Review: A great fast paced story!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 28, 2012
I didn't take many notes on this book, because I could barely put it down!  It was a superb read, and I can't wait to read Book Two!Lianne is a handmaiden to the queen of Fithia, Mags.  But Mags is also a friend, one of the few that Lianne really has.  Of course there's her boyfriend, Kellan, and the other adoptee into Fithia, Bryden.  But that's about it.  She's never really been a part of the society she lived in from the time she was a baby, and never knowing her own homeland, she was almost alone her entire life.Then on the morning of her sixteenth birthday Lianne wakes up angry.  It's not just a passing mood; it's a rage at what's been done to her, Kellan, and Bryden since they were adopted into Fithia as part of a treaty at the end of the war between the Dalagans and the Fithians.Kellan is dark and sexy, the "bad boy" young girls dream about.  He makes Lianne feel alive and ready to live, ready to fight.  And then there is Bryden, the third adoptee.  He was injured as a boy and has a permanent limp.  He's book smart, not so much the fighter that Lianne and Kellan are.  Odd man out, you'd think.  That is, until Lianne wakes up angry.  Bryden is the boy who brings her to calmness and serenity.  Maybe not what she wants at the moment, but what she needs, right?I really loved this love triangle.  It was hard to tell who to trust at different points in the story.  In the tug of war over Lianne's heart, I often felt myself switching sides between Bryden and Kellan.  Lead with your heart, or lead with your head?When Lianne goes through her "awakening" and she wakes up knowing the secrets that have been hidden from her for her entire life regarding the war between the two sets of people.  I thought this was a very unique plot twist that I haven't seen yet...children under a magical spell until their sixteenth birthday.  Brilliant idea, in my opinion.Lianne is getting different information from almost every place she turns to for answers.  I was right there with her, trying to figure out whom to trust and who not to.  It seems no one really knows what the real answer is.  Her whole life has been a secret and a lie.When the truth finally comes out it is explosive!  There is nonstop action, and I actually felt joy at the impending war that was certain to come next.  I know, that sounds bad, right?  But it meant freedom for the adopted kids who really never knew family, never knew their history, their people.But wait!  The secrets aren't over, oh no, not by a long shot.  And when things are brought to light, and Lianne discovers that what you think is good is not always good, and what you thought was bad was not entirely wrong... well, it rocks her world and everything she believed.  The plot twists in this story will definitely keep you reading and waiting anxiously to find out what happens next.  As for me, I'm happily waiting until June of this year for book two, Afterlife.