A review by sarahsbooklife
Kingdom Cold by Brittni Chenelle

4.0

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.


Princess Charlotte of Besimum is unhappily betrothed to Princes Young of Vires, neither of them particularly feel any joy about this marriage alliance, but with little choice in the matter. Charlotte especially, as she tries in the beginning to stop the wedding and make Young or her father break off the marriage. Their engagement begins with a rocky start as Charlotte attempts to murder Young on his arrival. When their castle is attacked by Drethen forces, the wedding is cancelled, and they are forced to escape.

With her kingdom attacked and it’s future now uncertain, Charlotte’s mother renegotiates her hand in marriage to another. In hopes to protect their kingdom with the alliance of a country much closer than Vires. Charlotte must decided how she will save her kingdom. By turning to the prince she betrayed or by marrying another that only wants the throne for himself.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. Princess Charlotte’s earlier chapters did make me dislike her character to begin with but I think that she had some of the best character development in the story. She began as a spoiled princess that grew to become a strong female lead. Alongside Prince Young, they both became more mature and ready to rule. Each faced challenges throughout the story, sometimes together, with the help of others, or completely alone.

This is a romance set in a war. Meaning that it is not always a happy story; people fight, die, are injured and suffer. Their is politics mixed up with romance. Both good and bad people die, there is no glorious climatic final battle that leaves the good guys standing tall, alive and with a happy ever after, and the bad guys are beaten, broken and (sometimes) dead. Not everyone survives, some of them I had really wanted to live and some that I was happy to see gone.

I may not be 100% happy with some of the events in this book, and I am still brewing over one death in particular which if you have or do read the book you might also not be over yet, but I can understand why many of them had to happen. Due to the unpredictable nature of war it only makes sense that a story about war would have unpredictable and sudden events.

I would recommend this book if you want to read a book with romance set in a war, that is a multi-cultural light fantasy YA novel.