REVIEW - SUMMER QUEEN - FAIRY QUEENS BOOK 2 - BY AMBER ARGYLE

pic and description taken from Goodreads

DESCRIPTION:

Poised to become the most powerful priestess in Idara, Nelay doesn’t have time to become a pretty bauble for the king. She’s too busy saving her people from the invading army sweeping across her kingdom. 

But in defeat after defeat, Nelay begins to realize a bigger power is at play than that wielded by mere mortals. Only she can stand between the cinders of her once-great nation and the vengeance of a goddess.

MY REVIEW / THOUGHTS:

This is like the third time I have been asked to review a book and realized it was the second or third book in the series.  Either I don't pay enough attention to the emails, or I am just blind.  Either way, I don't know if I am missing anything from the first one or not, but never felt lost during the reading of this book.  So if you have read the first one, yay for you...Now that I started with the second one I cannot go back words.  It's a thing with me.  I'm weird that way.

I was pleasantly surprised  by how much I enjoyed this book.  It has a lot of action and it was engaging.  The world building was wonderful, I felt like there was just enough that I could "be" there in the book and not too much that it got wordy.   That is important for me, because I don't like tons of description, sometimes it takes away from the story for me.  This was just right.

Nelay was a great character.  She was strong and passionate about her lands, and her people.  She is a great leader.  Nelay is being forced to marry the King, but is determined to see if her family is safe first.  When meeting with the King to discuss their plans she asks only if she can return to her rooms to gather some stuff.  While doing so she escapes the city with some rogues she has payed to help her get to her home, to see if her family is still alive.  Rycus is the man in charge of getting her out of the city to find her family.  Rycus, and Nelay do not get along at the beginning, but their friendships develops during their travels, and it's such a fun story to follow.

When they get to Nelay's home they find that her parents have been killed but no sign of her brother. Nelay is not satisfied with not finding him and convinces the group to split up and search the caves around the city to see if her brother is there among them.

When Nelay finds her brother the reunion is not the happy one she was looking for.

Rycus and Nelay form a bond that is unbreakable, but when Nelay is forced to marry the king things have to change between them.  While the war is raging and the beloved king is taken down, Nelay is now in charge of finding a way to save her people.

When Nelay sees that her kingdom is burning to the ground, and they have lost many people she goes and does the only thing she thinks she can to save them all.  

This story was action packed, and interesting.  It was so much fun to see Nelay grow in this book.  There are fairies, priestesses, and kings....oh my :).  There is war, love, and determination.  The ending made me go "WAIT" there has to be more...of course there is...hehe.  I cannot wait to see where the third book goes.

Source:  I was given this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any way for this review.  These are my own PERSONAL thoughts on the book.

MY RATING:

WHERE TO BUY:

   

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

pic and bio taken from Goodreads

Amber Argyle is the number-one bestselling author of the Witch Song Series and the Fairy Queen Series. Her books have been nominated for and won awards in addition to being translated into French and Indonesian.

Amber graduated cum laude from Utah State University with a degree in English and physical education, a husband, and a two-year old. Since then, she and her husband have added two more children, which they are actively trying to transform from crazy small people into less crazy larger people.

To learn more about Amber, visit her blog at http://www.amberargyle.blogspot.com