Radiance: Volume 1 (Wraith Kings)

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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 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. Radiance (Wraith Kings, #1) by Grace Draven – eBook Details Had you crawled out form under my bed when I was a child, I would have bludgeoned you to death with my father’s mace.” Aaaanyway enough of disgusting Kai dishes, let’s get to the main plot. Truth be told, there isn’t a lot of plot happening but I guess that’s mostly due to the fact that this is supposed to be a love story. At least the first book seems to be. After the ending I’m pretty sure that we’ll get a lot more action in “Eidolon”. ;-) With the first book Grace Draven prepared us for the world Ildiko and Brishen live in and I’m convinced that everything we learned in “Radiance” will be important once we start with book two. He blinked. He’d expected her to ask his name or offer hers. He liked that she didn’t. This brief anonymity offered a certain respite from formality. He was a prince of the blood, and the Gauri stepped lightly amongst Kai royalty. We are a people of night. We see better in the dark. The moon is the sun to us; we live by her light. I'm an author and Louisiana native living in Texas with my husband, three smalls and a big doofus dog. I have lived in Spain, hiked the Teton Mountains, honeymooned in Scotland, ridden in competition rodeo and am the great great granddaughter of a Nicaraguan president. I also hate doing laundry and refuse to iron anything.

Beside her, Brishen choked into his goblet. He wiped his mouth with his sanap. “What a waste of good scarpatine,” he muttered under his breath. Thank you for not lying about what you thought of my appearance. You might have a face to turn my hair white, but your honesty is handsome” The thought scraped across her mind. Saliva flooded her mouth as the nausea roiling in her belly threatened to surge into her throat. Ildiko closed her eyes and swayed where she stood on the tailoring stool. A hand gripped her leg to steady her, and she opened her eyes to stare down at the royal dressmaker.His companion’s eyebrows rose. Her lips closed over her teeth, and she smiled archly. She pointed to his face and then to his hands. I think the Kai, with their teeth and claws, have the advantage over the Gauri in that contest. Ildiko laughed and stabbed a piece of the potato off his plate. She popped it into her mouth and chewed with gusto, eager to blunt the taste of scarpatine still lingering on her tongue.” Brishen is a Kai prince and Ildiko is royalty of the Gauri, and they are to be wed. The problem- they’re not just from a different place, they’re a whole different breed of people. Ildiko is human, and Brishen isn’t. It’s a political alliance, but these two become the best of friends. I love how they find each other so unattractive at first, but they adore each other nonetheless. With time, their inner beauty shines and they fall helplessly in love with one another. Sigh.

Had you crawled out from under my bed when I was a child, I would have bludgeoned you to death with my father's mace." But, they are both good-natured, and funny, so they immediately like each other's personality. They decide to be friends and you will love them as friends. They are adorable! They tease each other: Radiance is a romance story set in the world of fantasy. While both Ildiko and Brishen are repulsed, at first sight, they connect in mind and spirit. Unlike most stories on forced marriages, this one is different as the two do not hate each other from the beginning. Both are open-minded, and while they start as platonic friends, they connect deeply over time. It is refreshing that the two lovebirds overcome many obstacles and see beyond their differences. The love scenes are epic, and sparks fly as the passion between the duo escalates. A gorgeous fantasy romance where arranged marriage meets friends to lovers in a delightful twist on the Beauty and the Beast concept. One of Brishen’s eyebrows slid upward. “I thought we were hag and dead eel. I think I like those comparisons more.” He shoved his barely-touched potato to the edge of his plate with his knife tip, upper lip curled in revulsion to reveal a gleaming white fang.

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The premise of the book is nothing new: royalty of different nations must wed to bring an alliance to each of their nations and eventually they fall in love. Even with the differences in cultures (because, well, one is human and the other is not – which I thought would be way cooler than it was) this story isn’t new, exciting, or different. The girl was too perfect: beautiful but humble, selfless, loyal, funny, empathetic, trusting, and generally just good. The guy was too perfect: handsome, kind, honest, tender, funny, loyal, understanding, and selfless. The evil mother-in-law that the girl is of course brave enough to not be cowed by. The instant connection between the main characters. The humor that only served to play into the perfectness that is our couple. She exhaled slowly. The space between her eyebrows stitched into a single vertical frown line. Had you crawled out from under my bed when I was a child, I would have bludgeoned you to death with my father’s mace. As is the whole book, really. Radiance is a pitch-perfect fantasy romance that weaves classic material into something new and delightful. As long as you’re okay with a bit of spice and a few really dark moments, you should shove this book to the very top of your TBR because it’s fantastic.