Title: Daughter of the Red Dawn (The Lost Kingdom of Fallada Book One) Genre: YA Fantasy/YA Romance Length: Novel Publisher: Anchor Group
Description:
On the outside, seventeen-year-old Selena McKinley is like any other teenage girl. Yet Selena has always felt as if she doesn’t belong and is counting the days to graduation and her freedom from the small town that makes her feel so out of place, when the arrival of a stranger turns her world upside down. Selena will learn just how different she is and the truth of where she comes from.
A lost princess, they call her, the catalyst for a war involving a world that Selena was taken from as a child. An evil queen obsessed with her own beauty with a plan to enslave the human race.…the notion seems so silly, yet Selena knows in her heart that it is true. Then there is Titus, the shapeshifter whose blue eyes and claims of destiny hold her heart captive. Can Selena find the strength to do what she must while following her heart?
Release Date: October, 2012
Daughter of the Red Dawn by Alicia Michaels
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I want to emphasize that fantasy books are something I don’t normally read, but on occasion, it is good for me to get out of my “comfort zone.” I could certainly read historical fiction until it is coming out of my ears (as long as it is well-written), and I really wanted to help the author out and promote her book. So, I agreed to review this book.
This is your typical fantasy-romance with a few twists and turns to make it interesting. You ready for the thing that really intrigued me? This is small, but I found it important. The “hero’s” name is Titus! When do you ever see this good, old-fashioned Bible name any more? And this made me somewhat more interested in this character. I also loved that it took place in Texas–I lived there for a while, so I always love it when books take place in areas where I actually lived. While these are not earth-shattering revelations, but it goes to show that sometimes the most insignificant detail in a book can make or break the book for the reader.
As stories go, it’s nice enough, and I even found myself liking the main character, Selena. I could have done without the fleeting outbursts of profanity, but there was another part that confirmed the rating I have given this book. There were several romantic scenes in the book, and it was clear that the chemistry between Titus and Selena is there in a real way. I was fully expecting a bedroom scene or a sex implication. But nothing could have been further than the truth! How about this for a refreshing viewpoint? “Let’s wait until we get married. Let’s make our wedding night special.” Is it possible that men like that exist in the real world? Maybe not. After all, this is a fantasy world. I want to thank the author for the sentiment, and I am certain to be a loyal reader of hers from this point onward!
Overall, this book kept my attention for the most part. I would have preferred a different ending or at least an ending that was somewhat more drawn out. But that is just a personal opinion. True fantasy lovers will absolutely love this!
I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I was not financially compensated, and all opinions are 100 percent mine.
Excerpt :
As Selena contemplated taking another lap around the field, she turned and found the lone figure of a boy standing at the edge of the meadow, which was ringed by cedar trees. Her eyes widened as she took him in from head to toe: impossibly black hair falling into his eyes, stony features, long legs, and slender form. In his skinny jeans, Converse sneakers, black t-shirt, and sleek sunglasses, he was unlike any other guy she’d ever seen in Twin Oaks, where Wranglers and large belt buckles were the dress code.
He raised his chin slightly in acknowledgment and Selena stood rooted to the spot, unable to move or even utter a sound as the boy stepped into the tall grass. The sun glinted off of his black hair, giving it a slightly bluish tinge, and his dark sunglasses mirrored her reflection to her as he closed the distance between them. The grass seemed to part to make way for him, and Selena couldn’t make her legs function as he approached.
He is strange, she thought as he stopped in front of her with his hands in his pockets. But strange was good. It meant that she was now one of two people that didn’t belong in Twin Oaks.
“Hey,” he said.
One word, but Selena couldn’t help but notice the silky smooth tone of his voice. He smiled, showcasing a row of perfectly straight, white teeth. The canines were a bit on the long side but she liked them. She also liked his pale blue eyes, which he revealed by pushing his glasses up into his hair.
“Hi,” she answered back breathlessly. She tried to smile, but her lips wouldn’t move. She fiddled with the strap of her backpack instead.
“I’m Titus,” he said, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.
“Selena,” she answered.
“Pretty name,” he said.
“Thanks. I like your glasses.”
I like your eyes. I like your hair. I like your skin.
Selena bit back the words, embarrassed by her almost instant crush on the cute stranger.
“Are you new in town?” she asked, trying her best not to gawk at him and failing miserably. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before.”
“Not that new,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve seen you around a lot, at school, on the track field, at the Dairy Queen.”
Selena’s eyes widened in surprise. “You have?”
