Protect the Prince

A Crown of Shards Novel, Book 2

By: Jennifer Estep

Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang

Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Magic, murder, adventure, and romance combine in this second novel in the exciting Crown of Shards saga from New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Jennifer Estep.

Everleigh Blair might be the new gladiator queen of Bellona, but her problems are far from over.

First, Evie has to deal with a court full of arrogant, demanding nobles, all of whom want to get their greedy hands on her crown. As if that wasn’t bad enough, an assassin tries to kill Evie in her own throne room.

Despite the dangers, Evie goes ahead with a scheduled trip to the neighboring kingdom of Andvari in order to secure a desperately needed alliance. But complicating matters is the stubborn Andvarian king who wants to punish Evie for the deaths of his countrymen during the Seven Spire massacre.

Dark forces are also at work inside the Andvarian palace, and Evie soon realizes no one is safe. Worse, her immunity to magic starts acting in strange, unexpected ways, which makes Evie wonder whether she is truly strong enough to be a winter queen.

Evie’s magic, life, and crown aren’t the only things in danger - so is her heart, thanks to Lucas Sullivan, the Andvarian king’s bastard son and Evie’s...well, Evie isn’t quite sure what Sullivan is to her.

Only one thing is certain - protecting a prince might be even harder than killing a queen....

©2019 Jennifer Estep (P)2019 HarperAudio

Frustrating.

I really like the first book of the series, but this sequel is far worse. Nothing the main character does makes any sense, and the main love interest, Sully, behaves so poorly and selfishly that I was truly hoping they wouldn't get together at all. Considering that the overarching plot is about the annoying interactions between these two, it pretty much ruins the book. Finally, (spoilers!) in the end the supposedly well trained and intelligent assassins find the main character alone and vulnerable, then proceed to stand around explaining their motives to her for HOURS instead of just killing her like they were supposed to, so that help can arrive in time to save the "winter queen." Sure. -_-

woe is me

too many characters continually bemoaning the fact that true love does not conquer all.
aside from that irritation, the story and action are fine

How hard can it be to protect a prince?

REVIEW PROVIDED BY: Kelly
NUMBER OF HEARTS: 4 3/4
Protect the Prince picks up shortly after the end of Kill the Queen with Queen Everleigh Blair becoming the Queen Bellona. Becoming Queen has not been fun so far but it is what Evie had expected. The next step in Evie’s journey is to make amends with the Andvari people. Once in Andvari Evie must face off with a whole new set of problems from the Andvari Royals, a King that asks too much, an assassin who doesn’t know when to give up, and a trader who wants to take everything.

Protect the Prince is the second book in Jennifer Estep’s Crown of Shards series and this second book was just as good as the first. There were times while listening that I was not sure my heart would survive the journey. I truly love this series and can not wait for the third and final chapter in The Crown of Shards series.

Once again I let the talented Lauren Fortgang read this book to me. Lauren did a wonderful job of bringing these characters to life for me. I look forward to listening to the next book in this series too.

Disclaimer:
I purchased this book from Audible.com and it is an honest review. This review is my own opinion and not a paid review.

So disappointing

So disappointing after the 1st book. The 2nd book has way to much inner monologuing is just ridiculous. The books are turning into I hate men, women do better just not a good place to be. I love strong female characters they make books so interesting but when you sacrifice good content it just doesn't make any sense.

Unnecessary F bombs through the whole thing

Love d Jennifer Esteps writing, couldn’t get enough of her. 2 books into the series in Chapter 25 I had to turn it off and return the book due to unnecessary graphic sexual content. I had brushes of sexual content in two of her other series but I was enjoying this series except for theF bombs throughout. if I wanted porn I would by it. No longer a fan and will no longer buy her books. super angry because I was deep into enjoying the story line and then the main characters break away from her engagement party to his brother to engage in graphic oral sex. Not sure what happens after and now I really don’t care. These characters, this story line, and this author are dead to me.

Interesting but Uninspiring

This book has the bones of a great story, but the actual writing is clumsy.

Loved it

Protect the Prince is book 2 in the Crown of Shards series. This book starts 3 months after book 1, Kill the Queen, ended. I loved this book and am really loving the series. I am having a hard time turning the books off and am just binging them back-to-back. In this book, Evie travels to Sullivan’s kingdom to try to align them as allies and draft a treaty. There is a lot of action in this book. There are also gargoyles and I don’t know about you, but gargoyles make books even better for me. We finally got a bit more on the romance side of things, but the overall spice level from the one single sex scene was maybe a 1.5 out of 5 so pretty mild. I guessed the traitor/spy pretty early on but it didn’t detract from watching it all happen. I really love Evie’s group of friends and her pseudo father figure who now lives in Sullivan’s Kingdom after escaping Evie’s Kingdom during the mass murder. I also really liked Sullivan’s brother, niece, and father. I liked how they never treated him as less than for being illegitimate. The narration was great. I highly recommend this series so far. I’ve already started book 3 and am enjoying it. Overall, I give this book 5 stars.

Great storyline, incredibly annoying main characters!

I decided to give this sequel a chance, even though I didn’t care for the main characters, I liked the storyline, so I decided to come back for more.

As far as the main characters, I could totally adore Evie if she wasn’t so self deprecating and in love with the most immature man ever.

In the first book, “Kill the Queen” Estep makes a good attempt at world building as well as introducing a unique magical system. However her foundation is so juvenile in nature, that it’s hard to believe that the characters are adults. It’s confusing because Evie and Sullivan act like wounded children 80% of the time but then Evie will drop a glorious “F” bomb or have a sexual fantasy or kick some a** and (if you’re like me) it reminds you why you stuck with it.

In this book, “Protect the Prince”, I was so turned off by Sullivan that I wanted to scream! He’s in his early 30’s but I’m not kidding when I say that my 5 year old nephew is more mature then this guy. Sullivan stomps around like a little boy throwing tantrums and blaming everyone for being mean to him. Instead of telling him to get it together and grow the “F” up, Evie blames herself for his lot in life and his little boy tantrums. She wants to fix his boo, boos and she apologises to him every time he lashes out. It’s actually disgusting and takes away any respect I had for Evie. I had to stop listening because it just made me want to perpetually kick Sullivan in the balls.

Lauren Fortgang was ok. She had an annoying tone…I can’t explain it, but she sounded like she was reading a fairy tail to a little kid.

It had one good sex scene and some “F” bombs here and there, and when Evie acted like the strong protagonist you wanted her to be, it was doable, but otherwise, it was pretty ridiculous!

Excellent

An excellent sequel with wonderfully developed strong female characters and a gripping plot that keeps you reading.

Great storyline and narrator!

Jennifer Estep is as awesome as ever. The storyline had enough mystery and action to keep you engaged and kept you rooting for love to win. Lauren Fortgang never disappoints with her narrating either. I was sad the book was over.

Fantastic

Jennifer Estep is truely talented when is comes to storytelling. Smart, layered and compelling. Loved the second book and cannot wait for third. Don't you dare make us wait too long. I want more!

Intriguing if predictable

I have enjoyed this series and the narration is good. The writer creates a rich and textured world full of interesting characters. In this book, it feels like the writer puts the audience so far ahead of the heroine in realisations that by the time she unravels the mystery it feels a little ‘no doy’

The romance feels a little bolted on by the end, but they make a good couple.

Still, it’s enjoyable and I will listen to the next book too

Just as good as the first!

Just as good as the first one. Excellent narrator and lots of interesting plot developments.