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Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated The Wild Swans ( Timeless Fairytales book 2) in Books
Jan 5, 2022
3of 230
Kindle
The Wild Swans ( Timeless Fairytales book 2)
By K M Shea
Elise is the foster-daughter of the King of Arcainia, a mathematician, and the country's treasurer. She is not a hero. But when her step-mother, a wicked witch, curses Elise's seven foster-brothers - the princes of Arcainia - and turns them into swans, Elise is the only one who can save them. To break the curse, she must knit seven shirts made of stinging nettles, but there's a catch. She has to complete the shirts without uttering a word, and if she doesn't finish the task, Arcainia and her foster-brothers will be lost. THE WILD SWANS is a retelling of the German Six Swans fairytale and the Dutch Wild Swans fairytale. It is a story of humor, love, adventure, and magic, and it is part of the top selling Timeless Fairy Tales series - a series comprised of loosely related adaptations of your favorite fairytales. All Timeless Fairy Tales take place in the same world and can be read all together, or as individual, stand-alone books.
I must confess I’d never heard of this fairytale where have I been!! This was beautiful and a sure sign of love and strength. I love K M Shea her books are just so well written. Definitely recommended to those that love retellings of fairytales.
Kindle
The Wild Swans ( Timeless Fairytales book 2)
By K M Shea
Elise is the foster-daughter of the King of Arcainia, a mathematician, and the country's treasurer. She is not a hero. But when her step-mother, a wicked witch, curses Elise's seven foster-brothers - the princes of Arcainia - and turns them into swans, Elise is the only one who can save them. To break the curse, she must knit seven shirts made of stinging nettles, but there's a catch. She has to complete the shirts without uttering a word, and if she doesn't finish the task, Arcainia and her foster-brothers will be lost. THE WILD SWANS is a retelling of the German Six Swans fairytale and the Dutch Wild Swans fairytale. It is a story of humor, love, adventure, and magic, and it is part of the top selling Timeless Fairy Tales series - a series comprised of loosely related adaptations of your favorite fairytales. All Timeless Fairy Tales take place in the same world and can be read all together, or as individual, stand-alone books.
I must confess I’d never heard of this fairytale where have I been!! This was beautiful and a sure sign of love and strength. I love K M Shea her books are just so well written. Definitely recommended to those that love retellings of fairytales.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2488 KP) rated London Calling in Books
Feb 20, 2025 (Updated Feb 20, 2025)
Family Found Finally?
This book starts with Annie in Istanbul. Thanks to things her mom has drilled into her, she realizes someone is following her and manages to give them the slip before she sends out a cry for help. A cry that the City Spies get and immediately jump into action. You see, Annie is the daughter of Mother, their leader. But the spies are already on assignment protecting the fiancée of one of the princes before their royal wedding. Can they find Annie and rescue her while keeping their current assignment on track?
If you haven’t yet started this fantastic series, don’t start here since it will spoil many of the twists of the previous books. But fans will be highly satisfied when they finish the book since it gives us many of the answers we’d been waiting for. A couple things were glossed over, but that’s minor. Along the way, we get all the twists and excitement that fans expect. We also get to spend time with characters we love. They are so great at working together, and it is a joy to watch. While this book does wrap up quite a bit, it leaves the door open for further adventures - ones I hope we get. If you are a fan, pick up this book today.
If you haven’t yet started this fantastic series, don’t start here since it will spoil many of the twists of the previous books. But fans will be highly satisfied when they finish the book since it gives us many of the answers we’d been waiting for. A couple things were glossed over, but that’s minor. Along the way, we get all the twists and excitement that fans expect. We also get to spend time with characters we love. They are so great at working together, and it is a joy to watch. While this book does wrap up quite a bit, it leaves the door open for further adventures - ones I hope we get. If you are a fan, pick up this book today.
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This revised and updated book explores the academics behind managing the complex service environment...
Hazel (1853 KP) rated To Kill a Kingdom in Books
Apr 9, 2018
A princess must have her prince but perhaps not in the usual happy-ever-after fairytale way. With sirens, princes, pirates, mermaids and magic, To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo is a dark fantasy novel perfect for those who grew up with Peter Pan and The Little Mermaid. But, as with most traditional fairy tales, this book is riddled with trickery and lies, making it a heart-stopping adventure.
