ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I haven't read a fantasy book in such a long time and when I read The Stolen Kingdom it felt very refreshing. I easily fell into the world of Perin Faye and I found myself enjoying the story from the very start. The writing style was addictive and fast paced and I loved the way Jillian Boehme created the world.

The Stolen Kingdom follows Maralyth Graylaern, the daughter of a winemaker who suddenly discovers she is of the Dallowyn bloodline and therefore has a claim to the throne. She goes on a quest to free Perin Faye of its ruthless king and his family, the Thungraves whose powerhungry and greedy nature has caused destruction and, in the most dire of occasions, death.

I loved how this book was in dual perspectives so that we could see glimpses into Mara's and Alac's point of views. I liked Mara although I did find her a bit passive at the start to all the events that unfolded around her. I liked how she became a stronger character towards the end and she took responsibility for her actions more. I liked Alac more though and I liked how he was silently yearning for a life outside of the dangerous bounds of royalty and the crown. He wanted to get into wine-making, a desire he mentioned to nobody and kept to himself. I loved those glimpses into his character and I wished we had those kinds of glimpses with Mara.

Side characters wise, I didn't really feel a strong connection to anyone really but I did like Tucker a lot. He was my favourite character hands down with his wit and comedy. I must admit, at the start, I did find him a little bit annoying but he definitely redeemed himself during the cat-and-mouse game (if you will). The other character that I liked a lot was Cannon. I can't explain why I liked him but for some reason his bloodthirsty-ness, arrogance and cut-throat nature lured me into the story more. I wished he had more page time. The one character I really disliked was Ellian who seemed to be one of the villains of the story. I felt like the development of the events surrounding her escalated really quickly (which I suppose was the point) however, I wanted a smoother transition of it so we could see those events progress. It was because of that I didn't like the way the middle to end of the book played out however, I do admit, the ending did tie up really nicely and overall I'm very happy with how it ended.

Romance wise, I loved how it wasn't a big focus of the book. There was romance however, it was more on the side than a lot of young adult fantasies are. For example, a kiss would turn into more kissing and more kissing would eventually escalate into something more without much of a transition. Eventually, there wouldn't be much for relationship growth in the next few books and there wouldn't be much to be desired by the reader. In The Stolen Kingdom though, I loved the direction Jillian Boehme took with the romance. It felt very full circle however, there still was enough material there for a potential sequel.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to all the fantasy lovers out there who want a quick and easy read.

ACTUAL RATING: 3.8 STARS

This was a fantastic YA Fantasy, told from duel POVs. If you think it sounds good, I would definitely recommend reading it!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

I’m always down for some good ole court intrigue, which is why I initially requested this book. Of course, that’s also one of those phrases that book blurbs often use that more often than not simply translates to “unrealistic drama” of the sort that reduces me to eye rolls. Sadly, that was the case here.

Maralyth has grown up helping to run her father’s renown vineyard. Though she is skilled at tending the vines (more so than her family even knows, with a magical ability to help plant flourish), she finds herself minding the kitchen and serving the workers meals after her mother dies, leaving this role vacant. But Maralyth knows there is a bigger future before her. Bigger even that she could have expected, when she is snatched away from this lowly life and finds herself caught up in plots to overthrow the throne. As for Alac, the second son of the king, he, too, is uncomfortable with his lot and life. And when a mysterious young woman shows up in court, he finds he, too, has an unexpected future before him.

Sigh. So, this wasn’t what I had hoped it could be, and I always struggle with these types of reviews. I don’t like to just spend an entire post ragging on a book, but sometimes it really is hard to come up with things I liked about some of these. Perhaps, if you’re appetite for fairly generic YA fantasy (super light on the fantasy and more heavy on the romance), this book could appeal to you. The writing is competent enough, and while the plot is very “write-by-numbers,” is also comfortingly predictable, if that’s what you’re looking for. Unfortunately, it was decidedly not what I was looking for.

The biggest problem for me was the characters. I’m definitely a reader whose experience of a book is largely defined by how I feel about the characters. Of course, I like the magic and mystery, but if the characters feel flat, it’s really hard for me to get past that. And here, there was nothing really going for either of the two leads (another ding against this was the fact that there even were two leads to begin with, as, more and more, I’m growing to dislike these fantasy romance stories that feature both love interest’s perspective). Sadly, each character falls into the worst tropes of the YA genre. The leading lady (dumb name Maralyth) is essentially a special snowflake who is plucked out of her ordinary life to discover that she has a magical and wonderous heritage. The leading man (dumber name/spelling Alac) regularly demeans the looks of the women around him (at one point going so far as to mentally fat shame a young woman) and only falls for Maralyth because she’s “not like other girls.” If you’ve been reading this blog for long, you’ll know that the “not like other girls” motivation for love is probably one of my absolute biggest pet peeves. It’s pretty much a guaranteed “out” for me. That’s not even getting into some of his violent thoughts when he gets angry with Maralyth, a fact that is glossed over and somehow even romanticized.

