An enjoyable if not particularly innovative YA fantasy, KayLynn Flanders' SHIELDED is a fairly stock warrior princess tale. The pacing is shaky and there's a great deal of expo-dumping in the first half of the book, but Jenna is a compelling heroine and I'd certainly be interested in further reads from Flanders.

On the eve of her birthday, Princess Jennesara finds out that her father agreed to a marriage proposal for her to a neighboring kingdom in exchange for troops to help in a war that they are on the brink of losing. Jennesara has always been a warrior, and wants to go on the battlefield and help the troops defend her home. Her father declines, and instead has her sent off to meet her betrothed, Prince Enzo.

I loved Princess Jennesara. She’s calculating, good-hearted, and a well-rounded protagonist. Prince Enzo is funny, and family-oriented, and overall a likeable character. I didn’t quite like the insta-love that these two have, but it’s a minor complaint in an action-packed book. The one issue that did bother me, that I hope will be resolved in the sequel, is the magic system. It seemed like there were important pieces of the system left out (whether that was intentional or not remains to be seen). I couldn’t quite understand the Princess’s powers either. As soon as I thought I had some grip of understanding, something else would happen that would throw me back into confusionland. I hope that this is clarified and explained better in the sequel.

I received an advanced copy of this title in exchange for my honest opinion.

This unfortunately screams of a debut. The first hundred or so pages are a painful slog about a princess whose father has arranged for her to be married off to a neighboring kingdom. It's actually unfathomably how little happens in the first hundred pages before she travels to the neighboring kingdom and yet how many pages are dedicated to this. Once on the road to her betrothal, her entourage is predictably attacked and our protagonist finds herself journeying through a stand in for LotR's Fangorn forest--this too was another place where the freshman skills of the author were apparent, with both plot and setting bearing unfortunate semblance to other books.

I will say the plot finally picked up after we got to the forest section and the rest of the book progressed considerably more quickly, but it was rife with a myriad cliches and conveniences. Like OF COURSE she hides her identity and almost immediately runs into the prince she's supposed to marry. OF COURSE. I gave this book 2.5* mostly because while it was dumb, the second half was amusing.

Frankly, this felt like a first book attempt where the author needs to work on developing her craft.. maybe in another few years with a few more books under her belt *shrug* I'm sorry I can't be more positive but I've been sitting with this story for several weeks now and alas my impression of the story has pretty much stayed the same since i finished reading it so I have to be honest.

Sadly, after reading 200 pages of this book, I was unable to finish. I personally felt as though the Author spent too much time telling and not showing, and the book was overly filled with descriptions that did not lend themselves to the forward momentum of the plot. In the first 150 pages, for example, there was only one event and that event only took up about 4 pages. Meanwhile, the author spent over 100 pages focusing on the main character traveling without anything eventful happening. I feel that the premise is interesting but the pacing was too difficult for me to overcome.

Love love love!


I will recommend this quick read to anyone and everyone who asks - it's that good!

Where to even begin with this book? There were so many aspects I enjoyed 😍

I absolutely loved the main character, Jenna. I really connected to her. I loved how she broke typical stereotypes of what a princess "should be."
I loved her strength. Not just her fighting skills (which are kickbutt by the way), but her inner strength that made her who she was as a person.

I loved the relationships: between Jenna and her brother Ren, and her friendships with Princess Chiari and Princess Mari, it was so sweet.
And of COURSE her growing romance with Enzo. Can't even begin to describe that! *flails* Their story together was such an amazing arc!

Some of my favorite tropes (which made it even better!) were in this book including arranged engagements, secret magic, hidden identities...I adored how the author played out each of them!

This was 100% my type of book!
Definitely one I'll need to buy so I can add it to my own favorites bookshelf!

I rate it 4/5 stars.

DNF. Unfortunately, I wasn't hooked and wasn't able to finish the story. There was nothing that made me care in the early parts of the book and I never felt grounded in the setting.

I know, I know, You might look at this book and think, "There are dozens like it" and you are probably right, but there is something about this one that I think rises above the others.

