I recieved this ARC for review from Netgalley and Blink publishing (thank you).

Now, I'm sure if I've heard the original story of The Lady and the Tiger, but I did enjoy this story. 

Kateri is a princess/gladiator that wants to keep a promise that she made to her mother before she died by the hands of the Desert Boys. She also wants to prove to her father that she is strong and the desert has chosen her to lead. So, of course things do not go as planned and Kateri finds how that everything she believed might not be true. And yes...there are tigers.


I think that Kateri's growth was a bit accelerated, but I did enjoy seeing her journey. It was cool to see a gladiator princess who knows her way around a sword. And that's not to take a shot at princesses who don't. Anyway, this story features a strong woman who goes through a hard journey to become the Queen her.people deserves.

Wow Wow Wow 

The Tiger Queen by Annie Sullivan was one of my absolute favorite reads of this year. 

The character development in this story is absolutely incredible. Princess Kateri is hands down one of 
my favorite characters in any book I've ever read. 

The fact that it's not a series is a bit bitter sweet because I would love for their to be another story but
this book comes together so perfectly at the end that I'm super happy with the way it turned out. 

I'll be posting a more in dept review on my website later but I just want to say I absolutely
recommend The Tiger Queen and I give it all the stars! 

5/5 Stars

Title: Tiger Queen	
Author: Annie Sullivan
Pages: 336
Release Date: September 10, 2019
Genre: Fantasy, Fantasy Realism, Retelling
Series or Stand-Alone: Stand-Alone
Stars: 5
People of Color?: Yes
LGBTQ?: No
Bechdel Test? (Depiction of Women): Yes
Trigger Warning: Some violence, but not gratuitous

I received a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

Story: Tiger Queen was a wonderful read! Sullivan takes the short story “The Lady or the Tiger?” and sets it in a fantastical desert oasis. She does a great job of setting up the scenario of the tigers and the sultan. I loved the fierce princess Kateri and how she comes into her power and self-understanding. I also loved the Desert Boys who were a mix of Robin Hood and the Lost Boys. The love story was adorable!

Recommendations: I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys fantasy. Even though it's not a fairy tale exactly, it does have a retelling element that was fun. 

It’s suitable for young adults and up!

Rating: 4.5/5

I went in only knowing two things: The cover is GORGEOUS (yes, I'm totally guilty of judging books by their cover) and it was a Lady or the Tiger retelling. I read that short story for school, but like most people it was a LONG time ago and I didn't really know much about it. 

For those that need a little refresher (like I did), the original short story featured a young woman responsible for her love's fate. She had to choose between two doors: One has a tiger behind it, one has a lady that the man would marry. And the woman has to choose between watching her love die... or go with someone else. The short story ends with no actual answer to the title question, leaving the reader to decide.

After I gave myself that little refresher course, I was definitely intrigued as to how that short story could be told in a new and unique way, and Annie Sullivan did NOT disappoint! 

When we first meet Kateri, I felt a bit disconnected from her and it took a bit of time to understand her, but I LOVED reading in her perspective and seeing her side of the story, especially because it added this extra layer to the story and this distrust. The narration and voice were really well done and though I usually don't read 1st person POV, this one did a really good job of it!

The few main characters were done really well, though it definitely took some time for me to fully trust them all! Cion was definitely an intriguing character and though the chemistry felt a bit lacking at first, I definitely grew fond of them! I especially loved the missing pieces of their backstories and how everything slowly pieced together, keeping me intrigued throughout the story!

The character development was really great, and seeing my girl Kateri grow stronger was AMAZING.

I especially loved the villains of the story because for once it wasn't "morally grey" it was just EVIL. I never had a moment of doubt about the bad guys maybe being redeemable, and that was definitely refreshing for me (since I'm a sucker for reading about morally grey characters). 

I LOVED the staging of the plot and how it started off slow (but never took away my attention) and then suddenly I was at the climax and I HAD to finish the book IMMEDIATELY. It was beautifully paced (though I felt like there needed to be more substance leading up to the inevitable romance--I didn't ship them for a while, and I wish I did because Cion is SWOONWORTHY OKAY?). 

I really loved the world-building and how perfectly everything was incorporated into the plot. The little details in the desert were so carefully placed but everything that was mentioned was brought full circle and I LOVED THAT. I especially loved that the climax of the story had me on the edge of my seat, gasping out loud and screaming because it was all so exciting and nerve-wracking and STRESSFUL! And the way the story wrapped up was just a cherry on top for how amazing this book was!

Overall, this was such a unique story that I would definitely recommend to anyone who needs something new!