The world-building and plot were perhaps better in that they weren’t actively enraging, but that’s not saying much. Like I said above, the story follows a fairly predictable path, with many of the character’s choices being easily predicted early in the story. And, while I appreciated that the author wrote a stand-alone story, it also ended up crippling much of the world-building. There is a religion that is included but given very little depth or explanation. Wars and other countries/regions are mentioned, but the story never takes the time to fully flesh any of this out. It left the entire reading experience feeling fairly flat, relying too heavily on its main characters who weren’t up to the task of carrying the story on their own.

This book was a pretty big disappointment. The main characters were incredibly unlikable, proving that some tropes are too persistent to die in the fiery pit from whence they should be thrown. It’s really too bad, especially because stand-alone YA fantasy stories are so hard to find.

Rating 5: The main characters were too rage-inducing for me to focus on much else.

The Stolen Kingdom is good but has the potential to be better. The plot is interesting with some twists I saw coming and others I did not. Mara and Alac, with their individual backstories and aspirations, are compelling characters. While I enjoyed the novel, especially as the magic system was slowly unveiled, I never reached that climactic moment where I thought it was too good to put down. While reading, I continuously thought about how great it would be as a duology or even a trilogy. There is a lot packed here that could easily be expanded into an additional book or two had there been more detail. For instance, with minimal descriptions, there lacked a sense of place such that the world appeared generic to me. There was very little build-up to pivotal moments in the plot. Aside from these factors, I generally liked Boehme's writing style. I still enjoyed the book and will look forward to more from Boehme.

This was so much fun!

I loved the story, characters, and setting. Although the magic system was simple, it was still fun to read.

This is a good one for fans of The Princess Will Save You, Twin Daggers, or fairytale-style books.

I absolutely loved this book! The story draws you in right from the start and keeps you guessing the whole way through. Jillian Boehme creates a magical world you will want to live in. The main character's magical powers are creative, and it's fun going along with her as she discovers more about her powers and herself. Fantastic story!

This was an interesting fantasy read; I found the world-building to be intriguing and the character arcs to be well-developed.

I really enjoyed this book and I really want to see more books from Jillian Boehme in the future. I don't know what else to say, to be honest.

Oh where to begin. At the start maybe...
I have to be honest, I couldn't get into Mara and Alac's story for approx the first 30% and then it grabbed hold of me and wouldn't let up.

I think the beginning was necessary as it is, as it laid the foundations, but I only understood this after events starting taking place. And when that happened I was fully emotional invested with their journey.

Both characters were engageable, though sometimes I felt each one knew a little too much or guessed correctly about the other, which made fo smoothness and no exta tension, eg when a character thinks something up that's completely wrong. So there was any tension per se between them.

All in all the loss of star is for the slightly repetitive story deliverance between POVs and the slower start. I would recommend this to friends who read fantasy as it does have an interesting story and characters that are 3D and bring the story to life in your mind.

Review: 3 Stars

I have to admit that this book grabbed my attention with its gorgeous cover and I requested an eARC. When I read the blurb I found it intriguing and figured I might pick it up at some point. But then I received a physical ARC on my doorstep and I couldn’t resist picking it up right away. The Stolen Kingdom grabbed my attention right away since Mara had the power to make plants grow. I have started spring cleaning my gardens, so I figured that this would be the perfect book to listen to while doing some early garden work. The Stolen Kingdom was an easy read that kept me absorbed, but overall I found it to be a rather unremarkable book.

Let’s start with where this book really shines. The Stolen Kingdom has a pretty great plot and the magic is really cool. I love books that take place at court and are filled with deception, betrayal and intrigue. The Stolen Kingdom focuses on Mara, the lost true heir to the throne, and Alac, who is the second prince. There is plenty of deception to be had and a plot to seize the throne. The plot was really compelling and the backbone of the story was really strong. The world was built well and the history of the magic and who it belonged to was explained well without excess detail. The book moved at a steady pace and was a really easy and light read.

While there were great ideas behind the novel, it all fell apart in the execution. The one major flaw was that the characters felt like cardboard cut outs. There was very little depth to any of the characters and the dialogue and banter felt forced. The characters’ motivations made very little sense and the romance was hard to believe. I had absolutely no emotional attachment to the characters and also felt like the lacked any emotions themselves. There are important deaths that are completely glossed over with no grief at all and the characters magically come together for a romance just to fit the plot.

