Blade & Rose

Blade and Rose, Volume 1

By: Miranda Honfleur

Narrated by: Amanda Leigh Cobb

Length: 21 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's Summary

A kingdom in turmoil or the love of her life. Which one will she save?

Elemental mage Rielle hasn't heard from her best friend in far too long. Yet no one at the Tower of Magic seems to care about Olivia’s silence or the curtain of secrecy surrounding the distant capital. Before Rielle can investigate, she's assigned a strange new mission: escort a knight named Jon across the kingdom.

When whispers reveal mercenaries have killed the king, taken the capital, and that no one is coming to help, Rielle can’t leave Olivia in peril. But as infamous mages and deadly assassins hunt Jon, she can’t leave him unprotected either - especially as she finds herself falling for his strength, his passion, and his uncompromising goodness. Her past returns to haunt her, a werewolf stalks their steps, and an ancient evil is gathering, yet the restraints forbidding their love strain and snap one by one.

Saving Olivia and the kingdom means defying orders and sacrificing her every ambition and could mean losing the man who's become so much more to her than a mission. Which will she choose: her best friend and the kingdom or the love of her life?

If you like the romance of A Court of Thorns and Roses, the epic adventure of Game of Thrones, and a heroine who never gives up, you’ll love this romantic epic fantasy series.

Buy Blade & Rose and dive into a medieval world sensual and dark, full of magic and greed, love and blades, where factions vie for influence and there are no easy choices.

©2017 Miranda Honfleur (P)2018 Miranda Honfleur

had to give up

maybe it's an age thing, but I couldn't finish this one. the premise is solid. the characters have promise and maybe if I could stomach the ridiculous repetition of the inane refusal to just honestly communicate- I would be able to keep listening. maybe it evolves and is great. however after hours of listening nothing much has happened other than intermittent fight scenes (pretty cool there) and the protagonists obvious creeping progression. just giving up

Great!

I hope they come out with the rest of the books soon- Amanda Cobb was a perfect choice!

Blade & Rose

After a traumatic incident with her family at a young age, Rielle chose to serve the Divinity. Over the years she's learned to hone her elemental magic, and now she's on her way to becoming a Master. Lately, though Rielle has noticed that she hasn't heard any news out of the capital especially from her good friend, and fellow mage, Olivia. Before Rielle can investigate for herself, she's tasked with escorting wayward paladin, Jon, across the kingdom. As they begin their journey, they're met with the stunning realization that the capital has been overtaken and the royal family all killed by hired mercenaries. Rielle will start to question her duty against what is right with a forbidden love hanging in the balance.

Blade & Rose is the start to what is truly an epic fantasy series. There is a lot to unpack in this first book, but it certainly sets the stage for what can be expected throughout the series. Miranda Honfleur manages all the characters, histories, magics, politics, etc. with relative ease. Early on it took a little getting used to terminology but by the end of the book, I'd say any of the confusion had been quickly forgotten, and now I'm just ready to get on to the next book!

There are quite a few characters but the main ones - the ones who get their own perspective in the story - are Rielle, Jon, Brennan - Rielle's bethrothed, Olivia, and Lee - Rielle's former Master. Although everything kind of circulates around Rielle. First off, I need to acknowledge the whole "everyone falls madly in love with the heroine" thing. It's seemingly true on a surface level, but as the story proceeds you get more depth to each of the characters and while, yes, Jon, Brennan, and Lee all had/have romantic entanglements with Rielle, there's so much more to each character. I think this is one of the rare occurrences where I'm all for exploring the ins and outs of each separate relationship. Some have moved on, some are fresh and new, and some are just now acknowledging what has probably been there all along. This is especially true for Brennan. Rielle and Brennan have such a complicated relationship full of hurts and anger, but also of caring and love at different points. Brennan for me was one of the best characters because I feel like he has such a redemptive arc that I'm hoping we'll see explored more in the series. He's definitely the antithesis of the anti-hero. But as I found each of the characters has a good balance of virtues and flaws. It makes each character very dynamic. For the most part they're inherently good, or want to do good, but there's also this kind of precipice they stand upon where they could choose questionable tactics when it comes to saving those they care about.

As I said, there's so much that happens from Point A to Point Z in this story and while the main conflict is solved it's only on a surface level. There are many more conflicts stemming out from the original that, I'm assuming, will be taken up as the series progresses. All these conflicts and problems, though, seem very organic and a natural progression, never coming out of left-field.

