Rhiannon FraterReviews

Was the writing this awful in the first two books? Most likely it was, but there was too much happening to notice, or I was distracted by the zombies. What I notice now is that someone got out her thesaurus and did her very, very best to replace every single "said" with another verb. They confided, decided, answered, suggested and scoffed. It sounds like that point when you know your writing is lacking in skill and sophistication, and you are trying to jazz it up, but can't think of what to do. Then there's the weak attempt to add descriptors. A bit in the pine trees had me annoyed with its 'fragrant' needles and 'crackling' needles (which were they? a little herb secret: usually fragrant and dried don't go together). Even a gun-toting super-Loca couldn't save me when I read about the zombies' "delighted moans" as they chomped on a human feast. Oh-oh. Is someone channeling a romance novelist?

"Siege" begins with a variation on the last two books, the image of Jenni waiting for her baby to poke his fingers under her bedroom door. She's fallen asleep on a supply run, and is rudely awakened by a zombie slathering at her car door. They pick up a few more survivors on the way home, after another zombie altercation, and integrate them into fort life, with the exception of Rune, a Harley-loving medium (as in "I see dead people," not the size. Actually, he's a rather large guy). Troubles at the fort peak again, leading to one of the few incongruities I've noticed in the series--an evil character shoots someone in the chest and they stay dead. The violence results in the survivors realizing they lack medical equipment (!), and the solution is to make a run on a hospital, which have been "notorious death traps" (we know this because every character says or thinks so) due to the outbreak first being treated as an illness. The hospital scene is done in best zombie movie style, but it surprised me that we are on book three and the survivors still seem to be failing the learning curve for fighting zombies. On the way out, two of the scavengers are hijacked by a military unit contemplating action against the fort.

One thing you can say about Frater is, she knows her character tropes. There isn't much subtlety in the forces of human selfishness here, and that's a shame. Blanche, the fort "Whore of Babylon" (as labelled by Frater in the chapter heading), and her sister, the equally selfish and evil senator, are described without nuance, and run true to every rich-witch stereotype, even though they apparently grew up in the trailer park. They had multiple plastic surgeries, are racist, have affairs, are obsessed with material goods, manipulate men through sex, believe might makes right, and most importantly, they foolishly believe the normal world will return and their wealth will still have meaning. Zombies are such an obvious villain; the interesting part of apocalypse novels is what happens with the human element, and by depriving the antagonists of subtlety, Frater minimizes the drama and opportunities for deeper meaning in her book.

Speaking of tropes, when the Vigilante was revealed, I was completely unsurprised, except by the apparent effort to turn him into a schitzophrenic. What a character cop-out--she should have left the character the courage of conviction without mental illness.

Ah well, it is what it is, right? Filled with all the best zombie tropes(except for the ones where the heroes turn into zombies as well), it's about what one could expect. This book in the series was a little more self-consciously referential. A little more mystical. I believe there may have been talk of a savior that sounded suspiciously like Terminator. But it was a fast read, a pleasant break, and now the series is done. Hurray for book OCD.

I blame it on Trudi.

I started off rather indifferently, forcing myself through the opening scene of a troop of young recruits heading into battle against the living dead, otherwise known as the Inferi Scrouge. It's a powerful visual image (which is why it is used in combat movies) but there isn't enough emotional investment, and when next scene opens a year later, it causes mental whiplash. Maria, the lead we followed into combat, is waking up in bed with one of the commanders of the assault. The cheerful domesticity is no doubt meant to contrast with the earlier bloody battle, as well as a set point for 'happy' against the troubles to come (standard in the disaster genre). As an aside, Maria comes from a Dominican/Puerto Rican heritage which seems to not matter at all for the plot. Kudos, Frater.

As the story progressed, I was thankful someone seems to have hired a fabulous editor, as the glaring immaturity of the writing in her "As the World Dies" series was a serious barrier to enjoyment. However, while her writing has greatly improved, some Fraterisms still snuck through:
--"The large, long rectangular guns perched on the city wall were boxy in appearance due to the many barrels packed on top of each other."
--"Blood, bone and viscera poured onto the dry soil."
--"Blackness surged up to claim her, and she fought not to drown in it. Pulling herself onto her elbows, her body felt numb and her helmet was gone."
--"A smile flitted across his lips."
--"Glancing back, she saw Dwayne heading in the opposite direction."
I kind of liked it, though--my eyes haven't gotten enough exercise lately and needed some rolling action. Frater's still on a mission to avoid the word 'said' during dialogue, no matter how convoluted the result. In chapter one, for instance, Maria and the Commander muttered, yawned, answered, teased, promised, vowed, sighed, reminded, exhaled, protested, decided, and whispered. It feels forced enough that I find myself longing Charlie Huston's style in Joe Pitt, notable for a lack of dialogue markers.

