Big thanks to Netgalley and Macmillian-Tor/Forge for the ARC in exchange for a review.

Maralyth is a winemakers daughter who won't inherit the vineyard despite her love of the process. The vineyard will go to her brother. Yet Maralyth has a secret. One that has kept her families vineyard prosperous, despite the king's tax.

When Maralyth is given a opportunity to overthrow the king who's stolen power is her birth right, she has to make choices between the family she's been stolen from and the one who stole from her.

Alec is second in line to the stolen magic that frightens an entire kingdom. Once his brother is married and his wife produces an heir, Alec is free to do as he pleases. Except a plan to put the true heir on the throne throws Alec into a position that her never wanted.

I enjoyed this book. The romance was there in a very YA sort of way (lots of blushing and heated bellies). Overall a decent plot and I will be keeping an eye out for the next in the series!

3.5 stars
Thank you netgalley and publisher for the ARC.

Mara lives on her families Vinyard. Her mother had passed away years before which left her to do the kitchen duties. She is soon abducted by one of the vineyard workers and taken to a Lord at the palace. There so uncovers some of her families history.

For the most part this book was enjoyable. I felt like it was a but rushed in some of the areas. The romance is quick to happen and there wasn't much back story to the magical system or Mara's family line. I'd say this book is a standalone but the author could easily write a second or have a spin off. I'd be interested in both.

I feel that I have already seen everything The Stolen Kingdom attempted to do in other books, and other authors did i much better. There was very little character development, and I'm so tired of the "we just met but we're instantly soulmates" storyline for teenagers. None of the characters were fleshed out or interesting, and there wasn't a good enough plot to save the story.

For a hundred years, the once-prosperous kingdom of Perin Faye has suffered under the rule of greedy and power-hungry Thungrave kings. Maralyth Graylaern, a vinter’s daughter, has no idea her hidden magical power is proof of a secret bloodline and claim to the throne.

I loved this magical story—the perfect fantasy adventure I needed to read. I absolutely adored the romance between the main characters. I could not read this book fast enough!

The Stolen Kingdom is a pretty simple fantasy story for younger readers. Unfortunately, I found it too simple for my liking, the character development a bit odd, even disturbing in one particular case, and the world-building quite weak. I also fervently wished the writing style had less telling and more showing. I also couldn’t help but notice that a lot of the plot lines seemed very similar to other very well-known fantasy novels.

The story follows young Maralyth, who grows up on a very famous family vineyard. Maralyth loves the vineyard with all her heart, and even uses magic to help the grapes and vines along, despite her late mother’s intense, lifelong fears over the fact that her daughter has magic. One day, despite her mother’s many warnings, Maralyth is finally caught using her magic and kidnapped. To her surprise, her magic comes from the Dallowyn bloodline, meaning she is the rightful heir to the stolen throne, and its titular kingdom. With the safety of her family’s safety threatened if she chooses not to take up her role as rightful Queen, Maralyth reluctantly joins the plans for a coup and begins her royalty training.

This plotline gave me really strong The Queen of the Tearling vibes, but it just doesn’t compare to the other young adult novel. We don’t see any of Maraylth’s royalty training, which I think I can safely assume would need to be very intense, as she grew up on a vineyard, sometimes working out in the vines with male crew members, but spending most of her time in the kitchen. Unfortunately, we are just told in passing that her lessons on etiquette, manners, and the important families are given to Maralyth at some point. This is in stark contrast to Kelsea, the heroine from The Queen of the Tearling, who spent her entire life in hiding, training, until she was ready to take back the throne.

It wasn’t in these plans for her to fall for the King’s second son, Alac. Maralyth and Alac are instantly attracted to each other. Coincidentally, the prince also has a keen interest in wine-making and hates the dark magic that consumes his family after they stole it from the rightful royal line. Outside of resenting losing his father and brother to the grip of this magic, and his interest in winemaking, there’s not a whole lot to Alac. Maralyth, with her caring heart and quiet observance, is the stronger character.

