Blog Tour: Review of Protect the Prince by Jennifer Estep

Author: Jennifer Estep

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Date of publication: July 2019

Magic, murder, adventure, and romance combine in this second novel in the exciting Crown of Shards saga from New York Timesand USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Estep.

Everleigh Blair might be the new gladiator queen of Bellona, but her problems are far from over.

First, Evie has to deal with a court full of arrogant, demanding nobles, all of whom want to get their greedy hands on her crown. As if that wasn’t bad enough, an assassin tries to kill Evie in her own throne room.

Despite the dangers, Evie goes ahead with a scheduled trip to the neighboring kingdom of Andvari in order to secure a desperately needed alliance. But complicating matters is the stubborn Andvarian king, who wants to punish Evie for the deaths of his countrymen during the Seven Spire massacre.

Dark forces are also at work inside the Andvarian palace, and Evie soon realizes that no one is safe. Worse, her immunity to magic starts acting in strange, unexpected ways, which makes Evie wonder whether she is truly strong enough to be a Winter Queen.

Evie’s magic, life, and crown aren’t the only things in danger—so is her heart, thanks to Lucas Sullivan, the Andvarian king’s bastard son and Evie’s … well, Evie isn’t quite sure what Sullivan is to her.

Only one thing is certain—protecting a prince might be even harder than killing a queen…

My thoughts:

Protect the Prince is the sequel to Kill the Queen (my review).  That one was a pleasant surprise, so I was really looking forward to reading this one.  It takes place a few weeks after the events in the first book.  Since this one assumes you have read the first book, it will be hard to review without major spoilers.  It does not really work well as a stand alone, so I would read Kill the Queen first.

That being said, I loved this one almost more than the first book.  I loved watching Evie slowly ease her way into becoming the queen she was meant to be.  The other characters that I enjoyed from the first book are in this one and added so much to the story. Paloma is my favorite out of the group.  There is some love interest angst but the ending more than made up for it.    The one down side to reading a series this good is that I have to wait for the next book, Crush the King, to come out.  March 2020 can't come soon enough for me.  This is a fantasy series I highly recommend!

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About Jennifer Estep

Jennifer Estep is a New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author who prowls the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea.

Find out more about Jennifer at her website, and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.

Instagram Features

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Review Stops

Tuesday, July 2nd: Reading Reality

Wednesday, July 3rd: Iwriteinbooks’s blog

Thursday, July 4th: Book by Book

Friday, July 5th: Instagram: @spinatale

Tuesday, July 9th: The Reading Corner For All

Wednesday, July 10th: Into the Hall of Books

Thursday, July 11th: Instagram: @sarahandherbookshelves

Monday, July 15th: Ms. Nose in a Book

Tuesday, July 16th: The Desert Bibliophile

Wednesday, July 17th: Broken Teepee

Monday, July 22nd: From the TBR Pile

Wednesday, July 24th: Instagram: @love.books.and.coffee

Wednesday, July 24th: Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Thursday, July 25th: Instagram: @kaylagetsread

Friday, July 26th: My Guilty Obsession

TBD: Monday, July 8th: Instagram: @mamasreadingcorner

TBD: Thursday, July 18th: Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile

Review: Kill the Queen by Jennifer Estep

Author; Jennifer Estep
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Date of publication: October 2018

In a realm where one’s magical power determines one’s worth, Lady Everleigh’s lack of obvious ability relegates her to the shadows of the royal court of Bellona, a kingdom steeped in gladiator tradition. Seventeenth in line for the throne, Evie is nothing more than a ceremonial fixture, overlooked and mostly forgotten.

But dark forces are at work inside the palace. When her cousin Vasilia, the crown princess, assassinates her mother the queen and takes the throne by force, Evie is also attacked, along with the rest of the royal family. Luckily for Evie, her secret immunity to magic helps her escape the massacre.

Forced into hiding to survive, she falls in with a gladiator troupe. Though they use their talents to entertain and amuse the masses, the gladiators are actually highly trained warriors skilled in the art of war, especially Lucas Sullivan, a powerful magier with secrets of his own. Uncertain of her future—or if she even has one—Evie begins training with the troupe until she can decide her next move.

But as the bloodthirsty Vasilia exerts her power, pushing Bellona to the brink of war, Evie’s fate becomes clear: she must become a fearsome gladiator herself . . . and kill the queen.

I'm not usually one to read or like high fantasy, so I went into Kill the Queen a little wary.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book.  It involves Lady Everleigh, who lives the kingdom of Bellona.  She is thought to have no real magic other than her being able to smell magic.  But she has a secret power that makes her immune from all magic. It's a secret she keeps closely guarded. After her entire family is massacred, she goes on the run to save her life and figure out how to save her kingdom.

I think the thing that makes me shy away from fantasy is that I am often confused by the magic system and the world that it is set in.  There are also usualtoo many characters to keep straight.  I did not find that to be the case with this book, however.  I found the magic system really interesting.  I loved Evie's powers and watching her realize that extent of her power was fun.  There were a lot of characters, but each one was so unique that it was very easy to keep track of them.  They were a wonderful addition to the overall story. Evie was a strong female lead and definitely one that I want to read more about.   I loved the ending and can't wait to read the second book, Protect the Prince, when it comes out next month.  I will be reviewing that later in July, so stay tuned.  If you haven't yet read this one, I highly recommend it.