Chapter one didn't pull me in either; it mostly provided personal events in the past year while building a romance worthy twu luv. Elements of a bossy family, infertility issues, and keeping the relationship secret all began to sound a lot more like modern chick-lit than I hope for with my zombie books, but Trudi suggested perseverance. Of course, she was right.

The story changed again, becoming a transformative, soldier-team-against-all-odds with a zombie twist I absolutely did not see coming. Frater deserves applause just for that idea. The story had me interested until halfway through (literally, per Kindle) where it transformed again, turning into a conspiracy story. While the conspiracy was mildly interesting, the feeling that Frater might have over-reached herself started to nag. It solidified as the conspiracy became more complicated: Super intelligent zombies? A shadowy power grab? Virus manipulation? Aliens?? Optometrist stat! I pulled an eye muscle. Too much, too much. Frater isn't China Mieville and she brought in more concepts than she could adequately deal with.

In regards to world building, I remained annoyed with the advanced technology civilization encountering the zombie apocalypse. There's some things I'm able to overlook, but when Frater drew attention to the technology or societal problems like electrical shortages, I was drawn out of the story and into the logistical puzzle of the society For instance, why would you train your soldiers using holographic simulations when there isn't enough power? Or run trains at all? Ultimately, the society just didn't make sense to me and it started to feel like it was created strictly as a backdrop for plot points. Still, damn if Frater didn't grab me with her zombie plot twist and leave my technological and societal issues in the dust, at least for a little while.

However, one remarkable idea and interest in half a book with noticeable world and language issues isn't enough to push that third star to shine. Two and a half stars.

Spoilery thoughts:



1) The futuristic technology was poorly done. I suppose she felt she needed some device so inside people could communicate with outside people, thus sustaining her love story.

2) The historical timeline was odd--if you have a society that can build a monorail in a mountain valley, why aren't they devoting those resources to the zombie apocalypse? You can build a 12 foot wall, farms, ranches and aquifers, but not secure it adequately or have back-up plans?

4) Which leads me to the doomsday cult--an interesting idea in the zombie apocalypse. It didn't go far enough, so it ended up feeling like a deus ex machina for why the wall came down and the Scourge was able to enter. I was also puzzled as to why this remained a community puzzle--the government didn't want to blame it on terrorists? Or the terrorists didn't claim the destruction? I fully expected the cult to pop up again--maybe they should have been collaborating with the zombies.

5) The intelligent zombies controlling the Scrouge. At this point, narrative became a little ridiculous, and Frater had to quickly invent new names to help us differentiate all the different types of zombies. Again, interesting idea if it is based on virus mutation. But because what Frater was really focused on was the protagonist survival/love story, it didn't go very far.

6) A doctor that throughout the story has been extremely loyal to the research cause turns out to have botched the research by 'sneaking in' the original virus. Deus ex machina actions again--I didn't believe it from one of the few carefully created characters.

Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/06/16/the-last-bastion-of-the-living-a-futur...

At the heart of it, aren't most zombie books/movies the same? The crisis starts and the challenge becomes dodging flesh eaters while reuniting and rediscovering humanity. One of the things I love about the apocalypse is that everyone is prey. Division of sexes, ages, races, sexualities all become so arbitrary when it's human versus undead. What do people do then? Further divide or overcome difference?

This book? Cherry Twizzlers all the way, baby. You know, you eat one and it's cherry goodness, so maybe you have another because you're hungry and are working a 12 hour shift. Kind of satisfying to chomp on. And before you know it, you've eaten half a bag of licorice and suddenly feel vaguely ill, still hungry and wondering why on earth you ate all that licorice?

For a nice overview, check Andrea's review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/322571578 She's right, characterization is rather awful. There's numerous logical problems and there's a large helping of zombie tropes. Word choice was simple and at the proverbial sixth-grade level of adult eduction material. There was a terribly awkward four-way love/sex interest. And yet.