“Regardless of my attempts at guarding my heart, he’d wormed his way in. If I landed on the throne, I would spend the rest of my life regretting the loss of this funny, kindhearted, thoughtful prince who defied everything I’d come to believe about him and his family.”

I wish I could say readers are in for a treat to watch these two on a star-crossed lovers romantic collision course, as Maralyth and the nobles supporting the Dallowyn bloodline prepare for the coup, but they just aren’t. Maralyth and Alac are really just another case of instalove, with the two only interacting on a handful of occasions throughout the mere two weeks that they know each other. But it’s not their stilted courtship and shallow instalove that bothered me the most, it was what came after the coup attempt. Instead of being happy that Maralyth, the girl he has feelings for, saved his life during the culling of the rest of the family, Alac is furious at her betrayal and imagines a whole slew of violent things he wants to do to her in recompense, all in first person:

“I wanted to take her by the hair and slam her into the ground. Yell at her face until she shrank away, small and defeated. Throw her from a high wall and watch her fall.”

Yikes, just yikes. I couldn’t help but to be very disturbed and alarmed by Alac’s thoughts. Clearly Alac was not the prince charming he appeared to be. I was even more appalled and concerned for Maralyth when she reentered a relationship with him. I was very taken aback by his feelings, and clearly Maralyth obviously has no idea about the inner murderous thoughts of Alac. I honestly don’t know why anyone thought these violent urges about the main female character, especially those of the main male protagonist/love interest and not some evil villain were a good idea to publish, let alone in a novel geared toward impressionable younger audiences. My only guess was that perhaps the author was going for a bit of Red Wedding feeling from Game of Thrones, as the coup does take place at a wedding. Perhaps the author was just hoping to make her characters appear deeply hurt and conflicted, but it very much missed the mark, and instead made the main love interest look like a potential murderer. It felt much more like writing the beginning of a vengeance arc for Alac, than him still being in love with Maralyth and conflicted about the role she had in the killing of his family.

As an adult, I really couldn’t ignore Alac’s statements, combined with his obsession with having the woman he supposedly loved executed for the death of a family he never really liked anyways. Because of all of his inner thoughts, the happy ending of the novel, with Alac and Maralyth kissing me made me feel a bit ill. I couldn’t help but wonder if he would harm or worse, murder Maralyth at the first opportunity. Not a concern I like to have in my romances. And she allows him to leave and to study winemaking with her family, who has been used to hold her hostage before, so clearly no lesson has been learned there. To me, this situation seems more like a setup for future horrible political betrayal and takeover in a sequel than an actual happy ending.

Unfortunately, there’s not much to be said for the rest of the cast of characters either. Other characters are one dimensional and flat, only showing up when it’s convenient to move the plot forward in some manner. To make matters worse, we are told more about them than we are actually shown. For instance, we are flat out told, not shown, why Alac likes his best friend:

“That’s what I liked about Tucker–I could say things about my royal sibling that would normally be frowned upon at best, and he didn’t miss a beat.”

Alac’s best friend serves only as his personal guard when it’s convenient to need a guard in the story. He also serves as a confidant to the prince, but I know nothing else about the character outside of his service to his prince. We are not told about his family, his training, or his relationship with anyone other than the prince. Again, their friendship reminded me of a very pale imitation of another novel’s friendship, that of Prince Dorian and Chaol Westfield’s in the Throne of Glass series. Other characters aren’t much better off, with Maralyth’s father only being a tool to be used against her, and her brother only made another appearance at the end to have her graciously bestow upon him a position as a council member. And this was more to demonstrate what a great and wise Queen Maralyth was then for any other purpose. There’s simply no depth to secondary characters, and they are merely used as plot devices.

