DESCRIPTION Aurelia Jillian Brentwood is the Queen of Akkinor; a vast, powerful, and peaceful country. For three years, Her Grace has served as a just, capable ruler after the untimely death of her parents. Until now, when her harmonious rule is cut short by an uprising planned within the castle walls. As instructed by her parents in their final written message, the queen flees Akkinor and changes her identity. Alone and betrayed, Jilli Francis is smuggled across the sea to foreign lands, where she must find the allies she didn't know she had. While her secrets are being told and her name being tarnished on the other side of the world, she has no choice but to prove her strength, power, and title to strangers. On her journey, the once all-powerful queen will face assassins sent from her homeland, the loss and discovery of her identity, and a fresh view of the world seen through the eyes of friends she'll meet along the way. Will Queen Aurelia reclaim her throne and her country, or will Jilli Francis be trapped on the other side of the world forever? GENRE & SUB-GENRES
MY RATING AND REVIEW As written in the book's description, 'Gold, Ash, and Blood' is a story about a young queen of Akkinor named Aurelia Jillian Brentwood. She was crowned queen after her parents died at the sea, and even though it hasn't been more than just a few years since she began her reign, Aurelia has already been recognized as one of the kingdom's best monarchs of all time.
Too bad not everyone is happy with the sight of her sitting on the throne, and so that person orchestrated an uprising within the castle walls and tried to assassinate the queen. But thanks to her second-in-command and best friend Francis, she successfully escaped all the chaos and fled from the palace for the time being. With her parents' guidance through their final letter to her, Aurelia heeded their advice and kept her real identity a secret while searching for a man called Arian Christos who can be found in Carthe, a place located on the other side of the sea, far away from Akkinor. And that is when she starts living as Jilli Francis instead of Aurelia Brentwood. There's not much of character growth for Aurelia since she has always been kind, strong, and smart. However, it's really enjoyable to see her living like a commoner for a change and learning some new survival skills along the way — the kind of survival skills that will prove useful to her in more ways than one. Other than that, I like how her horizon widens due to the countless experience that she gets from this life-changing journey of hers. Her journey has not been an easy one, that's for sure, but without it, she wouldn't have met lots of wonderful new people like Kaia, Jack, and Arian who has left a huge impact on her life. They give her friendship, love, aid, and guidance as much as she needs it, and she returns those favors generously — loving and cherishing them unconditionally. On the whole, all I can say is that I absolutely love the whole plot-line of the story. The creative history of the places and the background story of the characters help in making the story come to life. Moreover, the dialogues really portray the characteristic of the characters, not to mention that the author has truly nailed the medieval time's way of talking. Everything about this book is simply amazing, and I can easily tell how much effort and love the author has put into her story to make it this close to perfection so that her readers can enjoy it to the fullest. It really makes you feel like you're a part of the story, like you have escaped reality and joined the expedition along with Aurelia and her companions. So, what are you guys waiting for? I highly recommend this book because it is very well-written and not at all short of the surprise elements. It would definitely leave you dumbfounded for more than once. The author has made sure of that 😉.
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DESCRIPTION Design student Layla Monroe has everything in her life expertly arranged. With an impeccable resume, enviable good-looks, and a prestigious internship on deck, her life seems perfect on paper. Also 'on paper': a decade's worth of hand-written letters exchanged with her pen pal, former All-American football player Luke Casey. When Layla's life on the East Coast takes a dramatic turn for the worse, a visit to Luke's hometown of Seattle for Christmas seems like the perfect getaway. But after ten years of long-distance friendship, Layla has no idea what to expect when she finally encounters her pen pal in the (stupidly handsome) flesh. What she did not expect to encounter: a tangled web of secrets, lies and ancient Filipino mysticism with herself woven into the center. But that's exactly what she finds. All Layla wanted was a vacation from her life. Instead, she falls heart-first into a thrilling supernatural adventure that redefines her plans altogether. GENRE & SUB-GENRES
MY RATING AND REVIEW From the story's description, I'm pretty sure you guys already figured out that this book is another story about self-discovery, where Layla's little trip to Seattle keeps on changing directions; from having an amazing vacation time to getting drag into lots of dramas to 'who or what am I?'
So Layla's journey begins when she got her heart broken by her boyfriend of one year. It turns out that her serious relationship with him wasn't serious at all, at least not to the cheating scumbag named Brian Cutler. After cutting ties with him, Layla decided to take a three-week vacation to Seattle to busy herself with her photography project and also to heal herself while she's there. However, her original plan got hijacked by her meddlesome mother who had secretly asked the Caseys to take in Layla into their home and keep an eye on her during her stay in Seattle. Since Luke and Layla have been great pen-pal friends for a decade, Luke was more than happy to welcome her into his home and so did the rest of his family members, except for his younger sister Livy. Despite hating her mother's meddling, Layla couldn't deny the fact that she was having a great time spending her vacation with the Caseys and Pete Sawyer. But that was until things took a turn for the worse due to the love pentagon drama and the strange, supernatural phenomena that keeps on happening around Layla. I love that the story moves at a steady pace. The author did a great job at not rushing things while keeping the story interesting so that the readers would remain hooked to the story until the end. The writing style is simply fabulous and the character's development really stands out in the story. The author also succeeded in creating realistic characters that have their own depth and personality. Now, even though the story is great, I still found that sometimes the author simplified some of the scenes too much and in doing so, she unintentionally had made the flow less smooth — like something is missing in order to make sense of it or to make the scene more alive. And that's mainly the reason why I rated this book with 4-star instead of 5-star. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed reading this book, and I totally adore Layla and Pete's not yet official relationship. You can tell that they have genuine feelings for each other but couldn't act openly about it because of the people around them. They are my most favorite characters in the story, and I simply can't wait to read the sequel of the book so that I can continue follow their journey to unravel the mystery of Layla's origin. And so should you guys if you're a big fan of Paranormal-Romance-Mystery-Drama stories. |
AuthorHi! I'm Miera, and I have been in love with story books for as long as I can remember. Therefore, here, in this blog of mine, I'm going to share with you about books and more, especially free Wattpad ebooks that you can enjoy at any time and place. Archives |