And yet I still couldn't put it down, except when I had to take a break because I was getting too apprehensive about the hordes of zombies chasing our heroines.

I guess if you include zombies, a married lesbian and a German shepherd puppy, I can forgive a lot.

Sometimes when a plan goes awry, it still works out as intended, side effects and all. After finishing Frater's first book, [b:The First Days|9648068|The First Days (As The World Dies A Zombie Trilogy #1)|Rhiannon Frater|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312075271s/9648068.jpg|5431515], I quickly ordered the sequel from the library, planning to save it for a slow and deadly boring night of the living dead shift. Unfortunately, I was placed 'on-call,' which meant while I didn't have to work that moment, it was quite possible in the next eight hours I would be needed for brains to work. I celebrated my night almost-off by staying up afraid of zombies to read "Fighting," taking another hour to ratchet down from zombie-caused tension and ended up being up until 4 a.m. anyway, accomplishing the goal of reading and wakefulness--however unnecessary.

Briefest of summaries: survivors are walled off in a town center post-zombie apocalypse. Survivors are trickling in, putting pressure on space and resources. The goal becomes expanding into a store block for resources, and a nearby hotel to provide living space. Relationships continue to grow among the central characters, and individuals continue to deal with emotional fallout after having their loved ones turned into zombies. As the camp is taking a breather, internal malcontents trouble the group's unformed justice system, followed by problems from external marauders.

A bundle of improvements since the last book made it more compelling than the last. Similarly to the first book, the plot moves briskly along, making this a quick and engaging read. There are plenty of zombies, all the better to eat you entertain. you. As far as writing style, there was more sophistication in word choice, making for a better reading experience. However, there is still a tendency to describe repetitively people in single notes, which seems more of an author issue with characterization. Jenni, one of our heroines, is the loca one, Nerit is the icy sharpshooter, Curtis the red-faced inexperienced cop, etc. I get that a large group of people new to each other might tend to repetitively generalize, but eventually it's too easy for the author and the shortcuts make for shallow graves characters that are defined by one or two traits.

Speaking of characterization, my hackles rose a little when it was pointed out the bisexual character was finally in "comfortable shoes and casual t-shirts." Because, isn't that where all lesbians bisexuals (yes, we are still making an issue of her sexuality in this book) prefer to be? And why did the heavyset young black female come with stereotypical gay-boi sidekick with equally stereotypical dialogue? The rich people were right out "Rich Snob Here" character casting, and it is only a matter of time before the trophy wife becomes zombie bait. Honestly, Frater, you aren't being inclusive in the post-apocalypse community if the only thing you are including are stereotypes.

Still, the zombie bits are done well, and the (as always) living human meat-heads in and outside the fort are providing much of the threat. The scenes clearing the hotel were hair-raising and contained the full shiver-inducing complement of horror movie tropes. I devoured read that section very quickly! I also give Frater full credit for a creative set-up for her survival situation. The downtown construction site is creative and seems possible, with the materials enabling survivors to build sturdy zombie-barriers. However again, the brief appearance of the internet was a bit much. CB radio is slightly more believable, as the tech and electricity is so much lower.

I can't seem to help it; despite the aforementioned glaring problems, it was an addictive read, and I've got the next book on hold at the library. I guess that tells you all you need to know about the book, or about my addiction. I wonder if there's an opening in Z.F.A.? (Zombie Fans Anonymous)

Three stars for being a challenge to survive put down.

A good peak into the world we enjoyed in the main As the World Dies series, but so wrought with grammatical errors it's almost hard to read at points.

After Siege by Rhiannon Frater is the 4th book in an on-going series entitled “As the World Dies” about a zombie apocalypse and the group of Texans who have fortified a small town and are making an attempt to carry on with life. While I really enjoyed the first two books of the series, it has progressively gotten weaker and although there is at least one more book in the series, I am finished with it.

In this particular volume a new character is introduced. Emma has come to the fort after being on her own for some time. Her son became a zombie and until she had found him and put him to rest, she couldn’t move on with her own life. Now, as a member of the fort she is ready to join this new community and help to keep it safe. After rescuing three people who had left the fort, they realize that there are more zombies on the outskirts of town than they realized. They also learn of a right wing military force who could possibly be a threat.

