Review: The Fire Lord's Lover - Kathryne Kennedy

 Elven Lords, book 1

Genre: Historical Fantasy Romance
Pages:
Published; June 6th 2010 Sourcebooks Casablanca

If his powers are discovered, his father will destroy him...
In a magical land ruled by ruthless Elven Lords, the Fire Lord's son Dominic Raikes plays a deadly game to conceal his growing might from his malevolent father, until his arranged bride awakens in him passions he thought he had buried forever.

Unless his bride kills him first...
Lady Cassandra has been raised in outward purity and innocence, while secretly being trained as an assassin. Her mission is to bring down the Elven Lord and his champion son. But when she gets to court she discovers that nothing is what it seems, least of all the man she married...

Then Dominic and Cassandra together discover an unspeakable evil, one that threatens the destruction of the magical realm they would give their souls to save...

I really enjoyed this book, elves! Lol, do I need to say more. Well, ok I have to.

First there is Dominic, cold and lacking a heart, or at least that he plays at. He is the bastard son to The Fire Lord that rules London. Long ago some Elven Lords grew bored and conquered England. The world turned a blind eye when riches came from their reign and magic. They are cruel creatures that do not care for humans, those could just as well be cattle. Dominic is used by his father as a general and he does everything to try to hide his heart. Until..

..he meets his bride Cassandra. She has been sent to kill The Fire Lord and his bastard son. But she soon finds herself questioning things, and perhaps falling for the col hearted General.

First I have to say that i loved this word, it's this alternate world/history/timeline kind of story. What if there actually were elves before, but then the portals to that world closed? And some came back, and with some offspring here and there nobles now have magic too. Little, but still some. It's a world where England is divided into realms, there is a king, but he is just a prize that the Lords fight over. because they need their games, else they grow bored, and then they are as dangerous as they get. It was an England I would have loved to see, even if the country was ruled by dictators, beautiful dictators.

Dominic, oh he was such an ass, but he had to be. He has learnt that feelings, and friendship is dangerous to those he loves. So he is as cold as his father. Ice-cold to his new bride that melt under his fingers. I knew he was doing it for all the right reasons, but still I ached for her. Cassandra melts by this handsome elf, she feels passion, and slowly something is building up, while I scream, trust each other! She is not some nice little bride either, no, she has a mind of her own, pretty dangerous, but she wants freedom from this wicked rule.

Two people falling in love, one crazy Elven Lord who wants a new champion, some cool magic, jealousy, an England you have not seen before, and a world that has so much more to offer. What is there not to like, and oh yes, passion too.

As for which genre this is, hm, well historical romance fans will love it, paranormal romance fans will too, and those with an eye out for fantasy romance. Quite a win win.

Reason for reading: On my copy you couldn't see his eyes, kind of liked that, he looked more dark. Still love it, and look at those ears!

Reason for reading: Copy thanks to Sourcebooks.

Final thoughts: Why are there not elves and magic in England, I'd love to visit (if I could return home afterwards with my life intact afterwards.)

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