He nodded, a sly smile spreading across his face. “Oh yeah. When I saw you today walking through this field I thought, ‘now’s the perfect chance to get to meet the prettiest girl in Twin Oaks’.”
Selena couldn’t help but laugh at that one. Prettiest girl in Twin Oaks? Hadn’t he laid eyes on Allyson, the cheerleader with the biggest boobs a teenage girl had a right to have? Or Janelle, who’s long, perfectly shaped legs had earned her the honor of being captain of the dance squad? Or what about Trisha, whose hair was that perfect shade of blond that most girls had to buy a box of hair color to achieve?
This guy obviously didn’t get out much.
Selena snorted. “Yeah right.”
“It’s true,” he said, taking another step toward her. Selena felt her hands shaking as he reached up to stroke a lock of her straight, red hair. “Besides, you’re different and I like different.”
“You must be the only guy in town that does.”
He laughed. “Would you believe me if I told you that we were two of a kind? That I’m as different as you are?”
Selena frowned. “What do you mean?”
He leaned even closer, his nose nearly touching hers as his grin widened. His white teeth flashed in the sunlight, the sharp canines displayed proudly.
“I saw you,” he whispered. “Running.”
Selena clutched her stomach as she felt nausea welling up in her. From the expression on his face, it was obvious that he didn’t mean to say he’d seen her on the track at school. How could she have been so stupid? She hardly ever allowed herself the freedom to run uninhibited in broad daylight. She had thought herself alone, completely oblivious to the watching eyes of a boy named Titus.
What to do?
Titus’ smile was blinding, a flash of white teeth that left her stunned while she tried to find words … any words … even ‘please don’t tell my secret and make me end up on the six o’clock news, or on a lab table with a bunch of tubes coming out of my body’.
Her mouth opened, but nothing came out. As panic gripped her, Selena could think of only one thing to do.
Run!
About the Author:
Ever since she first read books like Chronicles of Narnia or Goosebumps, Alicia has been a lover of mind-bending fiction. Wherever imagination takes her, she is more than happy to call that place her home. With several Fantasy and Science Fiction titles under her belt, Alicia strives to write multicultural characters and stories that touch the heart. V-Card, the first book of the Sharing Spaces series, was her first Contemporary Romance.
The mother of three and wife to a soldier, she loves chocolate, coffee, and of course good books. When not writing, you can usually find her with her nose in a book, shopping for shoes and fabulous jewelry, or spending time with her loving family.
Social media and Web Links:
Website/blog: www.fantasybyalicia.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/fantasybyalicia
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/alicia_michaels
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fantasybyalicia
Email: fantasybyalicia@yahoo.com
I think I started noticing it around the time the movie, The Brothers Grimm, was released. Everywhere I look now, fairytale reboots are popping up all over the place: in books, T.V. shows, and of course, on the big screen. Of course I had to jump on the bandwagon with a series of books about a similar theme, which left me wondering exactly why people love these types of stories and why others feel the need to constantly explore and recreate them in different ways.
Aside from the fact that everybody loves a good story, I believe that we cling to these tales because they remind us of a better time: our childhood. I think that we want to hold on to a time of innocence and believing in magic; a time of faeries, dragons, princesses and happily ever after. I think that no matter what happens to us in our lives, we want to believe in those things because they keep us grounded. Sounds weird, right? The idea that fairytales keep us grounded is definitely a strange one, but bear with me. Think about how life can bring you down. People are losing their jobs, politicians are fighting and getting nowhere, gas and groceries cost an arm and a leg. But books and movies based outside of reality offer a well-deserved and much-needed escape…something I think we all need from time to time. If not for fairytales and stories that stretch the imagination, we might all just lose our minds.
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5 Comments
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Thanks for this awesome giveaway!
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We just moved to Texas last year. 🙂 It sounds like this is a nice supernatural fantasy book – and I definitely like that I can expect romance without slamming into a sex scene!
Auri Lae on rafflecopter
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“If not for fairytales and stories that stretch the imagination, we might all just lose our minds.”
You are so right, Alicia! If I didn’t get “lost” in a novel sometimes, I’d have to be locked up in the looney-bin!!!
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Great post! I really liked the excerpt, I really don’t read that much YA, but think I will give this a try. I’m always glad to read something that the entire book isn’t leading up to sex scenes.
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Thanks for the giveaway. Sounds like a good book, I can do without so many sex scenes also!
seyma_bennett@hotmail.com
