Water Princess, Fire Prince Blog Tour – BOOK REVIEW!

WATER PRINCESS, FIRE PRINCE IS FINALLY HERE!!!!

Book Description:

When the Lady Dragon does come,
Hold fast, do not fear, do not run.
Your Water Princess will fight,
Fire Prince will set all to right.
Each shall come from a Fall,
Their union will save you all.

Despite the fact that she’s on track for competing in the Olympics, and he’s practically raised his younger brothers since they lost their mom in a car accident, Clara Mandras and Andrew Stevenson are pretty much normal teens. They have normal hopes, normal dreams, and they live in a normal world.
All this is torn away from them when they are thrust into another world and declared Water Princess and Fire Prince. With no experience ruling a country, meeting each other for the first time, and being expected to fight the Lady Dragon – an evil sorceress plaguing the world of Rizkaland – Clara and Andrew are underprepared and inexperienced. Unless they learn to work together despite their standing opposition, Rizkaland’s hope will be lost.

What is to come will change their lives forever.

If you know anything about me in real life, you’ll know how much I don’t like picking up a new book.

“What if I hate it and decide never to read another book again? What if I’ve lost faith in all books because this one is horrendous?”

It’s pathetic, and I should really try to kick that preconceived notion. But I haven’t yet.

I almost always start a book extremely skeptical. I didn’t like fantasy before March of this year, mind you.

I hadn’t read much Young Adult fiction until I started at fourteen last November. I expected all Christian fiction to be preachy and shallow.

I’ve always loved books…but indie books made me skeptical. If everyone thinks themselves an author, of course those books won’t be good. Right?

(No. Just…No. Sorry, Clara, but indies can be great too.)

Anyway, in March, Kendra invited me to participate in the cover reveal for her book. I was like, “Sure, why not? Kendra is sweet and she probably writes well by all the good reviews I’ve read on Goodreads.”

On her website, I signed up for the reveal, but I also signed up to beta read.

I read the then-description, and decided it intrigued me a little. (This was when the placeholder description was the only description, so I didn’t know what exactly to expect.)

I’d never done anything ever remotely close to beta-ing before.

So this was new for me, and I’m not sure how helpful I actually was. But I did it.

I picked up the book with low expectations…and I was blown away.

My jaw is sore from it smacking the floor so many times.

I fell in love.

My Review: FIVE HUMONGOUS STARS

A lot of times, I mistakenly write a review on a book and end up using it as an outlet for fangirling. The problem with this is, that 95% of my blog readers have either never read the book, never heard of the book, or aren’t interested in it.

So let me try to explain before I freak out and make it known that I’ve been waiting for this release for months and gushing every chance I get, parading around my sapphire ring, spiced pomella cider, shortness, and gymnastics skillz.

Water Princess, Fire Prince centers around two teenagers, Clara Mandras and Andrew Stevenson. In a whirlwind of events, those two end up in another world called Rizkaland, in the country of Klarand. A prophecy is thrown upon them stating firstly that Clara and Andrew will fight the Lady Dragon, for she has been tormenting the people of Klarand, turning them to ice, and melting them. An unescapable fate. And the second part of the prophecy? Their union will be the key to the country’s salvation. Did I mention that Andrew is declared the Fire Prince and Clara the Water Princess?

Problem is, Andrew and Clara are meeting for the first time, and they don’t want to be united. Not at sixteen. And Andrew can’t exactly fight. He could probably whack someone in the head with a frying pan, but that’s about it. Clara’s attitude is highly uncooperative, and that’s putting it kindly.

How in Rizkaland is it all going to work out?

Water Princess, Fire Prince tugged ever so strongly at the strings of my heart. The message is clear, strong, and inspiring, and I related to it so much. I identified with Clara. (I’ve heard that most people did not. However, she’s a lot like me when it comes to interests, looks, and personality.) I became her, and I fell in love with Andrew. (Is that a problem?) I laughed, I cried, I squealed, and I glared right back at Clara in her glaring moments.

The dialogue is witty, hilarious, deep, and I felt at some points as though I would say the exact same things. I felt everything along with Clara and Andrew, and even Amber at some points. Because you’re inside Clara and Andrew’s heads (at different times) throughout the book, you see the rationalization of actions and motives behind choices. It’s so wonderful because it’s so real. IT IS JUST SO REAL.

The worldbuilding was magical. Literally magical. It was like a whole new Narnia, and absolutely amazing. DID I MENTION THE PART ABOUT IT BEING SO REAL?

Every part melted my heart. The faith aspect is so deep, and theologically accurate, but never preachy.

It’s so amazing, and I can’t say enough good things about it.

The romance aspect was done ever so well, and very tastefully. No insta-love here. (That’s one of my top pet peeves in today’s mainstream novels.) Water Princess, Fire Prince demonstrated that love is something to fight for, and not something that is anything even remotely close to easy. It’s one of the sweetest love stories I’ve ever read. It’s raw. It’s real. It’s heartbreaking and tear-jerking, and also something you’re cheering for and fangirling over the entire time.

The dynamics of the entire story are absolutely perfect. I can’t talk enough about it.

I’ve been squealing to my family and friends about it since April when I read it. I wasn’t a prior Kendra E. Ardnek fan, but I did know her a little bit from Goodreads and other online author-y book-y read-y things. So I went into it somewhat unbiased and definitely skeptical. I didn’t expect to dislike it per se, I just had no idea how much I’d fall in love with it.

But I did.

And I’m speechless.

If you like Young Adult fiction, read it.

If you like fantasy, read it.

If you like plain ol’ fiction, read it.

If you like to read any kind of literature at all, read it.

If you don’t even like to read, read it anyway.

Go ahead and buy it.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll want it in the paperback format to read, and hug, and sniff, and cry tears onto, and caress the pages of.

Yes, it’s that good, and every person I have talked to has gushed over it.

Trust me, you’ll want to read it.

I received an e-ARC and beta copy from the author for review, and all opinions are mine. Like, seriously, I loved this book so much. Thanks, Kendra. I’m going to go PURCHASE the paperback now. 

Author Bio:

Kendra E. Ardnek loves fairy tales and twisting them in new and exciting ways.  She’s been practicing her skills on her dozen plus cousins and siblings for years, “Finish your story, Kendra”, is frequently heard at family gatherings.  Her sole life goal has always been to grow up and be an author of fantasy and children’s tales that also glorify God and His Word. You can read more about her on her blog, knittedbygodsplan.blogspot.com.

Want to see the list of other blogs participating in the tour this week? Check it out here.

Also, come back on Thursday for an awesome interview I got to do with Clara.

*aj