This book was a pleasure. I'm going to skip the summary and go straight into what I liked about the book. The strength in this book for me is that it doesn't over elaborate or waste time discussing feelings or issues. It moves at a steady and uncomplicated pace. There is a lot in this story that I am glad there is room for.

I also think this story is fairly realistic. The characters aren't super warriors, they are trained, but they make mistakes, they get hurt. Infact they all spend most of the book hurt. I think that is a lot of what I liked actually. The characters seemed Real. Jenna was going to get married because she thought it was the right thing in her circumstances, not because she wanted to. And Enzo was hurt that she had never acknowledged him as a fiance, even though it was an arranged marriage for him as well.

These characters are complex and emotional and I'm glad for it. They also take the time to reason things out, and don't rush blindly into danger and somehow miraculously survive. I will say that desperation saves them twice, but in a way I found true to the character and story line that had been established. I'm really looking forward to the sequel.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for sending me an e-arc of the book.

This book is about two kingdoms that are but at odd by another kingdom. It follows Princess Jennesara of Halendi who is second born child and has magic which is not liked in the kingdom. Her father makes plans to marry her off to the prince Turia to build an alliance. This is all done in secret because her father feels there is a traitor among his kingdom.

While on the way to her betrothed they were ambushed and told that her father and brother are dead and they blamed Turia. So to get to the bottom of it she goes under cover because everyone thinks she is dead. She becomes guard to the princess of Turia while trying to find out who the traitors are.

This to me is slow burn with action. I say slow burn because the middle part of this book seemed to slow down a bit. That being said this book was so good. It had action, love, hidden identity, and betrayal at it's best. I didnt see it coming. Pretty solid book for me.

Exciting plot developments, the few fight scenes in the story feel very authentic! The character development was also absolutely top tier.

Shielded is Kaylynn Flanders magical debut novel. This is a story about a Princess with a dangerous secret that could change the course of her country. But first she must leave behind everything she’s ever known and journey to another kingdom to try to save her own.

So I was pretty excited to read this book. It was one that I have been anticipating since I stumbled upon it towards the end of last year on Goodreads.

But I found that I struggled getting into this book. I think that if I wasn’t reading this book for this book tour I might have DNFed. I didn’t really get into this book until nearly halfway through.

It started off really good but then it petered off, then got exciting once more, then slowed down again. I wouldn’t have minded if there were short dips between action but they just went on for too long at times. I kept putting the book down and getting distracted. I think I was almost half way through the book before I felt like I was actually invested in the plot.

But once I got past all of this I got really into this story, I think it was around page 170 that I was hooked.

I really liked Flanders’ writing style. I felt like her writing flowed really well, and made the world very vivid in my mind. The world building I thought was good. I really liked the contrast between the two countries: Turia and Halendai, and how they prioritised different things.

I really liked the characters. Jenna I was a very interesting character. This book is written from her point of view, in first person, so there’s a lot of her thoughts and what’s she’s experiencing that I thought were really interesting to read. I really liked how she changes over the course of this book; she starts off not that confident and wanting to stay out of sight, then becomes more confident and an unstoppable force. Her family and friends are very important to her. A lot of Jennasara’s story is influenced by her love for them.

No matter the risk, I would search from the Fjalls to the cliffs if I had to. I would unearth who was responsible and avenge my family, protect my kingdom.

Chapter 7, page 127
Another character that I really liked was Prince Enzo. I liked him from the moment he was introduced. I really liked the scenes between him and Jenna, a lot of them where very cute and I liked that they flirted and began to have feelings for each other before they both knew who exactly the other was. I felt like Enzo was pretty similar to Jenna in how he was very driven by the love for his family, friends and country. Which I think made them very compatible and understand each other well.

I also really liked how Jenna and Enzo worked together to figure out who was behind the attacks at the border and were working towards defeating them.

Some other characters that I liked were; Chiara and Mari (Enzo’s younger sisters), Yesilia, Ren (Jennasara’s brother) and Luc.

