Review: 3.5 - I was hoping for a little more. Maybe next book?
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 20, 2013
In my first review on this series, I had ended Heir Untamed on a pretty good note and wanting more. The right pieces for mystery, suspense, longing, and a prevailing underdog romance were there. However, King and Kingdom fell a little short of my expectations.I had previously mentioned that Sander's background could have used a little more developing but I wasn't too disappointed because I figured it would be mentioned in book two. It is not. When Chey and Sander first meet in Heir Untamed he makes a statement about his mother being a chef and how he always admired her, and thus he learned how to cook. Now, I may be making a big deal out of nothing. This was only a few lines in the book, and after Chey discovers who Sander really is, she passes off his childhood "story" as just that - a story. However, the way I read it there was some truth behind it and it had me wondering how a guy such as himself really did learn some of his mastery (besides being super rich and have obvious access to such learning luxuries). Typically certain "passing lines" don't pique my attention so much, but it left me with a certain sneaking suspicion that I'm hoping might now be addressed in books 3 or 4. Now, I don't consider this a bad mark. Obviously there are more books to the series and I'm sure more will develop.What is a bad mark is that again, I also found the plot timeline confusing. In Heir Untamed when Chey first takes the photography job it is mentioned that the 4 month contract would end in February - placing the starting point around October. However, I think about 3 weeks go by (from what I gathered) in Heir Untamed, and then in King and Kingdom there is about 3-4 weeks that go by after the events of Heir Untamed and it picks up with Chey at a Halloween party. Then it reads another 4 days go by and suddenly it's Thanksgiving...and then next thing I know the book is ending and it's Christmas!I guess the timeline itself isn't that important. However, the book suddenly lost any realistic feeling that it once had. I mean, these two knew each other 2-3 weeks and Sander was already willing to stir the pot with both his family and country politics over Chey? While it's a romantic fantasy for some Prince to put his life on the line for a no-name girl, it's completely unbelievable that it would happen in a months time. Furthermore, the plot by the end of King and Kingdom seems rushed and kind of ridiculous. And unfortunately this left me with the feeling of Sander as an unconsciousness King and Chey as a naive, love-struck teenager.While the plot is still full of action and keeps you turning the page, I felt that the characters were a step down from Heir Untamed. What I loved about Chey - her intelligence, professionalism, cynicism, sensibility - were about non existant in King and Kingdom. And Sanders - his honesty, ruggedness, pragmatic nature - seemed to be lost in this lusting over Chey. I say lusting because I didn't quite connect with the characters on a romantic level beyond that.Overall, I didn't find this book completely off-putting. There was still a lot of excitement going on and there is an obvious connection between the characters. I just hope that in the next installments I feel more of the love between the characters...because as of right now I  feel like they are both putting their lives through hell and burning major bridges for a fling relationship.Ratings:Steam (connection): ***+Characters (development): ***Writing Quality: ****Plot (progression): ***+