Thursday 28 June 2012

Review & $15 Gift Card Giveaway: Thorn by Intisar Khanani

Original Title: Thorn
Author: Intisar Khanani
Publisher: CreateSpace
Release Date: May 30th 2012
Genre: Fantasy



Princess Alyrra’s strength lies in silence. Scorned by her family, she avoids the court, spending her time with servants. When her marriage is unexpectedly arranged with the prince of a powerful neighboring kingdom, Alyrra feels trapped. As the court celebrates her match, dark rumors spread about the unexplained deaths of the women of her new family. Alyrra begins her journey with mounting trepidation. Betrayed while traveling, she seizes an opportunity to start a life away from court.

Walking away from a prince whom she doesn’t know should have been easy. But from the moment she sets eyes on him, Alyrra realizes that her freedom could cost him his life. Without any magical defense of her own, she is plunged into a lethal game of sorcery and deceit. Now Alyrra must decide whom she can trust and what she’s willing to fight for—before her silence proves fatal.

REVIEW

Princess Alyrra is a kind, honest and polite girl, but without the knowledge and courage to become a Queen.  When the King of a larger country comes to seek friendship with their country by marrying the Princess to his son, Alyrra is forced to do her cruel mother's and brother's wishes.  On her way to her betrothed’s kingdom, an evil sorceress, who is an enemy to the King, switches her life with her a traitor girl called Valka.  Valka have always been jealous of Alyrra.  Now, she gets the chance of being the real Princess, while Alyrra was asked to work as a goose girl.  Always subjected to unkind behaviour from her family and friends, Alyrra feels free, when she gets to be someone other than her.  But, the kingdom and the Prince is in danger.  While Alyrra is so reluctant to give up her new-found freedom, will she allow the Prince and the kingdom to suffer in the hands of the sorceress and Valka?

Recently, I am having a great reading experience with different new authors.  Intisar Khanani is one of them.  This novel is supposed to be a retelling of the goose girl tale.  Being in India, I have never learnt about them.  But, this novel is pure enjoyment.  I was thrilled to read it from start to finish.  The writing is so beautiful, bringing the whole scene before your eyes and capturing your full attention.

Please don't judge this book by the blurb provided.  It has many beautiful moments that will keep you enchanted.  Although I have some moments, where I get confused by how this scene occurred all of a sudden, that definitely didn't stop me from enjoying it.

Love it and would recommend!



GIVEAWAY

Intisar will award an autographed bookmark at every stop, and a $15 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Earn extra entries by following her on Facebook.

To enter this giveaway, you have to comment in this post WITH your email ID.  Anonymous and name/URL comments without email ID will not be considered for the giveaway.

Giveaway open INTERNATIONALLY! Ends June 29th, 2012!


19 comments:

  1. milind.uppal@gmail.com
    thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Vidya,

    Thanks so much for your review of Thorn. I am so glad you enjoyed it! I think many of us struggle with choosing our own fate when so many decisions are already made for us: from the families we are born into, and the wealth / poverty we face, to what are social roles are and what is expected of us. It was fun to write a story about a girl who takes these things on and finds a way to make her own decisions even as she begins to accept some of these things on her own terms. Thanks again!

    Intisar

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wonderful review! I'm looking forward to reading this book, it sounds like something I'd love.


    anas-karina(at)mail(dot)ru

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the giveaway

    darkmotive@hotmail.com, also follow in FB

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you for the giveaway! I'm looking forward to reading this one!

    lyra.lucky7ATgmailDOTcom

    ReplyDelete
  6. Definitely looking forward to reading the book!

    eai(at)stanfordalumni(dot)org

    ReplyDelete
  7. Just a quick update - You can get Thorn for just 99 cents (Kindle edition) on Amazon for a limited time. I was running a 3-day "free" promotion and found out that my international readers couldn't access the download, so this is to make up for that. :) http://www.amazon.com/Thorn-ebook/dp/B00869SADQ

    There are also some great reviews up at GoodReads: http://www.amazon.com/Thorn-ebook/dp/B00869SADQ

    Thank you all!

    Intisar

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nice review. The book sounds good.

    bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  9. Loved the review and thanks for the giveaway =]

    kperales25(at)aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. A very interesting remark about not judging THORN by the blurb provided. Especially since the blurb was compelling. I enjoyed reading your review thank you.

    FB: Mary Preston

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sounds like an interesting read! andrea(dot)coventry(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  12. thank you for the giveaway. my email is jaspersjunk08[at]yahoo[dot]com

    ReplyDelete
  13. I imagine it would be cool to do a book tour...
    gacfrosh AT aol DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  14. Love to read. Thanks for this. My email: iambigred(at)mail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  15. I dig the cover! Thank you!

    cacheorcash(at)mail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  16. CelticsDraftee29 June 2012 at 16:38

    Awesome giveaway! celticsdraftee(at)aol(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thank you.

    sethrich AT hotmail DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thank you for the giveaway!
    missymyt(At)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete

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