Personally I think it’s unfortunate that the author didn’t let this series stand after the first two books. She seemed to write herself into a corner by killing off the best character and in order to move the story along she brought her back as a ghost, along with others who would appear and pass messages along. I guess if you are writing about zombies, then ghosts shouldn’t be too much of a stretch, but it has proved to be too much for me.½

Sometimes there are books that clearly written by amateur and it shows in every way. The amateur side is so strong that there is no point in bashing book on that ground. BUT. Most amateur books also usually written either exceptionally badly or with so much heart that amateurish attitude becomes their greatest plus. And this book has that heart.

This easily belongs to the top 0.1% of urban fantasy and yet I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as I would've expected.
The opening is very engaging and immediately captured me.
It's gruesome though. Really dark and gruesome.
The book uses every opportunity to insert world-building into normal situations in a natural fashion. but it's sometimes not very subtle about it but it never leads to painfully stilted dialogue.

While reading this book I constantly felt like the author was very aware of all the clichées and stereotypes as well as general genre tropes and either subtly and skillfully subverted or deliberately avoided them.

But this very aspect of the book makes things, I am usually comfortable talking about in a review, spoilery because we all know the tropes by now.
So this spoiler is here because I can not talk about the meta game the author plays without spoiling the very thing that makes this so enjoyable and unique. But all outright story spoilers will be contained in an additional layer of nested spoilers.

After the very engaging gripping opening, the pacing suffers a bit when the theme completely shifts to romance drama as the MC enters a kind of love triangle but not as the center but as the OW.
It takes until the climax for the pacing to pick up again.

A lot of these trope subversions threw me for a loop. On one hand, I appreciated how the author played with the meta context but on the other hand, it just made me uncomfortable for the MC to be in such a position. The love interest cheats with the MC on his fiancée.

Morality in this book is truly gray to the point where it made me surprisingly uncomfortable sometimes.
This also leads to probably the single biggest flaw in the book. Despite this moral ambiguity the author always shoehorns reason into the story to dislike characters that are about to be killed. Sometimes literally in the sentence before.
"Oh, by the way, that guy raped someone 3 years ago." *gets shot in the head*
Only unlikable people are allowed to be killed by the good guys. The punishment doesn't need to fit the crime though. You just have to dislike them first. This comes across as very forced and it also sometimes spoils the tension because you know there can only be one reason for the awkward addition.

That being said, in general, every time I recognized a classic stupid trope setup and was already preparing a disappointment rant in my head it turned out to be premature.

Ultimately, the ending was way sweeter and happier than I expected.


The second big weakness are the action scenes. Don't get me wrong, they are still much better than a lot of urban fantasy, and the most important part, the tension, was conveyed decently, but they failed in enabling me to imagine them properly. I rarely had a clear picture of who is where in relation to each other or the actual body movements and how they interacted.

While I feel like this book easily deserves 4 stars just because of its skillful play on tropes and just by the virtue of the sheer number of pitfalls the book deliberately avoided, my personal enjoyment was much closer to 3 stars and I don't really know why.
I think while there are very few bad clichées to be angry about the overall story was still just kind of meh. On a macro level, it's just another vampire romance despite the much better execution.
I would love to have read this after my 10th vampire romance and not after the 100th.

Well, the pacing of the first one was already borderline intolerable but this one is even worse.
I think the main problem is that in the first one there was just so much new stuff. I was busy digesting all the details of this new and intriguing world, learning names, and picking up on subtle relationship details.
This one has the same pacing but none of the new information so to me, it seems a whole lot slower. Too slow to endure in fact.

Good enough to purchase.

Siege by Rhiannon Frater is the third book in her “As the World Dies” series that has the world being overrun by zombies and those remaining alive fighting for their continued survival. A group of survivors have fortified a small town in Texas and are trying to create the beginnings of a new world, one of acceptance, peace and harmony but it is difficult as people seem unwilling to shed the prejudices that they were raised with.
I particularly enjoyed the fact that the two main characters are women that have evolved into strong, independent, kick-ass females.

In this book our group first comes into contact with another community of survivors, but these people are living a life of misery under the control of a former Senator and a Major General. After sorting out this situation, they are faced with one that looks to be far worse. A mass of thousands of zombies are marching west and their little town is right in the middle of their path. They now must work together and come up with a plan in order to save their community.

