Beneath the Keep (The Queen of the Tearling, #0), by Erika Johansen

Format: e-ARC, 420 pages

Publisher: Random House UK, Transworld Publishers

Published: 11 February 2021

ISBN: 9781787632356

Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Sci Fi and Fantasy, Teens and YA

Back cover blurb: In a world far in the future, society in the Tearling has reverted to feudalism.

Evil forces have converged to ensure that the rich and powerful stay in control while the poor are plunged into ever-greater depths of suffering. The only hope is a prophecy, whispered about among the poor, that a True Queen will rise up and save the kingdom from succumbing completely to despotism.

But, none of this affects the Mace. We meet the Mace in the beginning of his life, when he is enslaved as a paid fighter in the Creche, the clandestine and sinister underworld beneath the kingdom. The decrepit Creche is the only home Mace has ever known.

Meanwhile in the Keep and in the countryside, some of the same villains at play in the Mace’s world are inciting ever-escalating class conflict. Princess Elyssa must decide if she should align herself with her mother the Queen, or join the socialist rebellion group Blue Horizon, which has captured her heart. As the people rioting across the countryside decide Elyssa holds the key to the Kingdom’s future, she is running out of time to make her choice–and to outrun those who hope to make it for her.

When the Mace must leave the Creche for the first time in his life, his own fate intertwines with the prophecy of the princess and the battles of country peasants uniting in mutiny, and everything changes. The hope that Elyssa represented may be snuffed out by dark magic, and the Mace finds himself called into the service of something bigger than himself — a fight for a better world.

My review: I’ve always loved the Mace, and this new book from Erika Johansen – a prequel to her Tearling trilogy set in the period just before Queen Kelsea’s birth – gives us his origin story, from a childhood in the Creche to years in the ring as a child fighter and then his introduction to the Queen’s Guard. At the same time, we get to see Kelsea’s mother’s descent into madness, and all the evil machinations of the high-born classes and the desperation of those forced to live below them.

In her author’s note, Johansen makes it clear she is making a political statement about the haves and have-nots, and many times I appreciated when she made a sly dig at the recent US political turmoil.

As with the other books in the series, I must state that, although categorised as YA fiction, the subject matter really isn’t for children or for the fainthearted. Paedophilia and rape are ongoing themes, and there are some very gory, stomach-churning descriptions. Scenes in the Creche just broke my heart and I could picture them clearly because of Johansen’s amazing writing.

Many fans were upset at the ending of the third Tearling book, but with this prequel I see an exciting new beginning and very much hope we will see more from the time of Kelsea’s childhood.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 4/5

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Locked, by Parker Witter

Format: e-book, 96 pages

Publisher: Poppy Books

Published: August 19, 2014

ISBN: 9780316366496

Genre: YA fiction

Back cover blurb: “It had always been the three of us, and then it was the two of us – Ed and August. There was not, nor had there ever been a chance of a Noah and August. And that was fine. Because the truth was I had known Noah forever but I still had no idea who he really was. Especially not now. ”

In this sizzling novella, one girl must choose between loyalty and love.

August had the two best guy friends a girl could ask for in Noah and Ed. Then Ed confessed he felt more for her – and their new relationship changed everything. She had hoped it would be Noah that she’d end up with someday, but it’s clearer than ever that Noah’s just not interested in being a one-girl guy.

When the small seaplane the three of them are on crashes, August finds herself injured and marooned on an island with … Noah. Unsure of what’s become of Ed, August and Noah do their best to not lose hope as they fight to survive on an island that is not as deserted as they first believed. But fighting the elements – and their attraction to each other – becomes a losing battle.

Soon, a secret from Noah’s past that could bind them to the island forever is revealed, and August must choose between giving into her feelings for him, or struggling to make it back home.

My review: This wasn’t what I was expecting. Locked is the book upon which the movie in Rebecca Serle’s Famous is based, and which the author also decided to write under a pseudonym. I met her at a book event last October and got a signed copy of Famous, so I figured I would read this one first so I knew what the movie would be about. What I wasn’t expecting were the paranormal elements of the story, which seemed to come out of left field and be accepted as perfectly normal.

Maybe it was the short length of the book, but everything seemed quite rushed. I liked Noah and August (strange name for a girl), even though she was a terrible girlfriend to Ed, and the suddenness of the ending left me wanting more. I will read Famous now and hope this story gets developed more.

My rating: 3/5

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The Duchess of Love, by Sally MacKenzie

Format: Kindle Edition, 106 pages

Published: April 24, 2012

Publisher: Zebra

Back cover blurb:

A Duke In Disguise…

The day was as hot as the pond was inviting. It’s not as if anyone in Little Huffington was going to happen upon a secluded vale on the Duke of Greycliffe’s lands. And Venus Collingswood didn’t want to get her shift all wet. It was the perfect setting in which to plan her lovely bookworm of a sister’s betrothal to the mysterious new duke arriving seven days hence. If only she had a suitable accomplice…

Andrew Valentine, Duke of Greycliffe, never thought arriving at his own household a week early would cause so much trouble. The housekeeper thinks he’s his own cousin. Actually, the chance to not be the duke for a while is a pleasant opportunity indeed. It might even help him interrogate the delectable little nymph he’s discovered swimming in his pond—if he can manage to get a word in edgewise…

My review:

It is quite clear MacKenzie is a fan of Colin Firth diving in the pond at Pemberley… so it’s a good thing I am as well 😉 As I read this novella, I could just picture all the events of the story happening on the set of Pride and Prej – in fact, the beginning few lines had me expecting someone to cry “Netherfield Park is let at last!”.

P&P aside, I enjoyed the story, although things progressed incredibly quickly for them to be credible, particularly for the period. The cover is pretty, too, but isn’t how I imagined Venus would look. This is the prequel to a series about Venus and Drew’s sons, and I’d quite like to know what becomes of Aphrodite and Nicholas, so I may have to continue with this series.

My rating: 4/5