The copy I received was riddled with typos, which made the story difficult, if not impossible, to follow. Having read other reviews, it appears this was a common issue, and a frustrating one.

However, formatting issues aside, I enjoyed this book. Elen is a unique heroine who feels "of her time," a rarity in YA historical fiction. Elen's journey and resilience in the face of horrific violence is inspiring and moving. I did feel that the plot moved slowly at times, and was, perhaps, simplistic, but this is YA, so some of that is to be expected. I don't have any major complaints, and, on the whole, I found this very enjoyable.

The premise sounded interesting because it is based on the life of Helen of Wales. However, it had a lot of typos that distracted me from the story. Therefore, I could not finish it.

For the longest, I spent a lot of time trying to find a historical novel that was focused heavily on a character. However, I wasn't prepared for some of the hardships Ellen endured. I would love to read another novel by Anderson Coats, but not if it's going to be heavy on the unpleasant stuff. A character should suffer but geez.

This book belongs to a difficult but well-needed class of historical fiction novels of late, which aim to give agency to the women in history who have undefined stories in which they are mostly malaligned from some perspective or another. There are a lot of dark and hard topics in this story that truly occurred, including rape, kidnapping, and the modern difficulty of seeing a woman stay with her captor with a certain amount of willingness and comfort.

In that aspect of the book, Coats does very well. Though not always pleasant to read, the women are given agency and a voice and choices and reactions. However, there is also a lot of historical and political discussion in the story too, which might be important, but is almost too confusing to tell. Though the real-life aspects of this time period and location were that the politics were, to put it in a professional way, bananas, the author should include only what can be made clear to the reader.

This book is a hard one to review for me. It was very realistic, the writing was excellent, it did not shy away from difficult or dangerous circumstances and did not sugar coat reality. However, I felt something lacking, as I did with the author's previous novel. Maybe the depth of the characters, or some things missing from their story arcs? Its hard to pinpoint, but I did feel let down, because I thought so much more could be accomplished. That being said, I do think the author has great potential.

**Thank you Netgalley and publisher for giving me an electronic ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

This had so much potential. I picked this book due to the summary, but as I was reading it I found some errors such as missing words in a couple of sentences. Which made it hard for me to finish. I was, however, pleasantly surprised that it read more like a historical fiction than a fairytale.

I was curious about this one and have seen and heard of it a few times. I love a good retelling and really enjoyed this one!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy for review.

I went into this thinking it would lean slightly on the fairytale end but it's pretty solidly historical fiction. I liked this enough to read it all in one day. The characters were fine. Seeing as how they are ripped from history, most felt true to the source. I, however, know pretty much nothing of medieval Welsh history. There is a decent amount of action, given that we mainly follow Owain and his teulu (war band). They pillage and raid their way through Wales, mainly trying to keep the Normans out. Elen gets picked up along the way because after they burn her house and murder her family, she convinces them she speaks to Saint Elen. She does this to save her own skin, so props for the quick thinking. However there is not much more to her character outside of this. I think we are meant to sympathize with her for being trapped with a power hungry Welsh heir, but everything she does shows she wants to be there on some level. She repeatedly tries to insert herself in his family, even though they truly hate her for whispering in Owain's ear. Then when Owain makes a huge political blunder and kidnaps a royal wife and her children, Elen immediately tries to worm her way into their family. Unfortunately all of this really takes place as inner dialogue, so it is a whole lot of tell and not show. Elen just rubbed me the wrong way after awhile, especially when she starts feeling like people owe her since she hasn't actually done much of anything. She is also incredibly naive given how she lives. Outside of that most of the other characters don't really matter much. Owain is your typical war band leader, and the rest just stay in the background. There isn't much actual plot to me outside of Elen trying to save herself. I think I would have enjoyed this more if the focus had been on Owain and his father and the political insanity of trying to maintain borders and keep the English and French out.

this had what i was look for in a fairy tale like novel, I loved the story itself and getting to know the characters. It was a great read and I wanted more.

3 stars.
Elen lives in 1109 Wales, a land caught in the middle of a power struggle between warbands, lords and Kings. After her family is killed in a raid, Elen comes up with a plan to save her life, but it comes with a heavy price. As her captor's ego grows, mistakes are made and Elen but choose between the life and lies she has known or the possibility a new friend with new promises could mean.
The plot of this book is amazingly refreshing, it isn't centered on a silly love affair that romanticizes the elements of war, but a tale of how dark and bleak lives could have been because of their brutish way of life. Back then men of power took whatever they wanted by force, and usually whoever had the biggest stick won. It was both heartbreaking and inspiring to go along with Elen, who was treated as a trophy and property, was able to forge her own path and seek out her own happiness.
This book did take me a long time to read because of the writing style. The words are spelled much like they would be pronounced in Wales during the 1100s, which meant that often times entire phrases and words would be missing, so you would have to do a little thinking about what words or sentences would be. It required a bit of brain power from me, something I don't often have at the end of the day when I am looking to unwind with some reading. I had to be in a certain mood and in a certain mind frame to enjoy this book.
I did enjoy the fresh breath this historical fiction provided. It is a beautiful story about the struggle of a woman who is surrounded by violence, but manages to find something worth fighting for. Just keep in mind that the writing is unique and my not be to everyone's taste.

Rating: 2.5 stars
Trigger Warnings for this book: rape/sexual assault, kidnapping

I don't know why, but I could've sworn this was more of a fantasy book. It's not at all. It's 100% historical fiction, which is probably the genre I read the least because it simply doesn't interest me. Please keep that in mind as you read my thoughts on this book.