I also really liked the villains. I’m not going to go into too much detail about them as that would spoiler the story. But I really liked how these villains were introduced as nameless characters to start off. I thought was really clever how they had a few pages between some chapters written in third person about what they were doing. These pages didn’t give much away but they did add to the intrigue and mystery and offered hints as to who they were and what they wanted.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. I did struggle a bit reading this book for a few chapters. I also struggled with the long chapters as many were around 20 pages, personally I struggle a bit when chapters are long but I was glad that there was breaks and scene changes in many of the chapters that helped. I really liked the writing style and world building. As well as many of the characters. I thought that the magic was very interesting too.

I decided to rate this book 3 stars because I struggled to get into the story and feel connected to the characters and what was happening. But the majority of the book was really good and super enjoyable.

I thought this was a really good debut novel and I can’t wait to read the sequel!

I would recommend this to people that like the Throne of Glass series, Everless, Graceling, The Storm Crow and Spin the Dawn!

Jenna has a huge secret. One that could wreck her father's kingdom if it was found out. So she carefully braids her hair each day just as her late mother taught her, making sure to hide the clear evidence that would have caused chaos. An arranged marriage, a trip to meet her husband, and tragedy strikes Jenna and her traveling companions. More secrets to keep, evil mages to be found, and ancient artifacts to be protected or destroyed. Is she truly all alone in the world? And what will happen when she meets that man that was meant to be her husband but it isn't safe to reveal who she is?

I loved absolutely everything about this book. No damsel in distress, Jenna is a fierce fighter and unafraid to take chances. And she's one of several strong, capable, intelligent female characters that work with the men in their lives to save the day. The world-building is very well done. Flanders definitely knows how to give the reader the necessary history without falling into boring exposition. The ending of this book leaves the reader anticipating the release of the second and wondering just exactly where the plot is going to go from here! This is the first in a series that I will DEFINITELY be finishing!

Shielded absolutely took my breath away! Jenna was a great heroine that was willing to do whatever it takes to protect her family and her kingdom, even if it meant marrying someone she didn’t know to bring extra soldiers to secure the kingdom’s borders. When she finds out that their threat is more than they bargained for, she must make a choice that could put everyone in jeopardy. I enjoyed watching her journey from princess to warrior and I really didn’t want this book to end. Definitely a book I would strongly recommend everyone to read.

With the kingdom of Halendi at war, and rumors of a deadlier threat looming at the border, the King promises his daughter's hand to the Prince of the neighboring kingdom of Turia. In exchange for her hand, Halendi will get the troops they desperately need to stage a better defense. Princess Jennesara is disheartened to learn of her father's deal.

Jenna has a warrior's heart and she knows she could be an advantage if her father would just give her the chance to fight for the kingdom she loves. Unfortunately, the King, and her older brother, Ren, will not be deterred in their goals. Therefore, Jenna will head to Turia just after her 17th-birthday to meet her betrothed, Prince Enzo.

As the journey gets underway, all are aware that a dangerous road lies ahead. They have to pass through the Wild in order to reach their destination. Let's just say the area is aptly named. After the traveling party is ambushed, Jenna is forced to leave all she knows behind her and set out on her own. Hiding her identity, she ultimately ends up in Turia, a guest in the royal castle. What she learns there could be the key to saving not just her kingdom, but their entire world.

Settling in with Shielded, I was expecting a fairly typical YA Fantasy story. However, I'm happy to report, this exceeded my expectations. I really enjoyed the world-development and magic system in this. While Jenna seemed like a fairly typical, 'not like other Princesses'-Princess, I was able to overlook that because the underlining plot was so darn interesting.

The villains in this story, a trio of powerful ancient mages, were incredibly creepy and well done. Their abilities alone upped the stakes, as opposed to just one kingdom battling another. I also liked how much of a role the royal library at Turia played in the story. Once her enemy is known, Jenna does a lot of research on the history of the mages to try to figure out how to defeat them. I loved that element! Give me all them books!!

Overall, I think this is a strong start to a new series. I am super happy with where this left off and the possibilities for the sequel! Thank you so much to the publisher, Delacorte Press, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. This is such a great debut and I look forward to reading more from KayLynn Flanders in the future!

Princess Jennesara knows that she's just as good of a warrior as anyone else in her country's army, but her father refuses to send her to the front to fight. Instead, she's sent off without fanfare or warning to wed the heir of another kingdom—while her brother goes to the front and her father prepares for trouble at home. When her caravan is ambushed and her family killed, Jennesara knows that it's up to her to save her kingdom and uncover the truth.

