Then one day, a neighboring king visits their small kingdom and with him comes the proposal of the young Prince Kestrin. Her greatest wish is to fade into the background and live her life outside the shadow of her family. We all have our unspoken wishes, hopes we cannot mention, choices we may yet regret.”Princess Alyrra spent her life balanced on the precipice of fear - her brother finds joy in being cruel and her mother could care less.

Loose ends and a few underdeveloped elements intrigue rather than frustrate a short story set in the same world is included, giving hope that there may be more to come.Just released my Top 10 Books from 2020 BookTube Video - now that you know this one made the list, click the link to find the rest! The Written Review Though the novel contains a number of familiar fantasy staples (arranged marriage, ethereal fae, honorable street thieves), the narrative is so beautifully executed that they remain compelling. First self-published in 2012, this novel is sure to appeal to fans of Carson's The Girl of Fire and Thorns (BCCB 11/11) and Ahdieh's The Wrath and the Dawn (BCCB 6/15), while the understated romance element is reminiscent of Azad's The Candle and the Flame (BCCB 4/19). Khanani beautifully crafts Alyrra's quiet but clear journey of self-definition as our heroine weighs her own desires and abilities against forces both magical and political, pits honesty against ambition, and grapples with questions of compassion and justice. In this story that loosely following the contours of the Brothers Grimm tale 'The Goose Girl,' Alyrra (now going by Thorn) finds employment, friendship, and fulfillment as goose wrangler and part-time stablehand, but her sympathies grow toward the beleaguered prince, and her awareness of the violence and injustice faced by the realm's underclass drives her toward reconsidering her role. En route to her new home, though, she becomes caught up in the doom that has haunted her fiancé's family for generations: a mysterious, vengeful lady, bent on capturing him, magically exchanges Alyrra's appearance with that of her scheming attendant and binds her to silence. Princess Alyrra hopes that her upcoming marriage to a neighboring prince will afford escape from her abusive brother and indifferent mother.

Thorn khanani