4.5🌟🌟🌟🌟

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.


Princess Charlotte of Besimum is unhappily betrothed to Princes Young of Vires, neither of them particularly feel any joy about this marriage alliance, but with little choice in the matter. Charlotte especially, as she tries in the beginning to stop the wedding and make Young or her father break off the marriage. Their engagement begins with a rocky start as Charlotte attempts to murder Young on his arrival. When their castle is attacked by Drethen forces, the wedding is cancelled, and they are forced to escape.

With her kingdom attacked and it’s future now uncertain, Charlotte’s mother renegotiates her hand in marriage to another. In hopes to protect their kingdom with the alliance of a country much closer than Vires. Charlotte must decided how she will save her kingdom. By turning to the prince she betrayed or by marrying another that only wants the throne for himself.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. Princess Charlotte’s earlier chapters did make me dislike her character to begin with but I think that she had some of the best character development in the story. She began as a spoiled princess that grew to become a strong female lead. Alongside Prince Young, they both became more mature and ready to rule. Each faced challenges throughout the story, sometimes together, with the help of others, or completely alone.

This is a romance set in a war. Meaning that it is not always a happy story; people fight, die, are injured and suffer. Their is politics mixed up with romance. Both good and bad people die, there is no glorious climatic final battle that leaves the good guys standing tall, alive and with a happy ever after, and the bad guys are beaten, broken and (sometimes) dead. Not everyone survives, some of them I had really wanted to live and some that I was happy to see gone.

I may not be 100% happy with some of the events in this book, and I am still brewing over one death in particular which if you have or do read the book you might also not be over yet, but I can understand why many of them had to happen. Due to the unpredictable nature of war it only makes sense that a story about war would have unpredictable and sudden events.

I would recommend this book if you want to read a book with romance set in a war, that is a multi-cultural light fantasy YA novel.

I was provided with an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review..

This book is a complete joke. I can’t believe she actually plans 2 more books after this, let alone than someone would publish any of it. The author obviously could not decide what kind of story she wanted to tell or which characters should narrate. I kept hoping it would get better, but it actually got worse every page! The whole story arc was a muddled mess. It would have been so much better if there had been a clear goal and no attempt at so much yet no development!

Book: Cold Kingdom
Author: Brittni Chenelle
Rating: 3 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank Netgalley and Brittni Chenelle for providing me with this ARC.

I really did enjoy this book. I liked the pacing and how well Brittni could right. This is a very short book and it great if you are looking for a quick fantasy read. My problem with this one was the fact that it was almost too quick. The pace, at times, made it very difficult to actually figure out for sure just what was going on. We have a huge cast of characters and a huge world, but it felt like it wasn’t fully developed. It was like Britnni was so focused on the pace, but didn’t allow time for things to develop. All of this, just made it kind of hard to keep track of everything.

I liked the use of multiple points of view. However, it did feel a little overwhelming with the use of the side characters as the point of view characters. It just made it really hard to keep everyone straight. Another thing that really bothered me was how young the characters were. I wish that they had been a little bit older to make what happens in the book a little bit more realistic.

I really did like Young and Charlotte. They were really great and solid leads. What I really liked about them is how much they grew. At first, I thought Charlotte was kind of a weak character, but as the story went on, she grew on me. We get to see what kind of a leader she is and how much she really does care about what is going on. Young, from the start, is a very mature character. I know Britnni was trying to write him as the strong male led and she did just that. As the story goes on, we also get to see just how much he will do to protect those who he cares about.

Overall, not a bad book. I just wish that it would have had some more meat to it.

Overall rating: 3 stars

I was attracted to this book by the gorgeous cover, plus the synopsis sounded perfect for a YA fantasy lover like myself.

I really enjoyed the fast pacing of the story and the many exciting twists that happened throughout. There is very little 'filler' in this book. There's a lot of action and events for the reader to absorb and consider, which I definitely appreciated. This book is fast paced and action packed with a pretty interesting variety of characters.

Unfortunately, many of the emotional beats didn't really land for me. I wasn't connecting to the characters on a deeper level and some of the writing was a little clumsy and unfocused. I definitely didn't pick up on the re-telling aspect of the story until the very last chapter when it was essentially spelled out. It would have been nice to see more recognizable elements of the original legend within the main body of the story.