So, brief summary. The year is 1109. Elen's family was murdered 3 years ago by Owain's warband. In order to avoid the same fate, she convinces him that if he keeps her with him he will be protected by a saint of the same name, Saint Elen. She must keep the act up or be killed, and when Owain kidnaps an enemy's wife and children for revenge the life Elen so deftly built is ready to come crashing down.

I didn't particularly enjoy this book for a few reasons (besides it being historical fiction). First, the writing sometimes confused me. It jumped around and I had to try hard sometimes to follow what was going on. I couldn't always tell what was happening and often was unsure of what the author was trying to convey in Elen's mind. There was quite a bit of repetition, which I liked at some parts but at others I was like "UGH this again?" The story is also very slow. I tend to enjoy slow books because the characters tend to shine through. Elen was very... wishy-washy. I do understand though because of all the trauma she went through. But overall, the story was pretty boring. It picked up closer to the end where literally anything that could go wrong did, but it wasn't enough to make up for the 200+ pages preceding it. Also, I wish there was more background given as to Wales during that time. I didn't understand the politics. At one point, there's supposedly a bunch of warbands patrolling and I never understood why? Whose warbands were they? All I could think, and as Patrick Star wisely said, "Who are you people??"

The ending was good, and I'm glad I finished it. I do feel like there's a few things left unanswered, but I'm okay with it. All I can say is I'm glad it's over, and I will be donating this book to Little Free Library near me.

I'd like to thank the publisher and netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in an exchange for an honest review.
I really liked it!

I found Spindle and Dagger to be a very interesting young adult historical fiction book. I haven’t read much in this genre and was pleasantly surprised by this book. I heard that the book is based off of the legend of “Helen of Wales”, which I am not very familiar with. I enjoyed the author’s writing and the main characters kept me interested throughout the story. I look forward to reading more from the author in the future.0

Interesting characters. Intriguing plot. Dynamic prose. My attention was held the entire time. I enjoyed my time reading this one. I’d suggest this story to everyone who likes a more contemporary stuff.

Spindle and Dagger is an… interesting read. There’s a lot of stuff I didn’t enjoy, and few things I did - but overall I didn’t totally dislike the story. I was surprised to discover that this novel was deeply rooted in history and to find that actual people who had lived were in the story. That being said I didn’t enjoy the the inferred sexual assault that happens off page and certainly didn’t expect come across it. The story is set in ancient Wales with and centers around the character Elen - I was so excited to see our hero was a heroine! Where Spindle and Dagger misses the mark is it becomes a lot of searching for and following the villain, which feels like it drags on for far too long within the book. It’s clear this book is well researched and the events that do happen, no matter how horrific, are handled well within the reactions.

I’m sorry to say I didn’t enjoy this book. The plot sounded just my style but the writing did not hold my attention. I also found several sentences missing words. This always jars me and takes away from the story.

More like 2.5 stars! The overall story was interesting but the writing tripped me up at times. I also found myself a bit bored at times too which kinda sucked. Pretty cover, sucky book.

*I received a copy of this ebook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

3.5 stars.

This book was rooted in history and a number of the characters were actual people, which made it even more interesting to read. But I am so grateful to not have lived in Wales during the 12th Century. I'm fairly certain that some of my ancestors did, though. I appreciated the brief Welsh pronunciation guide at the beginning of the book, but I constantly struggled with y and w. (And since it was an ebook, I couldn't just flip back and forth easily.)

Elen (17), though she was one of the few fictional characters, was a compelling character in a precarious situation. Everything she did was to ensure her survival, and it kind of broke my heart. At times it seemed like there might have been something almost real between her and Owain (19), and when I first started the book, I admit I hoped for it. But I quickly changed my opinion--I wanted to snatch her away and slaughter Owain ap Cadwgan (and his warband) myself. As the book progressed, I preferred to throw in a junk punch or a castration first. I honestly can't think of a good thing to say about him that wasn't a result of something Elen did. He protected her because she made him believe it was necessary. Based on the historical information at the end of the book, I doubt my assessment of Owain was incorrect. Like Elen, Nest (implied in her 20s) was resourceful and clever--and she was a real person. I pitied her and Elen for . . . well, simply for living when they did. Yet somehow, despite all that happened and was done to them, they were able to maintain their humanity and hold on to hope.

Note: Some swearing. Sexual assault and rape, none of which happens on the page.

Three years ago, Elen had a plan. She and her elder sister would marry good men, have homes close enough that they could visit every day, and just have a happy life. But everything changed when the warband attacked. Now, Elen’s family is dead and she’s weaved a story of how a Saint Elen is looking out for Owain, warband leader and eldest son of a Welsh king. But when Owain starts to get overconfident in her protection and kidnaps a Norman lord’s wife and children, Elen’s control starts to unravel. I still don’t know how I feel about this book. It’s a fascinating concept, a young woman taken into a warband and how she works to manipulate them for her own protection. But this novel did not read like a YA historical fiction novel and the advance copy had so many errors that I almost had to stop reading it. I liked that it showed Elen’s insecurities and how she learned quickly that her body kept her valuable to Owain as well as her “connection to the saint”. There were allusions to rape and brutal murders but no descriptive scenes. I don’t know, this just didn’t stand up to what I expected.

I enjoyed this title so much! I thought the plot was so intriguing, and the characterization very strong! The description used by the author was so evocative I felt transported, and I kept turning until the very last page. I think the cover is very cute - I'll be sure to purchase this for my store!