Let’s start with the chance to read and review this book! I’m always appreciative that I get to read books before they are released, it kinda gets me excited. Now, the cover is always the first thing I look at while buying a book. If the cover is not looking too hot, i usually won’t read it. This cover is really pretty, however I hope the physical copy has maybe a little shimmer and embossing on it! It adds a little extra. The story itself was really good. I really wanted the prince to be more Open about the way he was attracted to the princess. However, in light of that....I did feel like the feelings between the two were forced. I wish it flowed a little more naturally. But still both are very likable characters and I’m glad I got to read about this world that the writer has created!

I liked this book but not loved it.I found the chacracters of Charlotte and Young to be a bit under-developed. I loved the main difference between the main characters, Charlotte being spoiled and selfish and Young being selfless and actually strong.

It was a short read, and i could read it very fast, since the style is pretty good and not weary. the only thing I was a bit disappointed about is the poor description and development of the characters.

I would recommend this book for a light read, but do not expect a masterpiece.

ebook provided by NetGalley

I’m still not sure how I feel about this book. The writing was so good, the sentences flow, it is a easy read. I love the writing.
I couldn’t get into the story line. There were too many pov’s sometimes I didn’t know who’s chapter it was. The story itself was a little disappointing. You build it all up just to tear it all down? Why?!

I loved this one! When I was asked if I'd like to read it, I didn't know anything about this book or the author, but it sounded like the kind of story I'm drawn to..I had no idea it would be one of my favorite reads so far! I loved reading this, yes it's got romance and courtly intrigue, but the twists kept coming and I loved all the surprises that the characters were faced with! It's a lot like the YA books I normally read, and yet is something all it's own. A must read!

I couldn't finish this as it was so poorly written that different characters all had the same personalities thus their POVs all felt the same, and the pacing was awful. It just didn't make sense.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. YA tragic fantasy told through multiple viewpoints. Princess Charlotte is self-centered and idealistic when her parents tell her they have arranged a marriage for her. She doesn't want to get married, but before the wedding can happen her kingdom is invaded. What will happen to her kingdom and to her? Who will she fall in love with and marry? I wanted to like the story because the basic premise was interesting (if predictable) but it ended up being a bit too melodramatic for me and a little too much "instant love" and betrayals. Also, the motives behind characters' behavior were often poorly explained and didn't make sense. First in a series (likely involving different characters).

I started Kingdom Cold right after finishing Cage of Deceit so it was not hard to notice some of the similar main plot points. That being said Kingdom Cold did provide a different story in tone and pacing.

I like the author's ability to adjust the pace throughout the book. Not wasting time and pages on unimportant details and focusing on key plot development points. The 2 main characters were complex and nuanced. While Charlotte started off quite self-centered, I appreciated that flaw since she had self-awareness of it and worked throughout the book on it. Young was my favorite and I was very unsatisfied with the ending for that reason. I also wish his POV was featured more.

Mineseo and Milly were frustrating flat characters for me that added a layer to the story that I just don't like. I never like stories that focus on love triangles or unrequited love so that definitely affected my overall impression of the book.

The King Arthur tie-ins felt forced and I'm not really sure where the author plans to go with the next 2 books. I am a bit curious since I am a long-time fan of Arthurian literature but I honestly don't know if I'll invest the time to read them as I'm not really interested in hearing more from these characters.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC copy I was given to review honestly.

The premise of this book really intrigued me but unfortunately, I Dnfed this book at 20%. This book just wasn’t for me. The main character was extremely annoying and I get that she is young but it really took away my enjoyment for this story and I just couldn't stand the decisions she was making and it wasn't really explained why. Everything happened so fast that I didn’t really care/didn’t know what was going on and I struggled to get into the writing. I feel like this book is meant for a younger audience or for someone who is just wanting to get into fantasy.

I VOLUNTARILY READ AND REVIEW THIS COPY FROM NETGALLEY. ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ARE MY OWN, THANK YOU.

SPOILER FREE!

The beginning of the story caught me from the start but the more I read the more I just wanted to give up on the story. I felt like there were too much drama, royal drama and a weird love triangle that was just frustrating to me.

The story is fast paced with fewer details and confusion into everything. I love that it is first person view with different characters, so I know exactly what's going on in each character's mind however we did switch up characters rather fast.

Our main characters are Princess Charlotte and Prince Young and his brother Prince Minseo. Princess Charlotte is childish in the beginning but her character growth thru out the story was amazing to read especially in the ending. Out of all the characters in the story, Prince Young would have to be my favorite, I feel like he stayed true to himself and to others.

