I was looking forward to read this book so much because the book 1 was fantastic. This didn't fail me though, I can't wait for the last book. Every twists are just so exciting

I fairly enjoyed book 1 and wasn't surprised by the ending or the cliffhanger. I was however, curious to see where the story would go and if the writing would improve. It didn't, much to my disappointment.

Although I know this story will and is very well loved in the YA community, I find it lacking depth and true character development. The plot is easy to predict as it follows every other fantasy YA story out there, there is nothing innovative or stimulating in the narration or the story itself. The characters are bland, predictable, and too naive to realistic accomplish what the author wants them too.

It might just be me, but I am growing tired of reading about the same female character who's too stubborn and reckless to take advice from anybody.

Unfortunately I was unable to review this novel before publication. I am looking forward to reading more books by the author and this publisher. Thank you for the opportunity.

I didn't quite love the first book, Ever the Hunted, and focused on the things that bothered me in my review, but I was still hopeful that the sequel would be worth reading. The cliffhanger made me want to continue this series and now that I'm finished, I'm glad I did. That ending created so much emotional conflict in this book that I kind of fell in love with the characters and couldn't wait to find out what would happen next.

While I felt that the first book was a bit slow and full of almost nothing but traveling scenes, the pacing and plot in Ever the Brave was quite fast and seamless. I did not fly through it because I had to take several breaks, but when I was reading it, I never wanted to put it down and loved every moment of it.

I really enjoyed the main character, Britta Flannery, who is more at home in the woods (the Evers) and is mostly considered an outcast among the townsfolk despite that her father was a well-known and loved bounty hunter for the king. She's tough, snarky, and more than capable at wielding a bow and arrow.
Cohen is her childhood friend whom was apprenticed to her father to become a bounty hunter as well.
In Ever the Brave, we have a new pov from that of the young King of Malam, Aodren, who sees Britta as more than just the standoffish girl who saved his life. The bond they now share thanks to the Channeler magic she used may be the cause, but a friendship starts between them nonetheless.

My only complaint this time around is the love triangle that left me madly guessing who would end up with who. It definitely built the tension and added drama but that's not what bothered me so much as 'love interest #1' having flashbacks that make him look bad and second guess himself. Right off the bat, it made him seem like he couldn't compete with 'love interest #2' and it made the narrative a little frustrating, but I will admit that I really enjoyed the story despite that and thought it was executed pretty well.
I'll also admit that the ending made my heart sing.

I just realized there is a third book coming out in 2019 called 'Once A King' but I'm so conflicted about it because I thought this was one of those happy endings that didn't need to be added to. Perhaps the author has more to tell about secondary characters and the future of the two countries. I guess we will see if my interest holds out that long.

I'm down for any story with a heroine, but I was especially drawn to EVER THE BRAVE when I found out Britta had saved the king in the first book. I immediately wanted to know more about her and her Channeler powers.

EVER THE BRAVE started off strong. I instantly liked Britta, a capable and independent woman with a no-nonsense attitude. With this being a sequel, the author deftly avoided information dump by weaving in plot points from the first book organically. I was completely on board . . . until the book introduced two more POVs and an uninteresting love triangle.

The two love interests, King Aodren and Cohen, barely differ. They are both jealous of the other and possessive. King Aodren shares a magical bond with Britta that draws them to each other, and while he respects her abilities, there's also a huge power difference between them that King Aodren never fully acknowledges. Cohen displays little empathy for other people and does not treat Britta like an equal. I secretly hoped that Britta would end up with neither.

I had other issues with EVER THE BRAVE, namely the pacing of the story and how Britta never seemed to fully come into her own Channeler powers, but overall the plot didn't ever completely pull me in. While I enjoyed Britta's voice, the story wasn't unique enough to make it stand out from every other "evil person wants to take over the kingdom for reasons" story.

I received an early copy from HMH Teen on NetGalley in exchange for this honest review.

After reading the first book of this series, I was obviously hoping that there would be more oomph in this series. If you read my review of the first book, you’ll remember I mentioned that I wasn’t exactly wowed.

I’m very pleased to say that this second installment was a lot more improved.

We return to Britta’s world and she is reeling from the fact that she is now connected to King Aodren after saving his life. It doesn’t help that he keeps visiting her at the cottage, even granting her nobility. Among all this, she is keeping secrets from Cohen while he must leave often to due his duty to the kingdom. More trouble arises when the kingdom is under attack.

