Radiance: Volume 1 (Wraith Kings)

Product Information

We love to chat about romance novels, humorous book passages (whether intentional or cringe-worthy purple prose), steamy love scenes, available freebie and cheapie novels, crazy cover art, questions about possible TBR books, and anything and everything in between. We give and receive tons of great recommendations and hope you'll share your favorites here, too. His companion’s eyebrows rose. Her lips closed over her teeth, and she smiled archly. She pointed to his face and then to his hands. I think the Kai, with their teeth and claws, have the advantage over the Gauri in that contest. A soft rap on the receiving room door drew the queen’s attention away from her. Enter, she called out. She charmed and fascinated him, and Brishen wished he had the leisure to know her better. But there was no time. He married at dusk when both human and Kai eyes could see each other clearly and recoil at the sight.

I'm an author and Louisiana native living in Texas with my husband, three smalls and a big doofus dog. I have lived in Spain, hiked the Teton Mountains, honeymooned in Scotland, ridden in competition rodeo and am the great great granddaughter of a Nicaraguan president. I also hate doing laundry and refuse to iron anything. Ildiko reassured the woman she considered the gown perfect. However, I think all this will be lost on my groom and his Kai entourage. The story of Ildiko and Brishen has everything an epic romance of this type requires…It all adds up to a perfect combination of fantasy and romance I have not seen since her masterpiece Master of Crows. The Silhara of Neith, otherwise known as the Master of Crows, is one distressed man. The Corruption god has invaded his mind and promised limitless power if only Silhara will help it dominate the world. Silhara is not happy about the situation, and the sorcerer is in search of ways to finish the Corruption god once and for all. When Martise comes to his house as an apprentice, Silhara already knows that she is a spy. He now has to worry about another enemy. There is the Corruption god who is keen to possess him and an apprentice who is sure to betray him.But first, how in the hell do you pronounce her name? I never settled on one way and it was pretty annoying.

The other woman’s lip curled in disgust. Ugly bastards. All of them. What would they know of beauty? She realized the insult in her remark. I’m sure your groom will be different and appreciate how lovely you are.

Subscribe to our mailing list

She stunned him with the question. Brishen had always considered himself an agreeable man. He didn’t envy his older brother’s place as heir to the throne, understood his duty to his kingdom and never balked at the fact he was merely a pawn in the endless power machinations between empires. He assumed his future wife had no choice in the matter either. They were duty-bound by their stations. Grace Draven is an American author of science fiction, romance, short stories, and fantasy books. she has a good number of fantasy novels under her name. She’s enjoyed storytelling since she was a young girl, and this is evident throughout her writing. Grace has lived in Spain, Scotland and hiked the Teton Mountains. She enjoys exploring Texas outdoors together with her husband and her dogs. The worldbuilding feeds the romance as well, as Idilko has to adapt to a different sleep schedule to live with the nocturnal Kai. She must overcome huge differences in food and etiquette, along with language and dress and everything else, and this cultural adaptation was fascinating to read, with just enough detail to make it work without bogging us down in minutiae. Idilko stands on her own and makes a place in an unwelcoming Kai court, forcing her detractors to respect her through strength of will and political savvy. Kudos to Draven for getting me invested in courtly intrigue, because that rarely works for me, but I was totally into it! Brishen is a Kai prince and Ildiko is royalty of the Gauri, and they are to be wed. The problem- they’re not just from a different place, they’re a whole different breed of people. Ildiko is human, and Brishen isn’t. It’s a political alliance, but these two become the best of friends. I love how they find each other so unattractive at first, but they adore each other nonetheless. With time, their inner beauty shines and they fall helplessly in love with one another. Sigh.

Worry lines gathered even more wrinkles into the woman’s face. She spat the pins clamped between her lips into her free hand. Are you all right, my lady? She glanced at Serovek, happily cleaning his plate and shooting the occasional glance at Anhuset nearby. Brishen’s cousin refused to meet his gaze, but Ildiko had caught the woman watching the Beladine lord more than a few times during dinner. Ildiko would miss very little when she left with her new husband for his home. She was the king’s niece, the orphaned child of his younger sister. Her place in the family insured a stately home, regular meals and fine clothes. It insured nothing else, and there was no love lost between her and her living relatives. This new marriage might offer nothing different, except a change in her place in court hierarchy. By marrying the prince, she became a duchess, a Kai hercegesé. Brishen Khaskem, prince of the Kai, has lived content as the nonessential spare heir to a throne secured many times over. A trade and political alliance between the human kingdom of Gaur and the Kai kingdom of Bast-Haradis requires that he marry a Gauri woman to seal the treaty. Always a dutiful son, Brishen agrees to the marriage and discovers his bride is as ugly as he expected and more beautiful than he could have imagined. Her maids refused to meet her gaze while they laced her into her gown and twitched the train into perfect folds, but she’d caught their looks of pity mixed with horror from the corner of her eye. Ildiko told herself to ignore them. Arranged marriages were the fate of nearly all aristocratic Gauri women, each one made for power, for trade, for good of country. His Majesty, Sangur the Lame, had married off both his daughters to princes of foreign lands as part of the negotiations for access to ports and allies in war. The Gauri king’s niece was no exception to the protocol, and Ildiko had always expected a similar fate. The only question was when—not if—it happened.

Publication Order of Bonekeeper Chronicles Books

Ildiko is a niece to the Gauri king. Ever since Ildiko understood that her worth in the family is in the marriage with the Kai kingdom, she had resigned to her fate. Understandably, she is horrified when she finds out that her groom is not just foreign but a prince from an unfamiliar and non-human kingdom. When the time for marriage is ripe, Ildiko will leave her family and all she knows and embrace a spouse who looks like something from a horror movie. Whatever the situation, Ildiko knows that she has to maintain her marriage for the sake of her kingdom.

With that off my chest, let me talk about how much I loved this book. It follows a predictable structure—this is a romance, after all, and no slight is intended because I’m 100% here for it—in which members of two warring kingdoms are forced to marry as a way to ensure peace. They develop feelings for each other over time and survive multiple dangerous situations to live happily ever after. I’ve read several books with this exact pattern, but this one stands out because both the romance and the fantasy are fully developed and deeply intertwined, then wrapped in a layer of lush prose that is as swoon-worthy as the budding love between Idilko and Brishen.When servants brought out the food and set it on the table, Brishen leaned close and whispered in her ear. “Revenge, wife?”