Cover Reveal and Review: Brambles (Dauntless Path Prequel) Plus A Giveaway!
She betrayed her own.
Yet, the truth hides another story, one of honor and honesty, of a princess gambling her own life for another's. It's a tale of courage and consequences, and a choice that can never be undone.
And here is an excerpt from Brambles:“Brilliant, wasn’t it?” Valka says.
“What was brilliant?” A voice asks from behind us.
Valka turns a bright smile on my brother, her grip loosening on my arm. I slip free and take three steps back as she says, “Oh, that little incident with the oats.”
My brother grins. At fifteen, he is taller than us both, his chest just starting to broaden but his body still a little gangly. He brushes a hand through his hair, combing back the blond locks he inherited from our father. My own mousy brown locks are a washed-out version of our mother’s shining chestnut hair.
“Were you telling Alyrra about that?” he asks, glancing toward me dismissively. “You know she doesn’t appreciate such things. Hasn’t the spirit for it.”
“She can still learn,” Valka says, as if I weren’t standing right there. “And she’ll have to learn a bit. You can’t go through life all wide-eyed and expecting the best of everyone and not get hurt.” She turns to me. “You really must start learning to politick. Your brother and I can’t always be protecting you.”
I force my lips into a smile and dip my head. Protecting me? I suppose it must feel like that to them, since they don’t visit their little jokes upon me. At least not much—only when they cannot help themselves, as Valka has said before.
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
4.5 Stars
Brambles provides the backstory for how Princess Alyrra, the protagonist of the novel Thorn, got her reputation for being honest, the love of her family's servants, the hatred of her brother, and disdain of her mother, all in one fell swoop. Alyrra catches Valka, the girl her brother hopes to marry, in an act of theft and confidently reveals her wrongdoing to spare a servant girl who well could have been executed. Instead of being praised for her honesty, the blame she incurs from her own and Valka's family is almost as great as the shame heaped upon Valka.
I liked the story because it both allows us to see how Alyrra developed her reputation with her family and the outside world, and because it gives us insight into how her family's continual browbeating has worn Alyrra down to the point that she relishes the idea of being the Goose Girl, freed from all the restrictions, the duties, the wariness, that she's had to endure as a Princess. It sets the stage for a girl who looks at her later transformation into the Goose Girl as a chance to live a different life, giving greater gravity to the choice she ultimately makes to step forward to do her duty.
03/25/20: This story was offered as a Thorn pre-order incentive by the author, who is a friend.
Have added to my Amazon wish list!
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