Kingdom by the Sea - Anna del C. Dye (Review)

Kingdom by the Sea by Anna del C. Dye
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Romance
Publication date: January 29th 2016
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Format: ebook, 310 pages
How I got it: Anna del C. Dye
Buy it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
My rating: 4/5
 

When a ship's captain is forced to enslave island natives to please his fiancée, Princess Serena, he takes refuge in the company of a beautiful slave girl. The princess is devastated by his betrayal, and the lives of all the slaves in her realm are now at risk. The heart-broken princess has acquired great power at her father’s death, could she use it to force the captain’s fulfillment of his promise to her? Or will the affectionate stable-hand, despite his own secrets, have his chance at her heart after all?

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My thoughts:

This story follows Axel in the beginning of the book who is out to sea and has capture slaves to bring back to his betrothed Princess Serena.   They have been together for years, but Axel feels as if they have grown apart.  Axel begins to have feelings for one of the captives on the boat and doesn't know what to do with those feelings.   The story then flips down to Princess Serena's point of view in which she really doesn't know what is going on around her.  She sort of just was going through life with no purpose or asking any questions.    Princess Serena then learns about what her father is doing and wants to put a stop to it.

I feel this is geared towards a more younger crowd of young adult fiction.  The story is very inspiring and makes you question your surroundings.  Princess Serena is very sheltered and doesn't really ask any questions, but once she opens those flood gates she learns a lot more then she bargained for.  I love when Princess Serena wakes up and starts questioning what is going on.  It is like an instant light bulb went on and she is inspired to set everything right.

Things that I really enjoyed in the book was the growth that Princess Serena went through.  She had to make some very challenging decisions in the book she does seek counsel to make those, but she ends up making her own decisions.  She really did her research with the issue of slavery and was able to learn what the people want.  Princess Serena grew to be a queen from the beginning of the book to the end.  

I didn't love Axel as a character.  He didn't really grow in my eyes till really late in the book.  He was a solid character with transporting the slaves and not doing them harm, but he didn't really do much beyond that.  Princess Serena did mention that Axel did not speak to his father and if he did maybe he would have been able to see what was going on.  It was like Axel didn't really want to get involved or be part of the solution to the problem. 

The story is very logical and makes a lot of sense.  The author did a great job with details that allowed the reader to get a picture of what was going on.   There was a small section where Princess Serena is out gathering the slaves where I got slightly confused.  It was a little hard to tell if action was going on or not, I definitely needed to reread that section closer.  Overall it is a cute love story that really shows a person grow by leaps and bounds.

I would suggest this as a nighttime read.  It is easy to follow along in the book and also very easy to pickup and putdown the book without getting lost. 

I was received a copy of this book from Anna del C. Dye for the purpose of providing an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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About the Author

Anna del C. Dye was born in Valparaiso, Chile, amongst some of the world’s most famous beaches. After meeting Rodney, a native of Idaho, in her hometown, two years later, Anna traveled to Utah on Christmas Eve and married him two weeks later. Their love story, Why Him? was published by Covenant in the book entitled Angel round about. Anna and Rodney reside in Taylorsville, Utah and are the parents of three princes and a princess. They love to camp, canoe, explore ruins and have sword fights.

Anna del C. Dye is an accomplished, multi-award winning author. Her short story “Amerine—Fairy Princess” won 2nd place in the Oquirrh Writers contest. The first book in her new YA Romance Series entitled “A Kingdom By The Sea” won 2nd place in The Absolutely Write contest. Book three of “The Silent Warrior Trilogy,” won a bronze seal in the League of Utah Writers. Shahira and the Flying Elfs won Honor in the Oquirrh first chapter contest. Emerine’s Nightmare, a pre-teens short story, won 1st place right before it was released in digital formats for the Kindle and Nook.

Anna’s works include “The Silent Warrior Trilogy,” the beginning saga of her young adult elf series. Book one, “The Elf and the Princess” book two, “Trouble in the Elf City” and book three, “Elfs in a Conquered Realm.” Her stand alone books: “Curse of the Elfs,” “A Royal Elf of Abalon”, “Shahira and the Flying Elfs” and the "Roilden Stone of Elf Mountain". Also her children’s book “Emerine’s nightmare” Her second Series called the Royal Romance started with her book "Once Upon Two Kingdoms" and now Kingdom by he Sea.

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