~THE PRINCE OF NO VALUE~
Brishen Khaskem, prince of the Kai, has lived content as the nonessential spare heir to a throne secured many times over. A trade and political alliance between the human kingdom of Gaur and the Kai kingdom of Bast-Haradis requires that he marry a Gauri woman to seal the treaty. Always a dutiful son, Brishen agrees to the marriage and discovers his bride is as ugly as … as ugly as he expected and more beautiful than he could have imagined.
~THE NOBLEWOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE~
Ildiko, niece of the Gauri king, has always known her only worth to the royal family lay in a strategic marriage. Resigned to her fate, she is horrified to learn that her intended groom isn’t just a foreign aristocrat but the younger prince of a people neither familiar nor human. Bound to her new husband, Ildiko will leave behind all she’s known to embrace a man shrouded in darkness but with a soul forged by light.
Two people brought together by the trappings of duty and politics will discover they are destined for each other, even as the powers of a hostile kingdom scheme to tear them apart.
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Author’s note: this tale contains scenes of graphic intimacy.
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This slow-burn fantasy romance follows the love story between a human female and a non-human male, forced into marriage for a political alliance between their two races. Each find the other appalling in appearances but soon learn to overcome that barrier.
I really enjoyed this read because I liked the way she portrayed physical appearance. With humor and wit, the author helps us imagine how non-humans might view what we might consider “beautiful”. This was just an overall enjoyable romance with phenomenal world-building. Looking forward to reading book #2 in this series!
In a word…radiant <3
IIldiko, the heroine, is human and niece to the Gauri King. Brishen, the hero, is a Kai prince, a non-human creature with gray skin, fangs and claws.
Paws in the political game of their relatives, Ildiko and Brishen get married in spite of the differences between them and of the fact that they look abominable to each other.
The main characters are very lovely. They are facing an impossible situation but they don’t play the victim. They are funny, honest, empathetic and little by little become the best of friends.
Slowly mutual admiration turns into love and what seemed ugly and repulsive becomes beautiful and desirable.
The love story is beautiful, there are some very funny moments and a few gory battles. There is a mother-in-law from hell, but there are also some loyal friends to balance.
I could not put it down until it was over!
Beautiful story! Funny characters. I own it in print, ebook and on audible.
I took a risk on a grey-skinned hero…
Radiance has been on my radar for a very long time. Every time I logged onto Amazon it was a regular recommendation that eventually I HAD to look a little closer. Hmmm…this hero seems to be a little off-colour. The first time I checked it out I didn’t even bother reading the blurb…THE HERO HAS GREY SKIN! The second time, I read the blurb, took another look at that decidedly grey tinged skin, and stepped away again. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth time I looked, read the blurb and studied the reviews as well. The reviews only had good things to say and nobody was appalled that the hero was a nightmare. I took the plunge and decided to give the audio version of Radiance a try.
I think Grace Draven did a remarkable job of getting me past my fear of grey skin. When I started listening, I wasn’t convinced I’d get past the grey skin and believe the characters could fall in love. Instead of beating around the bush, the author deals with the characters differences up front. Brishen Khaskem, prince of the Kai, describes Ildiko, niece of the Gauri king, as having mollusc skin. She thinks he’s a thing of nightmares. We’re not supposed to see these two characters fall instantly in love. We are fortunate to see the journey Brishen and Ildiko take in accepting each other and learning to love what they originally thought hideous.
Both Brishen and Ildiko have not been raised in a loving family environment. Brishen’s parents are horrible and every time they were mentioned it made my skin crawl, especially his mother. She’s EVIL and her last comment to Brishen was absolutely REPULSIVE. Ildiko’s family were quite happy to see her go and I think she was even happier to leave them.
An unlikely friendship is formed between the married couple and the more time they spend with each other, the more their connection grows. Radiance is not an overly sexy read but we definitely see their connection when they do come together. Again, we’re not expected to believe that these two will easily work or connect and they must adjust how they handle each other.
It’s not long before outside forces try to tear them apart and it’s going to take Brishen, his warriors and a few friends to keep them safe.
