Daughters of the Storm is the first book in Kim Wilkins's Blood and Gold series. I have a lot of thoughts about this book, and they're not necessarily organized, so bear with me. The book is about five sisters who are the daughter of a king. Bluebell is the oldest and a warrior who is rumored to be unkillable. Rose is married to the king of the neighboring nation as part of a peace treaty, and her heart belongs to another. Ash struggles with her burgeoning magic. Ivy lives to be admired by men, and her twin, Willow, is devoted to the gods.

The story starts when their father, the king, takes ill. Bluebell believes it to be the work of magic, so she drags her father and her sisters off to save him. The synopsis also mentions a "treacherous stepbrother" intent on seizing the throne. This isn't untrue, but the sisters aren't really aware of it, which makes for an anticlimactic climax. But more on that later! I'm going to try to split this up into categories in order to keep it more organized than it is in my head.

Characters and Points of View: So, we have five very different sisters, which is both an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage is that separate, relatively short POVs can keep the story moving. The disadvantage is that there's no way to like all the POV characters because they're so different, so some parts are going to drag.

Let's start with the characters I liked. Bluebell's amazing. She's fierce and loud and bossy and kind of dumb in a rash way, but she's extremely loyal to her family. The only thing she cares about is helping her father get better even if it means she'll have to wait to become king (her noun preference). Some readers will undoubtedly see her as a stereotype, but I'm a sucker for it. Only 2% into the read, this happens: '"No more of this talk," Bluebell commanded, "or I'll cut someone's fucking tongue out."' My note right there is, "I would (metaphorically) die for her." An inelegant turn of phrase to explain my attachment, to be sure, but I don't care. Give me a 12-book series about Bluebell. I would read them all again and again.

Ash is equally endearing. She's a young woman with power that she doesn't know what to do with or even if she should embrace it because she has no one to mentor her. This type of character resonates with me, so it's not surprising I gravitated toward Ash, especially because she's quite often the sole voice of reason among the five. But only when she's among her sisters. When she's alone, as I wrote in a note, she's "beautifully self-loathing and over-dramatic." She can also be read as ace, which is cool.

As for the other sisters, well . . . I had trouble connecting to them. Willow, even though she has a POV, is distant and enigmatic. Her motivations come from angels' voices in her head, but I was never quite sure if those voices were real. Her devotion to her gods wasn't written in such a way that I understood her, which bothered me. Rose loves a man who isn't her husband. I don't care for romantic story lines that much unless I'm reading a straight-out romance, and this story line offered nothing special. However, I found I had more sympathy for her once she was with only two of her sisters because she became more well-rounded. I don't really even have words for Ivy. She's a selfish, vain teenager who has no sense of the importance of what's happening or that her actions will have consequences. It was particularly hard to sympathize with her.

Then there's Wylm, the stepbrother, who has a point of view. Reading this made me think a lot about whether I prefer villains to have perspectives at all, although I haven't come up with a satisfying answer beyond, "It depends on the book." I really don't think his perspective adds a lot to this one, especially because his motivations always seem half-formed. He does a few things that we, as readers, need to know about, but if a villain has a POV, it has to be dynamic. The villain has to be dynamic. Unfortunately, here, Wylm is barely a threat. He's a mere thorn in Bluebell's side, but he imagines himself to be much deadlier and much more effective. The result of a weak antagonist is that the climax isn't really all that climactic. I think the story would've been served better by checking in on him less often.

Pacing and Plot: This book is slow. It wasn't until I was halfway through that things started to pick up and I found myself wanting to find out what happened next. I don't have anything against slow books, especially because I tend to write slow books, but the pacing would've been much easier to take had this been just Bluebell's and Ash's story. Instead, it got bogged down with too many points of view and not enough to drive them.

Because the plot is somewhat thin and there are a lot of prominent characters, Wilkins reverts to the characters acting in stereotypical ways in order to move the plot forward. In the majority of Ivy's scenes, I had the thought, "Don't do the thing!" just before she does the thing. This happened with Rose and Willow, too, although less often.