Sadly, the world-building doesn’t make up for the lackluster, and odd in the case of Alac, character development. Though The Stolen Kingdom tells us how important it is that Alac’s family, the usurpers of the kingdom are overthrown, there’s not really much talk about how big the kingdom is, the kind of upheaval that happened when they murdered the last of the Dallowyn line, or how little they care for their subjects. Readers know nothing about if other kingdoms would like to see their rule overthrown and would support Maralyth’s coup, or anything else. After reading The Stolen Kingdom, I know nothing about the name of the world, the kingdom, or how the world would be affected by a coup. All we are told, in passing, is that every century or so is that a Dallowyn pretender tries to stake a claim on the throne and a resulting rebellion results, which makes me think the author has read The Wheel of Time series more than anything. But it doesn’t seem like there are any lasting effects of these rebellions as far as I can tell. As a result, I really wasn’t that invested in Maralyth’s ploy. The stakes just didn’t seem that high.

The magic system has a bit more work put into it, but it is still only bare bones. We learn that the Dallowyn magic comes from the Holy Gods themselves, and that it is neither good or bad. The fact that Alac’s family, the Thangraves, murdered a Dallowyn king, who had made a deal with them to share the magic with them, is what made this stolen magic turn dark. That dark magic has cursed the Thangrave family ever since. Somehow, Maralyth can use the purer version of this magic, despite the Thangraves having supposedly stolen it, and doesn’t really need any training to learn how to use it. She just picks it up naturally as a child, and it becomes stronger over time. Knowing of her daughter’s true lineage, her late mother, who lived the rest of her life in disguise, warned Maralyth from using it for her own protection.

Even after reading The Stolen Kingdom I’m not really sure what the purpose of it was or who exactly the intended audience was. I’m not certain if it was supposed to be primarily a story of political intrigue, a romance, a tale of revenge, or a fantasy novel. What I do know is that it does not do any of these things particularly well. I also found it confusing that such a simplistic novel, especially for a fantasy story, seemed to have a lot more adult themes, such as kidnapping, graphic depictions and wishes for violence, and even the main character dealing with the unwanted affections of an older man. I feel that The Stolen Kingdom was trying to hit as hard and emotionally, as Game of Thrones, but it doesn’t even have an iota of the complexity or development to do so. It is also marketed as a young adult novel, but I don’t feel it is intricate enough to be considered one, despite the sometimes more adult subject matter. I wish The Stolen Kingdom had decided more resolutely what it wanted to be, a romance novel with light fantasy elements, a coming of age novel with a strong heroine, a political fantasy novel with tons of intrigue, revenge, and scheming, or a novel suitable for young readers. In its failure to decide, the novel truly stymies itself, and is more of a perplexing read than an entertaining or enjoyable one.

I wish The Stolen Kingdom had spent more time on developing every part of the novel, to be honest–from the world-building down to the most minimal side character. What was a good idea of star-crossed lovers, magic, rival claims to the throne, and a young woman coming into her own missed the mark, especially on the romance note. To me, it seemed more plausible that the novel ended political betrayal or domestic violence than with the happy ending it seemed to want to push at the same time it inexplicably made its male protagonist a villain.

If not for the murderous thoughts for one of the narrators, Alac, I would have said that The Stolen Kingdom might be a good place for very young teens to start their foray into fantasy. But I can’t in good conscience recommend this novel to younger readers, as I wouldn’t want my young teen thinking the romance between Alac and Maralyth is a healthy relationship model. Younger readers looking to explore fantasy would be better off sticking to authors like Tamora Pierce or Robin McKinley. I think if The Stolen Kingdom, which had so much potential in the root of its idea, had simply spent more time on creating its universe, bigger repercussions that did not concern violence between love interests, giving characters more of a role outside of each other, and writing with a more set audience in mind, I would’ve liked it a lot better.

I do love a great YA fantasy novel and this would mark off a lot of ticks for me. The author built a great world and the characters were well written. The first part of the story was a little slow, but it did pick up. I loved the storyline, at times it did lag, but overall I would recommend this book. It was a well written and a can't wait to read what's next!