Listening to the audiobook of Blade & Rose, the narrator does such a great job of giving each character their own voice. She does a wonderful job varying the cadences of each voice, and I hope she continues to narrate the rest of the books in the series.

I was pleasantly surprised by Blade & Rose. There's a short prequel novella (Winter Wren) available that connects a few dots in regards to past occurrences.

If you're in the mood for an epic fantasy with a heavy romantic element. You've found the perfect fit with Blade & Rose.

A wonderful, thrilling tale!

This book was beautifully voiced and the story compelling. Had me on the edge of my seat for most of the book. I highly recommend everyone to listen to this one. I am (impatiently) waiting for the next book.

Story draws you in

The action starts from the start and never stops. I love that the back story was built as the story was told instead of taking up the first half of the book. I don't even know which love interest I love more or villains I hate more. I am impatient for the next book to be on audio.

Love the storyteller but story was lack luster

Had high hopes for this one, story line had a lot of potential and there were good portions of the book. But I failed to grow a connection with any of the characters really. There was a lot of potential for dynamic romance triangles, but the moments when the interactions should have been intense, dramatic or even authentic... fell flat. :(
Don’t know if I will read the second book.
Would recommend the Cruel prince series or Court of Thorns and Roses Series over this.
However - LOVE Amanda Leigh Cobb no matter what she’s reading.

Great Story, Just Loooong

This was a really good story. Very well written, definitely in the Epic Fantasy class of fiction. Great romance with plenty of confused emotions, betrayal, lust, manipulation, and all the things that make you feel for the characters strongly. I loved all the characters... all of them... perhaps especially the most despicable of them. I think that particular one is going to manage to redeem himself... I suspect, but this is yet unproven.

Here's the thing, this is my only critique, and the only reason this isn't five stars (for me personally, others won't find this to be a draw back), it could have been a solid 200 pages shorter... at least. Possibly more. It's very wordy, and very, very descriptive, down to rather minute details. And, we relive the same two or three memories through the eyes of different characters multiple times... like 3-4 times at least for each memory.

I'm pretty sure I remember their memories better than they do at this point. Now that wouldn't bother me, except that the reiterations of those events doesn't actually shed any extra light on what happened. It's just another retelling that doesn't actually further the story, and so it's just kind of superfluous to me. I feel like if we're going to go through the same portion of story multiple times it should add something to what we already know and expand our understanding, but that doesn't really happen. They all pretty much feel the same way about past events... they sucked... bad.

On the flip side, these characters are very well developed. You leave this story with an intense interest in their well being and their individual story arc, as well as collective. I'm committed to the story at this point! I really want to see how things continue to develop among them all, see who can redeem themselves, or if others may fall from grace. Although the story primarily centers on Rielle, I don't feel like the story is really just about her, which is something that truly marks Epic Fantasy. Its a beautifully woven tapestry of story.

Another boon to a wordy author- she uses unusual vocabulary! I love unusual vocabulary. Most of it I know, but I admit to needing to use my dictionary a couple times, and that always makes me happy.

Also, our author has a very clear picture of her setting and how her characters move through it. This means you really find yourself along for the ride, able feel the story in all five senses, as it were.

I'm definitely interested in what happens next, however I'm not ready to commit another 700 pages just yet. So, I'll break for a bit before I jump in again. Honestly, it was just a lot more descriptive than I need, myself. I like dialogue and action, and a more fast paced story. This has a lot of intrigue, and some beguiling mystery, but too much description for my taste. Nonetheless, it's an excellent book, and a five star one for those who love all the details.

The narration was really good. It was definitely worth the purchase. I will certainly listen to this more than once.

An action filled fantasy, intrigue & romance

Great first book, this author is now on my top ten fav list! This first of the series book is a great mix of medical fantasy, magic, plot twists, amazing characters and romance. It’s comparable to Sarah j Maas or Lusam series. Loved it! And great books in this genre are few, so this is a gem!

Loved it!

Thank you for making me fall in love with these characters! On to book two! So so good! Amanda Leigh Cobb is possibly the best narrator there is.

Fabulous

I have read these books and am totally enthralled to listen to them. The performance is fabulous and the story so exciting. Highly recommended.

Amazing read

One of my favourite reads so far.. full of twists and turns .. you don’t know which characters to trust .. can’t wait to read second book