One of the things I am doing with this new space is going back into my reviews of books I loved and re-posting them here.

For some like this 2-book wonder series, I am combining multiple reviews into one post just for convenience and well….you should just get the two books one time. Reading the first book will irk your soul, without book two to follow. If you loved book 1, book 2 is a must read. It is that simple.

I will separate the two reviews. In this case, they were short, but that was not a measure of how much I enjoyed this series. This was one of what I call my “Unicorn Treasures.”

What are Unicorn Treasures? I will do a detailed post on that but for now, these are the books and authors, I wish I could go back in time and share with teenage or young adult me. The books I never knew could be real and suddenly are. The ones written about the subjects I love and containing characters that I love and that look like me. Where the people in the book, are persons of color, the author is a person of color, and the book has the fictional and fantasy elements that once only held stories that made me feel like I would always be on the other side of the looking glass staring in. Books like these two put me in the story. For teenage me, young adult me, such a thing was impossible. Hence the name… Unicorn Treasures.

These things matter. A lot.

So now you know a bit… on to the books! As the online promo reads, we have a 16-year-old princess with forbidden magic. She has an older sister, who is very much her nemesis. It is a hostile family environment, with an end game that should lead to one of their deaths. The blades in the covers are an important part of the story lines. *wink wink*

After reading book one, A River of Royal Blood, I wrote:

Vampires, Fae, and Other… So when is Book 2 due? I NEED TO KNOW!

I have never before read this kind of twist on the existence of Vampires, Fae, and Magical Humans. It was a refreshing take! The book is one of those that gradually slides new information to you, the reader. It feels as though petal by petal you are diving deeper into a story that is hiding major secrets. Which… btw it was. It was hard to put down once I started, and I loved witnessing the change in the main character as she gathered more information about those she trusted with her life, and the new people being thrust into it, as the time for her final battle drew closer. This is a story of change. Change wrought from past mistakes, and imposed lives that needs correcting. It is only the beginning, as the truth of our heroine is finally revealed in the last couple of chapters. I feel excited and ready to follow this author on the journey of this series!

Talk about taken aback and mesmerized. Amanda Joy had me. The pre-order was made! I had a bit of a wait for book 2, A Queen of Gilded Horns as I wrote:

I loved this world so much. I took my time reading it, even re-reading book 1, to prolong my stay in such a varied and colorful civilization’s origin.

In this book, the sisters are forced to face themselves and each other. After the discovery and binding at the end of book 1, a new reality beckons, but only if they both really, truly work for it. The fun of this book was the inclusion of point of views from all of the main characters, instead of only one, as was done in book 1. This reveals much and delivers a changing and full perspective of what has happened in their world and why they are still dealing with those consequences. All of which kept me up fighting to stay awake to find out more. Pulled at least a couple 3-ams after very long days, because I needed to know why!

Hopefully, this author goes back to this world and gives us even more captivating tales with these characters I personally have grown to love. Definitely recommend this book, and this duology, and I will keep hoping for more!