
“It’s fine, Dad. I’ll be there and back before you know it.”
“Be careful, Lily.”
“I will,” she promised before easing out of the office and closing the door.
Lily went to her room to retrieve her purse and keys, before slipping out through the garage door and walking over to her white, gently used Honda Civic. The car had been a present from Jake and her brother for her sixteenth birthday. It had been a one-owner car, with hardly any miles on it, despite the fact it was now nearly ten years old. Several of her friends at school had received brand new cars for their birthdays that year, but Lily had thought hers was far more special, just because Jake had helped pay for it. He’d been a junior, and she had wondered where he had gotten the money, and she’d probably never find out. She knew Riley had used part of his inheritance from their grandparents.
As she backed out of the garage, the sky seemed to open up, and the heavens rained down as the storm intensified. Her wipers worked overtime as she drove the narrow, twisting road into town. The parking lot at the grocery store was nearly empty, and she wasn’t really surprised. Aside from her, who in their right mind would go shopping in this weather?
She pulled into a parking space and reached into her floorboard for an umbrella, only to realize she had taken it inside the other day and never put it back. With a groan, she rested her forehead on the steering wheel and blew out a breath. She wasn’t looking forward to getting soaked. The sky lit up with a triple streak of lightning as thunder made the ground tremble under her car. Lily pulled her hood over her head before opening the door and dashing through the rain to the front of the store.
When she stepped inside, the cool air made her shiver as she pushed back her hood. Her clothes were drenched and sticking to her body as she got a shopping cart and started down the first aisle. She didn’t want to get too much since she’d have to load the car in the rain, but she wanted to make sure there was enough food, snacks, and drinks to last at least a day or two, in case the storm didn’t break.
She tried to stay away from sweets, except for the occasional pint of ice cream, but she threw in some Oreos and a half-gallon of milk, along with some seasoned turkey breasts, a sack of potatoes, and a can of carrots for dinner tomorrow. Thinking ahead, she also grabbed a frozen pizza for lunch the next day, and then stopped in the coffee aisle to feed her father’s addiction. A twelve-pack of grape soda rounded out her shopping spree, and she headed for the checkout.
The clerk looked bored as she scanned Lily’s items and sacked them. Lily loaded the shopping cart and paid for her purchases, then pushed the cart to the door. The rain looked like it had slackened a little and she made a mad dash for the car, the shopping cart bumping and jolting over the uneven pavement. She popped her trunk and quickly loaded everything, before pushing the cart off to the side. Usually, she would put it in the cart return, but that was seven spaces away, and she was already wet enough.
Lily cranked the engine and blasted the heat, trying to chase away the chill she still felt from the cool air in the store and then getting wetter on the way to the car. Turning on her lights, she pulled out of the space and headed for home. She’d barely turned onto the road before the sky turned an ominous black and green mixture that scared the crap out of her. A moment later, the rain got so heavy that she could barely see through the windshield. The road was too narrow for her to pull over and wait for the weather to clear, but she did slow her pace and turn on her flashers.
As Lily went around a particularly sharp curve, headlights cut through the darkness and nearly blinded her, causing her to jerk the wheel. The tires slipped and slid as they tried to gain traction. Lily’s heart raced in her chest, beating so loudly she could hear it pulsing in her ears. Her hands scrambled on the wheel, trying to get control of the vehicle; the on-coming car smashed into the driver’s side of her car, knocking her off the road and down the incline. Her car tumbled and rolled, slamming Lily’s head into the window and steering wheel several times.
Finally, it came to rest at the bottom of the gorge. Blood dripped into Lily’s eyes, and she tried blinking it away. Everything blurred and swayed until it all went black.
One touch. One look from Morgan’s hypnotic eyes and Skye can’t deny the magnetic pull.
High school senior, Morgan Raines was used to change, whether it was transferring to a new school or shifting into a were-jaguar under the full moon. Starting over didn’t bother him, but finding his mate pinned to her locker by her looser ex-boyfriend does.
Will turning furry during the full moon send her running scared or into his arms?
EXCERPT
As Skye put her books in her locker, Chris sneaked up behind her. Turning, she looked up into his eyes. If she was honest, she’d admit that she wasn’t surprised to see him. Chris had been following her all over school for the past week. It seemed that every time she turned around he was right in front of her, like a lost little puppy. Except puppies were cute.