The thing the bothered me most, though, is Wilkins's treatment of Bluebell. Bluebell is supposed to be a great warrior, so much so that her enemies think of her as unkillable. Yet she's repeatedly bested in fights by little things (like tripping over a hedge?), and when she does get injured, she makes no move to stitch or bind her wounds and just kind of waits to die. She's a warrior. She should know how to take care of herself. For me, this stretched believability.

The World Revolves Around Men: Okay. This story is about five sisters, but . . . all their stories revolve around men. The driving force behind Bluebell's actions is her father. Rose's thoughts are consumed by her lover and Ivy's by men in general. Willow becomes a pawn in a man's plan. Even Ash ends up with a male mentor. It's a little frustrating to see a story featuring five women revert to fantasy's old male default. I would've loved to see a story about the sisters rather than just featuring the sisters, although I particularly enjoyed Bluebell's and Ash's bond.

Along these lines, I see we still can't write fantasy without an unnecessary threat of sexual assault. This is tired, and I wish I saw it way less often than I do. There's also some mild slut-shaming in the way Ivy treates Rose at one point and again in Ivy's ending and a touch of fatphobia.

Writing: The writing is good and made the reading experience very smooth. A few lines stood above the rest, especially those about human observation, such as, "The serving woman arrived with their meals then, thumping the plates onto the table with the kind of dull force only deeply unhappy people can achieve." There's a lot of filtering language, though, which probably only bothers people like me. Overall, I liked the writing very much but wished it had been married to stronger characters and a more solid plot.

TL;DR: This is a solid opener in an epic fantasy series. I'd certainly recommend it to readers who are looking for more female-centric epic fantasy, but it's neither perfect nor as feminist as I would've liked. That said, I will be checking out book two eventually. If you read this and love Bluebell as much as I did, I will happily chat about her with you!

I was offered an e-arc to review through NetGalley because I loved The Bear and the Nightingale; the blurb called it "Norse-flavored"and in the tradition of Robin Hobb and Naomi Novik, and one Goodreads reviewer characterized it as "Game of Thrones with chicks." Unfortunately, I didn't feel that any of these descriptions and comparisons were very apt.

If I were to compare Daughters of the Storm to anything, it would be a bowl of mushy vegetable soup - not Norse-flavored soup, either! Sure, there are characters with Norse names, such as Gudrun and Hakon, but there are also the very Saxon-sounding Wengest and Athelrick, and the sisters who are named for flowers and trees (Bluebell, Willow). Place names and descriptions could come from any European-based fantasy novel. All these elements are jumbled together without any overriding sense of unique place and time.

But what makes it mushy soup to me, rather than a piquant stew, are the multiple points of view in each chapter; not that I dislike multiple POV, but the short sections aren't enough for close identification with the characters, and at least in the e-arc I read they were not set off by any indication or even extra spacing, so sometimes it was a bit confusing as we went from one head to the next. Also, the trick of using multiple POVs well is to know which not to use; who to show only through the eyes of others, and judiciously choosing the character through whom we will see the scene. Wilkins jumps among all the sisters and other characters as well, and as a result it feels less like a cohesive story than it does a multitude of ingredients all dumped together into a pot and cooked into submission.

And the ingredients...aren't all that tasty. None of the characters are particularly sympathetic, and they all seem to be fairly one-dimensional stereotypes, without great depth. There is the calloused soldier who curses all the time, the ethereal mage-in-training, the unfaithful mother, the religious fanatic, the flirt. The story is also fairly one-dimensional, partly because of the multiple POVs that give everybody's story and hide none; about halfway in, the reader learns the solution to the initial mystery at the start of the story, the source of the king's illness , which means that there's a lot less tension and interest watching the characters themselves find it out.

In conclusion, this is definitely a book about strong female characters. It's just not a very interesting one.