The Stolen Kingdom - 2 Stars out of 5

Just another basic fantasy storyline that if you have read YA novels for a while, you have read over 100 times. The book's start was definitely slow going, and I struggled to get to a point where I actually wanted to finish the story, as I found the world-building with events to be annoying. (This could be because I read some fantastic books this month because you know quarantine) The plot of women hiding their magic is just overdone for me. Regardless, this would be a great book for someone who wants to get back into reading or start fantasy readings. This is a great standalone that is well written, with more modern themes added in. This book will get you sucked into the great world of fantasy, just not for me.

I was provided a copy of The Stolen Kingdom in return for my honest review. Thank you so much to Netgalley and the Publishers for a copy of this novel.

ARC provided by Netgalley

"That all along, my heart had known, in its own way, that it would never be able to let him go. Crown or no crown. Kingdom or no kingdom. Magic or no magic."

A kingdom stolen by dark magic. A girl who secretly is a princess. A prince who feared magic. This book tells a tale of magic, political intrigue, loyalty, betrayal, and love.

I love it! It was a bit slow-paced at first and maybe confusing with many titles and historical events, but if you pushed through it, its worth it! Things picked up after Mara meet Alac, and the rest of the book is amazing!

A girl with magical gifts from a secret blood line and a second in line prince who doesn’t want to sit on cross path in this story of forbidden romance, magic, and political intrigue. The story follows Maralyth, a vintner’s daughter who has always been blessed with gifts she had to keep hidden.She is kidnapped one day and told that her magical powers are proof of her secret bloodline, a bloodline that claims she is the proper heir to the throne and can fix the rampant magic running around the kingdom. She is forced to infiltrate the kingdom but finds herself constantly around the king’s second son, Alac. Alac has always feared magic and never wanted to be on the throne, yet one day his father leaves him a locket and tells him that it is filled with magic and that it will protect him should his brother die. Alac and Maralyth find that they just can’t keep away from one another and the budding relationship between them, yet how can they ever hope to make it out if they’re secrets and political assassinations are surrounding them. This was a fun read and I really enjoyed it! I loved that you go to read from both of the character’s POVs and I enjoyed the light romance. The magic and political intrigue was a nice touch and this was an overall really fun magical book!!!

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Comfort food for the YA romance loving soul.
Sometimes you just need a fun light read. This book was that for me. If you are in the market for something new with groundbreaking new plots and tropes this probably isn't what you're searching for. If you just want a book you know you're going to enjoy. This book was well written, had an enjoyable plot, stolen magic, and a sweet romance. I liked that it's a stand-alone book. I was wondering about halfway how Mrs. Boehme was going to get Maralyth and Prince Alac to reconcile such enormous obstacles in the way to them becoming close but it was very well done. I almost wish there was a sequel because I'd like to see more of Maralyth and Alac and the kingdom of Perin Faye.

On a personal note in the acknowledgments, Mrs. Boehme says she never dreamed she could write a book. She said her first attempt was terrible. This really touched me and I just want to say. Girl you didn't just do it, you did it GOODDDDD!!! I can't wait to see what you write next because you defiantly have a God-given talent!

The Stolen Kingdom
By. Jillian Boehme
P. 320
Format: eArc
Rating: ***
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I received an e-arc from @Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
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The Stolen Kingdom is Young Adult full of YA tropes. I read YA, and I enjoy YA books that go against the formalistic approach to YA books. The Stolen Kingdom is not this. This book embraces all that it means to be YA overdone tropes and all. I know that many readers are all for this. If that is you then you will most likely love The Stolen Kingdom.

The writing of The Stolen Kingdom starts rough, but after the first 10% it smooths out and becomes enjoyable. The plot is eh. It has good bones but couldk have used a bit more dynamics and flushing out. The characters felt a little flat to me. I am not sure how to explain it without spoilers. Basically. . . one of the main characters has their life completely changed and they and they automatically accept this change, even more they embraced it and consider it their due. There wasn’t a growth process to get from one point to another - it just happened. The second main character felt flat from beginning to end. The only thing real about them is how inconsistent their desires were.