If you enjoy unique retellings, stories set in the desert, amazing GASP-OUT-LOUD moments, beautiful world building and storytelling, strong women fighting evil evil men, and Desert boys that know they're perfect but also are totally humble and deserve all the water in the world this is the book for you! If you want astonishing discoveries of truth, great character development, and rebellions against unfair laws definitely pick this up TODAY!

2.5 stars

Unfortunately, this was a huge miss for me. 

Concept: ★★★★
Execution: ★★ 1/2
Characters: ★★

Tiger Queen was a story that I was incredibly excited to read given it's description: A princess is tasked with proving her worth to her kingdom by fighting her potential suitors in a once-a-month arena battle in front of her kingdom. If she can beat 12 suitors in the year of her majority, she proves her worthiness. 

What the synopsis doesn't describe: this seemingly warrior-woman story is completely surrounded in misogynistic male tropes. And it struggles from the lack of an #OwnVoices touch. 

Princess Kateri is reaching the age of her majority, and it's time to prove her worth to her kingdom. Her father, the king, has brutally trained her and forced her to betray any sign of weakness in the name of strength. His new second in command, Rodric, is worse. She's been honed to a keen edge by a doctrine of hatred and steel, and is hell-bent on avenging the death of her mother at the hands of the kingdom's rebelling force, the Desert Boys. 

The Desert Boys, and their leader, Cion, are are group of—you guessed it—all boys who steal tightly rationed water from the kingdom and bring it to their desert hideout to supposedly make the kingdom weaker. It's a blend of Peter Pan's Lost Boys and Robin Hood's steal from the rich to feed poor narrative, and it's pretty easy to spot right away. 

Kateri finds herself at the wrong end of Rodric's gaze when he is revealed to be her last suitor to face her in the ring. In a very on-the-nose ploy, Rodric reveals that he has always wanted the throne to himself and he will never allow a weak girl (girl is emphasized here, not her actual strength) rule. He's going to use her for heirs and then murder her. Nice. So Kateri runs away from the palace before this battle takes place, desperate for another way to claim her throne. 

But where can she go in the desert, and who will help her topple the corruption in her kingdom? 

Well, maybe the Desert Boys are more than what meets the eye...

I don't know, folks. I found Tiger Queen to be extremely predictable, and not in a way that I personally enjoyed. I'm willing to blame my extensive reading list of YA fantasies and the fact that I've read these tropes before, and often in better contexts, so please take this critique with a grain of salt. 

It rubbed me the wrong way that Kateri was the only woman with any agency or sense of purpose in the entire narrative, and even her actions we continually reinforced/initiated/reactionary to the role of the men in the story. For a story that was supposedly about a woman warrior, it had a awful lot of male messages. And a lot of male-dominated plot points. Now this shouldn't have bothered me as a reader except for the fact that this story is touted as a feminist warrior narrative with the title of TIGER QUEEN. I felt a bit cheated by the cool lead-in. 

Also, definitely don't read this novel for the tigers—as a girl who loves and respects tigers, I did NOT like that story arc.

Ugh! My heart! This book was SO GOOD! There are so many things that I could rave about - from the plot, to the characters, to the writing, to the setting and the twists. SO MUCH OF THIS WAS AMAZING! Annie Sullivan's sophomore release is a sweeping fantastical stand alone set in a desert climate. 

One of the first things I'm going to say about this book is the language. I cannot express how grateful I am that never once did I have to cringe at the language being used, or have to remove it from classroom consideration for it. It is a cleanly written, yet POWERFUL read. 

I found the concept to be very intriguing. A desert kingdom under siege, water shortages, princesses that must fight to rule. It was all just so "up my alley". I originally requested the book from netgalley, and then was able to meet Annie and receive a signed copy at BOOKCON! Let me tell you, I started the book on the plane home and I finished it the next day (the plane ride was 3 hours), totally about 8.5 hours to read. IT WAS OUTSTANDING. There was so much depth, and intrigue and loyalty. 

Kateri is goals, 100%. She presented herself as this bad ass warrior princess who no one really liked, but who still wanted to make her dead mother, her father, and her people proud. The struggle and arc that she made through out the book was beautiful. 

There is so much more that I could say about this novel, but instead, I'm going to urge you to read it! Read it, love it, rave about it! And then go grab "A TOUCH OF GOLD" and read that too! ;) 
5/5 stars!

Such a fantastic journey! This book had magic, harsh environment, romance, survival, and one determined princess. 

A princess raised by a king who created a world where everything is a lie. Men age must fight in an arena and best. If they lose they are exiled and if they win Kateri will become the winners bride and be shammed. 

