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Àlainnshire #1
Aislin of Arianrhod
*Warning: Some sexual content and adult situations.
An Epic Struggle In The Land of Àlainnshire...
When her brother King Fionn dies during an epidemic, Princess Aislin is compelled to put her own life on hold. Appointed regent, she must preserve the Kingdom of Arianrhod until Fionn’s son is old enough to take the throne.
Motivated by duty and love for her family, strong-willed Aislin has worked for eleven years to maintain the peace and prosperity of her kingdom. That idyll is shattered when Prince Jariath of Morrigan invades Arianrhod with a formidable army and a single purpose: to force her to marry him.
Barely escaping him, Aislin flees with a friend into neighboring Blackthorne Forest. The forest is dark, dangerous, and uncivilized. It’s also the shortest way to the Kingdom of Wyndham and the help she needs.
Blackthorne Forest is also full of surprises. Captured by hooded men and taken into the heart of the forest, Aislin will soon forge an unexpected alliance with a being she never dreamed existed.
Follow Aislin as she fights to save her kingdom and herself:
"Jariath…please…please don’t…”
“Oh dear, are you going to cry? Poor Princess Aislin, who thinks she can save the world,” he taunted in a singsong voice before he lowered it to a snarl. “I’ve beaten you, bitch. I’ve won. When will you understand that no one tells me no?”
“And when will you understand that I will never tell you yes?” She shouted it across the room, fists clenched, her fingernails digging painful half-circles in her palms.
Adventure, Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Older Heroine.
An Epic Struggle In The Land of Àlainnshire...
When her brother King Fionn dies during an epidemic, Princess Aislin is compelled to put her own life on hold. Appointed regent, she must preserve the Kingdom of Arianrhod until Fionn’s son is old enough to take the throne.
Motivated by duty and love for her family, strong-willed Aislin has worked for eleven years to maintain the peace and prosperity of her kingdom. That idyll is shattered when Prince Jariath of Morrigan invades Arianrhod with a formidable army and a single purpose: to force her to marry him.
Barely escaping him, Aislin flees with a friend into neighboring Blackthorne Forest. The forest is dark, dangerous, and uncivilized. It’s also the shortest way to the Kingdom of Wyndham and the help she needs.
Blackthorne Forest is also full of surprises. Captured by hooded men and taken into the heart of the forest, Aislin will soon forge an unexpected alliance with a being she never dreamed existed.
Follow Aislin as she fights to save her kingdom and herself:
"Jariath…please…please don’t…”
“Oh dear, are you going to cry? Poor Princess Aislin, who thinks she can save the world,” he taunted in a singsong voice before he lowered it to a snarl. “I’ve beaten you, bitch. I’ve won. When will you understand that no one tells me no?”
“And when will you understand that I will never tell you yes?” She shouted it across the room, fists clenched, her fingernails digging painful half-circles in her palms.
Adventure, Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Older Heroine.
326 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 8, 2012
23 people are currently reading
665 people want to read
About the author
S.L. Jesberger
6 books47 followersS.L. Jesberger is the award-winning author of the fantasy Àlainnshire series. She lives in central Pennsylvania.
She also writes contemporary romance under the name Shari Copell.
She also writes contemporary romance under the name Shari Copell.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 12, 2013
EDIT: Aislin of Arianrhod has been revised and edited since this review.
First, the horribly truncated summary: Claire Frasier escapes her country’s invasion and constant impending doom.
(Hello again, Jamie and Claire! I gave up on you after the directionless narrative that was The Fiery Cross. I did miss you though.)
Full disclosure: I received this book from Goodreads First Reads program! Awesome program! Highly recommended!
I was thrilled to receive this book. When I saw the message from Goodreads that I won and the cover wasn’t a horrible use of Photoshop (Kudos to the designer), I thought it would be an awesome read.
I wish I could say it was.
Bottom line? The story would have been vastly improved with more drafts and time spent on world building.
I should start at the beginning. The story centers on Aislin, who is the unmarried sister to the (long dead) King of Arianrhod* and Regent until her nephew Bryce comes of age. She has been a stellar regent for eleven years, managing the day to day affairs of the kingdom. However, she also has had to fend off the advances of Jariath, Prince of Morrigan, who wants both her and Arianrhod for himself. After the last refusal of marriage, Jariath invades her country. Aislin and members of her family narrowly escape and decide to seek help from King Stanis** of Wyndham, who is related by marriage and training Bryce in matters of rule. In order to get there quickest, Aislin must go through the fabled (and dangerous) Blackthorne Forest.
The bulk of the story is Blackthorne Forest, but to avoid spoilers, I’ll stop there.