The Stolen Kingdom is not a bad book. It was just not for me. I know that there are going to be quite a few people who enjoy this story. I think the book deserves that. However, I am not one of them.

This is more of a 3.5 star read, it seems. The premise of this book was intriguing, and I was super excited to read a love story set in a corrupt kingdom, with magic integrated throughout. Though I'm sure that was the goal, I was disappointed to see that none of these categories left me fully satisfied. I found the characters to be somewhat 2-D, and I couldn't find myself relating to them or empathizing with their struggles. There didn't seem to be much development over the course of the story for anyone, and that was disappointing. Their romance also had the potential to be exciting and tense. However, we did not get many of the high-stakes moments I was looking for, and our protagonists had few scenes together that suggested anything romantic. Additionally, much of this book was centered around vineyards and wine. Because this is marketed as YA, I was a bit confused as to why wine would be included in something written for teenagers- most cannot drink it (unless they're in other parts of the world other than America), and many do not enjoy it. This all being said, I did enjoy the world and the magic system- the author managed to pack a century of history into 300-something pages, and I thought that was very impressive and interesting. I really wish we got to see more of the romance between Mara and Alac- that is my main complaint. Other than that, it was enjoyable! There is a side character, Tucker, that I wish we got to see more of- he was funny, sarcastic, and charismatic, and to be honest, I would've loved to see him have his own book! I also wish there was more diversity- that was severely lacking in this story. If you're looking for a wine-centered political fantasy, this is for you.

Maralyth has a secret - she can make things grow when she touches them. It’s a good skill to have since her family owns a vineyard, except she’s always in the kitchen making meals for her father’s workers. Everything changes when she’s kidnapped and forced to be an unwilling accomplice to overthrow the current rulers...and become the new queen.

Prince Alac Thungrave, second in line to the throne, doesn’t want the king since he has seen what the kingdom’s black magic has done to his father. When he meets the mysterious Mara, he is captivated. Alac and Mara grow closer to each other, and at the last minute Mara saves him from assassination. Soon Mara is on the run and dangerous black magic has been released on the kingdom. How can they save each other and the kingdom?

If you YA fantasy like adventures from Tamora Pierce or Rae Carson, you’ll love THE STOLEN KINGDOM! I enjoyed the way the story developed and always kept me guessing. The alternating perspective between Mara and Alac really enhanced the tale. Here’s hoping there is a sequel because I want MORE of their story. :-)

An enjoyable read involving magic, adventure, secrets, romance and more! Stolen magic has disastrous consequences, for the people of Perin Faye have suffered greatly because of it. The ones who took control of the kingdom through blood and deceit took a once prosperous land and turned into poor ones. Mara uses her magic to help her father's vineyard, not understanding the magic but drawn to it until it draws the wrong attention. Involved in a plot to reclaim the kingdom, Mara comes face to face with Alac, the spare heir, and sees him as a kind person who truly wants to help his people. Alac knows of the dark deeds his family has done and now bares a terrible weight that he fights with daily. The darkness is spreading, and Alac knows what he must do to save his people, even though he knows the taint the magic has. But, nothing goes the way it is supposed to. Mara and Alac find themselves interested in each other, but Mara knows nothing can come it, but cannot help her feelings. As the darkness grows and begins to spread, Alac and Mara will have to set aside their issues with each other to stop the spread and save the kingdom.
I received this novel from net galley and the publisher as an ARC. Thank you! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

As a standalone fantasy, this book did a lot of things right - great writing, a quick pace, and an enchanting love story. I would have loved for the secondary characters to shine a little more and for the plot to be further developed, but other than that it was quick and definitely worth the read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Teen for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this! The action and plot kept me engaged throughout, I really enjoyed the characters and how they understood their own strengths and weaknesses, and I just overall really enjoyed reading this. As much as a I love a long, descriptive fantasy series it was really nice to read a shorter stand-alone that moved the story along.