The storyline was captivating, the characters original and the narrator does a very good job keeping me enthralled. I absolutely loved that Grace Draven left me satisfied and convinced me that Brishen and Ildiko could be together and have a successful relationship. I’m a firm believer that you can learn to appreciate the outside once you fall in love with the inside.
If you’re a fan of Fantasy Romance but hesitant because the hero has grey skin, take my advice and give it a try. I was not disappointed and a little angry at myself that I took so long to take the plunge. I will definitely be coming back to the Wraith Kings series soon.
From the first page, I was drawn into this world. Ildiko and Brishen are such an unlikely pairing. I loved watching them together, navigating the idiosyncrasies of each others’ worlds. Highly recommend!Bernadette Rowley Radiance (Wraith Kings Book 1)
***5 ‘Only When You Stop Destroying Me’ Stars***
Had I not seen another #bookblogger pimping out this book on IG, I probably wouldn’t have ever known it existed since my PNR/Fantasy reading has lessened in recent years, but something about the cover peaked my curiosity and had me sending a sample of it to the Kindle. Well, needless to say I was hooked after the first chapter, bought it immediately and absolutely loved every word of it. The world, the characters and the slow burn romance between Brishen and Ildiko were everything and as much as I wanted to devour the words, I didn’t because savoring them was so much more satisfying.
I adored Brishen and Ildiko. From the moment I met them, I knew I’d love them because they were just so relatable in how they viewed life and the situation they found themselves in. The optimistic hope coupled with a strong dose of tactful snark made them both so much fun to get to know. And as for their journey to their HEA. It was a true slow burn romance, but it totally worked for me because they were so different in so many ways that they needed the time to adjust to them, so they could truly see beyond them and I loved how every situation they found themselves in brought them closer together and showed them, that despite their obvious differences, they were perfect for each other.
As I said in the beginning, the chances of me ever having this book on my radar had it not been for #boundbybooks on IG, were slim to none. It’s the honest truth with what I’ve been reading currently and just the amount of books there are out there it’s not hard to believe. But I’m damn glad that it was brought to my attention because everything from the world building to the various characters was very well done and I found it all absolutely fascinating. Anhuset is my favorite of the secondary characters. She is kind of everything. And as for the storyline, it was well thought out and executed and I’m really looking forward to diving into the next book to see how Brishen and Ildiko fare with what’s coming at them after the way this book ended.
Radiance is one of my very favorite books!
I knew I’d enjoy this book but – I wasnt expecting to love it!
I started it yesterday and before I realised, I had read about 80% as I just couldn’t put it down!
Ildiko and Brishen are the sweetest – I can’t wait to read the next book.
I hope Ildiko is trained as a warrior or something in the second installment.
I love this book because it plays on one of my all-time favorite tropes “arranged marriage” but puts an unexpected twist on it. What happens when the two people arranged to marry actually… GASP… like each other?! What happens when their relationship is built on mutual respect and friendship instead of mucked up by petty rivalry and ridiculous miscommunication? I’ll tell you what happens, you end up with this little masterpiece! I cannot recommend this book highly enough!
Great read with wowonderful characters, story building and slow build attraction.
OMG this was so good! Why did I wait so long to read this?
Brishen and Ildiko were so perfect. I loved their slow building relationship and love. It was spot on and everything I look for in slow building fantasy romance. Brishen was a scary looking figure (at least to a human) with a heart of gold. I loved him and his reactions to Ildiko.
Ildiko was a beautiful human but extremely ugly to the Kai. But what made her truly beautiful was her beautiful heart. She was such a sweet and caring woman. I loved her and Brishen’s relationship, especially all the teasing they did. It was so sweet.
The cliffhanger ending has made me so anxious. I need to know what happens next and how it will affect Brishen and Ildiko!!
2nd read: 2019
I reread this story because I wanted to read the second book (for the first time). And just like the first time that I read ‘Radiance’ I enjoyed it very much. It’s an easy to read story, told in both POV’s.
1st read : 2015
My friend, Karin, really loved this book and couldn’t stop talking about it, so of course I was very curieus about this book. And just like my friend, Karin, I really loved it!! It was a while since I read this sort of book. But I loved every moment of it.
