Protect The Prince by Jennifer Estep – Dual Review, Excerpt & Giveaway
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Description:
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.
But dark forces are at work inside the Andvarian palace, and Evie soon realizes that no one is safe. Worse, Evie’s immunity to magic starts acting in strange, unexpected ways, which makes her wonder whether she is truly strong enough to be a Winter Queen.
But 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…
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BARB’s Review:
Protect the Prince by Jennifer Estep is the 2nd book in her wonderful fantasy Crown of Shards series. Everleigh Blair (Evie) is our heroine and now the new Winter Queen of Bellona, but in the 3 months that has passed, she realizes that she has her work cut out for her. She first has to face the nobles of her court, who she knows want to get their hands on the throne, but Evie surprises them when she stands up to each one, reminding them how they treated her before she became Queen. Evie also can smell danger, and knows someone is there who will attempt to kill her. She manages to defeat the culprit, who was attempting an assassination, and learns that one of our villians from the first book (Maeven) is behind the attempt. Though Evie won this time, her life was in danger going forward, as the Kingdom of Morta will stop at nothing to defeat her and takeover other kingdoms.
Evie convinces her court that Alliances with other Kingdoms are of utmost importance, in order to defeat the powerful and dangerous Morta Kingdom. Evie, and her group and guards (our wonderful gladiator team from the first book) will travel to Andvari, to meet with the Andvarian King to try to form an alliance. Lucas Sullivan, our hero, and Evie’s love interest also returns to Andvari, as his father is the King, and he has been away a long time, especially since he is considered the bastard prince.
When they arrive at Andvari, the atmosphere is intense, and everyone blames Evie and all Bellonians for the death of the prince, and despite Lucas opening the door for her to talk to the King, things get off to a bad start. The King turns down her attempt at an alliance, instead tries to convince Evie to marry his son, Prince Dominic, but Evie knows the plan is to eventually get rid of her and Dominic would then take over Bellona. In a short time, things change as another attack by spies for Morta make an attempt on Evie and Dominic’s life, which Evie uses her powers to stop. When Evie meets with the King, she senses (more of her powers) that someone is poisoning him, and she manages to cure him. But who is the traitor in Andvari?
I do not want to give spoilers. What follows is an exciting, intense, action filled adventure that has us on the edge of our seats. Estep has done it again with wonderful worldbuilding, and a fantastic heroine who continues to grow into her powers, and learns what it means to be the Winter Queen. I love watching Evie defeat her enemies, and I adored seeing all her friends from the first book, who have all stood by her and help protect her. The romance between her and Lucas did not play a major part of the story, and looked like there was no hope for them, until the very end, which was so well done.
Estep does a fantastic job keeping our attention, as well as creating such a fantastic heroine in Evie, who literally handled everything throughout. This was an exciting and enthralling fantasy, with fantastic characters, a major villain, and a number of major surprising twists along the way. Bravo to Jennifer Estep for creating another fantastic story in this series, especially in the Epic fantasy world. I strongly suggest you read this series. I for one cannot wait for the next book.
SANDY’s Review:
PROTECT THE PRINCE is the second instalment in Jennifer Estep’s epic fantasy CROWN OF SHARDS series focusing on the newly crowned Queen of Bellona Queen Everleigh Blair. a young woman whose ascension to the throne is predicated on a murderous coup against our heroine’s family. PROTECT THE PRINCE should not be read as a stand alone as it picks up shortly after the events of book one KILL THE QUEEN.
The Crown of Shards series is the focus of elemental magic, magic of which our heroine is believed to have not been blessed but Everleigh’s ‘mutt magic’ is much more than anyone could have imagined. As the series progresses, Everleigh’s strengths and powers make her the target of a group of assassins hoping to destroy whomever wears the crown. With the power to ‘scent’ out emotions, as well as her ability to manipulate magic, Everleigh is a powerful Queen, indeed. With her own band of ‘gladiators’ and Lucas Sullivan, the man that she loves, Everleigh is a force unto herself, a force that is constantly tested by would-be assassins, and spurned kings and queens.
Told from first person point of view (Everleigh) PROTECT THE PRINCE follows newly crowned Queen Everleigh as she struggles to make nice with the surrounding kingdoms including Andvari, the kingdom from where Lucas once resided. Hoping to broker a deal between Andvari and Bellona, Everleigh will have to face down two more assassination attempts in her battle to bring peace between the two domains but all is not well in the kingdom of Andvari, and Everleigh is determined to discover the truth.