A world of sand and magic. Kateri’s journey, strength and growth are inspiring. Such a beautiful book. I highly recommend The Tiger Queen

The tiger queen was a story about love, the desert and real strength to survive and to lead. I really enjoyed this book but I did find a few things I felt took away from the story. I struggled with the characters not being described properly. We got very vague descriptions of “muscled” “dark haired” or “not considered tall” but I have no idea what any of the characters actually look like. Do they all look the same? It was mentioned people from other places lived there but again only a vague description of a tattoo or marking. We have no idea if this world has all kinds of different people or if they all generally look the same or anything. I have no clue what any of the main characters even look like. I found this distracting trying to figure out how they would be looking or how their bodies would be moving. No mention of any specific features  at all except that Cion has brown eyes with gold flecks. I understand the author wanted to avoid appropriation, but it felt like it was taken too far. It was so vague that it made me stop and wonder what I am actually imagining. I did enjoy the characters and their personalities. It seemed this was a stand alone so I liked the wrapped up ending.

I read A Touch of Gold, another of Annie Sullivan’s books, and enjoyed it immensely. It was little wonder then that I found myself liking Tiger Queen.

 Tiger Queen revolves around Kateri, a warrior princess who finds herself in sore need of a combat trainer. In the desert oasis she lives in, heirs to the throne must prove themselves worthy to rule by fighting potential suitors. If Kateri loses, she will be forced to marry the suitor she lost to. If she wins, the suitor will be banished into the desert and presumably die. Life in the city is harsh as well. Water is rationed because of the severe drought they have been in the midst of for several years now. Somehow, Kateri must beat her notoriously cruel final suitor, replenish their city’s dwindling water supply, and stop a band of boys from raiding what little water remains in the wells. Her solution? Well, you’ll have to read it to find out. 

I really liked Tiger Queen and will continue to watch this author for more books. She has yet to disappoint.

This is an amazing book! I absolutely loved the story line and I was hooked from the start. The characters were relatable and I loved the character dynamics. Annie Sullivan is an amazing author that knows how to grab and keep a reader’s attention. I barely put the book down and I finished wanting more. I highly recommend this book and I hope to read more by Annie Sullivan soon!

4.5 stars, great read!

Tiger Queen by Annie Sullivan is a YA fantasy standalone inspired by the short story, The Lady, or the Tiger. Set in the desert world of Achra, with a strong willed female lead, Kateri,  is faced with challenges and changes that she never expects in her kingdom and her world is turned upside down.

Thank you Blink and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book! 

The setting isn't one that I would typically pick up from a book and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the this world and the world building. Annie Sullivan writes in a style that "gets to the point" so to speak and I really appreciate that having recently read some YA fantasies I felt a little slow placed at times. 

I did find myself guessing the story line correctly and finding it a bit predictable at times, but hey, that happens a lot in YA and Tiger Queen still made for a really enjoyable read with an epic ending! I definitely recommend this book!

I wasn’t familiar with the short story this was based off of, The Lady, or the Tiger, but I still love YA fantasy, especially standalone novels so I was excited to give it a shot. 

Kateri is a 16 year old fighting one potential suitor every month leading up to her 17th birthday. If the man wins, they get to claim the throne and her as their wife. If she beats all of them, she is becomes queen on her own.

I wish there had been more in the beginning to establish Kateri as a good person to start off with but instead when we jump in, she’s immediately a self-important know it all brat. She is haughty, prideful and negative, but I pushed through hoping it was just the beginning of her character arc and I’m really glad I did. 

There’s a great deal of growth over the course of 200 or so pages as Kateri finds out that much of what she’s been told has been a lie. We’ve got a couple we’ll executed tropes and well written fight scenes that didn’t bore me to death as they occasionally do. 

I really enjoyed the way the book ended and the way it was written. I was easily imagining it as a live action movie throughout. Sullivan does a great job of making something as expansive and monotonous as a desert seem really interesting. I struggled through the first few chapters in my annoyance with Kateri but I ultimately really enjoyed it.

TIGER QUEEN by Annie Sullivan is a fun standalone to read if you love story retellings. This post DOES NOT CONTAIN SPOILERS.

I obtained this ARC through NetGalley. Here is the shortened review:

Why I was interested: Story retellings are top of the list for me and I love it when authors take those that aren’t reconfigured as often as others. I had also enjoyed Sullivan’s other retelling of the story of King Midas and his golden touch in A TOUCH OF GOLD. When I read this book was a retelling of Frank Stockton’s short story, “The Lady, or the Tiger?”, I knew I wanted to read it immediately. 