Lira is a siren princess who is nearing her eighteenth birthday. In order to celebrate the life of their goddess Keto and get revenge for her death at the hands of the humans, each siren must kill and remove the heart of a human victim. Lira has always targeted princes and aims to steal the heart of Prince Elian of Midasan, however, her mother, the sea queen, has different ideas.
As punishment for disobeying her orders, the evil queen temporarily turns Lira into a human, stripping her of her siren power. In order to return, she must kill Prince Elian and return to the sea with his heart. However, things get complicated when Prince Elian saves Lira from drowning and takes her aboard his ship.
Elian is a prince-cum-pirate who has no wish to be the heir of the golden kingdom of Midasan. He spends his days as the captain of his ship, hunting and killing sirens. Not realising Lira is the siren he most wishes to destroy, he gradually gets used to her presence and believes she will be useful to him on his quest to find a crystal that will destroy the sea queen forever. Lira agrees to help, however, she has an ulterior motive – perhaps she can help Elian find the crystal then kill him and destroy her mother …
It takes a while for this dark, romantic young adult novel to get going; there is a lot of introduction to characters and the way their fantasy world operates. With different customs to get familiar with, particularly in the case of the sirens, it is a little monotonous for the first few chapters. However, once Lira and Elian meet, events become far more interesting.
The banter and insults hurled between Elian, Lira and the rest of the crew is a humorous addition to the storyline and makes the prince and princesses growing relationship all the more exciting. With the sea queen lurking in the shadows, the story builds up to a fateful conclusion, however, maybe Lira can steal the prince’s heart a different way.
Once the story is well underway it becomes an engrossing piece of literature that is difficult to put down. With romance, danger and a cataclysmic ending, it has everything that a young adult fantasy fan wishes for. To Kill a Kingdom is Christo’s debut and it is exciting to find out what she will write next.
Lira is a siren princess who is nearing her eighteenth birthday. In order to celebrate the life of their goddess Keto and get revenge for her death at the hands of the humans, each siren must kill and remove the heart of a human victim. Lira has always targeted princes and aims to steal the heart of Prince Elian of Midasan, however, her mother, the sea queen, has different ideas.
As punishment for disobeying her orders, the evil queen temporarily turns Lira into a human, stripping her of her siren power. In order to return, she must kill Prince Elian and return to the sea with his heart. However, things get complicated when Prince Elian saves Lira from drowning and takes her aboard his ship.
Elian is a prince-cum-pirate who has no wish to be the heir of the golden kingdom of Midasan. He spends his days as the captain of his ship, hunting and killing sirens. Not realising Lira is the siren he most wishes to destroy, he gradually gets used to her presence and believes she will be useful to him on his quest to find a crystal that will destroy the sea queen forever. Lira agrees to help, however, she has an ulterior motive – perhaps she can help Elian find the crystal then kill him and destroy her mother …
It takes a while for this dark, romantic young adult novel to get going; there is a lot of introduction to characters and the way their fantasy world operates. With different customs to get familiar with, particularly in the case of the sirens, it is a little monotonous for the first few chapters. However, once Lira and Elian meet, events become far more interesting.
The banter and insults hurled between Elian, Lira and the rest of the crew is a humorous addition to the storyline and makes the prince and princesses growing relationship all the more exciting. With the sea queen lurking in the shadows, the story builds up to a fateful conclusion, however, maybe Lira can steal the prince’s heart a different way.
Once the story is well underway it becomes an engrossing piece of literature that is difficult to put down. With romance, danger and a cataclysmic ending, it has everything that a young adult fantasy fan wishes for. To Kill a Kingdom is Christo’s debut and it is exciting to find out what she will write next.
Hazel (1853 KP) rated To Kill a Kingdom in Books
Dec 7, 2018
<i>This ebook was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review </i>
A princess must have her prince but perhaps not in the usual happy-ever-after fairytale way. With sirens, princes, pirates, mermaids and magic, <i>To Kill a Kingdom</i> by Alexandra Christo is a dark fantasy novel perfect for those who grew up with <i>Peter Pan</i> and The Little Mermaid. But, as with most traditional fairy tales, this book is riddled with trickery and lies, making it a heart-stopping adventure.
