Review: Great follow-up
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 20, 2013
Okay, so in  Heir Untamed I lusted over Sander's ruggedness; in King and Kingdom I swooned over his charismatic charm and Princely control; and in Heir in Exile I fell in love with it all! He's not afraid to take control, get dirty, or be a lover...and it has you in a battle of emotions over this guy the entire time!Heir in Exile was a great step up from King and Kingdom. As I said in the previous review, I was a little disappointed with the character background development and what felt to be a loss of the characters original personalities that I loved so much in Heir Untamed. Book 3 brought all that love back and then some!Questions that I had from the beginning of the series were sort of answered (I'm still wondering about a "minor" detail) and a sneaking suspicion that I had was in fact right ;)This installment brought a lot of action and drama to the plate. It definitely keeps the pages turning and the excitement rolling. More of the suspense and mystery factor from book 1 was brought into this as well. I really enjoyed that part as it was the main reason I got into the series to begin with.I still have questions over Princess Natalia...she just comes off as a scathing witch and there's no elucidation as to why she thinks the World owes her so much. I don't mind having characters that I passionately dislike (okay, I hate!!), but I like to at least have more of an understanding or reason as to why I hate them so much! She's just got a smart mouth, is self entitled, arrogant, ignorant, conceited....the list could go on and on...but I have no understanding as to why she so vehemently spits poison at everyone.The writing is improved in Heir in Exile as well. Granted, I haven't noticed much in the way of grammatical errors or annoying phrasing and I rated it about 4 stars before. But it has improved in word choices. The overuse of some words was really starting to grind on me in the first book. Thankfully Ms. Bourdon stayed away from "masculine" descriptions in book 2 and virtually eliminated it in book 3. I mean seriously, if a 6"3' powerhouse of a man who is a direct heir to the thrown does anything to you, of course it's going to be masculine! No need to describe his every being as that!As always the dialog is witty and we finally get to see some heated debates start between quite a few people. This was a nice change because for most of the first two books, while there were some exchanges, they seemed to fizzle out or end with someone taking the high road and leaving the confrontation. We don't want that now do we?! Of course not, we want someone to loose their control and fight...maturely I might add...and this definitely delivers. The passion of every character about set my kindle on fire ;)A couple of my favorite lines:"What matters is that you completely disobeyed me--""Don't talk to me about obeying. I'm not a dog.""I'm angry. Don't mistake my control for indifference.""You take a great many risks, brother," Mattias said into the quiet."Doesn't it take many risks to become great?" Sander asked.Length:Heir Untamed: 316 pgKing and Kingdom : 204 pg/ $3.99Heir in Exile: 213 pg/ $3.99The King Takes a Bride: 191 pg/$3.99Ratings:Romance: **** (more connection than steam)Character development: ****Writing Quality: *****Plot (Originality): ***Plot Progression: ****