Judge a book by it’s cover: This book is all about sand -- and in a good way. The worldbuilding is so well-focused on this small entity that is often forgotten about so it is only appropriate that the sand dunes crest the cover. I love how the dunes create stripes as mentioned in the story along with a nod to the tigers Kateri’s father keeps.

What to expect: This book was great to read after watching the live-action Aladdin while creating a unique retelling based on such a short story. If you finally want to know which gate the lady chooses, you can finally find out! It is a standalone so you don’t have to worry if you want to read the entire series in one go.

Why you should pick this book up: If retellings are your thing -- like me -- then this would be a good fit. Sullivan creates a strong character who learns how to be a leader by listening to the world around her. Kateri’s fearlessness and determination will make anyone cheer for her to become the next ruler of Achra. 

Want more?: This book will be published on Tuesday, Sept. 10. Sullivan is doing a pre-order campaign where you receive a pin, signed bookplate, digital poster, and -- my personal favorite -- a guide to the creatures of Achra, so definitely check it out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Marena Galluccio, #MediaGalReads

Love Annie Sullivan and love Tiger Queen. A female who has to fight suitors for her right to win the throne, but if one suitor beats her, she loses everything and simply becomes a queen to the king. She was raised for this, so why does everything seem so wrong now that she almost has everything she wanted?

Sullivan does a good job of stressing the importance of community in the life of young people. I believe that this would be valuable for my students to see how strength is not necessarily always exhibited alone, but rather in trusting others. Overall a good read, however, older students may feel like the plot utilizes common tropes in YA and may not be as engaging.

As soon as I saw this announced I knew I needed to read it- it’s “Lady or the Tiger?” (my favorite short story) meets an Arabian inspired desert world. So when I was beyond thrilled when I received a free e-copy for review from Net Galley.

This book isn’t at all what I imagined but I’m okay with that because it was amazing. The story world is vast and vivid and so well developed. The characters are dynamic and real. The plot is intense and gripping. The retelling elements are so fantastically done.

It’s funny because this book has a lot of things that usually draw me away from a book- a lot of training/fighting scenes, a closed off main character, not a ton of friendly/playful character interactions (at least not for a while). But the author does such an amazing job pulling you into the story regardless. Kateri isn’t someone I would usually connect with and as a character she has so many walls it’s hard to fully get to know her, at least at first. But the author lets us see beyond the pride and the ferocity she wears like armor into the pain its hiding. You see tiny gaps in her walls, chinks in her armor, that let you know this character is worth loving, even if she doesn’t believe that herself. Her growth is amazing and happens in ways I didn’t expect but felt so natural and real. And then once she starts to let people in, just a little, you’re introduced to a whole world of wonderful characters that you won’t be able to help loving.

The story does a good job following the elements created in the original short story it’s based on while also knowing when to deviate. Even the ways it’s different it does a good job paying homage and respect to the original tale. The author is on no mission to fix or change the original story (a problem I often find with retellings) but instead has taken a beloved tale and is making it her own.

The story was twisted and unexpected. Even the things I guessed were going to happen came about in unexpected ways. I had a sense of knowing how the book might end (or at least a guess in what direction it was going) but finding myself wondering how that was going to come about. The biggest piece of writing advice all writers receive is “give your readers what they expect in the most unexpected way” and the author NAILS that. Everything that happens felt natural to the flow of the story. But it’s not predictable.

Speaking of natural- I love the way the romance progresses. It’s gentle and slow and just sort of sneaks up on you, the way love often does in real life. It’s not forced or steamy or even really a driving point of the story. But it’s there and it’s natural and I SHIP IT SO HARD

I absolutely loved this book. I’m excited for its release so I can read it again and pester all my friends to read it. It’s everything I wanted it to be and nothing that I expected. And I love it.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read and review this ARC.

This book was amazing and well written. I loved it. It was a fabulous 5 star read that you don't want to miss out on. It reminded me of The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson and of The Remnant Chronicles by Mary Pearson.
It is also a retelling of a short story called "The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank Stockton, which I didn't know until after I read it, but regardless, I really enjoyed this story and am now curious about the original short story as well.
In this story, Princess Kateri is the heir to the kingdom of Achra, but she has to fight in the arena to prove herself to her father the King and to be able to take over and rule the kingdom and also to keep her promises to her late mother about taking care of the people who are suffering in the drought. She always is trying to figure out how to prove herself to her father and feeling like she's failing and unworthy of love, wanting him to love her.
When it comes down to her last fight and she finds out who she's supposed to defeat, she knows she needs help to win and seeks it out in the desert where the Desert Boys are hiding for refuge with the drought. After things seem dark, Princess Kateri finds the strength she needs to face her last opponent, also finds hope and love that she didn't think existed or she would ever find or be deserving of in the desert.
I highly recommend this. Everyone should make sure to read this, it's a wonderful story that no one should miss out on.

