The first book in a new fantasy series from best-selling author Jennifer Anne Davis.Reid has spent her whole life pretending to be a man so she can inherit her father’s estate, but when a chance encounter threatens to expose her lie, she is forced to risk everything.In the kingdom of Marsden, women are subservient to men and land can only pass from father to son. So when Reid Ellington is born, … father to son. So when Reid Ellington is born, the fifth daughter to one of the wealthiest landholders in the kingdom, it’s announced that Reid is a boy.
Eighteen years later, Reid struggles to conceal the fact she’s actually a young woman. Every day, her secret becomes harder to keep. When one of Marsden’s princes sees her sparring with a sword, she is forced to accept his offer and lead her father’s soldiers to the border. Along the way, she discovers a covert organization within the army known as the Knights of the Realm. If Reid wants to save her family from being arrested for treason and robbed of their inheritance, she will have to join the Knights and become a weapon for the crown.
To protect her family, Reid must fight like a man. To do that, she’ll need the courage of a woman.
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This was like the story of Mulan, only completely not. I enjoyed the first book immensely, so I purchased the other two. I have since read the whole trilogy and would definitely recommend these books!
#Idina smiled. “Why do I feel like you’re trying to get rid of me?”
“Because you’re smart, intuitive, and right.”#
This book is amazing, it moves fast, and it surprises you. There’s scheming, I don’t even know what too root for, in the power bid, I don’t know who to trust and who I should kill of slowly? Damn.
I’ll admit my heat is sold to a sertain someone, who I really hope ends up being the love interest and why would he? I mean come on, it’s always the one, who you don’t quit understand or trust completely, who’s a mistery who ends up being the love interest. Sadly nothing is even sparkling between them. Sigh.
There’s af some pretty funny characters, also every characters feels real to me. There isn’t anyone I don’t care about or find interesting in this book.
Here is some of the reasons this book is just great.
#His eyes flashed. “I’m the useless errand boy.” Leaning closer to Reid, he whispered, “But I’ll admit it feels like he wants me gone. Away from you. Now why is that?”#
Or this
#She didn’t even know how to put the dress on. Why was there so much material? Why did it have so many layers?#
Ordered and read the entire series. Enjoyed them all
I was so happy to be on this tour. I really like the other books that I have read by this author in the past. Oh My God Guys I could not put this book down. I read it in a day and a half. I really enjoyed how this book did not focus around romance. There is a love interest however it is not necessary to the story.
In this first book, you follow Reid on her journey of self-discovery and it was amazing. Reid who was raised to act like a Lord growing up finds herself at Court having to act like a Lady. Since Reid was raised like a boy she was taught how to fight. In this kingdom, women are not allowed to fight or join the army, which makes Reid’s ability rare. This has also put her in a position to be used by the King and the princes.
This was a wonderful first book to a series and I can not wait for the next book to come out!
Rating – 4 stars
As I review this book, I will try to constantly remind myself that this is marketed as a YA book. I would like to start off by saying that I would have loved this book all the more if it had been written for adults–I think the whole idea of a Duke raising his daughter to be a man, and suddenly this daughter is thrown into a giant political war because she is the only female in the kingdom who knows how to fight (because of the tight gender reforms), is a captivating idea. I really feel like Reid was held back by YA rules; as a woman living in a man’s world, I think Reid would have had a much more difficult and delicate time than what was pictured in this book.
Because this is YA book, instead of Reid dealing with the brutality that women faced back in medieval days (the rape, the beatings, the killings that happened to women constantly), she is instead faced with the existensial question of “Who am I?” Which, although disappointing, I do think is appropriate. If someone of Reid’s likeness had existed in this period of time, the difference between man and woman would not just be “wearing a dress and having to act respectful”. I remember at some point in the story, Prince Gordon says “There’s nothing wrong with a woman who knows her place,” and Reid has a meltdown as if she’s never heard any man say something so awful, which just has to make me laugh. I’m sorry to rain on the parade, but had Reid had grown up with all male friends, it is almost downright stupid that she has such strong reactions to this at her age after a lifetime of being a man. In 2019, some of my male friends still say things about women that are questionable as fuck, so I know in a time where men had no repercussions for the actions against women, Reid would have had a rude awakening long ago as she disguised as a man.
This glaring issue aside, this was an enjoyable read. The idea behind the story was very intriguing, and I thought the contrast in character personalities was very interesting. Sometimes, authors have a bad habit of making all of their side characters blend together, but Davis created a fine cast of characters to follow Reid around.