This was an enjoyable, if pretty standard, YA fantasy. It's a solid YA debut, but I doubt that I will continue with the sequel, even for the hopes that the many unresolved plot threads will be tied up.

The first couple chapters felt a bit like Tamora Pierce meets Adrienne Young, which northern warrior kingdoms and a girl who wields a sword and wants to join the battle. However, from there the similarities to Pierce unraveled, as the worldbuilding in this was haphazard and sloppy.

There're three countries, a Continent or something that the three countries moved to several years ago (?), a Big Bad in the form of centuries old mages, and a great wood that both wanted to kill/protect Jennesara? I'll be honest, I skimmed through a lot of the worldbuilding because it felt so samesies and bare.

When Jennesara travels to through the great woods and lands in the foreign country, I had inklings of Goose Girl, particularly the scenes with the caravan and the ambush and her hiding her identity yet her lovely nature still winning her the boy. I also had hints of Crown Duel, with the boy and his guardian escorting Jennesara while hiding their true identity.

All this is to say—I felt the influences of many other YA books, but I didn't feel that this one stood up on its own. Which is harsh, because this was an enjoyable story. I enjoyed some of the characters, particularly the prince's sisters, and I appreciated that Flanders was ruthless enough to murder several key characters early on (fairly graphically, too), but it was still missing something.

I think my biggest problem were the random cutaways to the Big Bad. It wasn't necessary, nor was it done well. It added more confusion than not, and felt like a poorer version of the cutaways in Green Rider (see, another comparison!).

Anywho, this is a solid debut and a good gateway to YA fantasy.

However, I recommend reading the influencing materials and skipping this book.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review

**Thank you to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

“It was a strange thing, to be so close to your dads yet miss it entirely.”

Princess? Check.
Arrange marriage? Check.
Forbidden magic? Check.

This book check every box that makes up your stereotypical YA fantasy novel. If you love those things, then this is the book for you, but if you like some complexity in your stories you will likely be dissatisfied.

I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either. There wasn’t much that set it apart from every other basic YA fantasy warrior princess story. The world and magic system could use more fleshing out. I mean, one family has had this particular magic for hundreds of years, and they know next to nothing about it? Yeah, okay.

My BIGGEST complaint with the whole books was the pacing. The first 42% was SO SLOW. It took me the better part of two weeks to make it through because I felt like I was trudged through word vomit. Once it got that 43% mark, things picked up and started going, making it a much more enjoyable read. I think using flashbacks throughout the story would have been a more efficient and effective way to provide the information from the beginning of the book without sacrificing the pacing, but to each their own and all.

In the end, I think I would pick up the sequel. It was a solid debut, but with plenty of room for growth.

I’ve been looking forward to this book for so long! Do you not see that fierce woman, with her warrior braid and magic sword, on the cover looking like she’s taking no BS whatsoever? Jenna’s character certainly delivered on that, too, I’m happy to say.

Shielded flips the princess paradox on its head, giving us a princess who can save herself, an elaborate threat against two kingdoms, and some precious sibling bonds.

This book has a lot of really common YA tropes, so if you’re looking for something familiar, something a bit tried and true, this would be a good choice for you. There aren’t a lot of twists in this book or big reveals, but there are some pretty heavy feels and some big emotions.

My Thoughts:

- Jennasara is a princess who’s easy to root for: one who is torn between her freedom and her duty and who is a little too handy with a sword and magic. I loved that she was a warrior princess, essentially, and proud of it. There are several scenes showing Jenna practicing and honing what she deems to be an important skill, and I loved that. She is a warrior in every sense of the word. Her loyalty to her people is also unwavering, even in the face of having to give up her future. Even if she is afraid of not being accepted by them, in the same breath, she would sacrifice her well-being for her kingdom. There are times, however, where it feels like Jenna is a little too good at things, especially considering she routinely talks about how she hasn’t been allowed to travel or interact much with other people since she was young. Yet, she falls into life outside the castle like it’s nothing and she’s been doing it forever. I wish that she struggled a little more with things in Turia, because she doesn’t strike me as a sheltered princess, like she claims in the beginning. I really would’ve loved to see even little nuances of daily life or small customs that she has no idea about and has to learn or relearn, but from what I could tell, Turia was pretty much the same as Hálendi with a few foreign words thrown in.

