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2.5 

When They Beckon

By Kay Costales
When They Beckon by Kay Costales digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

Salome Visaya is nothing and no one—at least, that's what the Alliance want her to think.

 

A criminal organization that has trained her since childhood, the Alliance made her a creature of cunning and greed, and now offers Salome a shot at the con of a lifetime. All she has to do is assume a secret identity, Rosalia d'Ilumias, and play the blushing bride-to-be.

 

And the target? King Vincent d'Allorias of the war-ravaged kingdom of Ilarya.

 

Three months of her life—three months to charm the King and the nobles, to weasel her way into his confidence, and to rob him and his treasury blind. It should be an easy job, the kind that she was born to play, but when a witch approaches her in the dark and awakens something inside her, everything changes.

 

The court is alive with demons made of shadows, and Salome might be the only one with power to save Ilarya—and the world—from the ancient forces that threaten them.

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6 Reviews

2.5
“I received a complementary copy of this book. There were times when the dlow felt a bit jumpy - like when you’re following dialogue and the camera whips too quickly from person to person. The ending felt a bit rushed. The building of a relationship, even if it’s a fade one, was so easily dropped at the “reveal” was a bit sudden. There was NO expressive (internal) battle within the couple to discuss matter at hand? I understand the Middle Ages, as this seemed to take place, dealt with wrong-doers differently but since the King was already a loving character, I found it a bit hard to believe that he did not want to discus or inquire with Salome “why” without being torn up; war at his doorstep or not. Middle dragged on some like just finding words to make more pages. Overall okay story.”
“And this became the second (or maybe the third) book that landed on my DNF shelf. I hate that, but this was just such a choppy reading experience that about half way through I just could not do it any more. I am hoping that Costales continues developing her writing (plot, storyline, character and world development) because I want every author to succeed. And just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's not someone won't like it.”
“Overall I felt as if this book had a lot of ups and downs, and to be honest I did consider DNFing it a multiple points, but I pushed through. Sadly though it did not really seem worth it in the end. So the general concept of this story was super interesting and really seemed like something I would love on paper, but the pacing worked heavily against it. It picked up super heavily at some points and then dragged me across the page for multiple dreary chapters. It just did not manage to hold my attention during these chapters and made it super hard to push through it. Additionally, the relationship between the main character and the love interest was really not my favorite. There were very few actual scenes where they spent actual time together and felt like their relationship was forming and then BOOM out of where we had a pretty darn good spicy scene. But despite that these scenes were written well, they just did not fit in with these characters. The entire relationship just seemed super flat and uninteresting to me sadly. There was also a lot of repetition that occurred in the book, specifically constant reminders of her past over and over and over again. And while the book was super descriptive it once again seemed to repeat the same thing again and again. This story truly had a ton of potential but I felt like the right story choices were just never really made After all it is a story about a badass assassin who ends up being able to take the prince's fiances identity, and there is this whole big plan.... and its just petty theft. Stealing rings, broaches, and necklaces BUT there are constant reminders about the group's big plans yet it just felt flat and boring. It felt very promising to start with but sadly had too many flaws for me to truly enjoy the book. Thank you to NetGalley and City Owl Press for providing an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.”

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