Details

The details still focused on the emotional aspect, but it was better because we had three different POVs: Cohen, Britta and Aodren. It’s a lot more interesting to see the different sides, especially when there is an obvious love triangle brewing between the three. I’m very pleased, as well, that there was a lot more action. The first book didn’t really capture me as much because the action displayed wasn’t doing much for me. However, there are plenty of twists in this second installment that really surprised and kept me hooked throughout the story, wondering what would happen next. I think that’s the strongest aspect of this book.

Britta

Britta is obviously in love with Cohen and, of course, her connection with Aodren has to complicate things otherwise we wouldn’t really have a juicy story. It was frustrating, though. Whenever she was away from Cohen, she’d always have tension with him. Like, before he’d leave, they would have some little argument or disagreement and they wouldn’t part on good terms. I think that was mostly from Cohen, though. More on that later. Her alone time with Aodren, though, was the biggest frustration. She keeps telling herself that she loves Cohen, but that damn connection messes with her mind. I’m going to be honest, too. Some things that she does when it’s just them is pretty damn stupid. Come on, girl. Would you want Cohen in that predicament? Above all that, she is a lot braver than the first novel. She’s faced with a lot in this book, but she carries on and fights like a bad-ass. Good for you.

Cohen

Ah, yes. I still consider him a book boyfriend, but now he has flaws. Of course he does. Now that we have his POV, we see that he is so jealous whenever Aodren is around Britta. He’s also got that annoying manly sense where he feels like he always has to protect Britta. I’m all for a man protecting his woman, but Britta is different. She can protect herself and he knows that. He also lets his head rule his heart. Like, he’ll get word vomit sometimes and he’ll say the wrong thing. That poor man. His faults are definitely shown through this novel and I guess that just means he is a person, a man, and in love. His resolution in this story didn’t feel all the way complete, though. Maybe the wording was off at the end or maybe it was too quick? Erin said that this is the end of Britta’s story, but there is another installment focusing on Lirra, so maybe more will be said about him? Also...Lirra...if you’ve read this already, you know what I’m talking about. Blame is on Cohen, too.

Aodren

I don’t know how I feel about Aodren. We do get his POV, but there didn’t seem to be enough chapters. It felt like I didn’t get into his head that much unless it was about Britta. I wanted more back story, something other than Britta, Britta, Britta. I think the next installment, judging from the title, may allude that he will be in Lirra’s story. In this book, I just didn’t feel connected to his character. I do hope Erin includes him more in the next book.

Lirra

This kind of connects to how I feel about Aodren’s character. She doesn’t have her own chapters, but she is featured more than the first book. She is definitely snarky and sassy and doesn’t take any crap from anybody. She is very family orientated, blood related or not. Again though, I didn’t feel a strong connection. So, I am eager for her story to be out next year, according to Erin. I want to know more about her and her own thoughts. She does catch my interest.

The Bottom Line

I know I seem to have ragged a lot on the characters, but I swear I totally enjoyed this book. The plot was so much better and there were more twists that surprised me. It moved along at a great pace and I was really hooked into everything. Britta and Cohen, their story is over for now. They can have their faults because they are human and in love and we all know how stupid we can be when we are in love. My only letdown are Aodren and Lirra’s characters. This letdown, though, makes me excited for the next book so a stronger connection to them can be built.

Britta believed that all of her work was done when she freed King Aodren from the other Channeller. That is, until the new Channeller reveals herself to Britta as her own mother, who escaped after saving Britta's life when she was little. Britta, Aodren and Cohen must stop Britta's mother before she murders any more channellers, and becomes powerful enough to kill the King and take over the land.

Honestly, I found myself enjoying book one a lot more than this. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed the plot and I do love Britta as the main character, but there were so many things about this books that I didn't like or would have loved to change.

Britta really grew on me in book one, and I have to say that she gets even better in this book. She is so strong and just a badass. She kind of had the mentality that "I don't care if its wrong or not proper, I'm doing this because I want to and it feels right." She was an absolute delight once again.

I had a lot of problems with the romance in this book once again. Unlike Britta, Cohen didn't go through any character development. He stayed the exact same overprotective and somewhat sexist guy. In this book he admits to being overprotective and jealous at times, yet he doesn't do anything about it, he's not willing to change, and what frustrates me the most is that Britta is perfectly fine wth this.

I really did like Aodren. Not only is he the king but he's also insanely kind and such a good guy. In the beginning he sort of tries to buy Britta's love with expensive gifts, which of course she denies and doesn't even use, but its the through that counts right? Later on he really shows his character when he ends up saving Brittan and just showing how brave he is and how much he would do for her. I enjoyed his character development so much, and I really think that he would have been better for Britta.

