The Tears of the Rose by Jeffe Kennedy
Series: The Twelve Kingdoms
Published by Kensington
Published on: November 25, 2014
Genres: Fantasy Romance
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback
Source: Gifted
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Three sisters. Motherless daughters of the high king. The eldest is the warrior-woman heir; the middle child is shy and full of witchy intuition; and the youngest, Princess Amelia, she is as beautiful as the sun and just as generous.
Ami met her Prince Charming and went away to his castle on the stormy sea-cliffs—and that should have been her happily ever after. Instead, her husband lies dead and a war rages. Her middle sister has been taken into a demon land, turned into a stranger. The priests and her father are revealing secrets and telling lies. And a power is rising in Ami, too, a power she hardly recognizes, to wield her beauty as a weapon, and her charm as a tool to deceive…
Amelia has never had to be anything but good and sweet and kind and lovely. But the chess game for the Twelve Kingdoms has swept her up in it, and she must make a gambit of her own. Can the prettiest princess become a pawn—or a queen?
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Amelia is the youngest of the three princesses. She was also the most beautiful. She is said to be the avatar for the goddess, Glorianna herself. She never had a love of politics or for any need to learn to fight. She had eyes only for pretty dress and court life. She fell in love with her her husband only to lose him less than year into their marriage (I don’t consider this a spoiler for the first book, since it’s in the blurb). This is actually where the book starts, with Ami seeing her dead husband brought back from a battle with the Tala and her sister Andi.
I will say, I start this book not really like Ami. I spent most of this book coming to dislike her even more. She did nothing but act more and more like a petulant child. She was very much a useless royal, but she does start to get the blinders removed and she starts to take a stand and become a person. It was hard to remember that she was only seventeen, but luckily, the author does point this out several times as a reminder. I can’t imagine being seventeen, a widow and with a baby on the way.
Ash is the mysterious White Monk. He was working in Glorianna’s temple as a priest assistant and offers to accompany the princess on her journey back to Avonlidgh and to attempt to cross the border into Annfwn. He has quite the past and lots of secrets.
Once Ami figures out that everyone is after her unborn baby, that is when she her teeth come out and she does what is needed to take care of this baby. She just needed to see everyone fighting for a baby that wasn’t even born yet to realize what she had to do to protect the child. She also had a few other things along the road that opened her eyes to the church of Glorianna.
“Think you that Glorianna and Her temple are one and the same?”
I always had thought so, but it seems that had been one of my many naive ideas.
“What the goddess intends and what mortals do with Her representation on our earth are two different things. Being part of Glorianna’s temple is not about the good for all who claim to serve Her.”
I mulled that over. “What is it about, then?”
Her fingers twitched and I knew she missed her knitting, “The High King, praise his name, has invested Glorianna’s temple with a great deal of power. There are those drawn to that. If you wish to make changes, look for those who most benefit from access to that power.”
I really enjoyed this story, adding to the overall story of the Twelve Kingdoms. We get to spend some time with some of the characters in the first book, like Dafne who was a major player in this book. While not as big in this one, still has a part to play. Lady Zevondeth makes another appearance and I think she will have a large part in the third book. We also get to see some of Andi and King Rayfe. Let’s not forget High King Uorsin. There are also some new players.
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I’m Melanie and I live in Ohio. I have two horses and a dog. I’m an animal lover, avid book reader and audiobook listener. I like to live vicariously through fictional characters. I enjoy reading and listening to mostly fictional books in the paranormal genre, including Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance and Horror. My favorite paranormal creatures are shifters, doesn’t matter the flavor.
I’ve seen this book around. I even did a tour for it when I first started blogging. I’m glad you ended up enjoying. I’m not big on reading about young adults. They always have to much drama and whininess going on. Who knows one day I might try this series out. It does sound interesting. Thank you for the review.
Angela recently posted…Sunday Post/BB&B #91 ~ Happy Holidays!
This series really isn’t YA. It is a trilogy about three sisters and this book was the youngest sister. It is weird how she wrote and I love it. The first third of the story was the middle sister, then this one picks up where that one left off with the middle sister telling the story from that point forward. The next book should pick up where this one ends with the oldest sister. So far, I highly recommend it. I still have the last book to read.
Melanie recently posted…Review: Rajmund by D.B.Reynolds (@Mollykatie112, @DBReynoldsWrite)
I must say that though I’m not a fan of fantasy series, the stories of the sisters in this book intrigue me. So much so that I am thinking about getting the books! Lol.
I don’t read a lot of fantasy. This has a bit of a PNR feel to it, IMO. I hope you get a chance to try them. I’ve really enjoyed them.
Melanie recently posted…Review: Rajmund by D.B.Reynolds (@Mollykatie112, @DBReynoldsWrite)
I read a novella in the Twelve Kingdoms universe and enjoyed it. I planned on going back for the others and forgot. 🙂 I like it when a character does a big turnaround like this one does as she grows and matures into her role.
I read the novella this summer. It took me a while before I picked up the first book. Once I read it, I was hooked.
Melanie recently posted…Review: Rajmund by D.B.Reynolds (@Mollykatie112, @DBReynoldsWrite)
I am not a big reader of this type of fantasy. It’s hard to read a book where you dislike the main character for so much of it though. I am happy that you did enjoy the book in the end though.
If the first book had been about this sister, I don’t think I would’ve finished the book. However, I loved the middle sister that had the POV of the first book. There was still the overall story that kept me going. Then this character grew. I’m excited about the final sister and the ending of the entire story arc.
Melanie recently posted…Review: Rajmund by D.B.Reynolds (@Mollykatie112, @DBReynoldsWrite)
I’m happy that, after such a start, you ended up liking Ami, Melanie. I like to see character growth over the course of a story and it certainly seems as though Ami did some major growing. I’ll keep that in mind when I get around to reading this series. 😉
There are some great secondary characters around her that keep you reading. I do hope you try this series. I’ve really enjoyed it. I plan to pick up the last book very soon.
Melanie recently posted…Review: Rajmund by D.B.Reynolds (@Mollykatie112, @DBReynoldsWrite)
Yay you liked it
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It was a fun story. I’m excited for the next book. I will be picking it up soon.
Melanie recently posted…Review: Rajmund by D.B.Reynolds (@Mollykatie112, @DBReynoldsWrite)
Oh I love the sound of this one. I’m going to check out book 1.
Melissa (Books and Things) recently posted…Manners & Mutiny by Gail Carriger
It’s a fun book. I hope you enjoy it Melissa. 🙂
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Great review Melanie, glad you enjoyed it. I really want to read this series!
It is a fun series. I need to request the final book from the library so I can see how the trilogy ends (I think it’s a trilogy). I hope you enjoy it when you get a chance to try it.
Melanie recently posted…#FitReaders: Committing To Exercise in 2016
I am glad you enjoyed it, Mel! I have to say I couldn’t see past my dislike for the heroine, which is why my experience from the book wasn’t good 🙁
I enjoyed the story and the side characters enough that I was able to continue to enjoy the overall story. I came to even like the heroine in the end. I hope enjoy the third book better.
Melanie recently posted…#FitReaders: Committing To Exercise in 2016