Publisher: Self Published
Publishing Date: September 27th, 2016
Page Count: 405
Source: Sent for Review
Format: Paperback
Description from Goodreads.com:
*A paranormal romance retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears*
A golden-haired beauty with a tiger totem, Raene Randal is powerless to stop the dissolution of her life. Her uncle and best friend, Kaide, is sending her away for good. While Raene knows his actions are fueled by the sudden and unexplained loss of his bride, Blossom, that doesn’t change the fact that her future is certain. As the niece of a Pyro politician, it’s Raene’s duty to cross the realm and fulfill her marriage arrangements with an Alderwood Bear Clan.
The rest of her life is mapped out, but Raene has one choice left: to choose a husband from the sons of the Bear Clan’s leader—too bad she’s not interested in any of them. She knows her duty, but so far from her home and everyone she knows, Raene finds keeping her promises harder than she ever thought.
On the far side of the realm, Blossom knows nothing of Kaide’s implosion or Raene’s departure. She’s trapped in the Aero city at the whim of Syndicate Mercer. As much as she tries to adapt to her aerial totem and her new role within the Aero branch, Blossom knows it’s only a matter of time before she sees Kaide again, but this time, she’ll be his enemy.
A new paranormal romance from RS McCoy, author of The Sparks Saga, The Luminary Chronicles, and The Extraction Files series.
Book Two of The Alder Tales.
Review:
Ugh! I just love this series so much! I absolutely love fairy tale retellings and apparently when you pair them up with the paranormal and have R.S. McCoy write them, I just lose it! I feel like this review is going to very hard to write without spoiling anything, but I will try my hardest and if I have to spoil, I will warn you beforehand. Let's dive in!
Ok, so, as we all know and have heard thousands of times from me, I LOVE alternating points of view. We had it in the first one and we still have it, better than ever, in the second one. The first book was all about Blossom and Kaide, but in the second book our focus is mainly on Raene. If you read the first book you know that there are TONS of things left unresolved and just utter craziness in the world of Blossom and Kaide so, McCoy being the awesome author she is, weaves their story throughout Raene's. It was honestly so well done. Every time we started to reach the peak of the story with Raene, we would switch over to Blossom, and vice versa. It was really, really well done. I absolutely enjoyed it and wouldn't have changed a thing or asked for a better way of interweaving the stories.
In this book, Raene has been sent away by Kaide to go live with the bear clan that Blossom came from. Normally, in this world, the way arranged marriages work is that your parent or guardian already has the match made. You will marry this person, end of story. BUT Kaide is such a great Uncle that he had Blossom's father agree to let Raene choose which of his sons she will marry. I will be honest and say that I enjoy love triangles, but like in The Selection by Kiera Cass, I love them when all parties are aware that there is someone else in the ring. I still enjoy secret love triangles, but they always rub me the wrong way. I don't like cheating, ok! lol. Any who, this triangle is known to all parties, for the most part, and I really enjoyed it. I am 100% on board with who Raene chose and if there is someone out there who is on the opposite team than I am, I would LOVE to hear from you.
Now, let's get to the ending. I am just reading away, chomping through pages, devouring the story, when I realize there are only 50 pages left in the story and neither Blossom nor Raene's stories have come to resolve. Solve one of them in 50 pages, sure, but both? No way, and I was right. Only one story line get's "solved" by the end, and it's killing me!!
*Spoilers*
Believe her and save her Kaide!! Oh my god!! It is killing me that they have been separated this entire time, and the entire book is Blossom preparing to see Kaide for the first time since being kidnapped and he just storms off when it happens? SERIOUSLY!! I mean yes, in book one she was totally miserable with him, but then they grew to love each other. When she vanishes, sure, assume she ran away back home, but when you find out she isn't home? HELLO! I would listen to why she went to an entirely different totem realm! (sorry I forgot what the worlds are called and I keep wanting to call them factions from Divergent so, totem realm will have to do). Aero has been causing problems with Kaide since forever so, if I was Kaide and saw her in Aero I would assume it was under duress. He is SUCH a bonehead! And I am so mad that he had sex with someone else. HOW COULD YOU, KAIDE! Sure, you don't know it, but Blossom has been kidnapped and is changing her appearance and actions against her will and you're just off boning? Puh-lease. Boy, bye.
*End of Spoilers*
*phew* that felt good to get off my chest. I believe that is everything I want to say about the book so, if you haven't started this series yet, GET ON IT!!
Overall:
Absolutely loved it! I love alternating points of view so, it was great to not only have that for Raene's story, but to also weave in Blossom and Kaide's stories as well. There is a great love triangle in this story and I am so happy with who Raene chose. If you are on team "other guy", let me know so we can dish it out. I feel like everyone is on team "who Raene chose" though. Only one of the two main storylines gets solved in this book, and it is killing me. I cannot wait for book three to come out! If you haven't started this series, you seriously must!
Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 5/5
**The books cover, description, and info was all found on Goodreads. A link back has been provided. All other work and ideas are of my own creation. This book was sent to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.**
