Good Morning, Readers! Today I am starting off the week with a visit to the Hill Lands where the Old King has died and a prophecy about a new queen has emerged. Enjoy and don't forget to add The Blacksmith Queen by G.A. Aiken to your shelves!

When a prophesy brings war to the Land of the Black Hills, Keeley Smythe must join forces with a clan of mountain warriors who are really centaurs in a thrilling new fantasy romance series from New York Times bestselling author G.A. Aiken.  

The Old King Is Dead

With the demise of the Old King, there’s a prophesy that a queen will ascend to the throne of the Black Hills. Bad news for the king’s sons, who are prepared to defend their birthright against all comers. But for blacksmith Keeley Smythe, war is great for business. Until it looks like the chosen queen will be Beatrix, her younger sister. Now it’s all Keeley can do to protect her family from the enraged royals. 

Luckily, Keeley doesn’t have to fight alone. Because thundering to her aid comes a clan of kilt-wearing mountain warriors called the Amichai. Not the most socially adept group, but soldiers have never bothered Keeley, and rough, gruff Caid, actually seems to respect her. A good thing because the fierce warrior will be by her side for a much longer ride than any prophesy ever envisioned …

The Old King has died and a prophecy that a queen will ascend to the throne of the Black Hills has emerged and the king’s sons are prepared to defend their birthright against all comers including each other. Blacksmith Keeley Smythe is benefiting from the war until it looks like the chosen queen will be her younger sisters, now it’s all she can do to protect her family from the enraged royals. Luckily she doesn’t have to fight alone, because the clan of kilt-wearing mountain warriors called the Amicahi have joined the quest.

The author has given her fascinating world life once again with some truly wonderful additional elements that readers can definitely appreciate. The dragons may not be a full part of this story, but it takes place in the same world, just a different part. The characters of this new series are strong and blood thirsty as the others and there definitely grab all of the reader’s attention from the very beginning. While Keeley reminds readers of the Human Queen, she has her own refreshing personality that readers can definitely enjoy and the budding relationship that is building between her and Caid promises to be epic.

This fast paced story is full of adventure, suspense, excitement and emotional angst, but the way these characters deal with that turmoil can be a bit frightening as well as charming. The author makes this blood thirsty world seem so very reasonable that readers can’t help but have fun and be delighted with the captivating characters, which includes centaurs, dwarves, barbarians, witches, and wild horses, while they are completely enthralled by this riveting and exhilarating adventure.

Author's Book Page

Goodreads   *   BookLikes   *   BookBub

Riffle   *   Romance.io   *   GBooks 

The Blacksmith Queen is the 1st book in The Scarred Earth Saga.

Based in the same universe as the Dragon Kin series, the Scarred Earth world introduces you to the women, men, and centaurs of the Hill Lands and the treacherous rulers fighting for control.

Goodreads   

The Scarred Earth takes place in the same universe as the Dragon Kin!

AVAILABLE in print, ebook or audio

Amazon   *   B&N   *   Kobo   iBooks   *   GPlay

BookDepo   *   IndieBound   *   Kindle   *   BaM

Nook   *   RecordedBooks   *   Target 

Kensington >   Trade   *   ebook 

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author G.A. Aiken, Originally from Long Island, New York, lives on the West Coast and spends most of her time writing and making sure her rescued Pittie doesn’t love everyone into a coma. When she’s not writing about sexy dragons, she’s writing about sexy wolf, lion, tiger, and other fang-filled predators under the name Shelly Laurenston. Find out more about this New York Times and USA Today Bestselling authors books at www.shellylaurenston.com.

Website   *   Facebook   *   Amazon  

BookBub   *   Goodreads

The centaur’s prized possession was lost and as the guard on duty that night, all blame is placed on Lysander. For punishment, they exiled him to the human’s world, away from his herd and the only life he had known. The only way he can get back to Olympus is to find the lost item. A feat made much more difficult when a gorgeous, tall, and leggy blonde trots into his life.

Mendra is the last of her kind, a Pegasus with the ability to shift into human form or equine form. Her mother told her wild tales about lands with centaurs, satyrs, Gods, and heroes, but she never believed them. Until she met a man like her, a man who could shift into equine form and tells her similar stories. He asks for her help finding a lost item, so he can return to Olympus and his herd. She wants to help him, but she’s afraid to lose the one person who makes her feel like she’s home.

Lysander convinces Mendra to help him, but as they search for the lost item, he isn’t so certain he wants to return home. Life with the humans is so much different than Olympus and his heart aches at the thought of leaving Mendra behind, alone in a world without a herd of her own. Will his arrow fly true, or will they lose more than they ever imagined?

Centaur’s Prize is a delightful short read that readers can enjoy while on the go. The story has some unique and wonderful characters, some thrilling suspense including bad guys, some mysterious secrets and a spicy romance.

I was caught from the very beginning as the story begins with a bit of action and I couldn’t stop turning the pages as a bit of mystery and a sizzling romance between Myndra and Lysander keeps spices up the story in fact the only complaint I have is that I didn’t have enough time with these characters.

Centaur’s Prize is part of the Zodiac Shifters (Goodreads, Website) series

Centaur’s Prize is available in ebook at:

Amazon   iBooks   B&N   GPlay   Kobo

Catherine Banks can be found at:

Website   Facebook   Twitter   BookBub

My Thoughts - 5 out of 5 Unicorns - I loved it!!!

