Captured review (+ contest details)

Description: A teen is transported to an enchanted realm—could she be the hero that the kingdom seeks?

Fifteen-year-old Willow Kingswell has been listening to her Nana's tales of faeries and enchanted kingdoms for as long as she can remember. But when she is magically transported to the realm of Mistolear, she is stunned to learn that the stories were true, and that she is actually a princess. Suddenly, Willow has to fit into a royal family she didn't know she had, deal with customs she doesn't understand and sort out her feelings for Brand, the handsome knight who has sworn to protect her.

On top of everything, she may also be the key to saving Mistolear from a terrifying spell. The nefarious faerie prince Nezeral has pitted two kingdoms against each other in a life-or-death chess match, in which people are the game pieces. As a pawn, Willow now glows with the light of the game and must find the courage and cleverness to battle Nezeral before her loved ones fall. Could a meager pawn really be the most powerful piece on the board?

My thoughts: This was a sweet and short introduction to the Divided Realms series. Early on I was introduced to Willow and in turn introduced to the realms, family, and people (/creatures) she had no idea existed. Therefore, like Willow I didn’t know much about the new world and was forced to cope quickly with the complicated situations.

Everything moved so quickly, but Willow and her companions seemed like a good enough team to handle all kinds of adventure, which I’m looking forward to with the upcoming books in the series.

Until the end of the book I thought the problem in this book would be spread out over the series, but it turns out that it wasn’t the main problem. It was more like a symptom of the main problem, and was solved by the end of the book. I’m not sure how I feel about Willow solving the dilemma by the end of the 1^st book.

On one side I thought the ending came too fast. But at the same time, I don’t like when authors drag out a situation so that the same problem can be used throughout the remaining books. 

It was nice to begin to learn about this magical world and the history behind it. The information given in Captured reminds me of the beginning stages of a snowball. It’s just starting out, but as long as it keeps on rolling and continues to grow, there’s potential for it to build. And this means bigger romance, adventure, and magic in the next books, which I’m looking forward to!

Captured Contest details:

I've decided to give away a copy of Captured, starting either today or tomorrow.

The only requirement is that you fill out the form I'll post later with your email address and name.

There will be extra points given if you become a blog follower or promote the contest.

Look for a contest post later today or tomorrow!