Book Review & Giveaway: The Affiliate by K.A. Linde

Title: The Affiliate

Author: K.A. Linde

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Release Date: September 15, 2015

The Affiliate Synopsis:

On the day of her Presenting, in front of the entire Byern Court, seventeen-year-old Cyrene Strohm's lifelong plans come to fruition when she's chosen as an Affiliate to the Queen.

Or so she thinks. When Cyrene receives a mysterious letter and an unreadable book, she finds nothing is as it seems. Thrust into a world of dangerous political intrigue and deadly magic, Cyrene's position only grows more treacherous when she finds herself drawn to the one man she can never have...

King Edric himself.

Cyrene must decide if love is truly worth the price of freedom. Find out in this first book in USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde’s new Ascension series.

**ARC provided for an honest review

Globug's Review

I've always been a fan of YA Fantasy but for the last couple of years I've been consumed with Contemporary. The gorgeous cover is what first caught my attention. I was a little apprehensive even before the Prologue when I found a Pronunciation Guide was provided. Then Linde opens up a whole new world that captured me completely.

The mystery setup in the Prologue made it hard for me to put the book down. The King has two sons and on his death bed he names the eldest son Edric as his successor but then entrusts the family greatest secrets to only one of the boys but the author doesn't tell us which boy it is. I couldn't help but feel like the author was setting me up to think the younger son  Kael was the keeper of the secrets of a dark magic that had been banished when it was really Edric. My mind would consider this throughout the entire book never fully satisfied with a definitive answer to which brother it was.

Next you have the leading lady Cyrene. At the age of seventeen all of the youth in the kingdom are Presented. The King decides the Class that each will spend the rest of their lives serving in: Frist, Second, or Third Class. I instantly loved Cyrene for her sassy confidence. She is also a true and loyal friend and very loving of her family. She's trained her entire life in hopes to be given a place in First Class. I loved her courage to make fierce choices.

There were a couple of things that made me twinge a little. King Edric and Kael are both drawn to Cyrene which equals a love triangle. The biggest problem with that is the King is married. The Queen happens to be a major winch and honestly that's what helped me not totally hate the King's attraction to Cyrene. Kael is a huge player but he has a charm that appealed to me at times. I was also a little confused with the King's relationship with his Consort. I wasn't sure if they had a sexual relationship.

There were a lot of supporting characters that I enjoyed. I loved the paranormal/fantasy/magical feel of the story. The story is so much bigger than just this one book that I wasn't mad about the cliffhanger. It means that there is so much more to come. I have continued to think back to this story everyday since finishing it which is a huge tell for how much I enjoyed it.

K.A. Linde Bio:

USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde is the author of The Affiliate, the first book in the Ascension Series.  As a military brat, she traveled the world with her family, imaginary friends, and ever-increasing supply of books.  She has spent much of her life dreaming up new worlds and characters and forcing them into uncomfortable, usually life-threatening scenarios.  After graduating from the University of Georgia with a masters degree in political science, she began spending every waking hour putting those characters onto paper.

When not writing, she spends her time dancing, collecting paperbacks in the hopes of filling a Beauty and the Beast style library one day, traveling to visit her friends who live all over the country, and still reading anything she can get her hands on.  She currently resides in North Carolina with her husband and two puppies, Lucy and Riker, where she is hard at work on her next novel.

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Eyes of Ember (The Imdalind Series) by Rebecca Ethington {Review}

 

 

Genre: Paranormal/Fantasy

Series: The Imdalind Series

Author: Rebecca Ethington

Publish date: April 6, 2012

Pages: 380

 

 

 

BOOK SYNOPSIS

 

 

Joclyn is in hiding, hunted by the man she still desperately loves. Ryland is gone, his mind erased, no memory of Joclyn remains. But, Joclyn’s heart desperately begs her to hold out hope. While, in reality the black eyed monster that possesses him, attempts to kill her over and over.

If it wasn’t for Ilyan, Joclyn would be dead by now.

Ilyan. The man who once stalked her, is now Joclyn’s protector, the only thing she has left. He protects Joclyn from the men who seek to end her life, and while she is haunted by dreams where Ryland begs her to break the bond between them.

Ilyan is there. Always there.

Ilyan trains and prepares her, teaching her everything she needs to know in the hope that one day she can avenge Ryland, if not protect herself from him.

And then there is her father.

