Cover Love: The Mirror King

Look at the pretty! If The Orphan Queen was stunning, this one is just... *drools*

Wilhelmina has a hundred enemies.

HER FRIENDS HAVE TURNED. After her identity is revealed during the Inundation, Princess Wilhelmina is kept prisoner by the Indigo Kingdom, with the Ospreys lost somewhere in the devastated city. When the Ospreys’ leader emerges at the worst possible moment, leaving Wil’s biggest ally on his deathbed, she must become Black Knife to set things right. 

HER MAGIC IS UNCONTROLLABLE. Wil’s power is to animate, not to give true life, but in the wraithland she commanded a cloud of wraith mist to save herself, and later ordered it solid. Now there is a living boy made of wraith—destructive and deadly, and willing to do anything for her.

HER HEART IS TORN. Though she’s ready for her crown, declaring herself queen means war. Caught between what she wants and what is right, Wilhelmina realizes the throne might not even matter. Everyone thought the wraith was years off, but already it’s destroying Indigo Kingdom villages. If she can’t protect both kingdoms, soon there won’t be a land to rule.

In this stunning conclusion to THE ORPHAN QUEEN, Jodi Meadows follows Wilhelmina’s breathtaking and brave journey from orphaned criminal on the streets to magic-wielding queen.

The Mirror King is scheduled for an April 5th release.

The Orphan Queen

Title: The Orphan Queen (The Orphan Queen #1)
Author: Jodi Meadows
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: 5/5
Cover: 10/10

Wilhelmina has a hundred identities.
She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne.
She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.
She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others
Jodi Meadows introduces a vivid new fantasy full of intrigue, romance, dangerous magic, and one girl’s battle to reclaim her place in the world.

I can almost hear you all give a sigh of relief. Yes, this does mean I can finally stop harping on about this book. But not before I give it one last go, in a last attempt to get you to read it. Fair warning, the first paragraph will be technical and serious. I can't promise what the rest of the review will be like, other than that it will have no spoilers.

Meadows' story is compelling, and I literally could not put it down. Four hours after the file download on to my kindle, I was crying over the ending. The characters are interesting and, for the most part, beautifully layered. I would have liked to have seen more of the Ospreys, other than the introduction and fleeting glimpses throughout the novel, but also understand that, given the nature of the plot, it wasn't possible - hopefully in the sequel, it will be. The plot itself needs a fair amount of attention to follow, but if you do, is pretty darn solid. I can't think of any gaping plot holes off the top of my head, just the endless list of questions about and for Black Knife.

Now on to the fun (and slightly less coherent? I had four hours of sleep, and am still emotionally compromised over that ending, so bear with me on this) part. Wil was a delight of narrator, and personally I would be honoured to call her my queen. Watching her grow and develop was beautiful, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it happen.
Patrick was a douchebag, as advertised. No surprise there, though his dead-set, stubborn need to go against everything that Wil said really pissed me off. This woman is supposed to be his queen, and here he is, basically ordering her around like she's his slave. I hope he gets his comeuppance.
A review of OQ wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention Black Knife. Don't worry, dear skittish readers, I won't divulge his true identity - half of the fun is trying to figure it out for yourself and (I'm very proud to say), I guessed rightly after her first encounter with him. I don't care what happens, or what anyone says, if they don't get married, I give up on life. Yes, I am aware that there are numerous things in the way of that, but what good love story doesn't have a little adversity in it? (admittedly, the ending does pose the possibility of more than just a "little" adversity, but still).
Melanie really bothered me, and I'm not entirely sure I trust her quite so readily as Wil does. She's too emotionally attached to the cause. I really hope we find out more about that side of things.

Was it worth the wait? Absolutely. Hold on to your hats, grab your defibrillators (you'll need it, that ending is just cruel!) and dive in!

Got to the end and refuse to leave Wil's world, or just need something to cheer you up a little? I did a GIF review that you can find here.

Waiting on Wednesdays #1: The Orphan Queen

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases.

Title: The Orphan Queen
Author: Jodi Meadows
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publication Date: March 10th, 2015

"Wilhelmina has a hundred identities.

She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne.

She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.

She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others

Jodi Meadows introduces a vivid new fantasy full of intrigue, romance, dangerous magic, and one girl’s battle to reclaim her place in the world."

Why I want this? It's quite simple, really. I read the first part on Edelweiss, and fell head over heels in love with the characters, the world and - of course - Black Knife.
Ever since then, waiting until March has become an exercise in patience. So I'm here to share some of my suffering with you guys. Because sharing is caring, after all.
Here's the deal: Wil is the rightful Queen of her land. Then this evil King invaded, and she became a rebel, stealing to survive. She and her friends have a little band of thieves, kind of like a Robin Hood sort of get-up. The thing is, the entire kingdom is threatened by the Wraith, which is said to originate from people using magic.
So Wil and Melanie infiltrate the castle to try to figure out what they can do to get their land back, but Melanie is acting weird, and now the Black Knife, the crazy vigilante that abducts anyone using magic, has noticed Wil, so she has to be extra careful if she wants to survive to reclaim her kingdom.
I have a very strong hunch about who the Black Knife is (the excerpt didn't actually reveal his identity), and it makes me so excited about the potential directions it could lead to.

Have you preordered it yet? ;)

Cover Love: The Hidden Prince

For those of you who don't know yet, Jodi Meadows' upcoming (next year! It's too far!) The Orphan Queen is, as of about a month ago, the book I'd kill to read. I read the excerpt up on edelweiss, and it has me convinced that this book will be the best thing since sliced bread.
Sadly, I now have to wait until March 10th of next year to read the rest of the book, but I'm sure it'll be worth the wait.
If you want to know why this book is going to be so amazing, here's the blurb from goodreads:

"Wilhelmina has a hundred identities.

She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne.

She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.

She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others

Jodi Meadows introduces a vivid new fantasy full of intrigue, romance, dangerous magic, and one girl’s battle to reclaim her place in the world."

Good, right? So imagine my delight when Jodi revealed the cover of the first novella of the series, The Hidden Prince, today. No blurb for that one yet, since pretty much any info about the novella could spoil The Orphan Queen, but the cover is pretty, hmm?