Daughters of the Storm is an attempt at creating powerful female characters in a male dominated world. The oldest daughter has shaped herself into the role of a man, behaving as much like her father, a man she admires, as she can. The next daughter was sold off in marriage to cement peace for her country, and is discontent with her lot in life and the lack of love and affection. Another daughter is struggling against her magical abilities because she has been told that she should not have them. The final two daughters are even more out of place having been shunted off to a relative from a young age. One only desires sexuality with males she finds desirable, whether they want it or not, and the last has adopted a religion which appears to completely dismiss women into second class status. None of these women is likeable or sympathetic, nor are any of the other characters [other than ones who are killed].

I am a huge Robin Hobb fan and when I saw that this book was compared to her works, my interest was caught. Then, after reading the blurb, I was even more interested in it. A book that had Norse mythology elements and has strong female characters. Sign me up. I am glad that I requested this book. The plotlines were engaging and kept me hooked on the book. It was also fast-paced. I was left breathless while reading most of the book.

Daughters of the Storm had a few plotlines that all were intertwined early in the book. The main storyline was the rush to find a cure for the daughters’ father who became ill. Bluebell and her sisters take a dangerous journey to find the aunt who used undermagic. That magic is the only way to save their father. It is the only way to find out who was behind their father becoming ill.

While that is going on, each character is introduced. First is Bluebell. She is the eldest, the next in line to the throne. She has one weakness, the blind and simple-minded son of her best friend who died. Rose is the next one who is introduced. She is married, with a 3-year-old daughter and a secret that could kill her if her husband ever found out. Ash is the next one introduced. Ash realizes that her magic is stronger than those who are teaching her. She also realizes, to her horror, that she can use undermagic. Right before Bluebell summons her, Ash has a horrifying vision. A vision that involves herself, a dragon and the death of millions of people. The last daughters to be introduced are Ivy and Willow. Ivy needs to be accepted by men and she will use her body and looks to get what she wants. A silly, vain girl, she betrays the one person who has always been there for her. All because she was jealous. Willow is a religious nut who hears angels. Those voices get stronger and more vocal the more time she spends with her sick father. They also drive her to harbor a person who Bluebell would have killed if she found out.

I thought that Bluebell was a bit of a bully in the beginning of the book. She went from a bully to a person who cared about her sisters and looked out for them the best way she knew how. Which was by controlling them and their actions. The only time I even saw her be a bit soft was with Eni, the son of her lover Sabert, or with Rowan, her niece and heir. Other than that, she was tough as nails. She also hated her stepmother, Gudrun and her stepbrother, Wylm. That hatred was not unfounded when Bluebell found out who and what caused her father to become ill.

I did like Rose but after getting to know her character, I thought she was a fool. I actually agreed with Bluebell when Bluebell gave her a few hard truths about herself. She wanted to be a mother, became one and found it too hard. Not that she didn’t love Rowan, she did, but she couldn’t deal with her. She also loved Heath….or so she thought she did. She was willing to risk her husband’s wrath to be with him. She went against what Bluebell told her and pursued him. What I didn’t get was why she was so upset when he had no connection with Rowan. He didn’t know about her until the trip and she expected instaconnection?

Out of all the sisters, Ash was my favorite. She could deal with Bluebell’s intensity with a grace that I wish I had. I did feel bad for her when her Becoming was revealed. I couldn’t even imagine knowing not only how I was going to die. But also that I was going to take out millions of people. No wonder she was so keen on getting away from her sisters as soon as possible. I was interested in the man she decided to train with. Again, I was taken by surprise at not only who he was but what. Another small twist that made me enjoy reading the book.

If I had to dislike someone from the book, it was Ivy. She was very manipulative and very vain. She caused chaos no matter where she went. I did think that she would hook up with Heath. But when she saw Heath and Rose doing the dirty, she was mad. She decided to go with Rowan back to her father. What she did there was unforgivable. All I have to say is that she did get what she deserved.

If I disliked Ivy, I felt pity for Willow. She didn’t come into my radar until she was left alone with Rose to care for her father. Then it seemed like the voices got more of a grip on her. It didn’t help that Wylm saw that and capitalized on it. She did surprise me towards the end of the book with what she did. But she only did it because the angels told her to.