I may pick up subsequent books in this series just for an action packed, quick read in the YA fantasy genre but I probably won't be looking out for this one on shelves.

Attempted murder, that’s how sixteen-year-old Princess Charlotte's engagement starts. It seems like the only thing she has in common with Prince Young of Vires is their mutual discontent.
This was honestly all I needed to read to know this was going to be an amazing ride and I was willing to jump on and ride this ride.
I was so glad I read this book and the writing is amazing beautiful.

Characters: The story alternates between perspectives and as I have mentioned I usually don’t like when this happens as you don’t really get to know each characters personality and thought processes as well as you would if it just focused on one of them.

Young- I appreciated Young’s optimistic point of view. He is looking on the bright side of his arranged marriage and turns out to be a good king.

Charlotte- At the beginning of the book I thought that Charlotte was a spoiled brat and that did change throughout. But, I still found some of the decisions that Charlotte made to be very rash and stupid. It was hard to like her when she kept making these decisions with no forethought.

Milly- The part of this story that I liked the least was Milly’s character development. She begins the story as a loyal, faithful handmaid and then all of a sudden she is plotting her queen’s death and renouncing her faith. Milly goes from crying and condemning Charlotte for killing the enemy soldiers (who would have likely killed them) to attempting to poison the queen, all within the span of a few chapters.


Plot: The synopsis for this book was so misleading. The “attempted murder” happens within the first 20 pages and is never mentioned again. The synopsis makes it seem as though this is going to play a huge part in the story and it does not. It wasn’t really relevant and because it was brushed off so quickly, it was unnecessary.

The synopsis also makes it seem as if Charlotte and Young are going to have this long drawn out “love to hate” relationship. But, very quickly they are relying on one another, building a relationship and the next thing you know they are married and having a child and are both happy about it.

There was not a lot of world building or the background history of this world or kingdom. It was just here’s this kingdom…okay, let’s go. There was no development of the world around these characters.

The beginning of the book reminded me a bit of the plot line of the Disney movie Brave. Charlotte is being pushed into an arranged marriage because she is now “of age” and it will garner favor and advantage for the kingdom. But, in the beginning Charlotte wants nothing to do with this and even makes a comment about winning her own hand. That is where the comparison ends, had the story continued in this vain it could have been good.

The author tries to pack too much into one story. It’s like she thought, “How many different plot lines can I pack into one book?” And then the ones that she did include were quickly brushed off or turned from one twist right into another.
For example, in one chapter Charlotte is attracted to Prince Minseo and then a little while later all she can think about is Young.

My opinion: Honestly, I did not enjoy the way this book was written. It was just very simple, junior-high level and being the majority of these characters are royals the language that they use just does not make sense. I don’t believe that princes and princesses from far off lands would be using the same dialect that you and I do, it just threw me off.


Would I recommend?: Honestly, I would only recommend this book to young middle school students. It is an east read and on that they can probably get through quickly. This type of book has been done in much better ways but better authors.

