Blog Tour: Return to Arèthane by Kelly Riad Review and Giveaway

Title: Return to Arèthane
Author: Kelly Riad
Publishing Date: May 30th 2012
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy/Romance
Series: The Elves of Arèthane #1
Source: Kindle

Goodreads Summary:
16-year old Emily has accepted her fate with each weakening beat of her heart,

but after her best friend's brother and sister arrive in town and turn out to be

more than what they appear, Emily's life is turned upside-down. When their

friendship includes confronting wizards who harbor dark secrets and dancing with

an elf prince, Emily discovers there are some things still worth living for.

Review:
I was really looking forward to this book. YA don’t have many elf stories out there. The cover is just beautiful and the synopsis sounded new. I jumped at the chance to read the book and I am sure glad I did. It was just spectacular. A wild ride through magic, love, modern issues, and a beautiful new world.

Emily has a very hard life, a father barely home and a mother who is always drunk. Emily seems to be the one to clean up the destruction that her mother leaves everywhere she goes. This isn’t the only problem or the biggest problem that Emily faces, with violence in her past, a bad heart in her present; she only sees sadness in her future. She has one saving grace in her life, her best friend Dafne.

Dafne lives her grandfather after losing her parents she was small. Dafne and her grandfather are the only ones that know about Emily’s illness and her home and come to her rescue quite often. Everything changes when Emily learns that Dafne has an older sister Kara, and older brother, Jarrad, who came to stay with them. Mysterious and aloof, Emily sees how different Kara and Jarrad are and come to think of it, Dafne is a bit different too. Emily is soon swept into a world of elves, wizards, and a long time war. She may be their saving grace or she may just be the death of them. Nothing is fair in love and war.

The writing, the story, the elven world, and the characters mix well together to make an amazing book. The pacing was perfect, never a dull moment, mixed with action, love, and mystery. I found myself stuck inside the pages.

The world of Arèthane was beautiful. I wanted to jump into the pages and see the forests, the different species, feel the magic. The description level was so right for me. I could the world clearly without being bored of overdone lines of adjectives. I enjoyed the feel of a high fantasy mixed in with my urban fantasy. The two worlds combined very nicely.

Emily is a great character. I could feel her pain but only because of her story. She never let her past or her present pull her down. She was a fighter and determined to live her life beyond its obstacles. Emily’s character felt real even though she seemed very mature for her age. She dealt with the issues in her life as best as she could and still found the strength to make it to the next day. The friendship she shared with Dafne helped tons with the dealing and I felt the bond was very strong between the two, but Emily still had a gaping hole in her life it seemed. That was until Jarrad entered the picture. I liked Jarrad from the beginning. Sweet, calm, handsome, and very mysterious. The perfect knight in shining armor, but with princely qualities.

I am a little upset with yet another book ending without an ending.L Before the book ended I knew I would be reading the next installment of the series, but now I have to wait anxiously, wondering, wanting more. Argh! Still grab yourself a copy, it’s a great ride!

Rating:

About the Author:

Author Info:

Kelly Riad is from Texas where she lived with her husband and a house overrun by pets. She now lives in the San Francisco Bay area and is determined to bring the y'all to the West Coast. While she published her first book - a handmade pop-up titled "The Lost Puppy" - in the fifth grade to much acclaim by the first graders, she only recently picked the craft back up. "Return to Arèthane" is her second published novel.

Links :

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Giveaway:

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