It's been a long while since I've read a fantasy standalone, I'm glad I broke this streak with this book! The Stolen Kingdom works very well this way. It set's up a world that hint's at its complex nature and thought through history, without loosing itself in explanations and distractions. This book is slightly obsessed with vineyards and I've got to be honest, that alone would've sold me. More vineyards in (fantasy) books please!

The two main characters, Mara and Alac, were two very likeable characters from the get-go and we followed them not only getting to know each other but also themselves and growing throughout the story. I found some of their decisions rather questionable but I gotta admit I imagined them around the age of 25. Later on the fiancée of Alac's older brother was revealed to be just 16-years-old and I derived from that that Mara and Alac would be around the same age so these choices made a lot more sense coming from teenagers.
I enjoyed the romance these two had, the instant attraction but afterwards it did not develop too fast or without care for the plot. I know I said I loved this as a standalone ..but I really wanna see more of them?

I didn't like how most of the twist were handled, mostly because they cheapened the impact the previous scenes had and erased consequences of character growth or actions taken. It ended up feeling like an unwillingness to commit.

Overall I really enjoyed this story, especially the magic system and the discussions about how good and bad rulers effect the lives of the people living under their rule!

*3.5/5 𝘢𝘳𝘤 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺
Full reading vlog posted on my TikTok @zitaknowshowtoread
(I'm trying out a new way of structuring my reviews)

CHARACTERS: This book was told from the point of view of our two main characters Alac, the second son of a king corrupted by stolen magic and Mara, the rightful heir to the throne. They each had a unique voice and I was relieved I never found myself going back to check who's POV I was reading (a problem I often find with multiple POV books).

ROMANCE: I am an absolute sucker for forbidden romances and this book DELIVERED as enemies fighting for the throne of Perin Faye. Mara and Alac complemented each other well and managed to stand out in their own right without overshadowing one another and suffering from having their only personality be "love interest".

WRITING: I found the writing to be beautiful and descriptive while still being clear and easy to comprehend.

DISLIKES: First off I would like to say that this book had absolutely no diversity as far as I could tell. Secondly, although I enjoyed the writing and characters I felt as though I had read it before. The magic system was unique but the whole "girls finds out she's secretly royalty" is a little overdone in my opinion.

Three and a half
This for me is hard to rate. A very interesting idea with characters that shine . Sadly I just kept wanting the pages to turn quicker so clearly not a,story that enthralled me and held my attention
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

This book was kindly provided by Macmillan-Tor/Forge via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Before I get into the full review, I need to say that this book blew me away. I did not expect to enjoy this book so thoroughly, and to devour it like I did. And now, on to the review.

The Stolen Kingdom follows the story of Maralyth, a vintners daughter with a royal history unknown to her, and Alac, the “spare” prince of the kingdom of Perin Faye. Through a serious of unexpected events, they develop a tentative friendship turned foeship, which eventually leads to them working together to save the kingdom from dark magic.

It’s not often that you see such a well developed stand alone fantasy book. In the span of a few hundred pages, Boehme developed a world, a plot, and a well thought out magic system, that many popular fantasy series take two or three books to develop. And her world building did not retract from her character development either. I think she did a wonderful job of fully developing Alac and Mara, giving them both stories you loved and understood, leaving you rooting for them both.

Her unique magic system, the connection of a persons magic to blood, time, and life, was extremely fascinating to me. Additionally, I thought the way she exposed the reader to different aspects of the magic system was well timed and thought out. She also didn’t skimp on the history of the kingdom, letting you see glimpses of a past that helped to enlighten reader on the reasons why some things were happening.

I am not lying when I say I really can’t find much wrong with this book. For me, it was an intriguing read, and the only reason it wasn’t five stars is that it didn’t lend me to feeling a span of emotions. It was pleasant, but not moving.

Truthfully, I would suggest that anyone who likes fantasy and has a spare day to sit down and devour a book, should pick up this book on March 2nd. They will not be disappointed.