THE CROWN OF EMBERS REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

Before I get to the awesome book I'm sharing with you today, I have some winners to announce. Yay! I always love that.

The winner of ENDLESSLY is CELINE!

The winner of ENTICE is JULIE RUPERT!

And the winners of  THE PECULIAR are  L.C.FROST and ALICIA MARIE!

Congrats! E-mail me your addresses so I can send you your books. You must e-mail them to me by the end of Wednesday or I'll have to pick another winner.

I was so excited—like jumping up in down with excitement—when Harper Collins sent me an ARC of THE CROWN OF EMBERS after I requested because I love this series. It's the second book in Rae Carson's fantastic series and was released September 18, 2012.

Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:

In the sequel to the acclaimed The Girl of Fire and Thorns, a seventeen-year-old princess turned war queen faces sorcery, adventure, untold power, and romance as she fulfills her epic destiny.

Elisa is the hero of her country. She led her people to victory against a terrifying enemy, and now she is their queen. But she is only seventeen years old. Her rivals may have simply retreated, choosing stealth over battle. And no one within her court trusts her-except Hector, the commander of the royal guard, and her companions. As the country begins to crumble beneath her and her enemies emerge from the shadows, Elisa will take another journey. With a one-eyed warrior, a loyal friend, an enemy defector, and the man she is falling in love with, Elisa crosses the ocean in search of the perilous, uncharted, and mythical source of the Godstone's power. That is not all she finds. A breathtaking, romantic, and dangerous second volume in the Fire and Thorns trilogy.

 

One of the things I love about THE CROWN OF EMBERS is Elisa, the seventeen-year old princess, who was forced to marry for political purposes in THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THRONES. She now finds herself the ruling queen in a country she’s never lived in. She’s such a sympathetic, realistic character. At the start of the series, she was overweight and not pretty. And although she lost some weight during her journeys in book 1, she still struggles a bit with a weight problem and hasn’t turned into a ravishing beauty, though she has an inner beauty and strength. We can relate to her because she’s normal, like us. 

I enjoyed watching Elisa struggle to be a good queen. And it was a struggle at first. She’s a bit weak and lets herself be too influenced by her council and her guardian, Ximena. But she draws on her inner strength and the powers of her Godstone as she faces danger against herself and those she loves.

The plot begins with a bang with multiple assassination attempts on Elisa’s life, castle intrigue, and back stabbing. Then there’s a discovery about Elisa’s Godstone and a mission Elisa and her friends must go on if Elisa hopes to save her country from the Invierno enemies. Rae Carson does an excellent job keeping the plot moving and making you want to keep turning the pages.

And she does a fantastic job with the romance. Hector, the commander of the royal guard and Elisa’s confidant, is her solid, calm protector. It was beautiful watching Elisa’s and his friendship and deepening relationship develop over time. Even though romance between them shouldn’t happen, I couldn’t stop reading hoping that it would. 

I loved that Mara and Belen return and we get to meet new characters, including Hector’s brother Felix, Tristan, and Storm, an Invierno who Elisa isn’t sure she can trust.

The ending is fantastic and a cliffhanger. It left me dying to read the next book in the series. Totally dying to find out what happens. 

So I'm giving away my ARC of THE CROWN OF EMBERS because I want you all to read it too. 

To enter, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment by midnight on October 6th. I’ll announce the winner on October 8th. If your e-mail is not on Blogger, please list it in your comment. International entries are welcome.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. 

Here's what's coming up:

On Wednesday Lisa Nowak will be sharing a fantastic guest post on publishing options and sharing about her new book DRIVEN, a contemporary romance about a girl who loves to work on cars. And there will be a giveaway.

Next Monday I'm so excited to help debut author Shannon Messenger (she's the founder of the Marvelous Middle Grade Monday posts and one of the founders of WriteOnCon) celebrate the release of her book, KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES. I'll be interviewing her and giving away a copy of her book.

Next Tuesday I have a special Tuesday Tip by debut author Carrie Pearson to help celebrate her new picture book, A WARM WINTER TAIL

Thursday that week I'll be doing a guest post at Adventures in YA and Children's Publishing on what I've learned about reading.

The following Monday I'm helping Kiki Hamilton celebrate the release of THE TORN WING, the second book in her historical fantasy THE FAERIE RING series, with an interview and ARC giveaway.

Then on Tuesday that week I'll be participating in Mike Mullin's blog tour to celebrate the release of ASHEN WINTER, Book 2 in THE ASHFALL Trilogy with an interview and ARC giveaway.
 
And don't forget our Tuesday Tips and Casey's Thursday agent spotlights.

Hope to see you on Wednesday!