Brishen, a Kai prince most marry a Gauri noblewomen to seal a treat between both races. Ildiko always knew that it was her fate to marry for politics. Luckily for both, there’s an instant understanding between them. Althought they look different like night and day, both want this marriage to work. So they decided to be honest with each other. And that’s what made me love this book so very much. The relationship between them was so wonderful and lovely. The writer really takes her times to let the relationship grow between Brishen and Ildiko. What is more wonderful then two lonely people finding love and understanding with each other?
I can’t wait to read the next book!
I’m in this book for the couple’s relationship, all the way.
Wow, this series! Indie marriage-of-convenience excellence. It’s refreshing to read about a relationship wherein neither partner finds the other outwardly “beautiful” but the exact opposite…and how that doesn’t matter. Also for a series to go deeper into a marriage like this. Well done fantasy indeed and highly recommended!
I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book but I absolutely loved it!! The story was surprising and enjoyable. I loved the relationship, affection and love that grew between Brishen and Ildiko. The story had a very realistic quality while being set in a wonderful fantasy world. I cannot wait to read the second book in the series!
I fell in love with the cover, then I fell so hard for this amazing love story.
Wow this book….my feels….OMG! So a couple years back Radiance reviews were blowing up my news feed, so of course I check out the synopsis and put this book in my maybe list. See I am a hardcore romance reader and when I got the deets on this book I thought it would be more Fantasy and very little romance. But as time went on this book still kept popping into my mind so I decided to go try it.
Ildiko was the human niece of the Gauri King. Brishen was the 2nd born prince of the Kai kingdom and he was not human. They were to be married to form an alliance between the Kai and Gauri. The thing I was most drawn to in this story was the fact that both the hero and heroine think each other ugly. Like scary ugly lol. Brishen was so sexy. I don’t care that he had grey skin, solid white eyes with no other color in them, and blades for teeth and nails he was damn sexy! He was so protective and respectful of his wife Ildiko. He may not have thought she was pretty but he was honest with her and was faithful to her. He supported her and treated her well from the very start. I loved how his admiration for her grows to such a strong love. Ildiko was amazing. She was married to a scary looking non human and shipped off to live with his people and she shined. She was all alone, the only human in Kai, with an evil Queen mother- n- law that treated her like crap and tried to kill her. She was mocked, and ostracized, but she never let anyone get the best of her. She stood up for herself to the queen, stood proud among all the stares, and was brave when it was called for. She was also supportive and caring to her husband. She did her best to be a good wife to Brishen.
Ildiko and Brishen had a slow burn love. They started with friendship and respect and fell madly in love with each other. I thought the sex in this book was passionate and sweet and I was glad they waited until they fell in love before having a sexual relationship. Brishen and Ildiko had such a great and strong relationship it was palpable. Something that made me laugh was Brishen thought Ildiko’s eyes looked like parasites rolling around in her skull so she would cross her eyes just to freak him out. The secondary characters in this book were great too. I really liked Brishen’s cousin Anhuset and I also really liked Brishen and Ildiko’s neighbor and friend Serovek. I think there is a love connection there and I can’t wait to see if I’m right. I want to say that I truly hated Brishen’s mom. She was a nasty bitch and I laughed at the end when she got hers. I held off on reading Radiance because I thought it would be heavy Fantasy and low romance I was wrong. This book is a light Fantasy and it’s main focus is this sweet couple falling in love. I’m on to book 2…..
Radiance is an all-time favorite. It brings 2 totally different people (beings) together in the age old “arranged marriage” and Grace brings you through all the trials and tribulations of that, then tops it off with the many outside influences that shape the relationship. The characters are delightful and intense. The world building is phenomenal. You won’t be able to put it down. It is a HEA even though it takes a lot to get these characters there. Grace does an awesome job of it.
Grace Draven is one of my newest, favorite authors. LOVE everything she’s written. I recommend Radiance to readers who enjoy romantic fantasy with strong female (and male) characters, original world-building, and a great mix of romance, character, action, and wit.