- There are some fantastic sibling bonds in this book, and I am so in love with this dynamic! Jenna and Ren are just *chef’s kiss*. I fell in love with Ren almost immediately, and who could blame me? The way the two tease each other and are comfortable with each other is endearing, yet they’re not immune to the normal sibling struggles, either. My favorite siblings, by far, are Chiara and Marietta, though that may be because we spend more time with them. I really enjoyed the chance to see these relationships grow and change with the characters.

- Aspects of this world are so interesting, and the mystery surrounding its history is what immediately grabbed my attention! I don’t even know where to begin. The magic feels a little too soft, in that I still can’t exactly tell you all the rules except some people have it … because? And they can do … things. I wish I had a little more of a grasp on it than that, but I don’t. I did, however, really enjoy seeing Jenna growing into her magic and discovering different things it can do. I hope to see more of this in the second book!

- I want to talk about The Wild for a second, because that place is fabulous, and I officially want one. By that I mean it’s terrifying, which is totally my brand. The Wild itself has magic, and it kind of just … does what it wants. In an almost creepy, predatory sort of way. I love it. The way Flanders describes The Wild really brings it to life and highlights both the beauty and the danger of the place.

- But wait! There’s also some dark magic afoot, the kind that was supposedly sealed away forever ago (but we all know what that really goes, don’t we? Ancestors are as sloppy as ever). The Ice Desert absolutely fascinated me, and I want to know more about the mages. As the antagonists, I feel like by the time the book ended, I didn’t actually really know anything at all about them. But I want to! I’d really like to know more about their goal and where they came from and if there are more of them. I’m hoping the next book will delve more into this!

- The one place I think the world-building is a little weaker is in describing the kingdoms of Hálendi and Turia themselves. Other than the repeated distinction between the people (fair-skinned, blond-haired people in Hálendi and dark-haired, olive-skinned people in Turia), the kingdoms feel mostly the same? Oh, and Turians wear looser clothes, but their climate is also warmer. There aren’t really customs Jenna stumbles across or facets of the culture that she has to get used to, and I’d really been hoping for more of how the kingdoms are different or similar from her perspective. Turia is also obviously based off Italy, from the description of people’s clothes to the fact that a few random Italian words are thrown in (and by that I mean like, four Italian words used in the book and they may as well not even have been there). So that was fairly obvious, but less obvious is whether Hálendi is also based off a real country? And if so, where? Given on the emphasis on the fairness of the people, I was thinking one of the Nordic countries, but there’s no hint of that in the culture, or not that I noticed at least. Same with Riiga, which barely comes up. Not anything wrong with any of this, per se. I was just a bit curious.

- There’s a really sweet, soft insta-love romance in this book. If you know me at all, you probably know that the insta-love aspect was kind of a turnoff for me. It’s not my trope. But the good news is that if it’s yours? This romance will be your thing. It could be argued that this romance is maaaaybe insta-attraction instead (which, you know, totally happens) but with the immediate, electrifying connection between them without any explanation as to why they might feel so strongly, it seems more like insta-love to me. While I didn’t feel like the love interest had a particularly strong personality, I did like that he was kind and noble. They made a strong pair, and some of my favorite scenes were when they worked together as a team. So I can definitely see all your insta-love tropers out there falling for this romance! My favorite part was that it was sort of a doomed love, which isn’t quite enemies-to-lovers, but I still love. As you might imagine, this causes quite a bit of emotional turmoil and ramps up the will-they/won’t-they tension between the two, since it seems like everything is pulling them apart.

Sticking Points:

- It’s not an exaggeration to say that the first 50% of this book is a really long traveling montage. Don’t get me wrong, there are some awesome scenes in the first half (and The Wild is fantastic and trippy), but I thought the journeying would never end so that the rest of the plot could finally start. I kept thinking surely, any minute now, we’ll run face-first into the plot, right?! I will say, once it tips past that 50%-ish mark, things start moving at a better pace, and the mystery carries things along nicely. So I would caution readers that if it’s getting a bit slow for your tastes, try to hang in there a little longer!

