Broken Dove by Kristen Ashley | Book Review

Broken Dove by Kristen Ashley
Fantasyland #4
First Published: 2013
Kindle
Adult, Fantasy Romance
Rating:

Far too young, Apollo Ulfr lost Ilsa, his wife, the love of is life and the mother of his two children. The grief of her loss does not settle in his soul, it solders to it. But when he discovers there is a parallel universe where his wife may have a twin, he feels there's hope and sets about bringing her to his world so he can have her back.
But Ilsa Ulfr of our world is married to the parallel universe's twin, Pol, who is not a good man. Not in any way. She's on the run from him and the last thing she wants is to be transported to a fantastical world and be forced to take his side as his wife, even if he is not Pol. And Apollo finds the broken Ilsa nothing like his beloved, and further, wants nothing to do with her.
But darkness is looming and evil is amassing. Apollo must protect his land and keep his family safe, including the new Ilsa.

Of the entire Fantasyland series, Broken Dove is my least favorite by far, and the lowest rated. Even though these books make me not give a damn about a lot of my normal standards, they're so addictive, there are just some things I can't ignore or forgive, no matter what.

This book deals with a battered woman; Isla, aka Maddy. She's been in an abusive relationship for years, spending the last three years on the run from her husband. This has to take it's toll on her, and yet for a large time of the book, she comes across as... completely okay, despite everyone assuring us she's "broken" inside.

Seeing her one time flinch from Apollo is not enough. Giving her some self-worth issues three quarters into the book is not enough either. What Maddy went through is all consuming. And it's not something that happened years ago. It's something that has been happening to her for last eleven years, continuously. It felt like such a light and incomplete depiction of a battered woman, in which the issues appear only when they are convenient to the plot. It made abuse a cheap instrument.

But more than that, it was that Apollo was the one to "save" her. It was that Apollo made fun of her desire to "find herself", acting like that's such a stupid thing to want to do. It was that Apollo made her apologize 95% of the time... even when he was the one at fault. It was that Apollo lashed at her, viciously, as painfully as a punch to the face. It was that Apollo forced her to be at his mercy. He had everything under his control - where she would go, what she would do, when she will see his children, when not... he is such a controlling man. 

A controlling man who looks exactly the same as her abusive husband.

I was so angry and so upset with him the entire read, for being such an ass and not understanding the things he's doing, for being a control freak and for being the exact opposite of what I consider Maddy to need right now. And I was angry at Ashley for making him this way. I was so angry at her for making Maddy fall in love with this ass.

Indeed, for the majority of the book, I hated Apollo. The same Apollo I enjoyed in book one and looked forward to his story turned out to be the most disappointing hero in the whole series.

I know he's not a bad guy. I know he won't (physically) hurt Maddy. But seriously, a woman who's been abused for years by your twin, and you force her into a position that you provide everything for her, and without you she can't do a single thing, leaving her completely at your mercy??? Telling her her only choice is you and nothing else?? How is that okay??? How is that the treatment Maddy deserves and needs?????

I just couldn't get on board with this, no matter what. I honestly don't know how anyone can ship these two together, it left such a bad taste in my mouth. I'm getting my rage on just thinking about it.

Not to mention that this book breaks the rules of the world Ashley established in the first book, seeing as Earth!Apollo is as evil as they come, and yet he has a twin. But didn't you say evil people don't get a twin? And more than that, why can there be a good version and a bad version, when you're essentially the same person? this was a little confusing in Fantastical as well, but there I excused this by saying Fantasyland!Cora wasn't bad. She just grew with everything she wanted handed to her on a silver platter so she grew up vain and self centered, but not evil. Here, I can no longer ignore this massive break in the lore.

To me, this was such a disappointing forth novel, in a series I found addictive and fun to the point of #noregret binge reading... I wish this book was on par with the last one...

Fantastical by Kristen Ashley | Book Review

Fantastical by Kristen Ashley

Fantasyland #3
First Published: 2011
Kindle
Adult, Fantasy Romance
Rating:

Cora Goode has woken up in a fairytale world where she can understand what birds are saying to her, men ride horses and have fluffy feathers in their hats and furniture zigs, zags and whirls in miracles of construction.
The problem is, she thinks she’s in a dream but she’s actually taken the place of the parallel universe Cora and without realizing it, our Cora does something that starts a centuries old curse that will sweep the land if she gets captured by the evil Minerva.
At this point, her dream world becomes a nightmare.
Luckily, hot guy, fantasyland Noctorno is there to save her from the clutches of the grotesque vickrants sent by Minerva to capture her. Unfortunately, hot guy, fantasyland Noctorno doesn’t like the Cora of his world all that much (to say the least) and he thinks our Cora is her. And no matter what our Cora says or does to try to convince him, he won’t be convinced.
But Cora needs Tor to keep her safe and guide her through this fantastical world as she hopes one day to wake up in her not-so-great apartment in her not-so-great life in her world. The problem is, the more time she spends with the gorgeous warrior Tor, the faster she falls in love with him.