Lira is a siren princess who is nearing her eighteenth birthday. In order to celebrate the life of their goddess Keto and get revenge for her death at the hands of the humans, each siren must kill and remove the heart of a human victim. Lira has always targeted princes and aims to steal the heart of Prince Elian of Midasan, however, her mother, the sea queen, has different ideas.
As punishment for disobeying her orders, the evil queen temporarily turns Lira into a human, stripping her of her siren power. In order to return, she must kill Prince Elian and return to the sea with his heart. However, things get complicated when Prince Elian saves Lira from drowning and takes her aboard his ship.
Elian is a prince-cum-pirate who has no wish to be the heir of the golden kingdom of Midasan. He spends his days as the captain of his ship, hunting and killing sirens. Not realising Lira is the siren he most wishes to destroy, he gradually gets used to her presence and believes she will be useful to him on his quest to find a crystal that will destroy the sea queen forever. Lira agrees to help, however, she has an ulterior motive – perhaps she can help Elian find the crystal then kill him and destroy her mother …
It takes a while for this dark, romantic young adult novel to get going; there is a lot of introduction to characters and the way their fantasy world operates. With different customs to get familiar with, particularly in the case of the sirens, it is a little monotonous for the first few chapters. However, once Lira and Elian meet, events become far more interesting.
The banter and insults hurled between Elian, Lira and the rest of the crew is a humorous addition to the storyline and makes the prince and princesses growing relationship all the more exciting. With the sea queen lurking in the shadows, the story builds up to a fateful conclusion, however, maybe Lira can steal the prince’s heart a different way.
Once the story is well underway it becomes an engrossing piece of literature that is difficult to put down. With romance, danger and a cataclysmic ending, it has everything that a young adult fantasy fan wishes for. To Kill a Kingdom is Christo’s debut and it is exciting to find out what she will write next.
A princess must have her prince but perhaps not in the usual happy-ever-after fairytale way. With sirens, princes, pirates, mermaids and magic, <i>To Kill a Kingdom</i> by Alexandra Christo is a dark fantasy novel perfect for those who grew up with <i>Peter Pan</i> and The Little Mermaid. But, as with most traditional fairy tales, this book is riddled with trickery and lies, making it a heart-stopping adventure.
Lira is a siren princess who is nearing her eighteenth birthday. In order to celebrate the life of their goddess Keto and get revenge for her death at the hands of the humans, each siren must kill and remove the heart of a human victim. Lira has always targeted princes and aims to steal the heart of Prince Elian of Midasan, however, her mother, the sea queen, has different ideas.
As punishment for disobeying her orders, the evil queen temporarily turns Lira into a human, stripping her of her siren power. In order to return, she must kill Prince Elian and return to the sea with his heart. However, things get complicated when Prince Elian saves Lira from drowning and takes her aboard his ship.
Elian is a prince-cum-pirate who has no wish to be the heir of the golden kingdom of Midasan. He spends his days as the captain of his ship, hunting and killing sirens. Not realising Lira is the siren he most wishes to destroy, he gradually gets used to her presence and believes she will be useful to him on his quest to find a crystal that will destroy the sea queen forever. Lira agrees to help, however, she has an ulterior motive – perhaps she can help Elian find the crystal then kill him and destroy her mother …
It takes a while for this dark, romantic young adult novel to get going; there is a lot of introduction to characters and the way their fantasy world operates. With different customs to get familiar with, particularly in the case of the sirens, it is a little monotonous for the first few chapters. However, once Lira and Elian meet, events become far more interesting.
The banter and insults hurled between Elian, Lira and the rest of the crew is a humorous addition to the storyline and makes the prince and princesses growing relationship all the more exciting. With the sea queen lurking in the shadows, the story builds up to a fateful conclusion, however, maybe Lira can steal the prince’s heart a different way.
Once the story is well underway it becomes an engrossing piece of literature that is difficult to put down. With romance, danger and a cataclysmic ending, it has everything that a young adult fantasy fan wishes for. To Kill a Kingdom is Christo’s debut and it is exciting to find out what she will write next.