***I choose what I read and review based on what intrigues me!!

The cover is wonderful!  They always draw you to the book.

This is the 6^th book in the series, and it is targeted toward middle grade students.  However, I think any fantasy lover would love this series at any age.  This book does involve dealing with death and loss.

I am definitely not an eloquent person.  This is why I read, and don’t write.  This series always amazes me with the complex layers of story and meaning that is interwoven through the series.  I have fallen into love with the journey into saving Oomaldee, and Andy learning many life lessons along the way.  Andy grows with each book.  This book was another tear jerker.  My heart ached for Andy continuously, and I wanted to vanquish Abaddon and his minions for Andy.  You know in live how you tend to wish for miracles; well I found myself wishing that for Andy and his kingdom.

This book and the whole series is an outstanding and moving.  I think everyone should read a series that evokes so much emotion and especially the moral issues that are presented and make this book so much bigger than just an adventure.  I can’t wait for the next book, but at the same time, I’m going to go into mourning as it will be the last book.  Have you ever had those feelings when a series ended?

I highly recommend this book and series to those fantasy lovers who want to read a well-crafted story filled to the brim with emotions and life lessons!

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” 
― Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

“To love is to be vulnerable.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Pull out your “Happy Dance” ladies and gents! Assault in the Wizard Degree is printed!! The Fantasy and Forensics series has expanded to book six, and six is definitely a magic number.

Poor Dayna. The more she busts her backside to save the world on Andeluvia, the more it twists itself into a bloody mess . . . and guess who gets the job of straightening everything out each and every time? Yep. You got it. What is a Forensic Scientist stuck in an epic fantasy land supposed to do? Well, if you are Dame Chrissie, you dust off your hiking boots, gather your tools, and do your best to save the day. Again.

“Salvation shall come to Dame Chrissie only when she stands in the shadow of all that she has achieved.”

Well, salvation is something, at least. A bit of hope, after the court Soothsayer invades the throne room of the King bearing tidings of doom and death.

“I dreamt a dream of utmost import . . . that if not heeded, shall mean the downfall of this kingdom and the ruin of all Andeluvia!”

And this time, he might just be right. Dayna’s life in Los Angeles is hard enough as the evil attempting to take over Andeluvia bleeds over into her birth world. Now, an evil long thought buried and gone is awakening. Death and despair, war and horror are looming on the horizon, and Dayna’s small group will be tested beyond anything they have ever faced before.

It begins, as do so many things, with a request for Dayna’s help. The centaurs, you see, have a problem.

“A centaur that has committed an act of sacrilege regarding the ‘Ceremony of Equilux’.”

It should be a simple case – use her forensic skills to discover who committed a crime. But what she finds is so much more. The Creatures of the Dark have made deeper inroads than anyone expects (well, anyone other than Dayna and her friends) and even the densest and most purposefully ignorant will no longer be able to deny the truth.

There are, of course, the light moments Michael’s writing is so well known for. Characters are well written and believable, the landscape of the world of Andeluvia is sharply drawn, and the storyline holds perfect continuity throughout the series. If you haven’t read the rest of the series, I would highly recommend you do so before reading this installment. I am not saying you couldn’t understand or enjoy this book as a standalone, but it is such a wonderful series it would be a shame to miss the run-up to this pivotal point in the series.

This is a Wonderful series, and I cannot recommend it highly enough!! Of course, full disclosure, I work with Michael on his books – but that doesn’t mean I don’t adore each and every one.

In this volume, Hime and her classmates play softball, Shino deals with a bully and becomes a younger centaur girl's big sister-figure, Hime and her friends form an after school study group, Manami's little sisters play with other kids while she's at a student council meeting, the boys fight over control of the TV, and Hime's class gets a new student.

My favorite part of this volume was the nearly wordless bit with Shino. She was so cute as she tried to be a good big sister-figure, just like Hime. I thought she did a pretty good job considering that she had to deal with both a bully and with the little centaur girl getting jealous as other little kids started wanting to be around her. The only part of that section that I disliked was that, once again, Shino's mother acted like there was something either romantic or sexual about Hime and Shino's affection for each other. Please, stop. Just let them be two family members who care about each other. Even if she was just joking, it really wasn't funny.

Aside from that, this volume was serviceable, but boring. The second-best part was probably the softball game, which was messy and a little hard to follow, but otherwise not bad. I also liked the peek, later in the volume, into the student council president's home life.

This is the last volume I have on hand. I'd be fine with quitting the series at this point, except for one thing: the new development at the end of this volume. Murayama had been hinting at this since the very first volume, and I'd kind of like to see what this new development adds to the mix. Just not enough to buy more of the series. Maybe I'll put in an ILL request for volume 4.

Extras:

• Two full-color illustrations.
• More information about Kanata City on the inside front and back covers. I still fail to see what any of this information has to do with anything.
• Several informational pages about the gods and supernatural beings of this world. Oddly enough, magical girls are included in this list. Apparently, magical girl shows come in two different varieties: one with a team of magical girls representing all the major races, and one in which the main magical girl character changes every season. 
• A 2-page manga-style afterword. It's intended entirely to poke fun at the perviness of the series' most openly lesbian character. ::sigh::

(Original review, including read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)