Review: The Wind Whisperer by Krista Holle

From the publisher:

This love triangle just got dangerous…

At fifteen, Anaii is the most important member of her tribe—and the most mysterious. Ever since Anaii can remember, the spirits of the wind have whispered of fertile hunting grounds and imminent enemy attacks. But when her people are ambushed by a brother clan without any apparent cause, the spirits remain eerily silent.

As the village prepares to retaliate, Anaii is pressured by her best friend, Elan, to marry him. It’s an old plea—Elan has spent a lifetime loving her, but Anaii only sees a childhood playmate out of an imposing warrior. Stifled by Elan’s insistence, Anaii escapes into the forest where she meets Jayttin, the beautiful son of the enemy chief.

Enamored by Jayttin’s carefree spirit and hope for peace, she repeatedly sneaks away to be with him, but when her deception is discovered, Elan is devastated. Pledging his lifelong affection, Elan gives her a passionate kiss, and Anaii begins to see her friend in a new light.

While Anaii is tormented over which man she must choose, the wind whispers of a new threat that could destroy both tribes. Only a union will afford a chance at survival, but the reality of that union is based on one thing—which man Anaii chooses to die.

Review:

Long before Anaii was born, a fight for the heart of a woman led two brothers two split their tribe into two and become mortal enemies. One of these brothers was to be Anaii’s adoptive father, an intimidating man who would exploit his daughter’s gift of speaking to the wind spirits to suit his own purposes and subject her to the envy and scorn of the village.

As her father’s greatest asset, Anaii has been sheltered and longs for the same freedom as the other fifteen-year-old girls. Her only friend, Elan, has become a man and declared his affection for her. When Anaii steps out into the meadow for a moment to think in solitude, the wind warns her of a boy nearby, and she stumbles upon Jayttin, the son of her father’s sworn enemy. Once their friendship develops and war becomes eminent, Anaii is forced to make decisions that no young girl should have to make, as well as some that are familiar to us all.

Krista Holle is certainly onto something with the Wind Whisperer, and its sequel that is to be released this fall. It may be in the world of young adult fiction, but this is no ordinary love-struck teenager love story. It takes place in a time and culture quite far removed from our own world, so the idea of a fifteen-year-old girl being expected to choose a husband or risk having one chosen for her strikes us as appalling. And yet, Anaii must consult the wind spirits on marriage, as well as helping her father make political decisions and advising him about the war that is to be carried out against their village.

This story is thoughtfully written and artfully told, with scenes that open up the imagination and allow Anaii, Elan, and Jayttin right into the home of the reader. As I was reading, there were several moments when I expected some revelation into Anaii’s birth story, since she knows very little of whom she really is or why the wind spirits speak to her. Nothing was revealed in Wind Whisperer, but the hint that we might come to know Anaii – and Krista Holle – on a deeper level, was enough to make me excited to read A New Whisper when it is released this fall.

*Review written by Leatherbound Reviews contributor Heather Head

*Review copy provided by the author

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Review: Steampunk Darcy by Monica Fairview

From the publisher:

William Darcy is obsessed with his ancestors. So much so that he intends to rebuild Pemberley (destroyed during the Uprising) stone by stone, and he wants to employ reconstruction expert Seraphene Grant to help him. 

Or does he? Seraphene wasn’t born yesterday. She can smell a rat, particularly when it stinks all the way up to her airship. She knows Darcy is hiding something. But with the Authorities after her and her other options dwindling by the moment, the temptation of genuine English tea and a gorgeous Steampunk gentleman are very difficult to resist. 

But what if Darcy’s mystery job courts nothing but trouble? What if Darcy is harboring a secret to kill for? When kiss comes to shove, will Darcy’s secret destroy Seraphene, or will it be her salvation?

Join us on a romantic adventure like no other in this whimsical Pride and Prejudice-inspired tribute, featuring Wickham, Georgiana, dirigibles, funky fish, and swash-buckling pirates.

Review:

Centuries have passed since Fitzwilliam Darcy and his lovely bride, Elizabeth, began their journey together as husband and wife on the magnificent estate of Pemberley. The simple days of strolling through the dew-kissed grass, arms linked with the one you love, planning the life you will build together are long gone. Now, that dew is likely composed of toxic slime rain and is more likely to do physical harm than to merely dampen the hem of your skirts. This is the post-Uprising world, where William Darcy lives and works in what once was Boston, desperately trying to recreate that idyllic, serene world in which his forebears lived. But, William’s ancestral Pemberley has long since been destroyed, and it will take much work, and some help from the beautifully strong-willed Seraphene, to make his vision come to life. Now, if all these obstacles would somehow remove themselves, he could really get down to work.

