Wilde’s Meadow, the conclusion of a series

                YAY!  Okay I had to start this out with a burst of excitement.  Honestly, I was beyond excited when I saw Wilde’s Meadow by Krystal Wade on NetGalley.com.  I was all resigned to wait until it comes out November 5, 2012 but then I was checking out the new books added like I do every single day and spilt some of my water down my top I was so excited.  I saw the cover before I saw anything else and didn’t need to know anything else I just clicked and was approved.  I downloaded it on Halloween night, though sadly didn’t get to read it until last night due to work.  So a special thanks to NetGalley.com, Curiosity Quills Press, the amazing author Krystal Wade, and whoever else* for my ARC.

                Now down to business.  Like the other 2 books Wilde’s Fire and Wilde’s Army, Wilde’s Meadow has a beautiful and captivating cover.  The first is still my favorite but this one is red and has our heroine sword in hand looking down at a body.  Gasp!  Do you wonder whose body she is looking at like I did?  I agonized over it so much so even as I was reading the book. 

                Now we have our beloved characters.  Kate has been through so much and is bound to the man she loves and has her army and a clear goal.  She is still terrified that all the visions she’s had of Arland’s death, of those she loves, will come true.  Still she has no choice really but to fight and trust things will be okay.  We get more of Perth as well as he tries to make up for the sins of his past and be the better man Kate believes him to be.  We also get to know others who are so much fun to love and hate.  New creatures from different worlds and the same creepy and deadly deamons.

                Visually this book is like the others with it’s vivid details that make the world so amazing.  I could see everything they saw in my mind as I read.  I could see the icky creatures (sorta wish I couldn’t), could see the power of Kate’s light and fire, the connections between everyone.  The pain as people are lost in the war.  With war also comes lots of action and fighting both magical and traditional. 

                Yes, I should warn everyone here have tissues on hand.  I admit I’m a girlie girl sometimes especially when I get really invested in a story or characters.  I was reading this book and had to stop for the night at one point because I couldn’t stop crying and well it was rather hard to keep reading as my eyes went from watery to burning (my eyes are strange and 75% of the time I cry they burn no idea why).  So I went to bed and tossed and turned wanting nothing more than to know the end, to know if I would keep crying or not.  This is war after all and there are bound to be causalities or it wouldn’t be believable. 

               

                I have given this book a much deserved 5 Stars.  Now this is where I would normally put in any complaints with the book and past experience has been that I have to wait for the next one, however, Wilde’s Meadow is the last in the series.  No more waiting.  I guess that would be my only tiny complaint, yes as much as I hate waiting for more, endings are sad and final.  I think this book gives a fitting end to the story and I love this series and will recommend it to anyone and everyone.

  

                So people keep your eyes open for this trilogy.  Wilde’s Fire & Wilde’s Army are already out and the conclusion of the series Wilde’s Meadow comes out in 2 short days.  Check it out.  

*There is an amazing interview with the author herself on Sus’s blog click to check it out.  Also note my excitement as she waves when answering my question hehe.  

Wilde’s Army Krystal Wade

                So I have to say I have been kinda MIA as of late.  Ironically enough I was working on a post about time management and an update about me but well…I couldn’t do much of anything until I finished this book.  So it looks like you will get that another time.  Right now…my review of the ARC of KrystalWade’s Wilde’s Army curtsey of NetGalley.com and Curiosity Quills Press.

                I was so excited when I got my approval to read the ARC of this book I made a slightly embarrassing squeal in the break room of my job.  First thing I did when I got home the other day was download the book to my beloved kindle.  I pretty much read it last night until my eyes hurt and begged for a rest from reading and today.  Yep I finished it!  Yay!

                Now for those of you who don’t know this amazing book is the sequel to Wilde’s Fire (click to go to my review) so there will be spoilers in this one pertaining to book 1.  So be warned.    First, look at that cover.  So pretty, I still prefer the blue of the first one but this one really captures the essence of what they are. 

                In Wilde’s Army, Kate finds her love, her family and everyone else she has grown to love gone.  All but one, Perth the man she’s been traded to marry for a favor.  She must listen to the god’s guiding her and form a tentative partnership with this man everyone has warned her about.  Finding and rescuing the ones she love is only half the battle they still must make it to Willow Falls and face a different kind of danger.  Danger of their own kind because they take seriously the promise that was made, Kate to marry Perth, and her love for another could cost many their lives.  Oh and if that isn’t enough of a problem she has to unite the people who have hated one another for far too long and form an army willing to fight for her.  Yep she has a lot to face, and when everything appears stacked against her she must find out if she is still the same girl, the Light, the girl with fire.

                Well now there is a lot of stuff happening in this book and it just flies right by.   No dragging.  Full of action or conflict or just good stuff.  There is the return of our romance, sigh.  Arland is so dreamy.  We also get to learn more about Perth which I really enjoyed.  I got glimpses of him in the first book that made me think there was more to him than what the other characters said and I am pleased with that.  It was very interesting how he is portrayed.  Not really bad but struggling to be good in his own way.