Most of my problems were in the beginning, the pre-Forest setup. The first thing I saw when I cracked this book was a map. I love maps. The second thing I saw was the really large font size. It’s probably something that only teachers and other graders-of-papers notice, but it stuck out like a sore thumb to me.
We get to our setting: July 23, 1692, Kingdom of Arianrhod. When your family and friends come from Salem, that year resonates. It’s the reason most fantasy texts go with their own month/year system.
Finally, I get to the meat of the text, which starts with a conversation between Aislin and Devin, her “right-hand-man-in-all-things”. We have no context when this conversation starts, so we’re left filling in the details as we go. This is not the only time a scene starts without context, hence why I cannot let it go. Indeed, the entire book is carried by conversation and mental thoughts. Immersion and detail are lacking everywhere, which is a death sentence for a fantasy book.
We also deal with multiple points of view. These weren’t bad in the middle and end of the book, but in the beginning they change so rapidly (some only two pages) that getting rid of most (if not all) of them would serve the book well. Any time we had Brock, Jariath’s assistant, or Jariath as the point of view, the information relayed was repeated in Aislin’s point of view, making the former chapters (or chapter parts) unnecessary.
Also, I had a few nitpicky questions come up while I was reading. For example: How does Morrigan afford thousands of soldiers when their country is inland (no ports) and swampy (no agriculture)? What is Morrigan’s economy based on? Why doesn’t Arianrhod have a standing army? (“Years of peace” doesn’t cut it with this history major. I’d invade on principle.) Why is Bryce five on the back cover and sixteen in the book itself? Who exactly is Roderick? Thankfully, he’s eventually given a pre-narrative role and profession, but it’s too little too late.
Those details, coupled with the deus ex machina (MS Word really doesn’t like Latin, I just found out) escape from the invasion, really hinder the book’s beginning. When I reached Blackthorne Forest, I honestly believed that I arrived at the book the author really wanted to write: a fantasy romance. The detail problems eased and the story progressed with only minor interruption from Jariath and the invasion issue. Due to the setup, with Aislin coming in from outside Blackthorne, it did have many of the same elements as the Outlander series. I wouldn’t call it a bad thing, as those elements are probably in many romances, but I did take notice.
Most of the characters were decently done, save for two major issues. Jariath severely needed more development in order to be more threatening and less ridiculous. Emara (Aislin’s mother) has terrible dialogue that made me wonder if the author was hashing out her own issues rather than creating a good character.
There were also writing/grammar/spelling issues (Lead male’s name is misspelled once, fyi) and italic font was everywhere for unnecessary emphasis, but I was able to get past those. In fact, had the book ended a few chapters earlier, I would have given it 3 stars. Instead, the ending trailed too long and erased all possible future conflict with another deus ex machina, hence the 2 star rating. It was okay, but it could have been awesome.
*The Welsh connection was not lost on me, but I can bet it would be lost on other readers.
**Normally, I’d forgive names. This is one I would have changed. It constantly reminded me of Stannis Baratheon*** from the Song of Ice and Fire series. Now that the series is popular on HBO as “Game of Thrones” and Stannis is played with distinct characteristics by Stephen Dillane, it sticks out.
***King Stannis Baratheon, first of his name, Lord of Light and Azor Ahai reborn. If we’re going to address him, we may as well do it properly.
First, the horribly truncated summary: Claire Frasier escapes her country’s invasion and constant impending doom.
(Hello again, Jamie and Claire! I gave up on you after the directionless narrative that was The Fiery Cross. I did miss you though.)
Full disclosure: I received this book from Goodreads First Reads program! Awesome program! Highly recommended!
I was thrilled to receive this book. When I saw the message from Goodreads that I won and the cover wasn’t a horrible use of Photoshop (Kudos to the designer), I thought it would be an awesome read.
I wish I could say it was.
Bottom line? The story would have been vastly improved with more drafts and time spent on world building.
I should start at the beginning. The story centers on Aislin, who is the unmarried sister to the (long dead) King of Arianrhod* and Regent until her nephew Bryce comes of age. She has been a stellar regent for eleven years, managing the day to day affairs of the kingdom. However, she also has had to fend off the advances of Jariath, Prince of Morrigan, who wants both her and Arianrhod for himself. After the last refusal of marriage, Jariath invades her country. Aislin and members of her family narrowly escape and decide to seek help from King Stanis** of Wyndham, who is related by marriage and training Bryce in matters of rule. In order to get there quickest, Aislin must go through the fabled (and dangerous) Blackthorne Forest.
The bulk of the story is Blackthorne Forest, but to avoid spoilers, I’ll stop there.
