Lions in the Garden (The Uprising #1) by Chelsea Luna (2016)
-eARC Review-
YA Fiction | Historical Romance
Blurb:
“Prague, 1610
Ludmila Novakova–Mila–has barely set foot outside Prague Castle in her seventeen years. But with the choice between braving the bandits and wolves of Bohemia’s uneasy roads or being married off to a disgusting old baron, she’s taken what she can carry and fled.
Escape won’t be easy. Even Mila has heard the rumors of a rebellion coming against the court. The peasants are hungry. The king hasn’t been seen in months. Mila’s father, the High Chancellor, is well known and well hated.
But Mila can’t sit behind a stone wall and let fear force her into a life of silk gowns and certain misery. Her mother’s death has taught her that much. She has one ally: Marc, the son of the blacksmith. A commoner, a Protestant–and perhaps a traitor, too. But the farther she gets from the castle, the more lies she uncovers, unraveling everything she thought she knew. And the harder it is to tell friend from enemy–and wrong from right…”
–Goodreads
Expected Publication Date: March 01, 2016
pooled ink Review:
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy to review!
This book needs…something. I simply couldn’t sync with its rhythm, I failed to feel immersed in its world and as such I couldn’t bring myself to finish read it. I’ve been struggling to find a way to explain it but it’s simply…this book simply glides along the story like a meandering ice-skater upon a frozen pond. While it may look pretty and charming it is lacking in…something. It does not roll down hills, charge up mountains, delve beneath oceans, fly upon the wind, or smash through the ice. A good story has been written perhaps but it could be improved upon and if this author is as talented as her fans claim then I have complete confidence that she could do it. This story just needs to slow down a bit and take the time to fully illustrate the people, settings, events, surroundings, feelings, actions, everything and anything to draw us into the book and trap us there (but without being overdone or wordy because that will spit us right back out our minds twisted in distaste).
This book is by no means terrible, it’s rather good but it feels more like an early draft, perhaps a second, but no more than that. Characters and scenes still need to be fleshed out and given depth, meat, sharpness, and detail but what has been presented proves a good place to expound upon, except that it wasn’t because this is it (then again I just received an ARC so numerous changes could have been made for the final copy).
If you’re a fan of the author’s writing then I am sure you will not be disappointed because her numerous fans have called out in faithful support of her talent. She’s a lucky lady (: Perhaps I just was in the wrong mood or perhaps this book simply isn’t quite for me but whatever the reason I could not fall into its rhythm.
If you are seeking a light read, and a romance at that, then this book is indeed for you. It’s the perfect book to take on a short to mid-length flight filling you with romance and action as you devour your complimentary pretzels and soda, and will keep you swathed in its fantastical tale even when the plane hits a touch of turbulence. Lions in the Garden provides readers with something measured and brief yet glowing with forbidden love.
Cheers.
Purchase here: Lions in the Garden
Meet Chelsea Luna!
Chelsea received a Juris Doctorate from New York Law School in New York, New York in 2007, and a B.A. in Sociology, with a concentration in Criminal Justice, from the University of Tennessee in 2004. She lives in Tennessee.
-Goodreads
pooled ink 