Review: Now I Rise by Kiersten White

Title: Now I Rise
Author: Kiersten White
Series: Book Two in the Conqueror's Saga
Published By: Delacorte Press (June 27, 2017)
Source: ARC Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: Historical Fantasy
My Rating: 5 Stars!


Book Description:
Lada Dracul has no allies. No throne. All she has is what she’s always had: herself. After failing to secure the Wallachian throne, Lada is out to punish anyone who dares to cross her blood-strewn path. Filled with a white-hot rage, she storms the countryside with her men, accompanied by her childhood friend Bogdan, terrorizing the land. But brute force isn’t getting Lada what she wants. And thinking of Mehmed brings little comfort to her thorny heart. There’s no time to wonder whether he still thinks about her, even loves her. She left him before he could leave her.

What Lada needs is her younger brother Radu’s subtlety and skill. But Mehmed has sent him to Constantinople—and it’s no diplomatic mission. Mehmed wants control of the city, and Radu has earned an unwanted place as a double-crossing spy behind enemy lines. Radu longs for his sister’s fierce confidence—but for the first time in his life, he rejects her unexpected plea for help. Torn between loyalties to faith, to the Ottomans, and to Mehmed, he knows he owes Lada nothing. If she dies, he could never forgive himself—but if he fails in Constantinople, will Mehmed ever forgive him?


As nations fall around them, the Dracul siblings must decide: what will they sacrifice to fulfill their destinies? Empires will topple, thrones will be won . . . and souls will be lost.

*Amazon*B&N*

There is nothing so alluring and so addicting as a fierce strong heroine that doesn’t take crap from anyone.

White has managed to not only put a remarkable and utterly believable twist on history in her character Lada (think Vlad the Impaler here) but has also managed to make her completely lovable in all her wickedness and harsh ways. Someone that isn't necessarily endearing but instead captivating. Fascinating simply because you never know what she will do next to prove herself and show the world the fierce, smart, and strong woman that she is in a world run completely by men. 

She is a no hold, balls to the wall kind of girl and it is hard not to fall in love with that ferocity that she shows the world and the determination that she has to take what is rightfully hers. With each new step in her journey, each new chapter in her story, I fall more and more in love with White's ability to twist this story into something new and unique. Something bloody and battle worn but also something beautiful and hopeful and with a heroine that is every bit as determined as she is feared by those around her.


What I love most about this series though is that White isn't afraid to tell it how it is, darkness and all. She gets her hands dirty and things aren't pretty. This is not a book of romance or of fun. It is a brutal trying time filled with a whole lot of death and blood, murder and deceit. There is very little happiness and no sunshine or rainbows. What it is instead is imaginative, captivating, and undeniably addicting, this story is truly something you don't want to miss out on. 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*