I do have to add Wylm in here because he was such a dirtbag. He caused so much harm the first half of the book. But, he did try to rectify it when he took Eni with him after killing Sabert. He protected Eni with everything in his power until he delivered him to Bluebell’s camp. Then he reverted back to his evil ways. I didn’t like that. I thought that the author could have gone a different direction with this character. Reformed dirtbag. But, then again, with what I know about the very ending, I understand why the author chose that route for him.

I was a little put off by the violence in the book, I could understand why the author chose to make this world so violent. This is a medieval society that used its army very often. Bluebell was the head of the army and she ran it very well. Violence to her was second nature. She thought nothing of killing someone if they even omitted a threat. That did make the book for me even if I was a little grossed out by it. So, a warning. If you don’t like somewhat graphic violent fight scenes, then skip this book.

There is sex in this book. It is not graphic but it is there. Also, there is voyeurism. Ivy watches Rose and Heath have sex. Willow remembers watching Ivy and a boy have sex in the same room as her. Willow and someone (not giving this away!!) have sex because the angels told her too for reasons I am not going to give away. The scenes are not graphic. They are more matter of fact and are incorporated into the storylines. If you don’t like sex scenes or flashback to sex scenes than skip this book. If not, they add an extra depth to the book. They also make you understand the character’s relationships better.

The end of the book was wild. While the main storyline was resolved, all the other ones were not. Which made me very keen to read book 2. I loved the epilogue. While I knew who it was, the delight of the other person was almost too much. Again, that makes me want to read book 2 because I need to know where that goes.

I would give Daughters of the Storm an Adult rating. There is violence, language, and sex. While the sex is not graphic, I do not think that it would be proper for anyone under the age of 20. The violence also factored into my rating. There are some graphic scenes of violence. This is a book that I will recommend to family and friends. I would give a warning about the sex and violence since I have friends and family that do not like that in books. I also plan on rereading this book!!

I would like to thank Random House Publishing Group, Del Ray and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Daughters of the Storm.

All opinions stated in this review of Daughters of the Storm are mine.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

Five sisters, daughters of the king, all come home because their father is dying - poisoned with magic - and they must unite to try to save him. The girls range widely in age and have diverse personalities, character traits, and intentions - warrior, healer, possible dark magician, man crazy teenager and religious zealot. Bluebell, the heir, is a warrior and the natural leader. She goes on a quest with two of her sisters to find a cure for her father, while trying to keep the kingdom stable and deal with her underhanded step-brother. While not a particularly deep novel, I found the story very interesting for the most part. Sections were a little repetitive, but it had some great twists and turns along the way - and the end definitely makes you want to see what the next book in the series brings. I expect the characters to be developed more fully in the next book, as they often are. None of the sisters are particularly gripping at this point, or pulled me in emotionally, but there is great potential here. Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine/Del Rey for the arc! 3.5 stars.

3.5 Stars for Daughters of the Storm

This is going to sound crazy but the entire time I was reading this book all I could think of were the lyrics to Beyonce's Runnin' (Lose it All).

Runnin', runnin', runnin', runnin'
Runnin', runnin', runnin'
Ain't runnin' from myself no more
Together we'll win it all

Runnin', runnin', runnin'
Ain't runnin' from myself no more
I'm ready to face it all
If I lose myself, I lose it all

The story is told from the perspectives of 5 sisters, daughters to the King of Thrysland, who are on a quest to save their father's life and reconcile their own problems. These five sisters could not be more different. From the brutal and unlikeable Bluebell to the lovesick Rose to the polyamorous Ivy, each sister is flawed with either hubris, selfishness or more. Which is why this book is such a slow burn. As the sisters race to save their father, their stepbrother maneuvers for the throne.

