Shea

Review of The Queen’s Crown by K. M. Shea

/ authoramysbrown / Leave a comment
The Queen's Crown (Court of Midnight and Deception Book 3) by [K. M. Shea]

Synopsis:
Since the day I was crowned Queen of the Night Court, someone has been trying to kill me. Yay, me!

Finding my would-be-killer has been last on my to do list for a long time—which should tell you what a dumpster fire my life has been. But I can’t ignore it anymore. Whoever is plotting against me is getting serious. If I don’t do something soon I might not survive their next attempt.

Normally, I’d count on Rigel—my consort, who also happens to be a deadly fae assassin—to have my back. But he’s been gone for two months, and when he finally returns he won’t say where he’s been. Great, that’s totally not sketchy.

To make matters worse, I love Rigel—and he doesn’t believe me when I tell him! How’s that for romance?

New to do list: catch my would-be killer and convince my own husband I love him. All in a day’s work for the Night Queen.

I knew I should have demanded a job description before I took on this queen gig…

Synopsis:
Finally, so many loose ends put together, and relationships mended that have been waited for since the first two books. I absolutely love this series, because Leila remains her feisty sassy human self while still trying to integrate into the role of queen. I also love that as a horse/animal person she is always trying to do what is right for the animals, but also encouraging people to be safe and wear helmets!

I love Rigel so much, and I’m glad to see how things turn out with them in the end.

I unfortunately had an inkling who had caused the attacks, but that didn’t stop the enjoyment of the book or how everything was discovered and resolved.

Leila does what she thinks is good for her people, and it’s so fun seeing her people enjoying casual human entertainment activities, especially with how into it they all seem to get. The absolute end it brilliant and while I never want K. M. Shea’s series to end, it was still sweet.

I absolutely love how empowered K. M. Shea’s heroines are, even if it takes them a while to get to that point–it just makes it that much more realistic! I definitely recommend this series to anyone who loves faeries, though I’ll forewarn you–you end up drinking so much tea while reading it!

Star Rating: ✯✯✯✯✯

Review of Rumpelstiltskin by K. M. Shea

/ authoramysbrown / Leave a comment

Rumpelstiltskin
Timeless Fairy Tales 4
By K. M. Shea

Star Rating: 
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy/Fairy Tale Retelling
Number of Pages: 236

Synopsis: (From Amazon)
Things look grim for Gemma, a seamstress, when she is ordered under the threat of death by the insane King Torgen to spin straw into gold. Unwilling to forfeit her life, Gemma tries to escape her royal prison, earning her the respect of the mysterious mage, Stil. Stil offers to complete the impossible task…for a price.

Review:
My goodness. This is probably one of my favourite fairy tale retellings of Rumpelstiltskin.

Gemma is well developed and talented, but she also is very empathetic towards others. Stil, though we are uncertain of him for a while, is kind and helpful. The reader likely realizes what is going on long before Gemma, and the most annoying thing is Gemma’s absolute denial. Does it come from her inability to think of herself as worthy of attention because she is not a noble or because she thinks poorly of herself? The reader doesn’t know. What is shown is how intelligent and resilient Gemma is.

The depth of this story is amazing. The reason why no one stands up to the king, the reason why Stil is willing to help her, everything comes together to make this an amazing retelling. While he is not the Rumpelstiltskin you would remember, he is so much better! The underlying politics really add to the novel, and I absolutely adored the ending.

Author Biography: (From Amazon)
K. M. Shea is a fantasy-romance author who never quite grew out of adventure books or fairy tales, and still searches closets in hopes of stumbling into Narnia. She is addicted to sweet romances, witty characters, and happy endings.

She is also extremely committed to her readers—who have set up their base camp at kmshea.com—and lives in the idyllic Midwest with her furry pet, Perfect Dog.

Review of Beauty and the Beast by K. M. Shea

/ authoramysbrown / Leave a comment

Beauty and the Beast
Timeless Fairy Tales 1
By K. M. Shea

Star Rating: 
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy/Fairy Tale Retelling
Number of Pages: 272

Date Started: July 6, 2017
Date Finished: July 6, 2017 

Synopsis: (From Amazon)
Once upon a time Elle made a mistake. A small miscalculation sends her through the roof of an enchanted chateau. Stranded until her broken leg mends, Elle is unwillingly forced to rely on the good will of the sour chateau owner —the cursed Prince Severin. Prince Severin—the commanding general and staunch supporter of his brother the crown prince—is cursed to look like a beast until a maiden falls in love with him. He has given up all hope of shattering the curse, and has only disdain for Elle. Unfortunately, the pair can’t seem to avoid each other thanks to the meddling of the chateau’s cursed servants. Eventually Elle’s playful manners and Severin’s hidden gentleness draw the pair together. But not all love stories can end that easily. After all, Elle is not what she seems, and Severin’s life is placed in danger when hostilities flare between his brother and the monarchs of a neighboring country. When Elle risks everything to save Severin, will he be able to forgive her for her lies?

Review:
I love that our Beast looks completely different than any other version of the story I have heard of or read. He’s unique, not entirely threatening, but definitely something that most people wouldn’t be willing to look past without the added bonus of his wealth.

The entwined bits of the original Beauty and the Beast story with Elle’s life made the story more enjoyable. I thought that her family and their life beyond the scope of the story was expertly described without actually being witnessed.

How the curse effected the servants was ingenious and intriguing. I enjoyed the one time encounter with a villager regarding the servants’ condition. Unfortunately, there were several mentions during the third part of the book that made it seem as if the curse wasn’t in effect, with smiles and the way someone’s mouth would turn mentioned.

I don’t enjoy what happens directly after the spell is broken. Severin is supposed to be intelligent, and he’s lived with this curse for years, repeating the stipulations of it to Elle, and yet doesn’t believe what it means.

To be completely honest– I don’t know what I really think of this novel. There were bits that seemed randomly thrown in, as if there needed to be one scene to describe/show something to tie everything together, though they seemed disjointed and not necessarily needed, but the overall story eventually got to where most would expect it to lead.

Author Biography: (From Amazon)
K. M. Shea is a fantasy-romance author who never quite grew out of adventure books or fairy tales, and still searches closets in hopes of stumbling into Narnia. She is addicted to sweet romances, witty characters, and happy endings.

She is also extremely committed to her readers—who have set up their base camp at kmshea.com—and lives in the idyllic Midwest with her furry pet, Perfect Dog.