Title Kingdom Cold
Author Brittni Chenelle
Description from Amazon
Attempted murder, that’s how sixteen-year-old Princess Charlotte’s engagement starts. It seems like the only thing she has in common with Prince Young of Vires is their mutual discontent.
When her kingdom’s attacked, Charlotte’s parents renegotiate her hand in marriage to a handsome stranger with a sinister plan. With the people Charlotte loves dying around her, and her kingdom’s future at stake, the only person she can turn to is the prince she betrayed. But, should she save her kingdom or her heart? One must fall.
Initial Thoughts
Since I was given a free eARC, I didn’t have too many initial thoughts about this book.  It sounded interesting enough when I applied but I didn’t have a ton of feelings about it.  The description offered on NetGalley is somewhat vague but, it did catch my eye.
Cover Art
Since this is an e-book, it’s difficult to discuss the “shelf appeal” of this book.  However, I do think the cover art is pretty.  I like cherry blossoms and I think they represent Prince Young’s “eastern” kingdom nicely.
I’m not a fan of how the crown is not centered under the title – my inner perfectionist actually hates this.  If this were a physical book, it would never be a forward facing book on my shelf because of that imperfection.
Writing Style
I enjoyed the multiple POV, first person style in this book.  I liked that minor characters were given POV chapters.  It provided a different look at the situations unfolding.
Some Things I Wasn’t Crazy About
The ending.  I hated the ending.  I thought it was pretty unnecessary.  Also, I totally didn’t see the plot connecting itself to a certain famous myth.  No spoilers, but that seemed out of nowhere.  There was one small reference to it earlier on, but I kind of wrote that off an as oversight.
Politics.  In my opinion, the politics, which is the major driver of the plot, make no sense in this story.  At one point, there are three young princes all in love with Charlotte who is basically described as so-so at best.
Final Thoughts
This book was ok.  I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either.  I think it had a lot of potential but it fell short.  The ending (that I didn’t like at all) shaped a lot of my opinion of the whole story.
However, despite it’s flaws, I want to give a special shout out to the fact that this was self-published.  This was impressive work for one person to produce start to finish.
⭐⭐⭐
Recommendations for Further Reading
• The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson – the main female characters in both of these stories are similar.  There is also a sense of arranged marriage for political alliances and the threat of war on one kingdom.
• The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson – Mary E. Pearson can do no wrong.  Her writing is brilliant and amazing.  If you liked the idea of arranged marriage, warring kingdoms, and multiple POVs – read this series.
• The Traitor’s Game by Jennifer A. Nielsen – similar to The Remnant Chronicles Series, The Traitor’s Game is another story of arranged marriage and political alliances.  There is also romance with a seemingly bratty princess type girl and a way to good for her nice guy.
• Kingdom Soul by Brittni Chenelle – the sequel to Kingdom Cold coming in June of 2019.

• Title: Kingdom Cold
• Author: Brittni Chennelle
• Series: Trilogy presently unnamed
• Pages: 278
• Genre: YA Fiction/Romance
• Rating Out of 5 Stars: 3.5

My Thoughts: This was not at all what I expected after reading the synopsis and seeing the book trailer for this title. I thought perhaps some Asian inspired Medieval fantasy. What I got was more Arthurian precursor love triangle.
It was fluffy and full of teenage angst and pining. But it was also a fast paced tale of coming of age, tolerance, friendship, betrayal, love and politics.
The characters were delightfully well rounded. Everyone had their own distinct personalities and the few glimpses we get into some of the other ruling factions made me interested to learn more about them. It was the handling of the romances between the characters that I did find some issues with. With the pacing it seemed like everyone was falling in and out of love too easily. Some conflicts that arose from these scenarios felt a little too convinient but were handled well enough to fit the flow of the story.
While I devoured this book in a couple hours and enjoyed my time reading it it was just kinda..meh in the end. I’ve seen this setup in quite a few of my recent reads which may be why it didn’t have as much of an impact. Hands down the writing is solid, the story is solid and the characters were interesting.

*Copy provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

(2.75) I'll start with how much I appreciate stand alone YA fantasy: it's refreshing and surprisingly hardy. This one wasn't anything to write home about, but honestly it was addictive to read and I put a lot of stock in that for my entertainment. My main (and only stand out) issue was how much the main character annoyed me; at least she wasn't brain dead, I'll take that in any case.

Kingdom Cold didn't live up to my expectations. It's underdeveloped like it was written in a hurry. There are several unnecessary and unbelievable elements in the story that cause a jumble of unrealized ideas. It's not a bad premise. It's poorly executed and needs editing, though, to help it become something more solid. I would like to read a polished version of the story. For now, it's a miss for me. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I received this ARC from NetGalley & the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this book. Very addictive read, great characters, good storyline and plot. A little chunky at places and sometimes there were annoying parts.

I received this book from the author/publisher for my honest review. Thank you for allowing me to read this wonderful book.

I really did love this book. I really enjoy reading books about royalty and this was that but with a twist. Charlotte is not your average princess and I loved that about her. She didn’t let others tell her what she could or couldn’t do, GIRL POWER! This book sure takes you through a lot of emotions, one minute you are happy and the next angry. It really keeps you engaged in the story. Very well written and easy to read. Can’t wait to read the next installment!! I need more!!

Thank you NetGalley for this free book in exchange for an honest review!

I love the cover of this book, it’s what made me want to read the book in the first place. I like the premise of the story, but as I started reading I found myself thrown off by a few things, but mostly, the time discrepancies.