I found myself hating and loving the characters at different points in the book. Willow because of her priorities, Ivy with her desires to pounce anything that moves. The journey peels back the sisters layer by layer, as bonds that were broken are reforged between the sisters and others lost. Nature vs. Nurture really comes into question here because a lot of the sisters' actions are a result of their upbringing. When Ash saves Bluebell and the warrior confesses her love for her sister, I felt a a fierce pride for Ash. I think in the end she is my favorite.

The conclusion is a cliffhanger and while I had many feelings with this book, I will be picking up the sequel to find out what happens next.

I received this ARC of Kim William's book Daughters of the Storm, the first in the Blood and Gold Series in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. I had never read any of Kim William's books but the story line was intriguing and the protagonists of the story are all sisters seemed interesting since they were all so different. The story seems to be set in medieval times and the eldest daughter, The story begins with the discovery that the King is dying and that it is possibly due to magic.Blueberry, is a knight in her father's army and heir to the throne. Blueberry is told since she is the heir and she immediately suspects her father's new wife. The sisters join together to get their father out of the castle to a place where they hope to find a cure for his illness. Ash, another one of the sisters, is training to be a caregiver of sorts and she has magic that is quickly becoming to large for her to handle. She fears that she is becoming an undermagician and her path will take her away from everyone she loves. Rose, Ivy and Willow are the other three sisters. They also have dilemmas in their lives involving men, religion and the struggles of being a woman.
I was drawn in immediately to the story and had no trouble keeping interested in the story line. The only issue I had was that when the story switched to another sister there was no gap, it felt like sometimes it should be the next chapter. Not just the next paragraph. I felt like the sudden switches made me wonder if I missed something along the way. But it was not a major hindrance in the flow of the story. Overall I definitely would recommend this book.

Daughters of the Storm by Kim Wilkins is the first book in the Blood and Gold series. The story opens with King Atherlrick of Almissia, the warrior king, the Storm Bearer in the land of Thrysland, is ill. News spreads to his eldest daughter, Bluebell, a warrior like her father and heir apparent. She immediately rushes to her father’s side while spreading word out to her other sisters. Rose is married to Wengest, king of Nettlechester but her heart belongs to another. Ash is a student of the common faith who has been have horrible dreams. Ivy and Willow are twins. Ivy lives for the admiration of others and Willow lives for the gods. Together the sisters must discover the source of their father’s illness; however the journey will force them to face their past, their choices and the secrets they keep from each other.
Daughters of the Storm is a slow moving story. So slow I found myself phasing out and realizing that I hadn’t read anything on the page. Of the five sisters, the only one I enjoyed was Ash. I did not like Bluebell as I found her to be too harsh. Overall, I did not like this book. Pages and pages went on with nothing really happening. I read a description online that called this book “Game of Thrones with women” and it fits. A long winded book with pages and pages of description and very little explanation as to what is going on or action. An “elf-shot” was referred to many times in the beginning and I kept waiting for a hint on what an elf shot is? I had to assume bad magic the way the characters seem to terrified of it. Pages later, you learn its “wild” and very old magic. Why couldn’t this be mentioned earlier? And the language! The f-word was used so much in even the open chapters that I cringed every time it was used in the rest of the book. If you enjoy Games of Thrones, you may enjoy this book and even the series; however, I cannot recommend it. I wanted to enjoy it and based on the description of the story, I thought I would. However, it is very slow and way too much language for my taste.

Daughters of the Storm
will be available in hardcover and eBook
on March 6, 2018

** spoiler alert ** I just finished this book today and many thoughts so far. 5 sisters all of who are different and deal with different things. Eni and rowan are the two kids in the story and add more depth to Rose and Wilm. Actually, I started liking the Wilm more since he was taking care of him. Rose is in love with nephew and had a child with him, but Queen in the land. Bluebell is the oldest and warrior. Ash is elemental and learning the ways of magic. Willow and Ivy are twins but one is more into boys and the other is religious. They all meet up to help cure their dad, but then they all have different issues to work through.
This is my first time reading this author. I enjoyed this world and seeing the sisters and their journey's. I do want to see what happens with the sisters but this book made me care for the villain more than I wanted too. I also understood Rose's issue. I didn't like that the sisters were in each other business. Also one of them did something that I wasn't expecting. I know that this is marketed as a YA book, but this seemed to have adult undertones. I was sad to see some make poor choices and having the book with a different point of views was good but at times I had to check and see who I was reading. These girls seemed to all over and not taking responsibility when it occurred ( bluebell talking with Rose) ( Ivy and seeing things and telling secrets) and many more. The girls seemed real but making poor life choices.