Most of my problems were in the beginning, the pre-Forest setup. The first thing I saw when I cracked this book was a map. I love maps. The second thing I saw was the really large font size. It’s probably something that only teachers and other graders-of-papers notice, but it stuck out like a sore thumb to me.
We get to our setting: July 23, 1692, Kingdom of Arianrhod. When your family and friends come from Salem, that year resonates. It’s the reason most fantasy texts go with their own month/year system.
Finally, I get to the meat of the text, which starts with a conversation between Aislin and Devin, her “right-hand-man-in-all-things”. We have no context when this conversation starts, so we’re left filling in the details as we go. This is not the only time a scene starts without context, hence why I cannot let it go. Indeed, the entire book is carried by conversation and mental thoughts. Immersion and detail are lacking everywhere, which is a death sentence for a fantasy book.
We also deal with multiple points of view. These weren’t bad in the middle and end of the book, but in the beginning they change so rapidly (some only two pages) that getting rid of most (if not all) of them would serve the book well. Any time we had Brock, Jariath’s assistant, or Jariath as the point of view, the information relayed was repeated in Aislin’s point of view, making the former chapters (or chapter parts) unnecessary.
Also, I had a few nitpicky questions come up while I was reading. For example: How does Morrigan afford thousands of soldiers when their country is inland (no ports) and swampy (no agriculture)? What is Morrigan’s economy based on? Why doesn’t Arianrhod have a standing army? (“Years of peace” doesn’t cut it with this history major. I’d invade on principle.) Why is Bryce five on the back cover and sixteen in the book itself? Who exactly is Roderick? Thankfully, he’s eventually given a pre-narrative role and profession, but it’s too little too late.
Those details, coupled with the deus ex machina (MS Word really doesn’t like Latin, I just found out) escape from the invasion, really hinder the book’s beginning. When I reached Blackthorne Forest, I honestly believed that I arrived at the book the author really wanted to write: a fantasy romance. The detail problems eased and the story progressed with only minor interruption from Jariath and the invasion issue. Due to the setup, with Aislin coming in from outside Blackthorne, it did have many of the same elements as the Outlander series. I wouldn’t call it a bad thing, as those elements are probably in many romances, but I did take notice.
Most of the characters were decently done, save for two major issues. Jariath severely needed more development in order to be more threatening and less ridiculous. Emara (Aislin’s mother) has terrible dialogue that made me wonder if the author was hashing out her own issues rather than creating a good character.
There were also writing/grammar/spelling issues (Lead male’s name is misspelled once, fyi) and italic font was everywhere for unnecessary emphasis, but I was able to get past those. In fact, had the book ended a few chapters earlier, I would have given it 3 stars. Instead, the ending trailed too long and erased all possible future conflict with another deus ex machina, hence the 2 star rating. It was okay, but it could have been awesome.
*The Welsh connection was not lost on me, but I can bet it would be lost on other readers.
**Normally, I’d forgive names. This is one I would have changed. It constantly reminded me of Stannis Baratheon*** from the Song of Ice and Fire series. Now that the series is popular on HBO as “Game of Thrones” and Stannis is played with distinct characteristics by Stephen Dillane, it sticks out.
***King Stannis Baratheon, first of his name, Lord of Light and Azor Ahai reborn. If we’re going to address him, we may as well do it properly.
July 28, 2020
Eh, it was OK. It started off promising - good characters and interesting story line, but the plot got more ridiculous as the book went on. It's like the author tried to cram a trilogy's worth of story line and relationship development into a 300 page book. It was not very believable.
Want to read
May 7, 2017....Going to hang this back on the shelf for now. I'm not seeing the main chick in a good light. I'll try again later ..
August 16, 2014
S. L. Jesberger successfully weaves a fairytale story that is all grown up! Readers will find a strong plot with but a few bumps.
Read full review in the 2013 June issue of InD’tale Magazine.
Read full review in the 2013 June issue of InD’tale Magazine.
May 13, 2017
Unintelligent people making illogical choices paired with nonsensical action sequences and bad dialogue. A cookie-cutter evil villain to round everything out. No thanks.
January 26, 2014
A fun read. I must admit I expected a more.
I found myself rushed when it came to how the two characters related and fell for each other.
Aislin is a lovable character with a good story to get you dazzled. Her backround is well thought. Loved her family and the relationships she had with each one. Very beautifuly transmited.
Jariath´s obsession with her was a little bit to cliché.
I honestly think there could have been a better twist to it.I felt it to simple and plane.
Jariath is simply a hard-headed obsessed barbarian who wants princess Aislin to himself, so he attacks her country. With no army to defend her kingdom, no one can stand against Jariath´s wrath.
