Cornerstone

You know that groan us readers let out when we sense a book is going to conform to the standards and plot typical for YA?

That's what I expected, once I found out that the main character feels love instantly her and the love interest set eyes on each other. You'd think I'd hate this book's guts, right?

Wrong.

The author knows readers hate this, unless you're a 12-year-old. She set in place an interesting explanation for this, an explanation that actually made sense and didn't cause me to pull me hair out in frustration.

The concept of the three Stones is actually quite fascinating. The "three kingdoms on the brink of war" part of the plot is not very unusual for a fantasy, and to be honest, this book isn't very different from other show more fantasy stories, so I can't really bring myself to say that this book is especially unique.

With much loyalty for her kingdom, Riya, the main character, is easily likable and admirable. Not exactly a badass, but strong in her own way, willing to do whatever she can for her land.

Many may be confused by the sudden plot twist at the end. I appreciated this part. It caught me wholly off guard.

There was fantastic world-building, and coupled with the surprisingly good writing, made a well-written first novel. Admittedly, I caught myself dozing off a few times, whether it be from the lack of action at times or the overly-detailed descriptions.

While this book didn't blow me off my feet, it was still entertaining to read, and can even be considered a very fluffy read for its genre. It sets the base for future novels while leaving questions unanswered to keep our interest. I am thoroughly impressed. show less

I enjoyed Cornerstone by Kelly Walker. I liked the who-done it addition to a fantasy tale. The story revolves around a young woman and the challenges she faces ranging from politics, a forced betrothal, kidnapping, murder, romance and magic. Despite some typos/writing errors in certain spots the overall writing regarding characters, dialog, scene and storyline were good (but marked down 1/2 point due to these issues as they were distracting to me). The ending was good but I wanted a bit more before book two! :) I'm looking forward to reading the continuation of this saga. Would recommend for young adult readers, fantasy readers and those that like a good tale.

I received this book via LibraryThing.com members giveaway program from the show more author to receive an honest review. show less

**I received this book free in return for a review. The opinions expressed are my own.**

Set in a rural world with magic. I pictured it as being in the 16 century or so, in land like England, but without the cities.

Emariya is a daughter of privilege, bred to take care of her people. Her mother was killed when she was young, but Emariya will find that she has inherited her mother's magical gifts, as well as those of her father. Her people are on the verge of war and she gets a chance to stop it by marrying a prince from a neighboring land. They have never met, but it turns out that there's a prophecy about the such a union. Powerful, but unnamed forces are trying to manipulate them one way or another.

I enjoyed this book, but I did skip show more ahead now and then. There was a lot of interior monologue and description that cut up the action too much. I'm glad that by the end of the book, the reader has learned who exactly is behind all this. I felt the ending was too abrupt. I will probably read the next book in the series. show less

I received a free copy of this book (ebook) in exchange for an honest review.

The story follows Emariya aka Riya. She’s betrothed to the ruler of an adjacent country in order to unite their people in an upcoming war. Riya has already inherited two powerful magical abilities, one from her father and one from her mother. Her betrothed has the third and last magical ability in the land. But there is word that when these bloodlines merge, something terrible will happen.

The first problem I ran into was the author revealed a lot of names of characters and places in the beginning of the book. I had to stop, grab a pad and pen, and start the book again and write them down as I was losing track of everything. I counted 10 names of people and show more places in chapter 1 alone. This sort of info dumping usually makes me give up on a book, but I decided to press on. And I have to say I was happily rewarded for it. It’s never revealed who is the culprit/villain in the book until the end. It wasn’t who I was expecting so it was a nice twist. However I wanted more time for the reveal of their motivations. You get a bit of a look into why, and I guess the next book will go farther in that regard. So a plus for a great twist but it left me craving a bit more.

The beginning of the book seemed rough. The story would suddenly drop into details or tangents in the middle of the scene and made me wonder if it was necessary. Like on page 29 the story suddenly describes about where servants lived in the estate of Warren’s Rest. It just seemed out of place, and knowing this information didn’t seem to be needed for the story plot.

My only other complaint was the author using snake descriptions for the character Jaryl. “His dark hair parted over his oily forehead like the forked tongue of a snake poised to attack.” And “Jaryl grinned his snakelike smile.” It just makes me sigh. Either the author is doing a good job trying to incorrectly convince me this guy is bad, or sadly this is being made a bit too obvious.

So to sum up, the ending twist surprised me in a good way. The beginning trudges a little bit. Some things could have used maybe a little polishing, and info spread a bit more out. But later the pace does pick up and the story really begins to flow. show less

I started reading this book I won from the Library Thing member giveaways on an airplane. Because of the two chatty ladies behind me and the noise of the airplane, I could not get into this book, so I put it aside and started in on another book. I'm very sorry I waited so long to read it!! It was really good! I loved the mixture of "historic" and "supernatural". I had no problem following the dialogue and I was entranced by the characters. It is a very believable story and I am looking forward to reading the next book, since it ended at a great spot. Very good book!!

I loved this book, I loved the world it was set it, its characters, her care-free, independent heroine and the twists that kept coming.

This book tells the tale of Lady Emariya who lost her mother as an infant and doesn't know if her father is alive or dead. With things in her kingdom looking bleak and helpless a neighboring prince she's never seen or met, proposes marriage and alliance.

Her journey to improve her kingdom offer twists and turns in her path and her love life and has her questioning which directions to choose while discovering secrets about herself and her family.

I can't wait for the next book to come out!

Lady Valencia Warren of Warren's Rest is also a Stone married to another Stone Lord Oren Warren of Eltar. Lady Valencia is murdered but not before she protects her two children from harm. Years later, Lady Emariya "Riya" Warren has no idea that she and her brother Reeve are Stones or there is important prophecies surrounding Stones or Stone Lore as well. Lady Emariya is stunned by sudden offer of marriage by Prince Torian Ahlen of Thalmas. She doesn't feel she can marry until her father can be found to give his blessing. Little does Emariya know that there is a plot to prevent two Stones from marrying. Upon meeting Prince Torian, Emariya considers changing her mind about marrying him and rescuing her father from Sheas. Will Lord Oren be show more found? How much does Reeve really know? Can either Prince Torian or Lady Emariya admit their attraction? Your answers await you in Cornerstone.

Cornerstone is a unique blend of fantasy and coming of age story. I definitely don't like Reeve at all. Emariya is sweet, kind, and gentle soul that trusts far too easily. Emariya truly believes in black, white, and shades of gray world. I find the Stones Lore to be fascinating and unique. I'll definitely consider reading more of this author's work. show less