For a YA book, I also feel Davis nailed the element of surprise. When I first started reading the book, I thought I knew what direction it was heading in. Especially in the very-cliche scene where Reid wears a dress for the first time and does a swirl in the mirror and “realizes her beauty”, I just had to roll my eyes. I got very cocky when it came to trying to guess whom was doing what, but the author definitely kept me on my toes. I was pleasantly surprised, especially after hitting the 75% mark, at the twists and turns the story took.
The writing was lacking; although it was very straightforward and to-the-point (which I am gathering is the author’s style from other reviews), it did lack some beauty and emotion. I felt that was a bit of a miss for me, especially considering the author has an English major, I feel she could have gotten a little bit more involved in the storytelling aspect. But, that aside, the pace was good. It did not feel like I was reading for this book for ten years; things happened fast and in succession, and Reid was always off on a new conquest before you could start yawning.
I think this was a very good debut novel of the series, and I am very intrigued and excited in reading the second book. Realm of Knights successfully hooked me in and had me wanting to know more about these this kingdom it takes place in. I feel that this is definitely the kind of book I would recommend to my younger, junior-high siblings.
Note from me: Thank you for reading this review! Leave a comment about how you felt for the story 🙂 And thank you Reign Publishing for the Advanced Readers Copy
Wow, be ready to be amazed! This is a genre I generally do not read, but Ms. Davis has now made me a huge fan! I absolutely loved the trope of this story and how our heroine (Hero in disguise) has been hidden her whole life. Women in the Kingdom of Marsden are beneath all men, they are to be subservient and docile and they can’t inherit or own land. So in order to inherit her father’s estate, Reid has been disguised as a boy/man and later becomes a Knight. Just an amazing tale, and one you will want to add to your bookshelves!
This is book one of a new series and has many twists and turns. This book kept me guessing the whole time and when I read the last line, I immediately wanted to read the next book!
This is the first book in an exciting new series and did not disappoint. It’s different enough from the author’s previous series to be intriguing and interesting but similar enough that fans of the True Reign and Reign of Secrets series will feel right at home. I found myself both looking forward to reaching the end to find out what happened and dreading it because I didn’t want the fun to end. I couldn’t put this book down and you won’t be able to either. I cannot recommend it enough!
Jennifer Anne Davis does it again! I just love the characters in this book and the adventure is so exciting. With so many things going on, I couldn’t stop reading. I can’t wait for the next book!
3.5 Stars
I have to say that my initial interest in this book stemmed from a bout of cover love and then I read the description and my excitement ratcheted up a notch into full on ready to fan-girl mode. So I know your burning question is did this book stand up to my excitement for it? Well, yes and no and here’s why.
First let’s start with the positive. I love the premise of this book. The idea of this girl living the life of a boy and then being unceremoniously thrown into a world of intrigue and war as a woman! Having to manage herself in a world she belongs to but in a way that she is wholly unfamiliar with gives some awesome Mulan vibes, but that is where the connection ends, don’t go in thinking this is a Mulan retelling.
The book is a true page turner. It kept me totally invested the entire time and is fast paced, (which is also a negative that we will talk about later) I was able to read the book in a few hours and other then being done with it and needing to know what happens next, I loved that aspect. I love a fast paced, entertaining book and this definitely fills the bill. There is romantic tension, intrigue, action, introspection….it has so many great points.
The characters, there are both positives and negatives here. Reid, is a great character, I loved her ability to set aside her fears when she needs to protect the ones that she loves. I found her to be a truly strong female lead, though there are a few times that she wavers and I feel like we lose her, but I have to say I think there are two reasons for that, one goes back to my early comment about it being a quick read. I think the author simply ran out of time for Reid’s character to fully develop. This book could have very easily been a 400+ page book instead of the under 300 that we got and a lot of the reason it is shorter is lack of character development. I wish we had more time to watch her grow and truly come into herself. Reid has the ability to be one of the strongest female YA characters out there but she needs to be given the ‘pages’ to do that. The same can be said about Ackley and Gordon as well. I loved these two characters, but I don’t truly know who they are and I want to know them, there is so much just simmering under the surface of this book I just need the author to delve deeper and pull it out for us. There are even some great secondary characters that it would be awesome to end up with spin-offs, just gonna put that out there now, haha.