The man who has never been there, is suddenly responsible for everything. And who he is has made Joclyn into something she never wanted to be.

The Silnỳ.

 

 

MY TAKE

 

 

I was anxious to read Eyes of Ember. If you read my review of book one Kiss of Fire (Review of Kiss of Fire) you see that it did not end on a happy note. I had fallen hard for the character Ryland. Then came along Illyan. It's not often that I find it hard to choose with lead guy I want to get the girl, but I really liked both of these guys.

 

In Eyes of Ember, we start with Joclyn three days after her failed attempt to rescue Ryland from his evil father. All of his memory has been erased. Now Joclyn has lost everyone she loves. As Ilyan tries to help her recover, they discover Joclyn suffers from more than just a broken heart. Her magic is gone and her body seems to be dying. Ryland continues to hunt Joclyn  in her dreams and the real world now that he is just his fathers puppet. Ilyan has no choice but to train Joclyn to fight. He's her protector and his feelings for Joclyn continue to become apparent. My heart breaks for Ilyan each time Joclyn rejects his affection. She can't accept that Ryland is lost to her. She remains in denial of her own feelings developing for Ilyan as well. A small bit of hope is restored when Joclyn visits Ryland in a Touha (shared consciousness). She regains her strength and powers from spending time with Ryland in the Touha but it's not permanent.

 

Every night Joclyn is hunted, captured, and tortured in her dreams by Ryland and his father's goon Cail. With every nightmare I fall less in love with Ryland and more in love with Ilyan. He sings to her each time she wakes screaming.

 

"Hush now child. Be still, be calm. The world will change at the new dawn. And when it does, you will see how you and I were meant to be."

 

I loved getting to know more about Ilyan in this book. He reveals some much about the centuries he has been alive. But as we get to know him you can sense that he's leaving out something really important. You also realize just how alone he is. Remember in Kiss of Fire we learn that Ryland and Ilyan are brothers, which means Edmund is Ilyan and Ovailia's father too. Edmund has tortured all of his children in an effort to gain more power. The plot thickens as Ilyan realizes Joclyn's father is being held prisoner by Edmond.  Her father has a huge role in the magic world and has suffered at the hands of Edmund for years. Joclyn feels empty as she sees now that her life has been full of lies.You won't believe her father's connection to the bitch Ovailia. Through all of Ilyan's life he has been on the side of good.

 

"Two brothers stand beside you, both know of your true fate. They both have love in their hearts, but different needs to gain. One seeks power, the other light."

 

At this point, Joclyn has no choice but to see what Ilyan's true feelings for her are. Ryland all but tells her of Ilyan's love in riddle about the future. Once again Ryland attempts to kill Joclyn and Ilyan comes to the rescue. With his unmatched power, he transports them to a safe hiding place. I'm thinking good grief, how much more can happen? I'm only half way through the book. Ilyan expended himself to the point of unsciousness. Joclyn has so much to learn. As Ilyan sleeps for his body to heal, two of his trusted friends train Joclyn and give her quite the family history lesson. Joclyn gets to look into the future and see her true destiny. My heart breaks for Ilyan as his destiny is also revealed. He's the only one strong enough to protect her and she's the most powerful of all.  Joclyn has a huge burden to carry.

 

"Bred to die, born to fight, raised to be broken, and always the cause of pain for those I cared about most in the world."

 

The question is can they survive the heartache they both are meant to endure? God knows my heart couldn't take it. I was a snotty mess.

 

Joclyn finds herself trapped in a Touha.The author does an amazing job making you feel like you're going crazy right along with Joclyn. The story becomes twisted and dark. It becomes clear in the end what Joclyn must do. There is no question that Ilyan owns my heart at the end of Eyes of Ember. True love is not selfish.  I can't imagine what we're in for in the next book. I really hope for a little happiness in the story. So far there's been a ton of romance and action and intensity but very little happiness. I definitely recommend reading the series.

 

 

 

 

AUTHOR BIO/LINKS

Rebecca Ethington has been telling stories since she was small. First, with writing crude scripts, and then on stage with years of theatrical performances. The Imdalind Series is her first stint into the world of literary writing. Rebecca is a mother to two, and wife to her best friend of 14 years. She was born and raised in the mountains of Salt Lake City, and hasn’t found the desire to leave yet. Her days are spent writing, running, and enjoying life with her amazing family.