I have enjoyed all the books of this series, but this one would be my least favorite. The author introduced a plot point that I felt was reaching too far when the ghosts of fallen friends and loved ones returned to help the living. It seems silly that I am quibbling about ghosts in a zombie book but I felt like the author used this as an easy way of getting her characters out of trouble when she had written them into a corner.½

Book 3 of my Zombie-a-thon 2022!

This started off excellently with a stressful and heartbreaking scene. Things steadily declined from there with some personality shifts that were ridiculous and annoying. I need character development in a story and enjoy the building up of relationships, however, this all moved at a laughably unrealistic pace. I know it's a zombie apocalypse story but I still want some elements to be believable. The zombie attack scenes were well written and intense. Overall though, I did not enjoy the characters in the story and the heavy focus on finding love again a matter of days after characters lost their kids and spouses to the zombie virus. Others have enjoyed this so another case of 'not for me'. More flesh eating and less swooning please.

Amazing Foray Into Vampire/Necromancer Lore

Loved, Loved, Loved!

I wish I picked this up sooner! Rhiannon's gift for storytelling had me sucked (heh) in from page one with the spunky Amaliya. Her journey through vampiredom is as awesome as I can imagine anyone writing it.

She has instantly become one of my favorite authors for her way with words, the way the scenes fill your mind, feel rich and alive with character themselves. And the characters - Cian and Amaliya are excellently penned, their own pasts, flaws, and inflections feeling true to life...or death in this case...carried along by a narrative that bounces from character to character, only enriching the ride taken to the end.

I've said enough - I need more!

What a fucking ride.

I'm so satisfied with the end of Amaliya and group's story, and I love the little opening at the end in case there is ever a continuation. (hint hint wink wink)

I loved Amaliya and Cian's continued love and LOVED that there was no 'confusion' plot that dragged them away from each other amidst preparing for the big battle like there often is in urban fantasy (not that I MIND those plots, I quite love them), but not one to focus on too much on the romance of the characters, Rhiannon balances the action, suspense, and bad guy undercurrents with everything else nicely.

Although it seemed the big bad had a bit too much on their side, (I remember wondering just how the protags would come out on top in the face of all the bad guys had against them) the heroes came out victorious in the end, and in my currently dark state of mind, this is just the ending I was looking for.

PWSK was a rip-roaring sequel that put a smile on my face even in the face of a terribly recent death in my life.
My grandfather died. And Innocente dying at the end spoke volumes to me.

The characters we all know and love return, and though at times it was a bit hard to keep track of them all when they were all together, it in no way diminished my love for them or the brilliance with which the action, wit, and (squee!) magic took place.

I have to say I LOVE that Amaliya is a vamp that has control of the dead. Are you kidding me? That's the best of both worlds. Adds a touch to the vampire genre that is greatly needed.

Most of the characters now are changed, if not physically, then emotionally. No one is the same as they were in the first book and that only breeds well in a series. I, personally, love characters that have emotion, deal with heavy stuff, and have if actively affect them rather than them going back to 'how they were' in book 1. We get none of that here. Rhiannon Frater pulls all the punches and then some in PWSK, and sets up a heart-pounding stage for Book 3 with higher stakes (heh), and a promise of immense destruction.

Okay now that I have some time I can finally put my thoughts on Dead Spots down.

Rhiannon has crafted a brilliant look into the mind.

How it can trick you, cause you fear, weaken your body, weaken your senses, play on your hopes, your fears. The mind.

Being stuck in a world of your nightmares - tell me that doesn't sound horrible. But for some people (myself included) that's where we are. Always. Stuck in our fears (which are never-ending, mind you), trying in vain to still them, to be at peace with what those around you cannot understand. And there are those you hold close that are causing the anxiety but you are unable to realize it, trapped as you are in this never-ending cycle of dread, of overwhelming negativity.

She's placed those with Generalized Anxiety Disorder or Depression or OCD or any mental and/or physical illness bearer into a world where their everyday plights are common, and it helps one recognize their symptoms, locate the cause, and perhaps even fight their way through, if only by seeing it on a page. The thought, "I am not alone," came to mind while I read it.

If anything else, Dead Spots merely shows that people, that women, are not any 'less' for dealing with what they do, that the horrors of the world are not our fault, that the true way to gain power is through the self, and that no one can truly help you, but you. No one can take the step for a better life, but yourself.

But it's one hell of a ride getting to that point, just like real life.