Thanks to Partner NetGalley for the digital ARC of Annie Sullivan’s Tiger Queen in exchange for an honest review. The book releases September 10, 2019.

Annie Sullivan acknowledges the roots of her novel Tiger Queen in the book’s epigraph in which she thanks her “middle school English teacher, Mrs. Desautels, for first asking the question, ‘The lady or the tiger?’” As a fan of retellings of classic literature, I was hooked. I’ve always loved the complexity of the original story, which offers up a princess who’s barbaric enough that she may just send her lover to his death by tiger rather than see him in the arms of another woman.

Sullivan’s young adult novel uses this story, Frank R. Stockton’s “The Lady, or the Tiger?,” as a springboard for a story about class division, corruption, and power. At the novel’s heart is Kateri, the daughter of the powerful king who rules a small kingdom built on a formerly lush oasis. Now, the kingdom suffers because of a murderous drought that requires strict rationing of water for its citizens.

Kateri’s father has raised her in luxury but with a hatred for the Desert Boys, a wild gang of outcasts who killed her mother and infant brother when Kateri was a child. She has trained as a warrior both to defend her home—she promised her mother that she would take care of her people and rule with kindness—and to seek vengeance on those who broke her family.

Kateri lives in the world that Stockton first imagined, one where justice is meted out by chance. Kateri’s father forces criminals into an arena, and they are given a choice between two doors: the first holds a bloodthirsty tiger, and the second holds some sort of treasure. As the novel opens, a young Desert Boy is in the midst of his choice, and his prize is the cart of goods that he had tried to steal. Kateri watches as the boy makes away with the object of his theft . . . and then comes to realize that her father had controlled the fate of this criminal all along.

Since Kateri is old enough to marry, her father has set up another series of competitions: she is to fight twelve potential suitors. If she wins the battle, the suitor is banished from the kingdom. If he wins, the suitor will marry her. As he does with the sentencing of criminals, Kateri’s father controls her fate, wresting from her the power she thought she had earned.

The plot really ramps up as Kateri begins to realize the full scope of her father’s betrayal and seeks to regain control over her life by leaving the kingdom and seeking training among the Desert Boys. Along the way, she comes to see herself, her father, and her world hold depths—good and bad—she had not dreamed.

While Sullivan’s novel kept my attention throughout, and I appreciated the world building and mythology that she weaves into the story, I was disappointed by the predictability of the plot. Kateri is the typical strong female protagonist whose epiphanies about the world around her spur her to work for change and to make a series of correct decisions. Those epiphanies come so easily that they are nearly instantaneous. Her training montage—one of my favorite elements of any action book or movie (think The Karate Kid or Rocky IV)—is enjoyable but also so, so quick. She picks up incredibly difficult skills in a day because she is so preternaturally gifted. The novel’s revelations progress as expected for those who have read this type of YA novel before, which means that moments meant to have great emotional resonance fall, unfortunately, short. Tiger Queen is a pleasant enough read but not one that offers anything new . . . or anything as complex and sinister as its source material.

This story centers around Princess Kateri who lost her mother and younger brother to a gang called the Desert Boys. Their is a water shortage in Achra which is a desert kingdom. So water is a huge deal here. The crime for stealing water during this drought is to choose between two doors in the arena one holds a tiger the other your freedom. On top of all this Princess Kateri according to an ancient law must fight in the arena to prove that the dessert has chooses her to rule.

Their are lot of twists and turns to discover as the Princess goes from fighting to really discovering who is behind the drought that plagues her kingdom. She ends up more then once putting her life on the line for the desert boys that she ends up calling family. Their is some romance but it not the central part of this story and it really only comes into to play toward the end of the book.

Their are some scenes that could be triggering and emotional but i did not feel they were out of the place in this type of story where a kingdom is so hungry for water that the people will do almost anything to get it. I really enjoyed the world building and the training in the desert against the sand. It a very creative story and most of all it told all in one book. Make sure to check this book out in September of 2019.

Reading Tiger Queen was like taking a breath of fresh air. Annie Sullivan is definitely one of my new favorite authors. This book was so atmospheric! It was definitely a movie playing in my head, and I could so see it being made into a movie. 

I loved the character development and journey of Princess Kateri. She is definitely a main character worth rooting for! The author's writing style is beautiful. It builds and flows so well drawing you completely into the story. 

I am so excited for Annie Sullivan, and I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next!