One character that was very frustrating to me and really got to me was Princess Charlotte's servant Milly. Who was her friend or was supposed to be a friend but didn't know how to be a friend. Without giving away to much about this character there was a certain part of the story where it was straight weird and disrespectful to Princess Charlotte when Milly and Prince Young were alone (Won't give away anything). But now that I think about it the author did a good job writing about a character to really bug you.

The ending was the only part that I liked in the story. The story did feel rushed and less detailed and a huge messy love triangle with the characters however I kept reading only to find out what was going to happen with the characters. I do feel like something was missing to make this story truly incredible, I just feel like it was all over the place with everyone's mix feelings.

The story started out well, with our reluctant princess being told she will be entered into an arranged marriage in order to create an allyship with their neighbouring kingdom so they can win their war. I have read other novels with the same format, of switching POV each chapter, but I did feel like the chapters could have been longer between each switch.
I enjoyed the characters, the princess and prince were well fleshed out, though it felt like we should have had
more time exploring the servants' feelings. We seem to only get snippets of what shes thinking and experiencing, then at the end her 180° change takes you by surprise, which i assume was the point, but it felt like we didnt get attached enough to her for it to have had the impact it needed.
The last few chapters felt very rushed considering the pacing of the rest of the book. There were chunks of time unaccounted for. The ending didnt satisfy me, it felt like an afterthought attempt at leaving it open for a sequel.
I would love to see more from this author though, I want to see how her writing develops and improves over time! :)

While I enjoyed this book, it did move at a fast pace, a little too fast. If it had slowed down a little, gave more detail it would have been perfect.

I did enjoy seeing both sides of the story, from the prince point of view to the princess point of view. It allowed me to have insight on how both were feeling and didn't make it one sided.

I really enjoyed this story! I thought the plot movement was steady and I didn't get bored waiting for things to unfold.
I think I would have enjoyed it more had there been more world development. At first there was merely "east" and "west" descriptors, but steadily moved to trees and hills. This is pretty typical of YA so I wasn't too surprised that the book was character driven and not much further than that. The original setting was a castle.... I mean, think of the immaculateness of it!
Another drawback was the multiple POV's. It started out with 2 and grew from there. The voice seemed to be the same throughout so I sometimes I forgot who I was reading about.
Overall, though, I thought the plot was unique in a world where lots of YA books cover the royalty spectrum. I enjoyed it and hope to see more by this author in the future!
#netgalley

4.5🌟🌟🌟🌟

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.


Princess Charlotte of Besimum is unhappily betrothed to Princes Young of Vires, neither of them particularly feel any joy about this marriage alliance, but with little choice in the matter. Charlotte especially, as she tries in the beginning to stop the wedding and make Young or her father break off the marriage. Their engagement begins with a rocky start as Charlotte attempts to murder Young on his arrival. When their castle is attacked by Drethen forces, the wedding is cancelled, and they are forced to escape.

With her kingdom attacked and it’s future now uncertain, Charlotte’s mother renegotiates her hand in marriage to another. In hopes to protect their kingdom with the alliance of a country much closer than Vires. Charlotte must decided how she will save her kingdom. By turning to the prince she betrayed or by marrying another that only wants the throne for himself.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. Princess Charlotte’s earlier chapters did make me dislike her character to begin with but I think that she had some of the best character development in the story. She began as a spoiled princess that grew to become a strong female lead. Alongside Prince Young, they both became more mature and ready to rule. Each faced challenges throughout the story, sometimes together, with the help of others, or completely alone.

This is a romance set in a war. Meaning that it is not always a happy story; people fight, die, are injured and suffer. Their is politics mixed up with romance. Both good and bad people die, there is no glorious climatic final battle that leaves the good guys standing tall, alive and with a happy ever after, and the bad guys are beaten, broken and (sometimes) dead. Not everyone survives, some of them I had really wanted to live and some that I was happy to see gone.

I may not be 100% happy with some of the events in this book, and I am still brewing over one death in particular which if you have or do read the book you might also not be over yet, but I can understand why many of them had to happen. Due to the unpredictable nature of war it only makes sense that a story about war would have unpredictable and sudden events.

I would recommend this book if you want to read a book with romance set in a war, that is a multi-cultural light fantasy YA novel.

I was provided with an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review..

This book is a complete joke. I can’t believe she actually plans 2 more books after this, let alone than someone would publish any of it. The author obviously could not decide what kind of story she wanted to tell or which characters should narrate. I kept hoping it would get better, but it actually got worse every page! The whole story arc was a muddled mess. It would have been so much better if there had been a clear goal and no attempt at so much yet no development!