This was a wonderfully done novel, chilling me to the bone, causing me to maybe not sleep right away once I'd put it down for the night, and wonder just what prowled outside my window while I slept.

She caught my interest with [b:Pretty When She Dies|5966254|Pretty When She Dies (Pretty When She Dies, #1)|Rhiannon Frater|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1385133795s/5966254.jpg|6139176], now she has me as a reader for life with Dead Spots. Rhiannon Frater is on my list as my absolute favorite author, her ability to weave a rather 'real' story placed in a nightmarish 'almost fictional' world is quite frightening in its execution.

She's a master of character, of depth, and story, and I feel I'm beginning to notice her trademark flair for the grotesque. (It startles me when I do read a particularly gruesome scene, only for me to go 'She's a sick one.') Yet it only endears me to her work further.

I will be looking at Mrs. Frater's backlog of work to pick up what I haven't read, and I will be eagerly devouring all her new work.

She's sunk her claws into me and I'm afraid they won't come out.

Great back stories

Love learning how everyone started out and ended up at the fort...at least most of them. The way the characters are written pulls the reader right into the story. I felt all the feels, love, hate frustration, fear...looking forward to the next story!

Nice novella

Happy I finally got to read this story! Love Jenni and Katie and all their adventures. I hope if the apocalypse hits, I find a friend like them!

Loved it a second time around

Reading the story again felt like I was reading it for the first time. The Untold Tales helped to fill in the blanks! Wish more could be written abut Katie and Jenni. I want to start book 3 but hate knowing it will come to an end soon!

Loved it again

Reread the series a second time, and listened to it too! I fell in love with the characters and story all over again. It also help3d to read the intermingled novellas too...if you haven’t read these books, you are missing out!

I liked how this book focused on what they went through to survive from these creatures. I didn't like the touchy feelyness throughout this book. It didn't seem realistic to me.

Fighting to Survive by Rhiannon Frater is a trilogy of books about two female friends who are surviving and at times, thriving, during a zombie apocalypse. Part thriller, part romance, I find these books a light-hearted romp through gore and mayhem. The two friends, Katie and Jenni, have become kick-ass survivors and are now part of a small community that has carved out a safe place from zombies and, most recently, a group of red-neck bandits.

There is plenty of action in these books, both zombie hunting and the tracking of the killer among them. They also have to confront and defeat the group of bandits that have been robbing, looting, murdering and kidnapping in the area and have now turned their sights on the walled fort that our main characters are living in.

These books have become great escape reads for me with it’s “good vs bad” themes. The author provides lots of over-the-top action along with plenty of romance and humor that keep the books moving quickly and the reader engaged in the story. While the book is not to be taken too seriously, it does provide plenty of entertainment and more than enough zombie gore. I am looking forward to reading the next book.

One of the things I liked most in this book is that it takes the distance from the way vampires are often portrayed nowadays: the romantic heroes that could do no harm (which they aren't!).
In this story vampires are BAD (some more than others) and believing them to be something different *cough*Samantha*cough* is just an illusion fated to be broken; as a matter of fact, only embracing their natural instinct in their quest for power, vampires can be really at peace with themselves (Cian).

Naturally "good" guys should still not go on a killing spree...

Wow. I can't remember the last time I read an anthology and loved every single story. So often, short stories don't tell a complete story, but are just an excerpt of a larger story. Which too often means that the excerpt doesn't stand well on its own. I especially hate when the "short story" is basically just the start of a novel and has no resolution of its own. Having said that, I would like to read more about Hank and Patsy. :)

I picked up this one when it was free. I'll definitely be taking a look at the author's other books.

Audiobook, excellent narrator
I listened to this during the worldwide quarantine of 2020. It was a lifesaver, taking my mind off the world and into Glynis's journal and her amazing vampiric tale. It was a roller coaster ride of emotions for all.
I have to start this with the character that just blew me away, Vlad. Prepare to be haunted by the evil that is Vlad ! He is truly a demon in this series, done right. I love to hate him, just when I thought he couldn't get worse, he does. It's wicked fun !
The book follow Glynis, through her journal filled memories. her new life away from her "husband" Vlad. She must strengthen her own house and become a leader. She is betrayed, beloved, battered and nearly.... oh my !
I just love this authors twists and character developments. She knows how to bring her readers into a story. Bravo !