{"id":56205,"date":"2020-12-02T08:00:26","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T13:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=56205"},"modified":"2020-12-02T20:08:04","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T01:08:04","slug":"arc-review-fear-of-fire-and-shadow-by-s-young","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=56205","title":{"rendered":"ARC Review: Fear of Fire and Shadow by S. Young"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy:\u00a0\u00a0Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Blurb<\/strong><\/h4>\n

As one of the few remaining mage in the world, Rogan was stolen as a child and placed within the palace as handmaiden to Haydyn, the last of the royal family. Now, as adults, the two young women are as close as sisters and when Haydyn falls victim to a sleeping disease only Rogan can save her.<\/p>\n

Haydyn’s magic keeps peace across their land and if she dies, their whole world will fall to the darkness of human nature. Setting off on a journey to retrieve the plant that will cure her friend, Rogan is stuck in close quarters with a protector she distrusts above all others:<\/p>\n

Wolfe Stovia. The son of the man who kidnapped Rogan and destroyed her family.<\/p>\n

At a constant battle of wills with Wolfe, Rogan knows their expedition will be fraught with tension. However, she never imagined that the quest would be so dangerous, that her beliefs would be so shaken, or that she’d find herself falling for her greatest enemy.<\/p>\n

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Add to Goodreads<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Review<\/b><\/p>\n

3.5 stars<\/b><\/p>\n

This book was previously released as Slumber<\/em> in 2011, and has now been re-released with a sexy title and cover upgrade, and (I believe) some updated content. The original book has been on my TBR for years, and this re-release presented me with the perfect opportunity to finally delve into Samantha Young\u2019s fantasy writing and an exciting and dramatic story with action, adventure, magic, and a slow-burning, enemies-to-lovers romance.<\/p>\n

The story focusses on 21-year-old Rogan. As a rare magic user, she was torn from her family as a child and sent to the palace to become handmaiden to the new, young queen, Haydyn. She and Haydyn pretty much grew up together and have become the best of friends and closer than sisters. When Haydyn falls ill with a mysterious sleeping disease, Rogan is the only one with the ability to track down the cure, and she immediately volunteers to travel across the kingdom to find help for her dear friend. And at her side for the journey is Captain of the Guard, Wolfe, gorgeous, enigmatic and the one man that Rogan cannot stand.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not until Rogan and her entourage hit the road that this book really hits its stride. Travelling through the different provinces of the kingdom gives Rogan a different perspective on her home as she encounters danger, violence, and surprising kindness in the hearts of the people she encounters. She goes through hell on her journey, but she learns a lot and grows so much as a character. And through it all, the sexual tension between her and Wolfe just sizzles!<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just starting to realize I don\u2019t know you at all.\u201d
\n\u201cYes, you do,\u201d came his hoarse response. \u201cYou just hate that I\u2019m not what you need me to be.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is a lot of history between Rogan and Wolfe, and their animosity toward each other is obvious but entirely misunderstood. But there is an underlying attraction which simmers below the surface of their bickering and cold, hard stares. It\u2019s a great dynamic, and literally every time the two of them were alone together, my heart would start to race with excited anticipation just waiting for something to happen. There are secrets and old hurts between them, and Rogan is a stubborn girl, but Wolfe is a fierce protector and a determined man, and I loved watching their love story unfold.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you, Rogan \u2026 I could not ask you to give up who you are when it is the very reason I want you.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s not an easy ride \u2013 either the romance or Rogan\u2019s mission, but the two storylines play out really well alongside each other, and both are tied to Rogan\u2019s character growth. She will return home a different person than she left, and it\u2019s really satisfying to watch her journey play out.<\/p>\n

Our eyes locked.
\nI felt known. I felt known and loved down to my very soul.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The fantasy isn\u2019t too overwhelming, with the only fantastical element being magic-wielding mages living among \u2018normal\u2019 people in the mythical land of Phaedra. The language and political systems are complex, with made-up words and locations peppered frequently throughout the book. There is a glossary at the beginning, but when reading on ebook, it\u2019s difficult to flick back and forth, so I just plowed through, skimming over some of those details, but I could easily follow the storyline even not knowing what people\u2019s titles meant, or which land they were from.<\/p>\n

The book didn\u2019t bring the full range of feels that I usually get from a Samantha Young book, but I still really enjoyed it. It did take a little while for me to get fully hooked, but once things really got going, I was captivated. It\u2019s exciting and unexpected, and the romance is really entertaining with a nice amount of steam. I enjoyed Rogan and Wolfe as characters, and there are some great side characters introduced. While this book reads well as a standalone, there is a lot going on in Phaedra, with plenty of scope for spin-off stories, and I would be keen to explore more of this world.<\/p>\n

3.5 stars<\/p>\n

An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.<\/i><\/p>\n

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About S. Young<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\"\"Samantha Young is the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of over forty books, several of which have been nominated for Goodreads Choice Awards. She writes adult contemporary and paranormal romance, YA urban fantasy and YA contemporary fiction. Her books have been published in 28 languages in 30 countries. She resides in Scotland.<\/p>\n

For more information visit\u00a0http:\/\/authorsamanthayoung.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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Website\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0\u00a0Facebook\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0\u00a0Instagram\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Twitter\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Pinterest<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Amazon\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Goodreads\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Bookbub<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Email \u2013 authorsamanthayoung@gmail.com<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Buy:\u00a0\u00a0Amazon\u00a0 |\u00a0 Paperback Blurb As one of the few remaining mage in the world, Rogan was stolen as a child and placed within the palace as handmaiden to Haydyn, the last of the royal family. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":3.5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,522,13,9,29],"tags":[59,48,987],"class_list":["post-56205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action","category-fantasy","category-new-adult","category-romance","category-steamy","tag-arc","tag-review","tag-s-young"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Fear-of-Fire-and-Shadow.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-eCx","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/56197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}