GOODREADS * AUTHOR WEBSITE * FACEBOOK * TWITTER

 

 

 

NEW COVER and Review of Kiss of Fire by Rebecca Ethington

Blurb:

Joclyn Despain has a scar. In fact, it is almost like a brand on her skin. She doesn’t know why it appeared on her neck, but she doesn’t want anyone to see it, including her best friend Ryland, who knows everything else about her. The scar is the reason she hides herself behind baggy clothes, and won’t let the idea of kissing Ryland enter her mind, no matter how much she wants to.

The scar is the reason she is being hunted.

If only she knew that she was.

If only she had known that the cursed stone her estranged father sent for her 16^th birthday would trigger a change in her. Now, she is being stalked by a tall blonde man, and is miraculously throwing her high school bully ten feet in the air.

Joclyn attempts to find some answers and the courage to follow her heart. When Ryland finds her scar; but he knows what it means, and who will kill her because of it.

Excerpt:

“I better get going to class,” Wyn said, without looking away from me.

I watched her as she turned to leave, ratty shoulder bag draped across her back. I wanted to run after her, explain why everything upset me, and explain about Ryland and my dad and everything. But, I couldn’t make myself move.

Wyn took a step to the side, leaving a break in the small group of students leaving the cafeteria. That small movement gave me a clear view of the door, and the blonde man standing next to it.

I looked away from Wyn’s retreating back to meet the stare of bright, blue eyes. My stomach clenched in fear as his gaze bored into mine in a glance so intense I felt the blood drain from my face. All the times I had seen him, I had felt uncomfortable, like I was being stalked, and, this time was no different. Except, now I knew without a doubt that he was following me. My frantic heart felt like it was going to beat right out of my chest.

The man leaned forward, his back arching him forward. His eyes narrowed as he continued to stare into me. A shiver wound its way up my spine causing me to gasp for a breath I hadn’t remembered holding. At my sudden intake, a coy little half smile spread across his face as if he enjoyed it. My stomach clenched in even further terror, my mind casting away any thoughts of what that smile could mean. I didn’t want to know. He continued to stare into me before releasing me as he turned to walk out of the cafeteria.

I didn’t dare move, even though class had already started and I was left alone with the janitorial staff and the smell of ammonia. I continued to stare at the vacant door as the edge of fear ebbed away and my spine started to relax. I shouldn’t be so worked-up over one random man staring at me, even though he had been following me. But it could be anything right?

At the age of five Joclyn was bitten by something that sent her into a coma after experiencing tremendous pain. After almost six months she woke with only one side effect of the bite. A small raised red scar like a brand with a black mark in the middle. Since then she has wanted to do nothing but to disappear. Instead she did the best she could to hide the mark behind her ear on her neck by wearing baggy clothes and long hair hanging over it. She blames the mark for her fathers disappearance. Her parents argued about the significance of the mark. Then one night the arguements stopped and Joclyn woke to find her father had left.

Now she's almost sixteen and her mom works for the scrooge from hell.  Fortunately the Devil's son is little piece of heaven named Ryland. He's her best friend but in 3 months he's supposed to leave for college. With time running out their hearts start feel  the pressure. But their love and friendship is forbidden by Ryland's father. Ryland realizes what he wants most is to love Jos. Then he discovers her mark. Joclyn biggest fears become a reality as she loses Ryland because of the mark. She feels like everything leaves her because it. But the mystery of the Mark is now revealed. Her absent father returns, friends from school aren't who they appear to be, and Ryland's father is a bigger threat than she ever imagined. She's a Chosen Child, marked by the Kiss of a creature that resembles a small, winged dinasaur with a human like face.  My heart breaks reading about the torture Ryland has had to endure at the hands of his father. 

I loved this story. I wanted a different ending which means my heart is totally invested in the characters and reading the next book. You will love the mix of magic and romance and action. Your heart will swell and break as you read Kiss of Fire.

About the Author

Rebecca Ethington is a mother to two, foster mother to many, and wife to her best friend of 14 years. She was born and raised in the mountains of Salt Lake City, and hasn’t found the desire to leave yet. Her days are spent writing, running a travel agency, attending school full time and enjoying life with her amazing family.

 

Links:

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16106970-kiss-of-fire

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B009ZNTLPS

Website: www.rebeccaethington.com

Twitter: @RebEthington

                                                                          LOVED IT!!!- GLOBUG