                The world of Encardia is ever growing.  We learn more about the world as a whole.  The daemons and Darkness that lurk around every corner.  The whole world is explained a little more.  I got to understand more about the history of the world and how things were ran.  A look behind the curtain so to speak.  In book 1 we hear about some characters and Leaders and such but you don’t really get how they work but in this you are in the thick of it and the politics of even a dying world.  This plays well with Kate and her growth.  She has to face horrors at pretty much every turn but she has to grow as an individual.  She grew in the first book by accepting who she is and what she can do as well as love.  That continues in this book, she is more confident.  She understands herself better, her power, and what she must do.  She struggles throughout wondering what she should do and if what she wants to do is what is right and that to me makes it great.  Yes she is growing more powerful in her understanding but she also has her moments, she can’t save everyone all the time.  She is powerful but she is not completely all powerful.  She can be hurt.

                The struggles each character goes through… is tough.  Knowing your prophecy doesn’t mean you know much of anything really.  Those who know things are not always willing or able to share them.  Then again some don’t know their purpose and that can be even more frustrating.  Her mother has kept things from her all her life and still doesn’t tell her everything.  Everyone always seems to know more about her life than she does at times and that frustrates her to no end and I can relate to that.  Trust is hard to give.  It’s even harder to rebuild.  What do you do when someone you trust tells you one thing but your gut says another? 

                This book is full of magic.  If you liked the first book even half as much as I did then you will love this book.  Again my only complaint is that I have to wait for more.  Yes, I am greedy like that.  Though I must admit this is the shortest time I’ve ever waited for a sequel, I just hope I that does not mean I have to wait even longer for the 3^rd book.  So there you have it folks, 5 starts according to me.  Wilde’s Army comes out July 4^th. 

Wilde’s Fire- Krystal Wade

                So first I have some good news.  As many of you know from my comments and such I’ve been unemployed for almost a year but I got found something yesterday.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it works out so yeah!  This will also cut into my reading/writing time but that’s okay I will make it work.

                That being said on to business.  I just finished reading Wilde’s Fire by Krystal Wade thanks to NetGalley.com (lot’s of my books are coming from this wonderful sight as of late) and Curiosity Quills Press.  This book is set for release May 13, 2012 and I give it 5 stars.  Okay so since I find myself unable to write a brief summary of this book without giving away too much or speeding past brief this is the summary from good reads:

Katriona Wilde has never wondered what it would feel like to have everything she’s ever known and loved ripped away, but she is about to find out.  When she inadvertently leads her sister and best friend through a portal into a world she’s dreamed of for six years, she finds herself faced with more that just the frightening creatures in front of her.  Kate’s forced to accept a new truth:  her entire life has been a lie, and those closest to her have betrayed her.  What’s worse, she has no control over her new future, and it’s full of magic and horrors from which nightmares are made.  Will Kate discover and learn to control who she really is in time to save the ones she loves, or will all be lost?

                So the cover to the right is so pretty and vibrant it makes you wonder what’s going on and hello blue flames seem so cool (plus I might add blue is my favorite color).  The title, the blue light, the wooded path, and a girl in a white dress running, yep all stimulating.  Then the description of magic and other worlds, yes I was hooked in and had to read.

                Some interesting things about this book are that while it’s YA the main character is 20 and in college.  With most YA I’ve read being of younger main characters this was a fascinating change.  She is a tad older and it shows.  She has more experience and knows better who she is and what she wants.  She is more mature but not completely grown up as she still has a lot of growing to do especially when she finds her world turned upside down.  This for me also helped enrich the romance.  Yes there is romance to be hold for sure, one I think that will make every reader with even the tiniest bit romantic in them swoon.  The other characters are of varying ages as with any book but most center around her same age and they all have such fascinating things.  Each one has something different or special about them I saw every time they came into a scene.  Let’s just say I want Arland in my dreams!

                This book also introduces us into a bunch of new creatures, horrible, nasty, despicable fiends that are true creatures of nightmares.  Each described, along with the darkness of the world, so vividly that I could picture it.  The burst of magic and brightness I completely understood and when I went outside into the bright Florida sunshine from my sun free area I thought instantly this must be how the characters felt.  Anytime I can instantly think of a book reference when I do remedial or mundane daily tasks I know I’ve found something special.  I cannot eat a Milky Way without think of the Dark Swan series, just can’t do it.

                So lets see I covered the characters (I could go on about them forever they are so much fun), romance (swoon), creatures/visuals, what else?  Oh yes there is lots of action.  This is a world at war so lots of fighting both with swords, bows/arrows, and of course magic.  I found it all well choreographed and again it ties into the visualization.

                Now for complaints.  Yep I have one.  This book is book 1 of a series and now I have to wait for more.  Yep that’s my only complaint about this book.  Unless someone would ask me to read aloud then I’d smile and say I can’t begin to pronounce the names of these demons haha.  So there you have it.  I can’t wait for the next book which on her site I see she has a summary already (which only teases me more).  I hope you will give Wilde’s Fire a chance and love it as much as I did.  Remember it comes out May 13, 2012.