Destined for a King

by Ashlyn Macnamara

[chymerra]

Before I start my review, I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing – Loveswept for allowing me to review Destined for a King by Ashlyn Macnamara.

**All opinions stated in this review are mine and mine alone. I received Destined for a King from Random House Publishing – Loveswept through NetGalley as an ARC for my honest and unbiased review**

Now onto my review:

I was very to excited about this book when I saw the synopsis. “Oh wow, Jolie, it’s a Middle Age romance and it is going to ROCK”, I thought to myself. I was so excited to read this book.

Talk about setting myself up for a huge disappointment.

Destined for a King did have a great start. The book starts off in the middle of the battle where Blackbriar Keep is being overtaken by Torch and his knights. Calista (or Cali), Lord Thorne’s daughter and only child, manages to shoot Torch in his leg with an arrow (which made me go “You go girl” internally) and wounds him. After announcing to the keep (and her parents) that he is going to marry her, Torch passes out. Turns out that the arrow was tipped with Kingsbane and poisoned him. Torch’s second in command orders Calista to heal Torch with the threat that if he doesn’t live, neither will she or her parents. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Calista is promised (betrothed) to the King, Magnus Vandal and that Torch is claiming that he is the long-lost heir to the throne….Josse Vandal.

Got that. Good. Because after all that is revealed, the book gets very, very, very confusing.

I didn’t like Calista at all. She was headstrong and prone to doing things that got herself and other people in trouble. Like sneaking out of the Keep to go see her old tutor, Brother Tanctrid and ask him about what really happened with the King and Torch. I still don’t understand how she did it, with the Keep being as heavily defended as it was.

Then there is Calista’s mother. She drove me nuts. Always reminding her that she was “destined for a king” but never saying why. What really got me was when she told Calista “remember why I named you” and then NEVER WENT INTO THE REASON!!!! WTH. Why did she name Calista her name? WHY? Inquiring minds want to know over here.

Then there is Calista getting attacked by Brother Tanctrid after she awakes him from his trance. I really thought he was going to end up being a vampire with all the talk about blood. Lets just say that it isn’t exactly blood that he wants and Calista is effected by his attack but not in the way that you would think (no spoilers here).

There is Instalove here too. Calista goes from hating Torch to being in love with him within 4 days. Excuse me while I gag. I hate Instalove. At least give it a week or so to develop. I will say that the sex scenes were great and very delicious.

The ending was pretty good too (all I have to say is justice was served) and it definitely left the book open for other books in the series.

How many stars will I give Destined for a King? 2/2.5

Why? While very vividly written and there were some great characters, I couldn’t get past the Instalove and some very poorly written scenes. I actually had to reread chapters because I felt that I missed something when it was the author who didn’t include it in the book. I do feel that this series does have promise, though, and will be on the lookout for the next book.

Will I reread it? I will have to, if I am going to read the other books.

Will I recommend to family and friends? I am kinda up in the air on this. I want to say yes but at the same time I want to say no.

Age Range: Adult

Why? Sex. Lots and lots of sex. Also some violence but nothing really graphic.