Book: Cold Kingdom
Author: Brittni Chenelle
Rating: 3 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank Netgalley and Brittni Chenelle for providing me with this ARC.

I really did enjoy this book. I liked the pacing and how well Brittni could right. This is a very short book and it great if you are looking for a quick fantasy read. My problem with this one was the fact that it was almost too quick. The pace, at times, made it very difficult to actually figure out for sure just what was going on. We have a huge cast of characters and a huge world, but it felt like it wasn’t fully developed. It was like Britnni was so focused on the pace, but didn’t allow time for things to develop. All of this, just made it kind of hard to keep track of everything.

I liked the use of multiple points of view. However, it did feel a little overwhelming with the use of the side characters as the point of view characters. It just made it really hard to keep everyone straight. Another thing that really bothered me was how young the characters were. I wish that they had been a little bit older to make what happens in the book a little bit more realistic.

I really did like Young and Charlotte. They were really great and solid leads. What I really liked about them is how much they grew. At first, I thought Charlotte was kind of a weak character, but as the story went on, she grew on me. We get to see what kind of a leader she is and how much she really does care about what is going on. Young, from the start, is a very mature character. I know Britnni was trying to write him as the strong male led and she did just that. As the story goes on, we also get to see just how much he will do to protect those who he cares about.

Overall, not a bad book. I just wish that it would have had some more meat to it.

Overall rating: 3 stars

I was attracted to this book by the gorgeous cover, plus the synopsis sounded perfect for a YA fantasy lover like myself.

I really enjoyed the fast pacing of the story and the many exciting twists that happened throughout. There is very little 'filler' in this book. There's a lot of action and events for the reader to absorb and consider, which I definitely appreciated. This book is fast paced and action packed with a pretty interesting variety of characters.

Unfortunately, many of the emotional beats didn't really land for me. I wasn't connecting to the characters on a deeper level and some of the writing was a little clumsy and unfocused. I definitely didn't pick up on the re-telling aspect of the story until the very last chapter when it was essentially spelled out. It would have been nice to see more recognizable elements of the original legend within the main body of the story.

I may pick up subsequent books in this series just for an action packed, quick read in the YA fantasy genre but I probably won't be looking out for this one on shelves.

Characters: The story alternates between perspectives and as I have mentioned I usually don’t like when this happens as you don’t really get to know each characters personality and thought processes as well as you would if it just focused on one of them.

Young- I appreciated Young’s optimistic point of view. He is looking on the bright side of his arranged marriage and turns out to be a good king.

Charlotte- At the beginning of the book I thought that Charlotte was a spoiled brat and that did change throughout. But, I still found some of the decisions that Charlotte made to be very rash and stupid. It was hard to like her when she kept making these decisions with no forethought.

Milly- The part of this story that I liked the least was Milly’s character development. She begins the story as a loyal, faithful handmaid and then all of a sudden she is plotting her queen’s death and renouncing her faith. Milly goes from crying and condemning Charlotte for killing the enemy soldiers (who would have likely killed them) to attempting to poison the queen, all within the span of a few chapters.


Plot: The synopsis for this book was so misleading. The “attempted murder” happens within the first 20 pages and is never mentioned again. The synopsis makes it seem as though this is going to play a huge part in the story and it does not. It wasn’t really relevant and because it was brushed off so quickly, it was unnecessary.

The synopsis also makes it seem as if Charlotte and Young are going to have this long drawn out “love to hate” relationship. But, very quickly they are relying on one another, building a relationship and the next thing you know they are married and having a child and are both happy about it.

There was not a lot of world building or the background history of this world or kingdom. It was just here’s this kingdom…okay, let’s go. There was no development of the world around these characters.

The beginning of the book reminded me a bit of the plot line of the Disney movie Brave. Charlotte is being pushed into an arranged marriage because she is now “of age” and it will garner favor and advantage for the kingdom. But, in the beginning Charlotte wants nothing to do with this and even makes a comment about winning her own hand. That is where the comparison ends, had the story continued in this vain it could have been good.

The author tries to pack too much into one story. It’s like she thought, “How many different plot lines can I pack into one book?” And then the ones that she did include were quickly brushed off or turned from one twist right into another.
For example, in one chapter Charlotte is attracted to Prince Minseo and then a little while later all she can think about is Young.

My opinion: Honestly, I did not enjoy the way this book was written. It was just very simple, junior-high level and being the majority of these characters are royals the language that they use just does not make sense. I don’t believe that princes and princesses from far off lands would be using the same dialect that you and I do, it just threw me off.


