Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Blog Tour with Review and Giveaway: Now I Rise (The Conqueror's Saga #2) by Kiersten White


Book info:
Title:  Now I Rise  
Author:  Kiersten White
Series:  The Conqueror's Saga #2  
Genre:  YA Alternative Historical Fiction
Publisher:  Delacorte Press
Release Date:  June 27th, 2017
Formats:  Hardcover, ebook, audiobook
Pages:  496
Find it:  
--> AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksTBDAudible,  Goodreads
Synopsis:

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Lada Dracul has no allies. No throne. All she has is what she’s always had: herself. After failing to secure the Wallachian throne, Lada is out to punish anyone who dares to cross her blood-strewn path. Filled with a white-hot rage, she storms the countryside with her men, accompanied by her childhood friend Bogdan, terrorizing the land. But brute force isn’t getting Lada what she wants. And thinking of Mehmed brings little comfort to her thorny heart. There’s no time to wonder whether he still thinks about her, even loves her. She left him before he could leave her.


What Lada needs is her younger brother Radu’s subtlety and skill. But Mehmed has sent him to Constantinople—and it’s no diplomatic mission. Mehmed wants control of the city, and Radu has earned an unwanted place as a double-crossing spy behind enemy lines. Radu longs for his sister’s fierce confidence—but for the first time in his life, he rejects her unexpected plea for help. Torn between loyalties to faith, to the Ottomans, and to Mehmed, he knows he owes Lada nothing. If she dies, he could never forgive himself—but if he fails in Constantinople, will Mehmed ever forgive him?

As nations fall around them, the Dracul siblings must decide: what will they sacrifice to fulfill their destinies? Empires will topple, thrones will be won . . . and souls will be lost.   


My review:
My rating:  5 stars
Once again I am blown away by the creative take on this historical tale told in an alternating world where Count Dracula is a girl instead of a man.  So much in this story makes you think.  Just how hard it was for a woman back in that time to be taken serious in any way, especially as a leader.  The fact that she soon figures out how the only way she may be able to get any power like what she wants may be to marry?  Wow.  Such a major development for her as she tries so hard to go after what should rightfully be hers as the oldest child in her family.  There is also all the family drama with her brother Radu, and her love for Mehmed, who still only sees her as not truly being able to have the power she strives for, even as he seems to encourage her to try for it.  

The difference in the fighting between the Christians and the Muslims is also such a thought-provoking aspect, and in the times that we live in, still so very relevant.  That both sides call the other sides infidels.  That each feel they are in the right.  To get the opinion of the Muslims, how they feel about their prayers, and how they feel about the other religion, it's just something that I like to see shown in a YA book, especially the way this author does it.  All I can say is that I am glad there is more to this story, and am going to be very impatient as I wait for next year and the final book.  

If you want to read my review of the first book, you can check it out here:  And I Darken.  


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Title: AND I DARKEN

Author: Kiersten White
Pub. Date: June 28, 2016
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Format: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook, audiobook
Find it: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Audible, TBD, Goodreads  



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NO ONE EXPECTS A PRINCESS TO BE BRUTAL. 


And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets.

Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, who’s expected to rule a nation, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion.

But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.
 


About the Author:

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Kiersten White is the NYT bestselling author of the Paranormalcy trilogy, the Mind Games series, Illusions of Fate, The Chaos of Stars, In the Shadows with artist Jim Di Bartolo, and the upcoming historical reimagining, And I Darken. She has one tall husband and three small children and lives near the ocean, where her life is perfectly normal. Visit her at www.kierstenwhite.com.
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Giveaway:
--> 3 Winners will receive a finished copy of NOW I RISE, US Only      a Rafflecopter giveaway


Tour Schedule:
Week One:
6/19/2017- BookfeverExcerpt
6/20/2017- Lisa Loves LiteratureReview
6/21/2017- Two Chicks on Books- Interview
6/22/2017- FiktshunReview
6/23/2017- Carina's BooksReview

Week Two:
6/26/2017- Dazzled by BooksReview
6/27/2017- Books and ThingsReview
6/28/2017- Rattle the StarsReview
6/29/2017- YABCReview
6/30/2017- Once Upon A TwilightReview

Week Three:
7/3/2017- Adventures of a Book JunkieInterview
7/4/2017- Seeing Double In NeverlandReview
7/5/2017- Fiction FareReview
7/6/2017- YA and WineReview
7/7/2017- Little Red's ReviewsReview