She is the gift he did not want. He is the prince she is forbidden to love.SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOOLLAHRA DIGITAL LITERARY AWARDS 2017Companions are the kingdom’s most beautiful and educated women—possessions of Syrasan’s royal men. Aldara is sixteen when she is sold to the obnoxious crown prince as a gift for his brother. Forced to leave the only life she has ever known, Aldara is sent to … ever known, Aldara is sent to Archdale Castle, where she is mentored to become Prince Tyron’s perfect Companion. But no amount of lessons can prepare her for the troubled man marked by war. He sees straight through the polished exterior presented to him. He sees her.
Prince Tyron has just returned from war. All he wants is privacy to grieve the men who died at the border. So when his brother gifts him a Companion upon his return, he is forced to embrace a tradition he has so far managed to avoid. Except Aldara is not like the others. She walks with her face to the sun and arms swinging. Her laughter makes him forget the lie. But if they ignore the rules that safeguard them, there will be consequences…
This is book one in The Companion series. If you enjoy dark medieval romance, then this epic tale of love against all odds is for you.
Trigger warning: This book contains sexual violence, death, and dark themes intended for mature audiences.
Please note: This is part one of Tyron and Aldara’s story. Their story continues in books two and three—available now.
Here’s what readers are saying…
“Heartbreaking at times, but I just couldn’t stop reading.”
“Captivating.”
“I took pleasure in this torture of hopeless love.”
“Deeply romantic.”
“Sweet. Beautiful. TORMENT.”
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Spoiler alert:
This book was so intriguing, with such unique and well-developed characters and I quickly grew very invested in the story which made it so jarringly shocking and painful when the main character is violently raped. I don’t understand why the author felt that this was necessary to the story line. When I read a fantasy novel, I’m certainly not expecting to experience such a visceral and graphic rape scene. I’m not particularly sensitive to violence in stories, but the way in which the author took us more than half way through the book, gaining our trust as readers and then slapped us with a horrific rape scene made me entirely unable to read the rest of the story. She lost my trust as a reader. The scene was branded into my brain and I couldn’t shake it for hours afterward. It haunted me in a horrible way. I couldn’t read any more of the story, not even to see if there was some resolution. I quickly deleted the book from my kindle and went onto Amazon and wiped it from my account.
I wasn’t expecting to like this book or the series, but it was mesmerizing to me! (I am older and thought it would be a bit too young for me) The characters seemed so real. Loved it!
I have no words to express how much i love this book and the series. There is this one scene I’d prefer it wasnt there but still i got through the book in less than 24 hours.
It was a book where you wondered where it could go. Easy read, with fun characters.
What a good look at how far women have come these days!
I swear I’ve read this before, but by a different author. That does not take away from how good this book is. The world building and character development are brilliant. The plot is wonderfully paced. I picked this book up and couldn’t put it down, reading well past my bed time. I’m eager to read the rest of the series.
I literally finished it within a day. I couldn’t put it down! so glad it was free and now waiting to buy the next 5 books in the series!
*trigger warnings for sexual violence*
nice
Wow! What a Fantastic Story! The Royal Companion will hold you spellbound as it comes to life with all the intrigue, betrayal and strife with a web of disillusion that is spun that will keep you reading to the very end. Tanya Bird has written an unforgettable romance with a strong plot, remarkable emotions, unforgettable characters. Prince Tyron and Companion Aldara are so well developed you feel every emotion that they are feeling throughout the story and become very endearing as the story progresses. It’s a heart pounding romance with trials and tribulations, danger, uncertainty, heartbreak dark themes, death and the twist and turns that make this one outstanding read that you won’t want to miss. This is the first book I read by Tanya Bird and it be the last! Can’t wait to continue the journey with Prince Tyron and Companion Aldara in The Common Girl and The Majestic Imposter.
This may be one of my favorite reads of the past year. Great world building. Great character development. A great way to take a taboo subject and make is something fun and potentially positive…you have to read the other books to see how things work out.
I was surprised at how much I liked this book. I even read the next two books in the series. It was a wee bit juvenile and the fairy-tale plot was a bit predictable, but I liked the main character and her love interest. The political landscape to the series added something a little different that I enjoyed. It was quick to read and a nice escape from reality. I usually enjoy a little steam in books like these, especially considering the nature of the romantic set-up, but the chemistry between the main love interests was still heart-fluttering.
Trigger warning: rape and abuse
It was defiantly an interesting book, and I didn’t expect half of what happened, especially what I mentioned above. If you can’t read those kinds of things, definitely don’t read this book
This was a good read ..i felt for some of the characters. It was just getting good and you need the next book. Ugh ..reading on
I liked enough to buy the next one.
The Royal Companion by Tanya Bird
The Companion #1
Downloaded this from BookFunnel as a freebie during a promotion and gave it a try. It kept my interest from beginning to end though the end was rather abrupt leaving me wondering about the what will happen to Tyron and Aldara…for that matter…I wonder how the kingdom Tyron is middle prince in can survive with the brother who will probably end up king one day.
Aldara is sold by her mother for a few coins to keep the family going and in hopes that Aldara’s life will be better as a noble companion. She is trained and educated and yet Tyron keeps his distance. There is a horse race and archery and rape and wars and kidnapping and evil countries and famine and a whole lot more that happens in this book.
I have mixed feelings about the book but did enjoy escaping although I have to say I would NOT want to be a noble companion!
This is my honest review.
3 Stars
This book takes the reader on an adventure to a setting far away from present day. The book is set in a time before the luxuries and comforts we have today. You all know by now I love a good map. This book starts with a map of the world created by Tanya Bird. This is where I love to start and as I read consider where certain characters originate. Often the names of the characters coincide with the names of the land and/or it helps to give more insight to both the characters and the land. I loved the uniqueness of the names. I was fascinated by connecting the dots in this book. However, at the start I was certainly struggling to keep all of the characters right in my mind. In summary, to wrap up my long winded answer, the names are unique and beautiful. I really enjoyed the writing in this book. I was able to read this book with ease and enjoy the story being told without any distractions. The flow was wonderful and really helped to tell a devastating story with true depth. I never lost interest while reading this book and really found myself not only intrigued, but experiencing a few skips of the heart.This book is something that can be enjoyed by a mature reader who can handle a bit of sexual situations with undertones of dark situations. It is not graphic or disgusting. It is real and raw. It may be tempting to just read the same old love story ignoring the terrible things hiding under the surface, but it is quite a bit more satisfying to experience the trauma through reading a book like this and consider how brave the characters must be to undergo such pain. Complexity, heartbreak, and survival. This story will take you on a truly unique experience leaving you breathless.
Carefully well written, I really enjoyed the story of Aldara and her Royal Companion friends. The heroine expects nothing good from the future but bit a bit she’s finding out she has new friends that will become family. And while trying to adjust to a very complicated life in the Palace she may finds the love of her life.
She also try to stay true to her beliefs and wild character trying to find a balance between Royal behave and a farm girl. Actually that’s what some princes will notice first. She’s not like everyone else.
Beautiful story. I liked it a lot.
Warning: there is no graphic sex nor violence descriptions. Both themes are carefully treated and there are no details about those scenes.
I have to say I enjoyed this new twist on an old plot line. I consider it a plus that it was /not/ in first person, limited POV. I liked Aldara, the MC. She’s strong and determined and not perfect. I like that she goes against the path people are trying to carve for her. I also like that she retains the essence of who she is, not allowing the pomp and grandeur to change her. I also liked the fact that the hero has a heart for people.
Overall, the plot for this story is interesting and I’d really like to see what happens next. I don’t know that I’ll add it to my favorites stack, but I’m definitely going to do my best to finish the series. I’ve been trying to find more modern books in the fantasy genre that I can truly enjoy and I feel like this one was a win. The setting is well crafted as are the characters. From a technical standpoint, I think this is very well done.
If you enjoy fantasy stories with a sort of dark fairytale twist, you might enjoy this one. If you like castles and princes and knights, you’d probably enjoy it. If you enjoy romance with a good plot, then give this one a go. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone under 16 because it gets really dark and graphic at a couple points.
Great book if you like romance. Especially sort of other-world medieval romance. Kings, castles, princess, etc.