“Hey babe, what’s up? What do you say to you and me having lunch together today?” he asked with a cocky grin, seeming sure her answer would be yes.
“No thanks. I have to go over some homework before I turn it in,” Skye told him, hoping the discussion was over. But she had a feeling it wouldn’t be that easy to get rid of him.
“Homework? Ditch the homework and have some fun! Sit with me,” Chris cajoled.
“I said no, Chris!” She wondered why he kept pestering her. Any girl in school would gladly go with him wherever he wanted. Any girl but her.
“Aw, come on!”
“No!” Skye replied adamantly.
“Okay, but if you won’t have lunch with me, at least give me a kiss.”
“Chris, why can’t you just leave me alone?” Skye asked, starting to get irritated. When was he going to get the message? How many times did she have to run him off before he finally understood she just wanted to be left alone? He’d had his chance with her and blown it.
“Come on, you always liked kissing me! What’s a little kiss between friends?” he asked with a smile that had once curled her toes.
“Nothing,” she replied.
“Well, there you go. Come on, babe. Please?” Chris continued relentlessly. She doubted that he wanted her; it was more the challenge she presented. Ever since she’d pushed him aside, he’d hounded her every step.
“Who said that we were friends? I remember telling you that I never wanted to see your face again. So, why are you in front of my locker?” she asked. Why won’t he go away? Where’s a teacher when you need one? She glanced down the hall.
“Okay. I tried to be nice, but maybe you prefer guys who just take what they want.”
Chris advanced on Skye. He all but growled at her until her back was against the locker. He put an arm on either side of her, pinning her in place. She had no way of escaping. Just as he started to lean in to kiss her, someone tapped him on his shoulder. Skye, for one, was grateful for the interruption.
“What?” he asked, turning to face the interloper. He pierced the intruder with a glare.
“I believe she said no,” the new guy answered quietly.
“And just who the hell are you?” Chris sneered, eyeing the guy from head to toe. “In case you weren’t aware, Skye and I are an item.”
The boy grinned. “Are you sure about that?”
Skye used the distraction to slip under Chris’s arm. She quickly put some distance between them, moving to stand beside the new guy. She didn’t know who he was, but he had excellent timing. If he hadn’t come along right then, Chris would no doubt be pawing her at this very moment, more so than usual.
The boy reached out and took Skye’s hand, a current running through both of them. If he was surprised, he hid it well.
“Come on, I’ll walk you to your class,” he said, giving her hand a gentle tug.
Skye smiled her thanks and walked off with him, leaving an angry Chris glaring after them.
* * *
“Thanks… for what you did back there,” she said after they were a few feet away.
“No problem,” the boy murmured.
“I’m Skye by the way. And the jerk back there was Chris,” she jabbered, trying to fill the silence. Her body was hyper aware of the hot guy holding her hand, more so than it had ever been of a guy.
Glancing at him from the corner of her eye, she almost stopped breathing. He was easily the most gorgeous boy she’d ever seen. He topped her five-foot-one inches by over a foot. He was tanned with sandy brown hair shot through with golden highlights. His chiseled features made her mouth water. If he weren’t a high school student, she’d think he stepped off the cover of a magazine.
“I take it you used to date,” he commented.
Skye nodded, pulling her gaze from his face before she was caught staring. “Until I caught him making out with one of the cheerleaders. I told him it was over, but he refuses to listen. He thinks he’s God’s gift, or something along those lines.”
He grunted in response.
“He wasn’t like that when we first started dating,” Skye said, trying to explain away Chris’s behavior.
He gave her a skeptical look.
“Where exactly are we going anyway?” he asked, looking around the hall.
“Oh, um, two doors down on the right. I have English next,” Skye answered.
He grinned. “That makes two of us.”
He continued holding her hand all the way to the classroom. As they approached the door, he dropped her hand and motioned for her to go in ahead of him. Following Skye into the classroom, he grabbed the empty seat next to her. Setting his books down on the desk, he glanced her way and caught her watching him—again. She was so embarrassed. It wasn’t like her to fawn over someone, especially someone she’d just met.
He flashed her a grin and faced forward as the teacher stepped into the room.
Don’t have KU? No worries. You can still purchase a copy from Amazon.
Jessie Colter is the pen name for romance author Jessica Coulter Smith. With over 50 published stories, she isn’t new to the writing game, and while Heart’s Desire was her first foray into the world of Young Adult stories, she has written a few more since then, all with a paranormal twist.