This was my first experience with steampunk. So, I did some research before I began reading Steampunk Darcy and set my expectations according to what I found. I expected a good bit of brass and copper, Victorian clothes and hairstyles, and some interweaving of history and sci-fi. I was not disappointed. I did not expect sky pirates, a hairstyling automaton, or mutant fish. Those threw me just a little.

Sky pirates notwithstanding, I am a sucker for a story about a tough girl from the wrong side of the tracks who refuses to be rescued from herself and the gentleman who finally takes her away. That is exactly what Steampunk Darcy promises and delivers. While there are many similarities between William Darcy’s love story and that of his famous ancestors, there are enough differences to keep his and Seraphene’s tale fresh. I am fairly sure, for example, that Elizabeth Bennet never mastered the fine art of operating a dirigible. Ultimately, it is a beautiful and genuine gesture that William makes with only Seraphene in mind that earns him her trust and softens her heart – and mine.

*Review copy provided by author. Review written by Leatherbound Reviews contributor Heather Head.

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Review: The Silk Romance by Helena Fairfax

From the publisher:

Jean-Luc Olivier is a devastatingly handsome racing-driver with the world before him. Sophie Challoner is a penniless student, whose face is unknown beyond her own rundown estate in London. The night they spend together in Paris seems to Sophie like a fairytale—a Cinderella story without the happy ending. She knows she has no part in Jean-Luc’s future. She made her dying mother a promise to take care of her father and brother in London. One night of happiness is all Sophie allows herself. She runs away from Jean-Luc and returns to England to keep her promise.

Safely back home with her father and brother, and immersed in her college work, Sophie tries her best to forget their encounter, but she reckons without Jean-Luc. He is determined to find out why she left him, and intrigued to discover the real Sophie. He engineers a student placement Sophie can’t refuse, and so, unwillingly, she finds herself back in France, working for Jean-Luc in the silk mill he now owns.

Thrown together for a few short weeks in Lyon, the romantic city of silk, their mutual love begins to grow. But it seems the fates are conspiring against Sophie’s happiness. Jean-Luc has secrets of his own. Then, when disaster strikes at home in London, Sophie is faced with a choice—stay in this glamorous world with the man she loves or return to her family to keep the sacred promise she made her mother.

Review:

Sophie is finally getting it together. Although she still mourns the death of her mother, the rest of her life is moving in a positive direction. Her father is on the mend from the breakdown that resulted from the loss of her mother, and her younger brother’s musical talents are blossoming. Her meddling grandmother is no longer in a position to auction her off to rich young men. Best of all, her college tutor has presented her with an internship that could put her on the path to a career that allows her to rescue her family from poverty.

Then, she sees his picture. He’s the man who owns the company at which she will be working. He’s the man who will be her boss. And, it’s him. The smug grin that taunts her from the pages of this brochure is unmistakably attached to one of her grandmother’s parade of   bachelors. That smile belongs to a man she left in a hotel room four years ago, after lying to him about her own, non-existent engagement.

But, why was this famous race car driver working in a silk mill? And, why had he chosen her, of all people, to come and work for him? She doubted that a man like Jean-Luc Olivier, who changed women faster than he changed socks, even remembered her name. She knew it would be uncomfortable, but she had promised her mother that she would care for her father and brother, and opportunities like this one were few and far between.

Have you ever really wanted to dislike a character, but just could not do it? That is exactly the way I felt with this book. I wanted to find Jean-Luc pretentious and disagreeable. I was determined that he was going to be everything one would expect from a famous athlete with more money than he can handle. And, he is not without fault. But, he is so misunderstood. Behind the tabloid lies and the broad shoulders, Jean-Luc is actually a very loving and generous soul who only wants to do his job and live his life without caring what the media says about him. I liked him, immensely, in spite of myself.

I decided I would be angry with Sophie for falling into the trap of misunderstanding his motives when he extends kindness to her. But then, did I not do the same? She has to trust him before she can accept him for the man he really is, and how can she trust him when she has never known him as anything other than one of her grandmother’s potential suitors? How can she, a girl living in squalor, ever be accepted in his glamorous world?

Although their journey to each other seems to take no time at all once they are reunited, their romance flows at the perfect pace for them.  The book, itself, is so well-written and provides such an enjoyable story, that it flowed at the perfect pace for me, as well.

*Review written by Leatherbound Reviews contributor Heather Head.

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