The Fantasyland series is such a huge guilty pleasure for me. It's the type of series I shouldn't love, and yet I do. I acknowledge all that is wrong with these books (and there is plenty), but at the same time I just don't give a damn. It's been so long since that has happened.

And I can honestly say, without a shadow a doubt, that Fantastical is my favorite out of the four books published in it so far. 

This book was simply so much fun! 

Books one & two (and four, but that's getting ahead of myself), featured some very questionable decisions the heroes did. Decisions I can't excuse no matter how much the books try to make me do so, and that had me questioning my own sanity for loving the heroes despite them. In Fantastical, I encountered no such moral dilemma, leaving me to simply love the hero in peace. Hurrah!

And love the hero I did. Tor is just so much fun, and even if he's slightly hard headed about believing Cora, you can't deny how well he takes care of her, and how sweet he can be to her... even if he's as hard core alpha male as all the heroes in this series.

Cora is my favorite heroine in this series so far. All the heroines in Fantasyland are eerily similar, both in their mannerism and their speech pattern, but this is again just one of this things these books made me not give a damn about. That said, I found Cora to be the most fun of them all -- and the most individualistic in her voice. She is diligent, she is hard working, but she is still vulnerable. That scene after they reach Tor's castle, where she breaks down because every one hates Original!Cora... totally broke my heart.

And together? Holly canolly, hot as hell. Not only were sparks flying, but they were starting fire wherever they landed. And, once again... they were just so much fun!

Not to mention, we finally got to see more of our world! It was interesting to see the Fantasyland characters move about our world, although they did so with super perfection it was slightly jarring. Oh well, just another one to my list of things I don't give a damn about when it comes to these books lol

And can we talk about the fact things are finally starting to come together?

And finally, the one thing I do give a damn about and I just want to thank the gods because Ashley finally took the pedal off those horrendously tedious and page consuming descriptions! I had to suffer through massive amounts of descriptions in books one and two, and this was the one thing I couldn't shake off. But here, they're finally more appropriately dashed out! Banzai!

The Golden Dynasty by Kristen Ashley | Book Review *Minor Spoilers*

The Golden Dynasty  by Kristen Ashley

Fantasyland #2
First Published: 2011
Kindle
Adult, Fantasy Romance
Rating:

Circe Quinn goes to sleep at home and wakes up in a corral filled with women wearing sacrificial virgin attire - and she is one of them. She soon finds out that she’s not having a wild dream, she’s living a frightening nightmare where she’s been transported to a barren land populated by a primitive people and in short order, she’s installed very unwillingly on her white throne of horns as their Queen.
Dax Lahn is the king of Suh Tunak, The Horde of the nation of Korwahk and with one look at Circe, he knows she will be his bride and together they will start The Golden Dynasty of legend.
Circe and Lahn are separated by language, culture and the small fact she’s from a parallel universe and has no idea how she got there or how to get home. But facing challenge after challenge, Circe finds her footing as Queen of the brutal Korwahk Horde and wife to its King, then she makes friends then she finds herself falling in love with this primitive land, its people and especially their savage leader.

Immediately upon finishing Wildest Dreams, I picked this one up. And I'm glad to say I enjoyed it as much as its predecessor, even if I still had the same qualms and issues. And a few new ones. It seems like this series is a true guilty pleasure for me.

One night, Circe goes to sleep in her bed on our modern world. She wakes up in a pen filled with woman on a different world. Soon, she finds out she's in the "wife hunt", a tradition of a warring nation in which the warrior's of The Horde hunt, fight for and "claim" a beautiful woman as their bride. This claiming, for someone who is not Korwahk, is rape.

So this is something you need to bare in mind going into this book. The main character is going to get raped in the first couple of chapters by her love interest. It's not graphic or scarring in any way (for you need to then fall in love with their love story, and you can hardly do that haunted by that scene), but it's there. And while the book definitely doesn't encourage rape, it does its best to explain this was not rape in their eyes, for the woman of their nation chosen for this hunt are happy and excited for this chance, and its "their way". It's an integral part of their culture. Still, rape is rape.

So in order to enjoy this love story, you'll need to set that aside. You will need to accept this part of the culture and shake it off along side Circe. I did so, even if occasionally I got very uncomfortable with it all, and I enjoyed the story. I enjoyed the romance.

It feels weird typing these words, though. "Shake off rape". But you kind of can't help it when Circe does it so readily, when the book spends its time showing you Lahn is not a bad guy but a loving guy and such is his people's way and it's not done out of malice (for most of them, anyway).

And Lahn is a good guy. He loves his wife, but more than that he is proud of his wife. Proud of who she is and the fight she has in her, proud to call her his and proud to be called hers. And you kind of have to love that, because there is nothing sexier than a man being proud of his wife's accomplishments. Also, he's hard core alpha-male cave-man brute. You ladies know you love one.