A book about women wielding power- be it physical violence, manipulation, or betrayal. I love that these five sisters are o distinct- you think you have a favorite, or that you hate one of them, and then something happens and it all switches. Cannot wait for more!!

So, this book was a little bit messy.

The writing was fine, but there were some formatting choices that I didn't like. Multiple POV's in each chapter, with only a short break between them making it barely clear when the POV shifted.

The messiest part for me though is the characters. Not a single one of them is remotely likable in any way. I also wasn't a huge fan of their names (Bluebell, Ash, Rose, Ivy, and Willow). It made them come across as just obnoxious to me. Especially the MC, Bluebell. She's supposed to be this hardened warrior, heir to the throne, tough as nails, scary... but her name is Bluebell.... and I don't know. It just made her character seem cliche to me.

The other thing that just made the story a little unbearable was the plotline of the overtly sexist religion that disallows women to rule, for... whatever reason. I never got to where, or if, it was covered as to why the religion felt this way. But it is quite possible that I just missed it when I was reading because everything just felt so boring to me.

While I love Disney princesses, these characters are not them! I thoroughly enjoyed the diverse characteristics each daughter portrayed and that they weren't all the same, or all simpering side objects, I like stories where everyone doesn't have to be the same, people can be mean, evil even. It feels truer even though it's fantasy. I will be highly recommending this title to my library and look forward to more.
This was read as an ARC through netgalley.com

There was just too much going on in this book for me to enjoy it. Reading the story from at least 6 points of view just made everything cluttered and made me feel as though I knew a little bit about a lot of the characters, instead of really getting to know and feel connected to at least one character. Not being able feel that connection with anyone in the book made it at best confusing and at worst uninteresting. I feel as thought the author should have stuck with telling her story from the point of view of just one of the sisters, or done just a third person omniscient POV all the way through, instead of jumping from perspective to perspective. I am sure the sisters and those around them had an important journey to complete, but I just found myself not caring. I would not recommend this book.

Wow. I didn't know this book existed until recently when I saw it on Netgalley. But reading it felt like satisfying a craving for something I didn't know I wanted.
The story follows five royal daughters after the king has been magically poisoned. While he lies in a sort of coma, the different girls either try to save him, themselves, or advance their own interests. Meanwhile, others are using the opportunity to move against their family, and it slowly becomes clear that they might have more to fear from each other than they'd thought.
So smartly constructed and fast-paced. Highly recommend for fans of Sarah Beth Durst, George RR Martin, and Erika Johansen.
Many thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy!

This books started out very strong for me. It's well written, the plot was intriguing, and Bluebell is an amazing character. I started getting frustrated with the sisters and Wylm as I read because many of them I found annoying or unlikable. This read much more like a family drama than what the description of the book led me to believe - that this was an adventure in which the sisters team up to save the kingdom from their stepbrother. I think the opposite of teaming up happens and they grow further apart which is not what I was expecting.

It's funny how sometimes, you just don't know what you have been craving until you taste it. This was true of Daughters of the Storm. I got an email saying "if you like Robin Hobb, this is the book for you", and I DO like Robin Hobb, so I requested it. And instead of it being a targeted marketing scheme, this is absolutely true. If you've gotten lost in Robin Hobb's works, let me be the one to tell you that Daughters of the Storm will satisfy a need you have to read moving, pragmatic, and beautifully written words.

I know there is a long time to wait, but please do not hesitate to give this a try. It's woooonderful.

