Winter Queen

by Amber Argyle

Release Date: June 19th 2013

Summary from Goodreads

Becoming a winter queen will make Ilyenna as cold and cruel and deadly as winter itself, but it might be the only way to save her people from a war they have no hope of winning.

Mortally wounded during a raid, seventeen-year-old Ilyenna is healed by winter fairies who present her with a seductive offer: become one of them and share their power over winter. But that power comes with a price. If she accepts, she will become a force of nature, lose her humanity, and abandon her family.

Unwilling to pay such a high price, Ilyenna is enslaved by one of the invaders, Darrien. While in captivity, she learns the attack wasn’t just a simple raid but part of a larger plot to overthrow her entire nation.

With the enemy stealing over the mountains and Darrien coming to take her to his bed, Ilyenna must decide whether to resurrect the power the fairies left behind. Doing so will allow her to defeat Darrien and the other invaders, but if she embraces winter, she will lose herself to that destroying power —forever.

Buy Links

Amazon│Barnes and Noble│Kobo

To receive Amber Argyle’s starter library for free (4 books!), simply tell her where to send it: http://eepurl.com/l8fl1

My Review

Can I just first say how pretty this cover is? It reminds me of my childhood when I used to print out fantasy creatures and put them on my wall. It really is some great work. Now to the review!

Argyle has an incredible ability to immediately suck you in to a book. It was really easy for me to immediately connect with Ilyenna and admire her throughout the book.

This book very much plays like a movie and allows the reader to envision the characters and surroundings to their imagination.  While I enjoy the more descriptive novels, I found that all of the action and plot motivators really moved the story along. This book is very heavily action packed to start out with, which is really right up my alley of what I like in books. I will say that for the reader that enjoys a more description and explanatory introduction, this book can be a bit of a whirlwind to start. A lot of new names, clans, and places are dropped with occasional backstory, so it kind of became of those stories where I have to repeat the word in my head a fews times to remember it. Or you can take a cue from my mom and have a post-it of names and descriptions nearby. 😉

The most admirable characteristic of Ilyenna was definitely her kindness. As a great healer in her village, she not only has a desire to help those in need but puts the people’s safety before her own. While her actions were not always the right one, she continues to the best of her ability to still be herself.

I really enjoyed how easily this story flowed and continued the story along. The villain of the story, Darrien, really was a teeth-grinding, cringe-worthy, glaring eyes bad guy. All good books have a good villain (or bad villain I guess I should say). His capture of Ilyenna was very tense and really quite frustrating. After Ilyenna is near death, she’s met with even more harsh decisions that affect not only her life, but the lives of those she loves, and the fate of her clan. However, as Ilyenna knows from the beginning, everything has a Balance in her world.

The romance in the book was a great addition as well. Ilyenna and Rone weren’t perfect and had clashing from time to time. However, they really do care for one another quite a bit. It was complicated and made it quite real and believable. Especially since this is just the beginning of the series, it was nice to see a blossoming relationship that left you wanting more.

I’ve really just touched the Iceberg of this adventurous story and would recommend it for sure!

Sidenote: There are a few triggers in this book that can come from the violence and war the clans ensue. Any future reader should take note of the summary as it is important to always be prepared.

 

About the Author

Amber Argyle is the number-one bestselling author of the Witch Song Series and the Fairy Queen Series. Her books have been nominated for and won awards in addition to being translated into French and Indonesian.

Amber graduated cum laude from Utah State University with a degree in English and physical education, a husband, and a two-year old. Since then, she and her husband have added two more children, which they are actively trying to transform from crazy small people into less crazy larger people.

Author Links

Website│Goodreads│Twitter│Facebook

 

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Tour Organized By

https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js