Would I recommend?: Honestly, I would only recommend this book to young middle school students. It is an east read and on that they can probably get through quickly. This type of book has been done in much better ways but better authors.

Title Kingdom Cold
Author Brittni Chenelle
Description from Amazon
Attempted murder, that’s how sixteen-year-old Princess Charlotte’s engagement starts. It seems like the only thing she has in common with Prince Young of Vires is their mutual discontent.
When her kingdom’s attacked, Charlotte’s parents renegotiate her hand in marriage to a handsome stranger with a sinister plan. With the people Charlotte loves dying around her, and her kingdom’s future at stake, the only person she can turn to is the prince she betrayed. But, should she save her kingdom or her heart? One must fall.
Initial Thoughts
Since I was given a free eARC, I didn’t have too many initial thoughts about this book.  It sounded interesting enough when I applied but I didn’t have a ton of feelings about it.  The description offered on NetGalley is somewhat vague but, it did catch my eye.
Cover Art
Since this is an e-book, it’s difficult to discuss the “shelf appeal” of this book.  However, I do think the cover art is pretty.  I like cherry blossoms and I think they represent Prince Young’s “eastern” kingdom nicely.
I’m not a fan of how the crown is not centered under the title – my inner perfectionist actually hates this.  If this were a physical book, it would never be a forward facing book on my shelf because of that imperfection.
Writing Style
I enjoyed the multiple POV, first person style in this book.  I liked that minor characters were given POV chapters.  It provided a different look at the situations unfolding.
Some Things I Wasn’t Crazy About
The ending.  I hated the ending.  I thought it was pretty unnecessary.  Also, I totally didn’t see the plot connecting itself to a certain famous myth.  No spoilers, but that seemed out of nowhere.  There was one small reference to it earlier on, but I kind of wrote that off an as oversight.
Politics.  In my opinion, the politics, which is the major driver of the plot, make no sense in this story.  At one point, there are three young princes all in love with Charlotte who is basically described as so-so at best.
Final Thoughts
This book was ok.  I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either.  I think it had a lot of potential but it fell short.  The ending (that I didn’t like at all) shaped a lot of my opinion of the whole story.
However, despite it’s flaws, I want to give a special shout out to the fact that this was self-published.  This was impressive work for one person to produce start to finish.
⭐⭐⭐
Recommendations for Further Reading
• The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson – the main female characters in both of these stories are similar.  There is also a sense of arranged marriage for political alliances and the threat of war on one kingdom.
• The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson – Mary E. Pearson can do no wrong.  Her writing is brilliant and amazing.  If you liked the idea of arranged marriage, warring kingdoms, and multiple POVs – read this series.
• The Traitor’s Game by Jennifer A. Nielsen – similar to The Remnant Chronicles Series, The Traitor’s Game is another story of arranged marriage and political alliances.  There is also romance with a seemingly bratty princess type girl and a way to good for her nice guy.
• Kingdom Soul by Brittni Chenelle – the sequel to Kingdom Cold coming in June of 2019.

• Title: Kingdom Cold
• Author: Brittni Chennelle
• Series: Trilogy presently unnamed
• Pages: 278
• Genre: YA Fiction/Romance
• Rating Out of 5 Stars: 3.5

My Thoughts: This was not at all what I expected after reading the synopsis and seeing the book trailer for this title. I thought perhaps some Asian inspired Medieval fantasy. What I got was more Arthurian precursor love triangle.
It was fluffy and full of teenage angst and pining. But it was also a fast paced tale of coming of age, tolerance, friendship, betrayal, love and politics.
The characters were delightfully well rounded. Everyone had their own distinct personalities and the few glimpses we get into some of the other ruling factions made me interested to learn more about them. It was the handling of the romances between the characters that I did find some issues with. With the pacing it seemed like everyone was falling in and out of love too easily. Some conflicts that arose from these scenarios felt a little too convinient but were handled well enough to fit the flow of the story.
While I devoured this book in a couple hours and enjoyed my time reading it it was just kinda..meh in the end. I’ve seen this setup in quite a few of my recent reads which may be why it didn’t have as much of an impact. Hands down the writing is solid, the story is solid and the characters were interesting.

*Copy provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

(2.75) I'll start with how much I appreciate stand alone YA fantasy: it's refreshing and surprisingly hardy. This one wasn't anything to write home about, but honestly it was addictive to read and I put a lot of stock in that for my entertainment. My main (and only stand out) issue was how much the main character annoyed me; at least she wasn't brain dead, I'll take that in any case.