New fantasy series get started all the time. Some are better than others. This one, my friends, is going to be EPIC! There is nothing here not to love, from the gorgeous cover to the big, fat, luscious story that features women in non-traditional roles (well, at least one of them!)

The power held by the women in this story is remarkable, even if some of the characters aren't always likable. Bluebell is a character to remember. Is there anyone like her in literature today (I haven't read Game of Thrones, so maybe there is...). Even so, she is the alpha and omega here, the male and female, hero and antihero, and oh, how I love her! Highly recommended.

This book started off so well. A bunch of princesses coming to their sick father's rescue. I have sisters, so this really resonated with me. The dynamic between the sisters was great. They fought, loved and kept secrets from each other.

To save their father, the sisters decide to take him to a sacred place, but crazy things happen on the road. This is where I get a little lost. The world building fell apart and suddenly I was lost in the woods, literally. The characters wandered through the woods. None descriptive woods. That's how the rest of the story went, and the story was great. All the sisters brought their own strengths to the journey and made it a fun place to be, if only I could picture where that was.

Still, a great read.

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

This book should have been great, featuring five sisters, daughters of the King of Thyrsland, each different. One is the warrior queen-to-be, one a seflish romantic, one almost overwhelmed with her gift of foretelling, one an immoral tart and one drowning in religion and madness. The king is ill and his wife, Gudrun, fears and hates Bluebell, her oldest stepdaughter, and distrusts and dislikes the other sisters. She clings to her son from her first marriage and hopes to maneuver him into eventually ruling in place of warrior Bluebell. Doesn’t that sound like an enticing novel?

The setting and back story should be great too. Thyrsland follows the old religion, which doesn’t differentiate between men and women for ruling; the romantic sister is married to Thyrsland’s old enemy who calculates that switching to the Trimartyr religion will push his son to the fore as Thyrsland’s eventual ruler.

Unfortunately the story doesn’t jell. The plot has many strands and parallel stories that don’t make full use of the inherent conflicts. It felt like an extended set up instead of a story. It didn’t hold my interest after the first fifth or so.

Plus, as a book that relies on characters, there is no sister to like, none is the eventual heroine. All the sisters are flawed and Willow, Ivy and Rose are despicable. I like Bluebell the best. She cares for her country more than herself and is smart, cagey, realizes the religious threat. On the other hand she has a genius for making people hate her (mostly deserved) and doesn’t seem to care that she exacerbates the threat from raiders, step mother, step brother and her erstwhile brother-in-law.

This novel did not work for me. I got it from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Had it not been for that I would have deleted it after the first fifth, as it was I managed to skim the last half. I won’t look for the sequels.

Five daughters. One Kingdom. Bluebell is a warrior. She strikes fear into the heart of those she meets on and off the battle field and does not suffer fools lightly. I imagined her as Xena. Everything is cut and dried for her. It's right or it's wrong based on how it affects the Kingdom and her father. Eventually she will rule. 

Rose has been married off to the King of another area that assures peace for both countries. But her heart is with the man she couldn't have. And her daughter may be his also. She is tender-hearted but can get the job done if need be.

Ash has been hidden away for years studying to become a counselor, but when she is called home when her father becomes ill, she finds herself surrounded with magic and knows she has to leave.

Willow has lived with her Uncle and comes home to find her ill father. She has taken up the faith of another God and is obsessed with it and the voices in her head. She has no loyalty to anyone including her sisters.

Ivy is the flighty, boy crazy one. She has no problem stealing your boyfriend or her sister's husband. But she gets neither.

Now they must work together to get their father to safety and to find the undermagician who can make him well again. All the while their step-brother is planning on killing Bluebell and taking the throne with his mother as Queen. I did not care for his character. Shallow and calculating, he kills with no care and yet cares tenderly for a blind child. 

This is the first book in the series and I found it to be quite entertaining. A new fantasy series in which all of them are just discovering who they are and what they are.

Ms. Wilkins has created smart, conflicted and addictive characters here. I can't wait for the next one!

Netgalley/Del Ray  Release March 06, 2018