From USA Today bestselling author Anthea Sharp, a richly-imagined fantasy romance uniting an adventurous young woman and a fearsome Dark Elf warrior, in a magical tale full of love and adventure.In the shadowed land of the Dark Elves, a hero must risk losing everything… Hawthorne Court, but despite winning the war against the Void, their own personal struggles are just beginning. Shards of the Void remain in the realm, and Bran must hunt them down, leaving Mara to face the poisonous intrigues of the court alone. She soon discovers that the fate of Elfhame is far more precarious than she first believed. While she grapples with mastering her own magic, and the depth of her feelings for her enigmatic husband, Bran chases down the enemy – but his foe has grown more cunning than he ever imagined.
As treacherous schemes and dire enemies close in around the couple, they must learn to trust the power of their magic and their hearts… before both their worlds are lost forever.
more
I love her books! Anthea does a wonderful job at world building. We get to see characters that are working through problems in a new marriage. Mara and Bran are so fun to read since that have flaws.
Like the writing, the characters, the world building that had magic, action, mystery. I did feel some parts were rushed and could have been more and longer.
Still a good read.
Victory short lived, the two main characters face even more dangers than they imagined. This web of intrigue just keeps getting woven tighter making me extremely anxious to know the outcome. It’s very easy to get swept away in this tale filled with fairytale like settings. Eagerly looking forward to book three. All my reviews are always voluntarily written.
After Mara is returned to Elfhame, her and Bran “reconnect.”.
After a series of failed assassination attempts, Mara flees the Hawthorne Court and meets Bran on the battlefield where the Void is trying to open the gates to the mortal world.
Their relationship is still awkward and a bit forced. I still don’t believe Mara is worthy of him, but neither is the other woman in the court.
Bran sucks at being a husband, or in a partnership really, he is too focused on protecting Mara from outside forces, that she has defeated once, that he doesn’t realize the danger she is in back in Hawthorne.
The battle scenes were a bit better this time around, but still a bit flglossy. The air of danger a tiny bit better, you’re not quite sure who is out to get you
Dangers lurk around every corner with new and old enemies conspiring against our new couple. I loved how suspenseful and full of action this story was. I was on the edge of my seat and I can’t wait for what happens next especially with that ending!
Anthea Sharp is back, this time with Hawthorne, book 2 in her The Darkwood Chronicles. That’s a truly wonderful thing as this is a truly wonderful book by a truly wonderful author. I’ve been addicted to her other series and stand-alone tales for quite a while and it’s books like this one that explain why. Since my theme word seems to be “wonderful” I will just lay it out there, the plot of this book (and overarching story arc), the writing, the world-building (palace intrigue in the Hawthorne Court, magic, elves and Shards of the Void: oh my!), and the characters (from Mara and Bran on down) are all, indeed, more than simply superb: they’re wonderful. The fate of Elfhame is far more precarious than first believed, but have faith that this will all dealt with in a – you guessed it – wonderful fashion. Frankly, but for the fact that I’m literally dictating this review to my husband from my hospital bed I could go on and on with praises. The book definitely deserves it. Since I can’t do that I will simply note that the book is most definitely one to read, and it is easy to highly recommend. I’m definitely looking forward to the next book in this series.