- The story is mostly told from Jenna’s point of view, but every so often, it switches to an omniscient narrator for a page or two of the antagonists’ points of view, and I’m not sure it added anything to the story for me. Actually, if I’m honest, this confused the heck out of me, because random characters that we’re not introduced yet just appear out of nowhere, talking about things I didn’t know about yet, and I was immediately lost. I think the intent is to build suspense, but there was plenty of suspense for me in Jenna’s section. By the time Jenna starts learning things about the Big Bads, it’s basically an exposition dump of what she read from a book, which is where they’re officially introduced to the reader … you know, like, 60% of the way through the book. Which by then, I had kind of just accepted that I was going to be confused at the end of every chapter when the point of view shifts and that was that.

- The Turians are too nice, for no discernible reason. I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to spoil anything, but what I will say is that too many Turians go out of their way to help Jenna, despite there being so many reasons not to and no obvious reason why they would. Ultimately, in the context of the world, this just doesn’t make sense, and it’s a little frustrating that not one person is suspicious or even considers that Jenna might have ill intentions.

OMG I have no words for this book! I absolutely adored it! Let me see if I can all of this down and make sense.

I loved Jenna! She was strong and determined, but not to the point where she made really stupid decisions, as I have seen in other books. I loved that she had flaws – didn’t automatically know everything and when she did learn something new she wasn’t a master of it right away. We learned about the world outside of her kingdom along with her. We learned about the magic system along side her. I think this decision allowed for a better connection with Jenna and the Shielded world.

Every time we meet someone we are automatically suspicious of them and eventually we become suspicious of people we already know – or at least I was. The political aspects of this, trying to figure out threats and the mystery of this new threat, was intriguing and kept me guessing of who it could be in the end. I can’t go into details on all my suspicions because of spoilers, but I trusted almost no one throughout this story.

Kaylynn’s ability to write atmosphere into her environment left me feeling like I was in each location. I honestly wanted more of the Wild. It was so interesting and mysterious. The other locations fit well together and made sense geographically, which did help with my understanding of where Jenna was travelling. KayLynn’s writing style is easy to digest and interesting – making this to be a fast read (once I was able to sit down and focus on reading lol).

Overall, this was a great start to a new duology, once that I will definitely be continuing on with. If you enjoyed Sorcery of Thorns, A Curse so Dark and Lonely, or The Shadow Between Us then I think you’ll love this one. Shielded does not focus on the romance like some of these other books – in fact any romance is in the background for the most part – so if that held you back from these others then don’t let that stop you from picking up Shielded!

This book was good from the start to the end. I wasn’t sure about the story because I thought Jenna would turned out to be a Princess who would be selfish and not want to help save her kingdom until forced to do so. I was pleasantly surprised that Jenna was selfless Princess who wanted to help save the entire kingdom and was willing to do what her father’s has ask her (after being explained why).

I enjoy majority of the book, it was slow in the beginning but I thought the author was giving us glimpses of who Jenna was and how much she loved her family and the kingdom. It showed how much she was loyal and understood how important her brothel to Prince Enzo was to fight the evil that was trying to destroy the kingdom.

The way Flanders wrote the story kept you guessing who was the one trying to destroy the kingdom. I enjoyed how the romance between Jenna and Enzo was done and it didn’t take over the main storyline. The introduction of Turia’s family especially Enzo’s sisters was really nice especially the friendship they developed between them and Jenna.

I loved Jenna, she was a strong and skilled warrior who do anything to defeat the evil to prevent the kingdom she lives in.

Fast-paced and highly readable fantasy but nothing really standout about the story. I did like our main character,
Princess Jennesara, but I wanted more from her. She hardly put up a fight when her father planned an engagement without telling her! There are two things that I don't particularly care for... using women as pawns and insta-love and we get both of that in this novel.

While it wasn't my cup of tea I would still recommend this book to teens who are in reading slumps and are looking to get swept away in a book.

Thank you to Netgalley for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.