The Stolen Kingdom was a fast read with a really cool world and a good plot, but it was hard to ignore some serious flaws. The characters were incredibly one dimensional and went along with things for the sake of the plot rather than their own motivations. It’s hard for me to review this one because it’s full of great ideas, but the execution of them didn’t work for me. The Stolen Kingdom was an easy read, but it isn’t one that I would recommend.

The cover is just beautiful, which is what first drew me in.
The characters were great, I loved the dynamic between Mara and Alac.
The pacing could have been just a bit slower to me, as in parts it felt like the plot was moving too fast.
Overall I did enjoy it.

I thought this was a fun quick read. The world building was great. The love story was a little fast in my opinion but that’s ok. I found myself picking this back up after I said that I was going to do other things which is a great measure of a book for me.

I was really excited that I was given an early copy of The Stolen Kingdom. But of course, I was behind my tbr piles but I was fortunately enough to read The Stolen Kingdom. And my impression of this book was that it has potential. I really love that the female character is finding herself but she needs to focus on her goals instead of other people. That really bugged me because you can't always trust people. They always have some type of motive and it may not be in your favor. Something that Maralyth needs to keep an eye on.

The Stolen Kingdom was everything I hoped it would be and more. I am still cheering for our heroine now that the story is finished, but far from over. It was such a sweet, thrilling, standalone. I enjoyed the banter, the drama, and the twists and turns this story took.

The Stolen Kingdom was one of those books that I really wanted once I saw the cover. It was just beautiful and intrigued me so freaking much. Then I read the synopsis and I was basically sold. Although occasionally unpolished, the writing is well-crafted and heady with emotion, which I think can sometimes be hard to pull off, the setting, politics, culture, and people of the descent of the drowned are vibrant; the world-building I think is this novel's greatest strength.
Full review to come on my YouTube channel: Holly Hearts Books

This was a fun, quick read. I really enjoyed the magic that was used in this book. I really liked how Maralyth used her magic, especially in the beginning. She also slowly realizes that she can expand on her abilities and tests the limits throughout the book.

The romance could have been more developed in my opinion. Maralyth and Alac fall in love very quickly and have an intense draw towards one another that causes them to act recklessly. But don’t get thrown off by how I phrased that - there are zero sex scenes or anything inappropriate in this book. It’s a very sweet love story.

While the plot might seem ‘overdone’ to some, I really enjoyed it! I wasn’t expecting any crazy twists or anything and this book delivered exactly what I wanted. It’s a quick, fun, and easy read!

I could not put this book down! Such a great plot line and I loved the way the characters moved through the story. Would definitely recommend!

I really enjoyed this book and appreciate the fact that it's an epic fantasy standalone (so rare and a nice break from my beloved series).
Mara and Alac are a pair you want to root for and nothing feels forced or too fast been them, even if their history muddies things greatly.
There were a few slow parts, and I wish that the religion (which seems to play a larger role than was explained) was featured more. Other than those minor quips I found this a very enjoyable read that hits on many YA fantasy tropes I enjoy.
I recommend this book for lovers of YA fantasy who enjoy a clean romance and courtly intrigue.

So I read this book about a month ago and I truly don’t really remember much. When I read the book it was good, but it was not action-packed, and with these types of fantasy books I need excitement.

I really liked the concept of the magic system of this story, because it was a unique twist on light versus dark magic. The magic system was very complex and had a whole backstory which I heavily enjoyed, because in most magic books the magic is generally not explained, and The Stolen Kingdom was very thorough about how the magic worked and its backstory. The story was written very well and was extremely well-paced, it was never boring or slow for long amounts of time. The characters were interesting and were well developed. The characters had really strong growth especially Mara.

However I felt that the story wasn’t super exciting, the romance was lacking. I personally did not love this story, but it was not bad. I felt like something was missing, the synopsis claims there is forbidden love, and I am a huge sucker for romance, and the “romance” in this story was severely lacking, and the ending just felt abrupt. With all that being said, I enjoyed it but it was definitely no my favorite.

This was an interesting dual POV where it took time for the two main characters to meet in the story. The magical elements were unique. This had an enemies to lovers type storyline, but it didn't take long for the characters to get past that, and I wish there had been a little more tension in their relationship.

I appreciated that this was a standalone and we got the entire story in one sitting. This was a good fantasy YA novel. If you are looking for a story with a strong female who is out to save her kingdom. The male protagonist is trying to achieve the same thing.

Lots of references to light and pure, and dark and evil magic. This is a sweet romance in the end. It is a clean story and really about the fight between good and evil.