The plot of the story was interesting, and it definitely kept me engaged. Although I found it to be very predictable. The part about her mother being the bad guy, who Britta ends up with, and the ending was all so clear right from the beginning of the book. There weren't any surprises, so it made me a tad bored.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and Britta will definitely go down as one of my favourite female characters. I just wish that the romance was better and the book wasn't so predictable. I still highly recommend this duology to all fantasy and YA lovers.

I really enjoyed Ever the Hunted. I did.
I had a moment when I was listening to the sequel of Ruined by Amy Tintera, and I thought the plot of Ever the Hunted was the plot of Ruined. Because I didn't enjoy Ruined nearly as much and I read them at a similar time.
That is a terrible story, but Ever the Brave is the exact sequel I wanted it to be!

Ever the Brave picks up not long after the cliffhanger ending that Ever the Hunted so graciously delivered, delving right back into the fantasy world of kingdoms and magic.

One new aspect this book delivers is multiple points of view. In Ever the Hunted, we were only ever in Britta’s head, living her thoughts and feelings and experiences. In Ever the Brave, we stay with Britta, but we also get to do a deep dive into the inner thoughts of both Cohen and the young King Aodren. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this initially, but once I started getting into the meat of the story, I was appreciative for the multiple POVs. It really helped with the pacing, and moving around within the world, allowing the reader to be aware of what’s happening in each thread of the story.

The ending of book one left Britta untethered from her love Cohen, and with a new connection to King Aodren. This was a major plot point that was explored throughout the novel and it mostly just aggravated me because it meant the introduction of a love triangle, which is my least favorite trope to read about. The King as a person also kind of bothered me. It was good to get to read his POV because it really showed who he was a person and solidified my dislike for certain aspects of his personality and attitude. Without giving too much away, I’ll just say that his disrespect for Britta’s relationship with Cohen was a little unnerving and he basically felt like because they weren’t married, she was fair game, regardless of how she felt. He was still interesting to read about, and definitely grew as a character throughout the story after being faced with challenging situations, which lead to me liking him more in the end.

That being said, Cohen is also a flawed character, but that also makes him interesting to read about, and leaves room for development. He was definitely overbearing at times and over protective, and both he and Britta have a penchant for miscommunication (my other least favorite trope) so it was a little difficult to get through certain aspects of the novel. Mostly though, he is sweet and caring and loyal and will do anything to keep his family and Britta safe. His journey leads him to learn to overcome his insecurities, which ultimately aides in fixing the overbearing behavior.

Britta continued to be a fun main character. She’s still awesome with a bow, and she’s still fierce, but she also grows beyond what she was in book one. She’s often faced with hard choices, especially after being delivered shocking news about the mother she thought to be dead, but in the end she perseveres and comes out stronger. I think my favorite aspect of Britta’s character is her want to just live quietly in her cottage with Cohen, and have no one bother her ever, because I definitely relate. While saving the world and stopping evil appears to be in her channeler blood, being an introverted couch potato is clearly in her heart, and I like that about her.

Overall, the world is a fun one to visit, and the plot is interesting and a much faster pace than book one. The character growth and values they learn to embrace is helpful in combating the love triangle that frustrated me to no end. I really enjoyed this sequel and was definitely happy with the way it ended.

*Thank you to HMH and Netgalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Ever the Brave is the second and final installment in author Erin Summerill's Clash of Kingdom's duology. In this installment, the author has chosen to feature three distinct characters to tell her story; Cohen Mackay, Britta Flannery, and King Aodren. Let's talk about Britta. After saving Aodren's life at the conclusion of Ever the Hunted, Britta finds herself linked to the king, aware of his presence, and his well-being, and that connection is hard to ignore. Britta hasn't really come to terms with her growing magic, & what she's capable of.

Her fear of being around other people is still an issue as well. It doesn't matter that she saved Aodren's life and is a hero for doing so, the people still don't like her because she's part Shaerdan on her mother's side. It doesn't matter that Aodren wants to introduce her as royalty when the noble's despise her for the same reason. It also doesn't help that he heaps presents on Britta that she doesn't want and shows up at her cabin unannounced. Plus, it would take just one person to charge her with being a Channeler, and everything that she's worked hard for, will come crashing down on her head. 

