Indie Book of the Week: Ever My Merlin by Priya Ardis

This weeks Indie Book of the Week goes to Ever My Merlin by Priya Ardis.

Title: Ever My Merlin
Author: Priya Ardis
Series: Book Three in the My Merlin Trilogy
Published: October 12, 2012
Source: Purchased
Genre: YA Fantasy



Book Description:
He was the right one, the fated one, but was he right for her?

The end of the world. The day of reckoning. The final battle.

In the last chapter of the My Merlin Series, it is a time of great strife for Arriane (aka Ryan) and Merlin (aka Matt) as they struggle to stem the flood of destruction unleashed upon the world. Their only hope rests in the one object that can restore their greatest ally: the Healing Cup. 

With every scrap of life hanging in the balance, Ryan must convince both friends and enemies that the key to survival rests in the plans of a sword-toting girl of only eighteen. She must reconcile a fifteen-hundred-year rivalry between two brothers, and be ruthless enough to break a heart—and a life—in the process. And at some point, she really needs to get herself to Prom.

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About the Author:

I love books of all kinds—but especially the gooey ones that make your nose leak and let your latte go cold. My writing comes from a childhood of playing too much She-Ra and watching too much Spock and reading way too much fairy-tales, fantasies, detective stories, romances... the list goes on. (When Belle gasped at the library the Beast gave her, so did I! Color me with library envy.) I started penning my first book at sixteen, writing in long notebooks on train rides in India. A hopeless romantic, I'm also a longtime member of RWA (Romance Writer's of America).

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My Thoughts and Review:
I have been trying super hard this summer to get to all those books I have been putting off reading for..well, forever, especially from indie authors that I already know I like their work (series, books, trilogies what have you).

Going into trilogies are always hard for me, especially if I end up falling in love with the characters because you know after three books that is it, the series is over and you are left wondering what to read next.

It is even harder finishing trilogies that you know are not going to end well after reading the first book. You know the ones, the ones that have those dreaded love triangles. You know someone is leaving unhappy and usually it is the one you are rooting for, have fallen in love with or just can't help it that you like even though you like the other guy as well. Sadly, this is one of those series. 

I knew after the first book I was going to have a hard time with choosing Matt or Vane, well, not me choosing them of course but with Ryan choosing one, because I couldn't help it, I really liked them both for completely different reasons. And to make matters worse, not only are they both good guys (in different ways) but they are brothers. Yep, brothers. Could anything be worse?

Although, if I am being honest, it was pretty easy to predict in the beginning who Ryan would end up with, I mean, her feelings were pretty strong for this person from the get go but I couldn't help rooting for the other guy as well. Something must be wrong with me that I like to put myself through this time and time again. Why do I read books with love triangles in them? I just end up sad and heartbroken for someone and very seldom do they end with a happily ever after for everyone. Yet, I am always drawn to them. 

Even with the love triangle I really liked this series. I have always loved the tale of King Arthur and Merlin and this was a fun little twist on not only Merlin and Arthur but on mythology as well, (another one of my loves). I have always like Ryan, she it pretty strong and determined to do what it right and to take on the role as the sword bearer but for some reason, she falters a little in this one. She is till strong and determined but it seems that more than ever she is confused about which brother to be with and where her heart really belongs. Of course, she has reasons to be confused considering all that transpired in the last book but I have to admit, it was pretty wishy washy and I didn't like it at all. It almost seemed like she wanted both Vane and Matt to be in love with her and to prove their love for her without her actually choosing either one and I didn't like that. I didn't like her leading them on and being angry and upset at either one of them when, by all rights, they should be mad at her. 

Ryan wasn't the only one that has changed however, both Matt and Vane have as well and I can't say for the better or for the worse for either of them. Change is sometimes good and sometimes not.

I have to admit, there were some things in this one I didn't see coming. Some changes with Matt that really had me not liking him as much as I once did and the same goes for Vane, except the opposite. Vane has never been the good boy, he is dangerous and slightly unhinged at times but I have never doubted how he felt for Ryan deep down and I think that comes through more and more in this last installment of the series. It surprised me the things Matt kept from Ryan about their mission, their past and what was in store for their future. The lies caught up to him and it was hard for him to redeem himself in my eyes after that. I still liked Matt don't get me wrong but it became clear that he wasn't the good boy we were all lead to believe he was.

I think overall things were handles nicely in this one, if not differently. There were no easy answers for anything or anyone. People died, people conquered and people were lost (whether to the good or the evil). What I did enjoy and was not expecting was the look into Vane's past and what made him the harsh man he was at the beginning of the series. That was refreshing to look at and very insightful, I just wish we would have gotten the same glimpses for Merlin (Matt) as well, I think it would have redeemed him a little more in my eyes if we had.

The ending was satisfying yet still left me with a few unanswered questions about the world they lived in and what would happen with everyone. I wanted to see more of it I guess and I wanted to know for sure that everyone was okay (at least those that had survived). Even though this is a trilogy and obviously this was the last book in said trilogy, the ending did leave it open for a spin off series and I am hoping that Ardis does in fact do just that. I would love more of their new life and to see what happens with them all. 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review*