Deborah (162 KP) rated Bosworth Field and the Wars of the Roses in Books
Dec 21, 2018
For starters, the book is entitled Bosworth Field & the Wars of the Roses. Discussion of Bosworth is pretty much restricted to one short chapter and about the first third of the book is taken up with an over-detailed account of the events leading up to the Wars of the Roses; if Rowse is concerned about 'Wars of the Roses' being a misnomer, perhaps he should look to his own title! Yes, the events from the disposition of Richard II in 1399 and the usurpation of his throne by Bolingbroke do have an impact on later events, but a third of the book? Do we really need to know the ins and outs of Sir John Oldcastle's Lollard leanings - I fail to see how this is relevant.
Rowse's chapter on Shakespeare must be at least as long, if not longer, than his chapter on Bosworth. The fact that he obviously sincerely believes that one can gain a credible understanding of history from Shakespeare cycle of plays was almost enough to make me drop the book in astonishment! How can one take him seriously?!
He is also ready to give every credit to the supposed work of More. Even here he falls down by claiming that the bodies of the 'princes in the tower' were discovered in the exact place More said! If you read this work you'll find that the opposite is true - they are in the exact place More said they were NOT! The fact that there isn't a shred of evidence that anyone killed the two princes is evidently a small matter to Rowse. He mentions the great turncoat, Sir William Stanley (at this point step-uncle to Henry Tudor) being executed s a result of the Perkin Warbeck debacle, but fails to mention that Sir William is imputed to have said that if Warbeck really was Richard of York, he would not fight against him. Of course he doesn't mention this - he has to keep reminding us that EVERYONE believed Richard III guilty! Really, a credible historian should not pick and choose their facts - something Alison Weir is also very fond of doing.
Another point is that he is quite happy to accept that Katherine of Valois really did marry Owen Tudor, but cannot countenance the much more credible suggestion that Edward IV was married to Eleanor Butler (nee Talbot), who is not even mentioned. He harps on about the morality and piety of the Lancastrians (despite the Beauforts being conceived in double adultery - further hypocrisy) but when Richard III founds a chantry or offers some concession to a religious house that Rowse concludes it much be down to his uneasy concience.
So, overall, not a book I can recommend in the least. He may try to convince us that his unbending traditionalist view is 'sensible' and 'common sense' but anyone with a little knowledge of the subject will see it as laughably absurd and highly prejudiced.
Rowse's chapter on Shakespeare must be at least as long, if not longer, than his chapter on Bosworth. The fact that he obviously sincerely believes that one can gain a credible understanding of history from Shakespeare cycle of plays was almost enough to make me drop the book in astonishment! How can one take him seriously?!
He is also ready to give every credit to the supposed work of More. Even here he falls down by claiming that the bodies of the 'princes in the tower' were discovered in the exact place More said! If you read this work you'll find that the opposite is true - they are in the exact place More said they were NOT! The fact that there isn't a shred of evidence that anyone killed the two princes is evidently a small matter to Rowse. He mentions the great turncoat, Sir William Stanley (at this point step-uncle to Henry Tudor) being executed s a result of the Perkin Warbeck debacle, but fails to mention that Sir William is imputed to have said that if Warbeck really was Richard of York, he would not fight against him. Of course he doesn't mention this - he has to keep reminding us that EVERYONE believed Richard III guilty! Really, a credible historian should not pick and choose their facts - something Alison Weir is also very fond of doing.
Another point is that he is quite happy to accept that Katherine of Valois really did marry Owen Tudor, but cannot countenance the much more credible suggestion that Edward IV was married to Eleanor Butler (nee Talbot), who is not even mentioned. He harps on about the morality and piety of the Lancastrians (despite the Beauforts being conceived in double adultery - further hypocrisy) but when Richard III founds a chantry or offers some concession to a religious house that Rowse concludes it much be down to his uneasy concience.
So, overall, not a book I can recommend in the least. He may try to convince us that his unbending traditionalist view is 'sensible' and 'common sense' but anyone with a little knowledge of the subject will see it as laughably absurd and highly prejudiced.
Debbiereadsbook (1664 KP) rated Feathers and Foxes (Brodyr Alarch #2) in Books
Aug 17, 2024
I love hearing from everyone! It fills the bigger picture with more colour and detai!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.