So, yes. Despite the shaky start, despite everything, I adored these two together. I loved how they were and I loved they were ready to make concessions for each other. It's an adjustment for them both, but adjust they do. And they do it scorching hot.

Not to mention, Ashley clearly worked a lot on this book, creating it's own language, with its own rules and grammar. Kudos to that, that takes a lot of effort.

But just like in the first book, Circe sounded a lot younger than her 35 years in her inner monologues and the excessive usage of "cool" and "awesome" and the likes. Not to mention the massive descriptions of clothing and jewelry were still very excessive and I skimmed them. In a way, she sounded a lot like Finnie in her slang and mannerism, which is not the best when you're trying to create two separate heroines, but I can't deny I loved her despite this

It's been a long while since I've binge read a series, but this is exactly what this series made me do. Something tells me it might have the same effect on you guys *wink*

Wildest Dreams by Kristen Ashley | Book Review

Wildest Dreams by Kristen Ashley

Fantasyland #1
First Published: August 15, 2011
Kindle Edition
Adult, fantasy
Rating:

Seoafin “Finnie” Wilde was taught by her parents that every breath was a treasure and to seek every adventure she could find. And she learns this lesson the hard way when they perish in a plane crash. But she never forgets and when she discovers there is a parallel universe where every person has a twin, she finds a witch who can send her there so she can have the adventure of a lifetime.

But upon arrival in the Winter Wonderland of Lunwyn, she realizes she’s been played by her twin and finds herself walking down the aisle to be wed to The Drakkar.

Thrown into inauspicious circumstances, with years of practice, Finnie bests the challenges and digs into her adventure. But as Frey Drakkar discovers the woman who is his new wife is not Princess Sjofn, a woman he dislikes but instead, his Finnie, a free-spirit with a thirst for venture just like him, without her knowledge he orders his new bride bound to his frozen world, everlasting.

But at the same time Frey plunges Finnie into a web of political intrigue that includes assassination plots, poison, magic, mystery and… dragons.

To tell you the truth, I have never planned on reading this one, or any book in the series. It was a mixture of things; the first being the unappealing covers, the second being the synopsis which was overly long and messily structured (imo).

But I have read another Kristen Ashley novel (Play It Safe) which I loved, so when this one only $0.99 I decided I would get it. For that price, what did I really have to lose? Luckily for this book, I almost immediately found myself in the mood for a romance, and picked it up. There were a lot of things that I liked about it. There were a few I didn't.

But at the end of the day, I decided to rate it based on my enjoyment which was a solid four stars.

In it's essence, it's a pretty simple premise: Finnie lost her parents when she was younger, so when she discovers there exists a parallel universe to ours where they still live and breath (even if it's a different version of them), she jumps on the opportunity to see them again, switching places with that world's Sjofn.

Only turns out it's that Sjofn's wedding day... so now Finnie is getting married, to a frightening beast of a man called Frey Drakkar ("The Dragon") and this Frey doesn't really like Sjofn and so he thinks he doesn't like Finnie.

Thus starts the little adventure that would eventually lead to these two falling in love.

Finne was a good character, and a good person, refusing to let any negativity control her life. She finds joy in whatever and wherever she is, easily excitable, and has a wondering spirit. She fit the Drakkar very well, despite a few hits and glitches along the way (and moments I was shaking my head because shame on you Drakkar!). The Drakkar is a natural born leader, a strategic, imposing figure with a lot of power at his hands, being (essentially), the true king of Finnie's country.

It's a marriage-before-love type of story, which is one of my favorite tropes in historical and this reads very much like an historical in the medieval fantasy world it presents. A fantasy world that is well thought out, but takes second place to the love story itself.

And I honestly, and truly enjoyed that story very much, even if I was a bit sad with the villain.

However, there were a few things that bothered me, and they mostly had to do with the writing. It's not the best... not even close. It took a while for me to get used to it and put it out of my mind enough to concentrate on the story itself. It was all kind of choppy at places and very young, which is a bit weird considering this has some very adult content. 

Or maybe, it felt young because of how Finnie talks and expresses herself. Finnie should be around thirty years old, but I wouldn't put her past twenty-two based on her voice. She sounded so, so young to me. Younger that I, and I am 22 years old. Her inner monologues included a tedious amount of "wow", "cool", "awesome", and the likes. Every new thing she encountered was awesome and freaking beautiful, more than the last one. After a while, I was desensitized to all her exclamations of beauty because they appeared so often and so frequently.

Then there were the descriptions. Good god. How many dresses and items of clothing can you describe to teeny tiny details? It drove me mad. I did not need to know the exact shade and shape of your dress, what fabric it was made from and how many bows and strings and belts it had in it. It gives nothing to the story. I can handle a few dress descriptions in order to establish the fashion and how it differs from ours. But almost every dress and every item of clothing you see? It was too much by far. You can leave some things to the imagination, and it won't take from the story at all.

These two things were the major issues I had with the book, and while they did bother me greatly, I decided to just skim the descriptions and focus and the story and I enjoyed that story enough to one click and start the second book immediately.