I just think that Jariath fell into the bad guy creep stereo type in the end. When actually knowing his story from different point of views, makes me sympathize with his actions. Since he is a brute who kmows no other way to gain what he wants, the love he felt, became hate instantly. Though the way his actions are portraid, it did not seem he was full of hate all the time. I actually thought he would have a very different ending. I guess he lost it in the end...
Finally, Tristan. Well what can I say... Another gorgeous stallion. Who happens to be a cheif of the Sylvan people. He is trying to keep the last of his people safe from humans basically.
I found it hard to like him. He is simple and dull. No complexity until the end.
I felt that the whole relationship was too easy.
It is a fun read. Though I hated the cliche, I just loved the existance of a romance novel between an elf male and a human female. There should be more like these in the future. Maby with more depth to them. Thanks for a good read. Keep up the good work Jesberger. I´ll be waiting for your next book :).
I found myself rushed when it came to how the two characters related and fell for each other.
Aislin is a lovable character with a good story to get you dazzled. Her backround is well thought. Loved her family and the relationships she had with each one. Very beautifuly transmited.
Jariath´s obsession with her was a little bit to cliché.
I honestly think there could have been a better twist to it.I felt it to simple and plane.
Jariath is simply a hard-headed obsessed barbarian who wants princess Aislin to himself, so he attacks her country. With no army to defend her kingdom, no one can stand against Jariath´s wrath.
I just think that Jariath fell into the bad guy creep stereo type in the end. When actually knowing his story from different point of views, makes me sympathize with his actions. Since he is a brute who kmows no other way to gain what he wants, the love he felt, became hate instantly. Though the way his actions are portraid, it did not seem he was full of hate all the time. I actually thought he would have a very different ending. I guess he lost it in the end...
Finally, Tristan. Well what can I say... Another gorgeous stallion. Who happens to be a cheif of the Sylvan people. He is trying to keep the last of his people safe from humans basically.
I found it hard to like him. He is simple and dull. No complexity until the end.
I felt that the whole relationship was too easy.
It is a fun read. Though I hated the cliche, I just loved the existance of a romance novel between an elf male and a human female. There should be more like these in the future. Maby with more depth to them. Thanks for a good read. Keep up the good work Jesberger. I´ll be waiting for your next book :).
April 22, 2013
I couldn't put this book down. Once I started reading it I was hooked. I loved Aislin and Tristan. I look forward to reading more about them. Aislin is strong and feisty despite her childhood which heartbreaking. Tristan's past is also heartbreaking. The villain in this book is truly has a twisted mind. Mix in a battle and you've got the makings of a great story. You won't regret reading this. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.
April 21, 2013
This is what I like in a book: one that I can gobble up in three goes. If I put a book down for too long, it's over. The writing style is crisp and concise, to-the point. That is refreshing. It has the right mix of historical, fantasy and those human qualities that I want every book to have. I'm looking forward to more from this author.
July 22, 2013
Very good book. I loved the characters, the details, and the story line itself. The author did a very good job creating this world without bogging you down with too many descriptive details. It was enough that I could create the scene in my head and have it play out as I was reading. I am anxiously awaiting the second book now, as I'd like to see what happens next.
May 30, 2015
Fun book to read!!
This is my first time reading this author's book. Loved it. The author has a wonderful sense of humor and it comes through her characters. The story provides a wonderful rendering of the monarchy and the madness in some of those who rule a kingdom. It was truly fun to read.
This is my first time reading this author's book. Loved it. The author has a wonderful sense of humor and it comes through her characters. The story provides a wonderful rendering of the monarchy and the madness in some of those who rule a kingdom. It was truly fun to read.
Read
February 12, 2013When I first started this book it was ok and when it started to pick up the pace I kept reading and before long, I couldn't put this book down. It was totally not what I expected, yet it was a great novel. I can't wait for more work from this author.
February 13, 2013
I received this book free through the Goodreads First Read giveaways. It was a good book with a good story. Kind of the typical fantasy novel with humans and elves, which I enjoy. There is some mature material and a little language that may offend some readers.
February 10, 2013
i won this book here on goodreads, and at first i wasn't sure if i would like it. as i began to read it i still had my doubts but the farther i read the more drawn into the story i became. overall i thought it was a great read and recommend others to try it out.
February 8, 2013
A thoroughly delightful and enjoyable read through an almost believable fantasy world. I really liked this book.
April 7, 2013
wonderful!! I loved this book. I can't wait to read more books of this author.
April 21, 2013
Really enjoyable. I liked the characters and the fast-paced plotline, with plenty of adventure, a touch of mystery and a good romance.
June 11, 2016
I say 4.5
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews