The bargain they strike sends her on a dark and magical journey throughout the land. Evangeline desperately prays to the Prince of Hearts, a dangerous and fickle Fate famed for his heart that is waiting to be revived by his one true love-and his potentially lethal kisses.

Despite inheriting a steady trust in magic, belief in her late mother’s homeland of the mystical North (where fantastical creatures live), and philosophy of hope for the future, her dreams are dashed when Luc, her love, pledges to marry Marisol instead. When her father passes away, Evangeline is left with her cold stepmother and kind but distant stepsister, Marisol. May well beguile readers with its mix of magic and political intrigue.Īfter praying to a Fate for help, Evangeline discovers the dangerous world of magic. Jenna’s people are fair-haired while Turians are olive-skinned with dark hair. Though overflowing with common fantasy tropes and featuring lengthy expository passages, this series opener nevertheless features affable characters and moves at a solid clip that will keep readers entertained. Jenna conceals her identity and ingratiates herself with her betrothed’s family as she eludes the threat of a shadowy, sinister foe. She is forced to fend for herself and find her own way to Turia to discover who betrayed her family and what secrets lie in the rumored mages’ library.

On their way to Turia, Jenna’s party is ambushed and she narrowly escapes. She frets, too, about her own secret magic being discovered, for only her older brother, Ren, is supposed to possess magic. Before she is sent away to safety in Turia, she learns of other worrying developments brewing at home: A burned letter references a search for the mages’ library, illicit magic is being used in skirmishes at the borders, and there is a potential betrayal within her father’s circle of trust. On the eve of her 17th birthday, Princess Jennesara learns of her betrothal to the prince of Turia, an alliance made by her father to secure the neighboring kingdom’s military support in quelling the fighting at his borders. A princess fights to save her kingdom while trying to conceal her magic.

Kaylynn flanders