PROTECT THE PRINCE is a complex and detailed story line of magic, mayhem, power and control; a story of betrayal and revenge; of lost love and second chances. Jennifer Estep pulls the reader into a familiar world of elemental magic, with a strong, warrior heroine, and a band of misfit protectors who would die to protect the woman they love. Similarities to the author’s ‘Elemental Assassin’ series aside, PROTECT THE PRINCE is a captivating and spellbinding look at magic and the power of love.
Copies provided by Publisher
I had seen the throne many, many times before, but now that it was mine, I found it far more intimidating, especially since the top featured the same crown-of-shards crest that adorned my tunic, bracelet, sword, and dagger. I had never paid any attention to that symbol before the royal massacre, but now, it was everywhere I went. Sometimes, I thought I would have been far happier if I had never seen it at all. I certainly would have been much safer.
Summer queens are fine and fair, with pretty ribbons and flowers in their hair. Winter queens are cold and hard, with frosted crowns made of icy shards.
The words to the old Bellonan fairy-tale rhyme echoed in my mind, as though all the queens who had come before were whispering them to me over and over again. I listened to the phantom voices a moment longer, then exhaled, slowly climbed up the dais steps, turned around, and sat down on the throne.
That was the signal everyone had been waiting for, and all the lords, ladies, senators, guilders, and others strode forward, stopping a few feet away from the bottom of the dais. They split into their usual cliques and began gossiping, while servants handed out sweet cakes, fresh fruits and cheeses, and glasses of blackberry sangria.
I looked up at the second-floor balcony. More nobles milled around there, eating, drinking, talking, and watching me, although they were all poorer and thus far less important than the ones on the first floor.
I started to drop my gaze when I noticed a man sitting by himself in the top corner of the balcony. He was wearing a long gray coat over a black tunic, and his dark brown hair gleamed under the lights, although a bit of stubble darkened his strong jaw. His handsome features were as blank as mine were, and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, although his blue eyes burned into mine with fierce intensity.
My nostrils flared. Even though he was as far away from me as possible, I could still pick out his scent—cold, clean vanilla with just a hint of spice—above all the others in the room. I drew in another breath, letting his scent sink deep down into my lungs, and trying to ignore the hot spark of desire it ignited inside me.
Lucas Sullivan was the magier enforcer of the Black Swan troupe, a bastard prince of Andvari, and my . . . Well, I didn’t know exactly what he was to me. Much more than a friend, but not a lover, despite my pointed advances on that front. But I cared about him more than I wanted to think about, especially now, when I was facing another battle inside my own palace.
So I dropped my gaze from his and studied the nobles again. Even though I had been queen for about three months, ever since I had killed Vasilia, the crown princess and my treacherous cousin, this was my first formal court session. Practically every noble from across the kingdom had journeyed here to discuss business and other matters, and it was important that things went well. I doubted they would, though. The nobles weren’t going to like some of the things I had to say.
While the nobles chattered and downed their food and drinks, I discreetly drew in a breath, letting the air roll in over my tongue and tasting all the scents in it. The people’s floral perfumes and spicy colognes. The fruity tang of the sangria. The pungent aroma of the blue cheeses that the servants were slicing on the buffet tables along the walls.
I opened my mouth to start the session when one final scent assaulted my senses—hot, jalapeño rage so strong that it made my nose burn with its sudden, sharp intensity.
Most people scoffed at my mutt magic, but my enhanced sense of smell was quite useful in one regard—it let me sense people’s emotions, and very often their intentions. Garlic guilt, ashy heartbreak, minty regret. I could tell what someone was feeling—and often what they were plotting—just by tasting the scents that swirled around them.
I’d had years to hone my mutt magic, so I knew that jalapeño rage meant only one thing.
Someone here wanted to kill me.
My name is Jennifer Estep, and I’m the New York Times bestselling author of the Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series; the Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series; the Crown of Shards epic fantasy series; the Black Blade young adult urban fantasy; and the Bigtime paranormal romance series.
My books are available in print, audio, and e-book formats from a variety of retailers, including the following: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Books-A-Million / iTunes / Kobo / Audible / Brilliance Audio
I hope that you will take a few minutes to look around my website and learn more about my books. Happy reading!
Jennifer is graciously offering a paper copy of PROTECT THE PRINCE to TWO (2) lucky commenters and a paper copy of Kill the Queen to ONE (1) lucky commenters at The Reading Cafe:
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