The plus is that she has opened herself up to a friendship with her lady-in-waiting Gillian Tierney. Gillian is adamant at making Britta more impressionable & more ladylike instead of hiding away at her cabin. I talk more about Britta than anyone else in this book because of what her own father taught her. He taught her how to become one of the best trackers and hunters around. He taught her how to ride a horse, use a bow & arrow, but unfortunately he had no clue about how to teach her about magic that has grown stronger. 
Britta is a character after my own heart in one aspect. She loves being in the middle of nowhere with no one else around where she can be who she wants to be without people pointing fingers at her. 

Meanwhile, Cohen, the King's Bounty Hunter, along with his younger brother Finn, have traveled to Shaerdan in search of the woman, Phelia, who was responsible for controlling Aodren. Along the way, Cohen meets Lirra Barrett, the Archtraitors daughter, & discovers that there are dozens of girls missing throughout Shaerdan. Girls who, by all indications, are Channelers. Since magic is outlawed in Malam, the identity of the kidnappers is puzzling. 

Is someone trying to start a war between Malam and Shaerdan? Or, is there something more nefarious about to happen? Cohen isn't a terrible character, but he has hard edges. His relationship with his brother is a nice change from the ever present sibling rivalries that somehow manage to find their way into this genre. Having Lirra around is another change for Cohen who is used to working solo. Cohen's relationship with Britta is one of over-protectiveness and a bit of jealously. Cohen's relationship with Aodren is cold as ice because of the jealously factor. 

I mentioned the third character who is featured already, King Aodren. Aodren is drawn and obsessed with Britta, especially after she saves his life not once, but again in this book which leads to a rather enlightening revelation and the identity of the woman known as Phelia. Aodren's isn't like any other King that you are probably expecting. He actually wants to do away with the antiquated and bigoted law known as the Purge which has seen women of all ages taken from their families and killed just because they wield magic. Aodren, Cohen, and Britta really do get tested to the ultimate in this book. Not only do they have to fight a known enemy, but they also have to deal with the connection that Britta has with Aodren while still loving Cohen. Ugh!

In the end, the last half of this story is by far the best because so many things happen that force all three characters to dig into their very souls and find a way to survive against all odds. I appreciated the introduction of the Channeler Council as well as characters who end up being part of a dangerous move by Lord Jamis and Phelia against the King. I like that the story ends with Britta in a good place, and not just walking out stage left without any hopes of a HEA with either Cohen or Aodren.

Very good! Took me a sec to adjust to what was going on just because it was a bit startling that Cohen was not with Britta.

This was fantastic. I adored the first book, though I'll admit it was a little slow at times. The world was so pretty and Britta was such a likable heroine that I didn't even care about the pacing. But this book? FAST. Perfect pacing. Pretty much non stop. Not to mention SO MANY FEELS that I am still just.. I don't even know..

I can't talk too much about the plot aside from what the synopsis mentions, but you know the thing that happens at the end of book one? Well yep, that's kind of a major plot point for this book. No, it wasn't too good to be true. When I read that last page, I was losing my mind and that's pretty much why I was BEGGING for an ARC of this book (by the way, a HUGE thanks to HMH books for sending me this copy and saving my sanity!)

So, on that note (and as you can tell by the synopsis), Britta now has this strange connection with the king that no one can explain. She's hiding it from Cohen, but the king himself knows. DRAMA ENSUES. Not to mention, everyone is in disarray and trying to track down the woman who had the king under her spell / thus controlling him from the first book. There are lots of plot twists and fun turns and wow, I was highly entertained. It was difficult to sit this book down.

Also, this one introduces new POVs and I enjoyed them all SO MUCH. I don't want to give too much away since we're still a ways away from the release date, but I was so pleasantly surprised.

If you're looking for a well rounded story in a gorgeous fantasy setting with lots of emotional drama/conflict, this is for you. The writing was just lovely as always, and my gosh, buy yourself the hard covers because look at that design.

My advice is to savor the world, savor the characters, and come to me crying afterwards because I still need solace.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the ARC copy of this book. It is a spoiler free review.
Ever the Brave is a wonderful second novel in the A Clash of Kingdoms series. The first book I recommended to so many of our readers. Britta is a brilliant character. Ever the Brave builds upon the first novel, to which Britta wants to live her life and be left alone. The King has other plans for her and her abilities. Erin Summerill gives readers a chance to see Britta growing into a more mature version of herself. The only small draw back I have with this novel is the POV. It changes from the King, Britta, and Cohen. The book is a great addition to the growing Game of Thrones for young adult genre.