So I gave you a little bit of the negative above, but honestly that is the one negative that plays through out the story, not enough development. It affects the characters, the world building, the pacing of the story, the intrigue….everything just happens too fast without enough time to let it simmer and come through fully formed. That doesn’t make me not want to read the next book, it is on my must read list. In the end the premise of this story is just too intriguing, what we did get in this book, even with the lack of development is compelling. I want to see relationships develop, I want answers to the intrigues, I want to see changes come to the world that Reid lives in. What I hope for is that the author, who really shouldn’t read these reviews will get wind of a lot of the reviewers thoughts (you will see that a lot of us agree on the development and pacing issues) and take that to heart when writing book 2. There is amazing potential here and I just want it all!
This is a good book to pick up, it has so much going for it and I hope even with my (or other reviewers) negatives you will still give it a chance because there is so much possibility here and it could truly be an amazing YA Fantasy!
Summary:
Reid is a woman that doesn’t know too much about choice. From the moment she was born, her father declared her a boy in an effort to save his lands and title. For only a son can inherit in the kingdom of Marsden. It was this fateful decision that rewrote every bit of what Reid’s life should have been.
It’s about to be rewritten again.
Given her isolation, it was almost easy for Reid to keep up the ruse for eighteen years. All of the young men she grew up with never questioned her gender or identity. But all it took was a few new pairs of fresh eyes to see what they did not.
The rest of this story depends entirely on Prince Ackley, the youngest brother to the king and the most clever of individuals. He is the first to sniff out the ruse Reid operates under, and he’s the first to see the potential for her skills.
Now Reid is caught up in a situation she could never have imagined. Used as a pawn in a greater game, she is thrust across the board and nudged in new directions by many suspicious hands. All the while, she’s learning that she doesn’t want to be a pawn anymore.
Characters:
Reid is a hard character to understand because she simply doesn’t understand herself. She wasn’t given the opportunity to learn who she was and what she could do, because she was always told the cost of not being who her father wanted. So as the story unfolds, Reid is also learning about herself and how she wants to live her life. If I had to describe her in one word it would be: dutiful.
Gordon was an interesting part of the cast more or less just to get Reid’s take on him. There aren’t too many moments where Gordon gets to really shine, but when he does, you understand Reid’s fascination with the man. He’s intense, honorable, and devoted to his home and family.
Ackley is my favorite little rascal in all of this. He’s witty and clever and has an answer for everything. With that comes a confidence that toes the line of arrogance, throws it a wink and saucy kiss, and skips away to its own beat. While Ms. Davis has created a few characters with similar MOs, none have yet been able to make me giggle the way Ackley does.
Idina was another fun addition to the cast and by far the best way to prove to Reid that being a woman takes a whole new kind of strength and dignity. As clever as Ackley and sneakier than Reid, Idina would make one hell of a leading lady herself. She’s a resourceful spy-master as well as a pretty princess, all with enough wit to entertain.
Plot:
Plot is always the hardest to describe without spoiling things. I think what I enjoyed most about it was the realistic properties of it. There’s civil unrest now that a new King has been crowned and there are potential contenders to the throne. What I also like is the amount of misdirection coming from several sides, so that you really have to try to figure out what’s going on and who’s to blame.
Overall:
I enjoyed the journey that Reid had to go on. The discovery of herself and what it means to be in her very unique position, as well as the realization that she could possibly change her world. If she’s strong enough.
Really looking forward to book 2!
I spotted this and couldn’t resist because it’s a girl dressing as a boy trope and frankly I was reminded certainly initially of Mulan. Now there the similarities end because Lord Reid ( or do I mean Lady Reid ? ) is just pretending to be male due to old-fashioned ideas about who can inherit.
Initially the author had me convinced that Reid was fighting on the right side but as this story progressed both this reader and indeed our protagonist Reid starts to get serious doubts ! I enjoyed the juxtaposition of it all but sadly at times things did feel too easy and a little trite. I guess I just wanted more from Reid although I’m aware this is the first in the series so clearly introducing the situation and the characters.
Oo the characters are sneaky and I liked that and even though this isn’t a romance the author does dangle possibilities although I’m pretty sure Reid’s newly discovered libido has been barking up the wrong tree and perhaps any future ideas she gets will involve someone who could well be at this time far from Reid’s romantic yearnings.
This certainly grabbed and kept my attention and I loved the way it ended as now I’m desperate to discover exactly what Reid gets up to next.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair