The black X of the Aramach Rebels marks the spot Princess Charlotte’s life was destroyed.Her fiance taken and her kingdom on the brink of war because of it, Charlie refuses to be the damsel in distress and takes matters into her own hands. She can only trust a handful of people as hints of a conspiracy are uncovered. Leaving her castle and everything she’s ever known behind, Charlie ventures into … Charlie ventures into a place she only thought she knew — her own kingdom. In the face of traitors and thieves and ruthless rebels, Charlie won’t be stopped on her mission to set things right and find her prince.
The only question is: Will she find him before it’s too late?
more
YA fantasy has always been my favorite. However, the past few months, I’d been in a slump. I struggled getting through anything fantasy…
Until this book.
I loved Winter’s Captive! The world Robin and Elle have created is so enrapturing. The story immediately starts off with the disappearance of Princess Charlotte’s fiance on the morning of their wedding day, which caught my attention. There is a perfect balance of descriptions and quick pace. It isn’t bogged down by the world-building, but the authors still pull the reader into this rich, beautiful kingdom.
Princess Charlotte, or Charlie, isn’t content sitting around while the armies search for Prince Oliver. Instead, she and her best friend Isla disguise themselves with men’s armor to follow after the other soldiers. They overheard important information they need to get to Finn and Logan, her brother and Oliver’s brother respectively, and they don’t trust anyone to do so.
After an attack on the soldiers, Logan goes off to find Oliver on his own. Charlie and Oliver’s two kingdoms have been on the brink of returning to war their whole lives. The peace depends on their wedding. More than that, though, their betrothal might have been arranged when they were born, but they are friends and love each other. So, once again, Charlie refuses to just wait around; she follows after Logan and, together, they face thieves, the harsh winter weather, and their dislike of each other while searching for Oliver.
Any time the main female character goes against the norm of how their society functions to fight for someone or something, I’m in. Charlie’s determination and need to not only find Oliver but stop the impending war is admirable. Also, because I’m me, I love her relationship with Logan. They bicker nonstop, but you can tell there’s more beneath the surface of what we’re seeing. The fact that they used to be friends until he “hated” her makes me think there were some feelings there that he knew he couldn’t act on. Maybe that’s just me being hopeful.
In short, I absolutely loved this book. It broke me out of my slump, and I cannot wait to jump into the next book!
**Original review on YA Books Central.
I recieved this book for my honest review.
I have to admit that YA Fantasy reads are not something I normally read. So, that being said, I took a chance on this and “o m g ” !
I happy , thrilled actually to have read this book.
The characters are well developed in my opinion and the story kept my attention throughout….
There’s royalty, less than royalty, the common people and you really do become part of this world.
I don’t want to give away much , and while this book ends with a cliffhanger… it’s also enough to have you saying “oh s#$, NOW what”
Follow Princess Charlotte and Logan on their quest to find her betrothed, Prince Oliver. I think you’ll enjoy this first book as much as I did !
Now, when’s the next one coming! I really want to follow up with This!
A surprised( that i liked something out of my ordinary reading) but totally happy new follower/ reader of this series and these authors
From page one, with a ruined wedding and a missing prince, Winter’s Captive pulls you into an engrossing tale of an impulsive princess and the path to her missing fiancé.
Charlie is a sheltered princess, who has gone along with the plans to be married and unite two countries that are tentatively at peace. Along the path of finding her prince, she also starts to find herself. Charlie sees the land she is to rule up close and personal, and faces many things that a pampered princess would never have to. While she starts out as a bit inept, she grows into a character that is easy to relate to.
I can’t wait to read more in the series
What a refreshing story! I thoroughly enjoyed the characters. Sneaking away from her parents castle, along with her best friend, Charlie sets out to rescue her fiancé Oli! On their wedding day he was kidnapped by a group of rebels. And from there if it could go wrong it did. She was discovered by her brother and Oli’s brother Logan, while trying to get a message to them disguised as soldiers. Logan gives her nothing but grief and attitude while they embark together to find her fiancé. Personally though there were times when I just wanted to jump into the book and kick Logan’s butt! Since that was not possible I had to endure him, thank you authors Robin D. Mahle and Elle Madison, along with Charlie until the end. Does Charlie find her true love? Well of course, I mean duh, but then the authors just leave you hanging at that point! Now on to book 2 Spring’s Rising!!
This hooks you from the beginning! Charlotte/Charlie’s fiancé, Oli is abducted on their wedding day. I mean if that doesn’t grab you, I don’t know what will.
Robin and Elle did a fantastic job with making you fall in love with Oli, even though he’s not actively in the story currently. We learn about him through flashbacks.
I enjoyed Charlie’s character growth. She gets to see her kingdom in a new light. I’m excited to see who she becomes by the end of the series.
.
Some tropes..
Only one bed. Arranged marriage but they’re actually in love and childhood best friends. (Aw) Friends to enemies to lovers brewing? And there is a cliffhanger but its a complete series so no waiting
.
Some Quotes
“It was hard not to when the two o’ you were flapping around like a pair of angry hens tryin’ to keep your skirts in place.”
.
‘Son, there will always be horrors in this world. Ye aren’t doing those who have died any favors by refusing to live.’
.
“You should never be ashamed of your scars. That’s the proof you have of surviving the monsters who thought they were stronger than you.”
.
“Dammit, woman. Can you just do as I ask, this once?”
Winter’s Captive by Robin D. Mahle and Elle Madison is the first in the series.
I really enjoyed this story!! Charlie, the female MC is a great character and starts out like the typical sheltered princess. She is very headstrong and I liked reading along as she faced real life outside of the palace walls. I listened to the audio version and the narration was amazing!!
I need the next book pronto!!!
This reads like a fairy tale retelling, except there is no magic. The quasi-historical setting requires a bit of suspension of disbelief, but if you can manage that is quite entertaining. The princess and her best friend are almost charmingly naive in their confident plan to save the nation. Fortunately, they are also incredibly lucky!
The bulk of the story is a very slow burn is-it-a-romance-or-isn’t-it journey where Charlie learns just how sheltered she has been as she meets with characters such as a merry band of thieves and a good farm couple. There are a lot of seeds planted along this journey for further plot development.
This is the first book in a series and as such spends a lot of time on character development and world building including generous use of flashbacks. It does end rather abruptly – but at the same time is is a natural story break and a place where you expect the narrative to take a sharp turn. Good use of humor and lots of potential – I’m excited to see where this will lead.
A quick pace and charming tale.
This was an exciting, hypnotic, and a phenomenal read. I was hook from page one. There are so many secrets, twists and turns that you will not be able to put this one down. I absolutely loved the characters in this book there were so compelling and written so well. I love the cover and I cannot wait to read more. I did receive a free copy of this book and voluntarily chose to review it.
Winter’s Captive started out with a kidnapping with Charlie’s fiancé being taken on the day of their wedding, and went from there. It was a really great book and fast paced. I loved Charlie she was very well written. She goes with a rescue team lead by her soon to be Brother in law, they don’t like each other very much, to find Oliver.
I am finally reviewing after reading all 4 books in this series. The whole series, the complete package, are definitely a MUST READ! I can’t express enough how much I truly madly deeply love these books! I love the amazing and beautiful story they tell, and the completely captivating journey of mind, heart and soul they take you on, and the wonderful world you are pulled into. You can’t put these books down, and they still are just as enrapturing when re-reading them- so many nuances, delicious character descriptions and details! I can’t recommend these books enough, I am proud to own them in all their beautiful glory and display them on my shelf with other beloved classics.
This story and it’s characters really captured my heart and mind. I fell in love with Charlie as she learned to be and do more than she thought she could. My heart ached with her on this journey to find Ole who was taken on her wedding day. I felt angry and sad along with her as she and Logan discovered the burned village. I must admit that I have a bit of a crush on Logan, he’s my kind of man! I secretly think he has been in love with Charlie and that’s why he became so distant… I can’t wait to read more as we are left with a little cliffhanger. Wonderful description, world building and dialog makes this one of my new favorite series. Highly recommend for older teens due to some dark and violent moments
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It has great characters, a lovely little adventure, and likeable main characters! The only reason this book didn’t get 5/5 stars is because I wished for more to happen towards the end of the book. I feel like there should have been a couple of more chapters to finish everything.
Wow! I am blown away by how much I loved this book! Like I felt drawn to it as soon as I had seen the gorgeous cover, but what was on the inside truly blew my mind even more! Mystery, adventure, and some good ole’ romance (maybe even a love triangle?). I love Charlie and how driven she is to be a good queen! I love how determined she is. I mean, what would you do if you had your fiancé stolen from you on the day of your wedding?! What can our princess do?! Dress up like a man and join the search party for her fiancé, that’s what our girls going do! Make way! Warrior Queen coming through! Logan better watch himself! I also loved getting to envision some beautiful scenery through the eyes of our protagonist and her creators! Ugh, there’s too many good things to say about this book! I’m just so in love with it! Winter’s Captive definitely needs to be put on your TBR if you haven’t already done so! I can’t wait to see where Robin, Elle, and Charlie take me in the next book!
This book had me sucked in from the beginning! The writing was a little stilted in my opinion which is why I gave it 4* instead of 5. It also was one of those that basically ended midstory. Like, that’s the ending? We’re in the middle of a book!! That being said, THANKFULLY the next book was already available and I dove right in and it was AMAZING!! Now I have a total book hangover and can’t wait for book 3 to come out!
I totally loved this book. The love, determination, attitude, humor,and fight in the main character is awesome. I got sucked right into this wonderful book. I definitely can’t wait to read more. Great job too the authors. Keep up the great writing.
WOW! That was quite the adventure. I was slightly nervous starting Spring’s Rising because I didn’t love the previous book, but at the same time HAD to know what happened.
Well, find out what happened I did.
And man! Poor Charlie! That beginning was brutal and was totally concerned what was going to happen to these characters. All except one, that is. For possible spoilers, I won’t say who, but I didn’t like him at the end of Winter’s Captive and definitely still don’t like him now. However, kudos to the authors because I do have a *twinge* of sympathy for said character. Not much, though.
I’ve really come to admire our lead heroine and how much she’s grown. She is indeed a Warrior Queen and excited to see how she’ll grow. (Here’s to hoping it will come as a result of good things and not incredibly hard, life-altering things.)
And because I could not fail to mention the amazing Logan, the #TeamLogan vibes in this story had me grinning so hard and just giggling. If I could have yelled out in my excitement, I totally would have. 😉
Excellent continuing novel in The Lochlann Treaty!
Winter’s Captive is an exciting fantasy adventure with a touch of romance. It’s a coming of age story, especially for Princess Charlotte. She is on a journey of self-discovery while trying to locate her fiancé who was kidnapped the night before their wedding. Her determination is challenged throughout the story, but she never gives up.
I was expecting more magic (there’s almost none), but I think there might be more later on in the series. I could hardly put the book down and the ending has a cliffhanger that left me emotionally stressed! I read this book in KU and this is my honest and voluntary review.
will start by saying I need book 2 now. Please?
You know those princesses who ride off to the rescue? This is what really happens. Also, I know how I want the romance to go.
Anyway, fabulous fantasy, with a terrific heroine.
Definitely recommended.
Overall rating:4.6
The storyline to this tale moved along smoothly and wasted no time leaping into action. I easily fell into the pace. Charlies journey to find her missing fiancé uncovers many hidden truths to her. There are still many unanswered questions ahead for these characters. I truly enjoyed book one and find myself pondering many possible what ifs that may or may not be ahead. Looking forward to book 2. All my reviews are always voluntarily written.