KINGDOM OF ASHES BLOG TOUR+GIVEAWAY

Kingdom of Ashes (A Wicked Thing #2)
by Rhiannon Thomas
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 23rd 2016

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Retellings, Fairy Tales, Romance, Magic, Fiction, Teen

Synopsis:

Asleep for a hundred years, awoken by a kiss, Aurora’s life was supposed to be a fairytale. But since discovering that loyalty to the crown and loyalty to her country are two very different things, Aurora knows she can only dream of happily ever after. Once the enchanted princess, savior of her people, she is now branded a traitor.

Aurora is determined to free her home from the king’s tyrannical rule, even if it means traveling across the sea to the kingdom of the handsome and devious Prince Finnegan—someone who seems to know far more about her magic than he should. However, Finnegan’s kingdom has perils of its own, and any help he gives Aurora will come at a price.

As Aurora and Finnegan work together to harness her power—something so fiery and dangerous that is as likely to destroy those close to Aurora as it is to save them—she begins to unravel the mysteries surrounding the curse that was placed on her over a century before…and uncover the truth about the destiny she was always meant to fulfill.

Brimming with captivating fantasy and life-threatening danger, the sequel to A Wicked Thing takes Sleeping Beauty on an adventure unlike any she’s ever had before.

Aurora flees her kingdom after breaking her engagement with Prince Rodrick. As Aurora starts to unravel the secrets behind her curse, she finds herself in possession of fire magic which she can barely control. She unwillingly hurts townspeople and the king uses it to his advantage to make her people hate her. Alone and desperate, Aurora and Nettle journey to Vanhelm to accept Prince Finnegan's offer of refuge and help. But in exchange Aurora will have to get rid of the dragons in Vanhelm while trying to resist the growing romance between Finnegan and herself....

Yep. This book has DRAGONS! Awesome fire-breathing glorious dragons that can't cross water! So basically since they woke fifty years ago, they have destroyed Vanhelm except for its capital which they can't reach because they can't cross water. So they live in the destroyed part of Vanhelm where everything has been turned to ash and only crazy people take boats to try and get close to them! Finnegan hopes that with Aurora's connection to fire magic, she will be able to make them go back to sleep so he can reclaim his lost land...The presentation of the dragons and the mystery surrounding them and their fear of water was EPIC! Their descriptions were awesome and the setting was so unique!

The romance, i LOVED! Finnegan is more than a witty and arrogant pretty-faced prince, We learn that he doesn't want to rule specifically and how he feels very insecure about his position. I think Aurora falls for him because he wasn't imposed on her like all the other things were:become queen, marry this dude, wear this, go there etc... She kept affirming herself that Finnegan was her choice and i could really feel it! They took some time to get the smooching on but it was worth it :P It was not rushed and had a great build up!

You can also feel the character growth for Aurora as she explores her new found freedom, gains courage and fights back, I also really liked that she wasn't overly righteous..she wanted to save her kingdom obviously but you see peeks of her selfishness peeking through as she questions why she should save people that hate her? That really made her humane and three-dimensional to me!

The plot was fast paced compared the first book, It was exhilarating and full of surprises! I really could not put it down and Celestine really brought on that evil sorceress vibe. You think you know where things are going you're sure of it even along with Aurora and then you find out that you've been fooled just like her! It really felt like we were on the journey with her!

To conclude, i cannot say how much i LOVED this exhilarating journey of Sleeping Beauty as she finds her not "true-love" and tries to find her identity in a world that's a century ahead of her! I cannot wait till the third book!

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Rhiannon Thomas is a recent graduate from Princeton University, where she studied English and Japanese, and smuggled bubble tea into the library on a regular basis. She now lives in York, England.

As well as reading and writing YA fiction, she runs the blog FeministFiction.com, where she discusses TV, books, and all kinds of fannish things from a feminist perspective.

I don't hang out on Goodreads much, so if you want to contact me, please swing by my personal website or message me on Twitter.