This is book 2 in the Brodyr Alarch series, but it's not necessary to have read Slippers and Songs, which is book one, nor is it necessary to read Sealed with a Curse, which is the sort of introduction to this world and to the princes who are Brodyr Alarch. Not necessary, but I think you should. It will give you a better view of what the princes did to warrant getting the curse that turned them into swans, and how they got out of their predicament. They are very good books, I gave them Sealed 4 stars and 5 stars to Slippers and Songs.
And 5 stars for this one too!
Two things I'm loving the most about these books.
I don't know the Brothers Grimm tales that Sheppard is using to form the basis of these books. They are the lesser known ones, and I'm almost intrigued enough to go and read The Brothers Grimm tales, just to see if I can match them up! Almost, but I won't. Cos it might spoil my enjoyment of these books.
They are CLEAN. Totally and utterly and so beautifully clean. I will, more often than not, say I like my books on the steamier side and I make no apologies for that, but I am LOVING that these books are not at all like that! Oh don't get me wrong, there is love and passion here, but there is no explicit steam. Not for Terrwyn and Sulien, nor for Selene and Conway (from Sealed) as we catch up with them a couple times in the book.
In my review for Slippers, I said I wanted to hear from Tesni, but we didn't. But here, we get Sulien! And a few others too. I love hearing from everyone! It fills the bigger picture with more colour and detail, and I loved that.
Again, the Welsh Gods play a part, and again, I'm not going to try to name them cos I can't say them, let alone spell them, but they get up to their tricks in helping the Brodyr Alarch find their love, even if things do go a little off plan here!
Macsen is up next, given the little epilogue that those aforementioned Goods have, and I can't wait to get my hands on it! But Gerallt's book is the one I'm waiting for, and I strongly suspect his will be the last one! Gerallt is the prince who kept a swan wing, to remind himself of what he did. I want in his head so bad!
Anyway, enough rambling, but in case I forgot to say:
I loved this book!
5 full and shiny stars!
*same worded review will appear elsewhere
This is book 2 in the Brodyr Alarch series, but it's not necessary to have read Slippers and Songs, which is book one, nor is it necessary to read Sealed with a Curse, which is the sort of introduction to this world and to the princes who are Brodyr Alarch. Not necessary, but I think you should. It will give you a better view of what the princes did to warrant getting the curse that turned them into swans, and how they got out of their predicament. They are very good books, I gave them Sealed 4 stars and 5 stars to Slippers and Songs.
And 5 stars for this one too!
Two things I'm loving the most about these books.
I don't know the Brothers Grimm tales that Sheppard is using to form the basis of these books. They are the lesser known ones, and I'm almost intrigued enough to go and read The Brothers Grimm tales, just to see if I can match them up! Almost, but I won't. Cos it might spoil my enjoyment of these books.
They are CLEAN. Totally and utterly and so beautifully clean. I will, more often than not, say I like my books on the steamier side and I make no apologies for that, but I am LOVING that these books are not at all like that! Oh don't get me wrong, there is love and passion here, but there is no explicit steam. Not for Terrwyn and Sulien, nor for Selene and Conway (from Sealed) as we catch up with them a couple times in the book.
In my review for Slippers, I said I wanted to hear from Tesni, but we didn't. But here, we get Sulien! And a few others too. I love hearing from everyone! It fills the bigger picture with more colour and detail, and I loved that.
Again, the Welsh Gods play a part, and again, I'm not going to try to name them cos I can't say them, let alone spell them, but they get up to their tricks in helping the Brodyr Alarch find their love, even if things do go a little off plan here!
Macsen is up next, given the little epilogue that those aforementioned Goods have, and I can't wait to get my hands on it! But Gerallt's book is the one I'm waiting for, and I strongly suspect his will be the last one! Gerallt is the prince who kept a swan wing, to remind himself of what he did. I want in his head so bad!
Anyway, enough rambling, but in case I forgot to say:
I loved this book!
5 full and shiny stars!
*same worded review will appear elsewhere
The White Queen (The Plantagenet and Tudor Novels, #2)
6.5
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Philippa Gregory presents the first of a new series set amid the deadly feuds of England known as...