Pixi Reads

Jael Furyck isn’t happy.
Her father is dead. He uncle has stolen the throne.
And now he wants to marry her to the fallen son of her arch-enemy.
But Jael is a battle hardened warrior, trained to kill since she was 10 years old.
She doesn’t plan on being anyone’s wife.

Eadmund Skalleson is drunk.
His father is threatening him with a wife again.
And this time he’s given him an ultimatum.
Marry Jael Furyck or your brother returns from exile.
But if Eadmund was to choose a wife, it wouldn’t be Jael Furyck.

Not her. Not ever.

I went in to this book not sure what to expect. I couldn’t remember how or when I came across it, or how I obtained a copy, but there it was in my Kindle and I had a vague enough recollection of being interested; I decided to pick it up for Bookopolathon.

Almost right from page 1, I was hooked. The writing in this, did something I had not experienced in a long time. I picked it up and did not want to stop. I had a hard time finding “good places” to stop for the night, or before going to start my work day, and all too often, had to put it down desperate to know what was about to happen. I became slightly more productive at work because I was so focused on getting what I needed to done, because I wanted to get back to the story as quickly as possible.

I immediately bonded with the main female protagonist, Jael. I felt sorry for what she was going through with her father dying, then her Uncle claiming the throne and marrying her off to the essentially worthless son of her father’s worst enemy. She is already in love with someone there in the kingdom and never felt the pressure to officially get married which has led to her getting married off by her Uncle. This friend whom she loves, has grown up with her, and loves her back.

This story was full of twists and turns. In a sense we follow both, Jael, and her best friend who she loves. After Jael leaves to marry Eadmund, her Grandmother senses evil out to get Jael in one of the other girls on the island. Her Grandmother of course can’t stay though, and is forced on the boat to go home. She and Jael’s best friend then team up to get what answers they can about this evil so they can do whatever they can to protect Jael’s life. The turns they find on this journey, seemingly come out of nowhere. There are little drops of facts, and stories of the past, and they all line up so the twists are believable, but you still don’t see them coming.

The downside, is I’ve only found these books available on Amazon. I strongly dislike a lot of Amazon’s business practices, including their treatment of their employees. So, to support this fantasticly talented author, I would have to also support this horrible company. I think a compromise would be to continue in Kindle, so as to at least not need someone who is not allowed to take a bathroom break, to package books in a box. I’m going to continue digging to see if I can find the books from another bookseller, or maybe be able to thrift a copy except then the author doesn’t get anything, so, we’ll see what happens. I will definitely be continuing this series; I just need to figure out how I’m getting the rest of the series, but it’s too good not to continue.