So much was going on. I see where the author was going with the twists and turns in the story, but I just wish the scenes were fleshed out more. More of show me, don’t tell me is needed. Time jumps fast throughout Kingdom Cold and not because the characters have some teleporting powers or anything like that. The scenes are rushed which is one of the reasons why I had trouble getting through this book.

It seemed like the story was just speeding down to a conclusion, with an attack here, a villain there, a love quadrangle thrown in, a few deaths, Princes available for marriage and I even got confused with Prince Young and Prince Minseo’s perspectives at one point!

This story has a lot of potential, it is a seed of ideas. But like a seed, it needs a few elements to grow. All the ideas from this one book, could be stretched out into a three book series. Kingdom Cold, needs some focus on world-building, the plot, pacing and character development. With those fixes, I think this could be a good series.

I received this ARC in exchange for honest feedback. I loved the plot line of this book, and it did have me reading pretty quickly, but the characters left me wanting to know them better, to feel like they were close friends. I hope as the plot continues in the next book that I do see more character development.

My rating: 3.75 stars

I was captivated by this book! There was something charming about the setting and characters that drew me in right away. Not to mention the beautiful cover!

The story featured diverse characters who, at first glance, perhaps seemed a bit immature or just not developed enough. But as the book progressed, I looked forward to seeing their personal growth. Especially the heroine, Charlotte. In the beginning of the book, she is spoiled and self-centered. Refusing to accept the news of her betrothal, she decides to take matters into her own hand without taking time to think things through. Young, her betrothed, seems at first to just accept things without revealing much of an opinion, but he quickly became one of my favorite characters. I do wish some of the supporting characters had received a bit more development. Milly could have been a great addition to the plot, but she just wasn't used enough. I wish we could have seen more friendship between her and Charlotte.

As for the pacing, the ending did feel a little bit rushed. I would have liked to see it a little bit more fleshed out. I didn't want the story to end, and then all of a sudden it was over. But, I'm glad to see that there will be two more books in this series, so I can't wait to see what happens next!

We went through a COMPLETE GAUNTLET of emotions while reading Kingdom Cold by @brittnichenelle . At first, we hated Charlotte, thought Young was as bland as lukewarm plain oatmeal, Minseo was the Quagmire (Family Guy reference) of the book, and Mili was as loyal as a hand feed puppy... NONE OF THESE THINGS WERE TRUE!!! (Well, the Quagmire thing was kind of true, but let's not split hairs, shall we?) The character development was AMAZING, pacing was on point and the part right before the ending caused legit tears 😭. The end was satisfying enough, but we NEED us a happy ending!!! Since the author has indicated that this book is the first of a trilogy, we hope we get it!!!

Rough. This one was almost a DNF but I kept going in hopes it would get better. The premise was excellent--angsty teenage royalty facing arranged marriages with the potential for warfare and drama. It sounds good in theory yes? The execution on the other hand fell short. I do credit the author for trying to do something different by telling the story through different perspectives in each chapter. However, in doing so, there are huge gaps of time in the story creating a major discontinuity. There was also way too much focus on the minutiae (i.e. the consummation) and not nearly enough focus on the bigger plot lines (i.e. how the Queen ended up working with Emmett, how anyone figured out that Emmett was the one who poisoned everyone etc.). I felt like the author tried too hard to put too much in "x" amount of pages. If only she worked more on character and plot development, this could have been a great book. Not planning to continue the series.

Chenelle incorporates aspects of various genres to construct a well-thought, imaginative piece. Traipsing boundaries of conventional genres, Chenelle manages to beautifully allude to character-isms that make the novel an all round success.

Unfortunatey, the book didn’t interested me enough and I stopped reading it at 17 %. Maybe younger readers would like it more, I just found the writing style bad, characters flat and childish....

I am sorry that I didn’t like the story....the cover is beautiful and I expected the book will be captivating, unfortunately it’s not.

A round of applause to the cover designer!

Now, let's talk about the story: young princess forced to marry a young prince to save her kingdom from an impending war, and in her push and pull, war arrives at their gates, and they've got to flee and suddenly she learns that the war is all about who wins and gets to stay in power longer, but what of her life? What of the lives of those she loves?

So, it's got a myriad of feelings and with a fast pace, you can't help but get from one sword fight to another to another conspiracy to another and so on.

It's entertaining, that's for sure. Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.