YA Novella Reviews: The Crown and the Arrow (The Wrath and the Dawn #0.5) and The Mirror and the Maze (The Wrath and the Dawn #1.5) by Renee Ahdieh

These two novellas were up for free or really cheap and so I downloaded them and had to read them right after I finished the first book in the series, The Wrath and the Dawn, last month.  I enjoyed these, although they were so short.  Yeah, I know they were novellas. But they just barely grabbed me and then they were over.  Here are very quick summaries of each one.

The Crown and the Arrow (#0.5): 

This one just introduces us to Khalid, the ruler, the one who would take a bride each night, and then she would be hung the next morning.  It leads us up to his first meeting with Shahrzad, letting us in on just how much his first meeting with her affects him, and how it starts this last marriage off different.  And then it's over.  :-(












The Mirror and the Maze (#1.5):

This one takes place right after the first book. When Khalid is journeying back to his kingdom, only to find that it is on fire.  He is so afraid that his town has been overrun by his enemies, but when he gets there, he finds out that it isn't, just that everything is burning, after there has been a very strange storm with lightning that caused all of it.  And not only that, he finds out that his wife, the one who has lasted longest, who he finds himself falling in love with, Shahrzad, has disappeared, taken, to safety supposedly, by the man that he does not trust in any way, the man that she grew up with, and had been betrothed to.  This one was so hard to read.  Knowing what I knew from the book, and really being in love with Khalid for Shahrzad, I am left wanting to cry, and ready to read on in this series.

Release Day Blitz: The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh

I am so excited that THE ROSE AND THE DAGGER by Renée Ahdieh releases today and that I get to share the news, along with an awesome giveaway!

If you haven’t yet heard about this wonderful book by Author Renée Ahdieh, be sure to check out all the details below.

This blitz also includes a giveaway for a paperback of THE WRATH AND THE DAWN and a hardcover of THE ROSE AND THE DAGGER and an awesome candle from The Melting Library’s Etsy Store, US Only!  So if you’d like a chance to win, enter in the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.

 Title: THE ROSE AND THE DAGGER

Author: Renée Ahdieh

Release Date: April 26, 2016

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Pages: 432

Formats: Hardcover, eBook, and audiobook

Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iBooks 

The much anticipated sequel to the breathtaking The Wrath and the Dawn, lauded by Publishers Weekly as "a potent page-turner of intrigue and romance."

I am surrounded on all sides by a desert. A guest, in a prison of sand and sun. My family is here. And I do not know whom I can trust.

In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad has been torn from the love of her husband Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once believed him a monster, but his secrets revealed a man tormented by guilt and a powerful curse—one that might keep them apart forever. Reunited with her family, who have taken refuge with enemies of Khalid, and Tariq, her childhood sweetheart, she should be happy. But Tariq now commands forces set on destroying Khalid's empire. Shahrzad is almost a prisoner caught between loyalties to people she loves. But she refuses to be a pawn and devises a plan.

While her father, Jahandar, continues to play with magical forces he doesn't yet understand, Shahrzad tries to uncover powers that may lie dormant within her. With the help of a tattered old carpet and a tempestuous but sage young man, Shahrzad will attempt to break the curse and reunite with her one true love.

Praise for The Rose and the Dagger:

“Above all there is the shattering, triumphant catharsis of love… In a story about stories, love is ‘the power to speak without words.’ Thrillingly full of feeling.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Fiery romance, a spirited heroine, shifting loyalties… With more than a few heartrending twists and turns.”—Booklist 

Excerpt:

About Renée:

Renée lives in North Carolina (Go Heels!) with her husband Victor and their dog Mushu. Her YA fantasy novel, THE WRATH AND THE DAWN, was published on May 12th, 2015. In her spare time, she likes to cook, dance salsa, and wreak havoc on the lives of her characters.

She’s also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, as well as an active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

Website| Twitter | Facebook| Goodreads | Tumblr  |Pinterest | Instagram

Giveaway Details:

1 winner will receive a paperback of THE WRATH AND THE DAWN, a hardcover of THE ROSE AND THE DAGGER, and a His Calipha candle from The Melting Library’s Etsy Store, US Only.

Ends on May 3rd at Midnight EST!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

I won this book from another blog a year or so ago, and at the time, I forgot to put a little note in the book to remind me when I blogged about it. Oh well.  I have to say that I just adored this book!  I can't believe I waited this long to read it, but in a way that's kind of good. Because the 2nd book is coming out soon, and now I can read it and not have to remember from a year ago what happened.  If you haven't read this yet, let me tell you that you need to pick it up as soon as you can, it was as wonderful as everyone has said!

The main character is Shahrzad.  She lives in a land inspired by A Thousand and One Nights, where the new king, called a Caliph, is the stuff of nightmares. Every night he marries a woman, and then she is hung with a silk cord around her neck the very next morning.  Shahrzad has volunteered to be his next wife/queen, after her best friend, Shiva, had been one of those wives that was killed in that very way.  Shahrzad has vowed to get revenge.  And the only way she can see to do that is to try to last more than one night.  And her plan is to take it one night at a time.  She lasts the first night by telling a story that when the dawn comes, and it is time for her to be hung, she hasn't finished the story.  And the boy-king, Khalid, stays her execution so that he can hear the rest of the story the following night.  And then, something happens each night, and even during the day that he keeps her around, and tells all of the staff that no harm should come to her.  Until one night, when he doesn't come to her room at all. And in the morning, the soldiers come for her and begin to go through with the hanging.  Fortunately Khalid gets there in time to save her, and it is now that he promises to kill anyone who ever touches her again. 

Within the palace Shahrzad faces other dangers, you see there are reasons why the girls must be killed or sacrificed each morning. And there are people not happy that she has ended this trend.  While Shahrzad knows in her heart that she should hate him, and find a way to kill him for what he did to her friend Shiva, as well as all the other girls, she soon finds there is something about him that is not quite the monster she believed him to be before.  She will befriend her personal maid, as well as her bodyguard.  And all the same, her father is trying to go to whatever length he can to not fail his daughter, trying to find the magic or power that he can use to save her.  She also has a boyfriend/betrothed childhood friend, Tariq, who will go in to try to get her back.  But the longer Shahrzad is with Khalid, the more she feels for him, and the more she knows she must stay.  She learns there are things about her that she never knew, things that may be able to help Khalid in what is plaguing his lands. 

In the end there will be a major event that will cause Shahrzad to make a decision on whether to go with Tariq, or to stay with Khalid.  And what happens, well I won't tell  you, just know that it is a tear-jerking ending, and I am so needing to read the next book and know what will happen next! 

I do love a good fairy tale, or other story retelling, and this one does not disappoint!  This is not just a book with a beautiful cover, it is a book with a beautiful story inside of it. 

Waiting on Wednesday: The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases that we're eagerly awaiting.  This week I've chosen a book that I've seen on a lot of other blogs.  I love the cover and as it is a retelling/inspired by a classic, I definitely want to read it.  I saw it pop up on Netgalley about a month ago, but at first it wasn't actually available for requesting or downloading, which I thought was weird, why else have it on the site?  But anyway, here is the blurb from Goodreads:

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi's wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all.

A sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights.

Sounds pretty good to me, how about you?  It's expected publication is May 15th, so a few more months to wait!

While you're here, don't forget to go enter my Romance is in the Air Giveaway for your choice of 1 of 12 books that I enjoyed the romance in.