Dawn Breaks

by Jo Cook

Princess Aurora of Archenland has slowly begun regaining the confidence she needs to become a ruler, but her heart can only be healed with true love.

Martin saw the dream of love shining from Aurora’s eyes once, but to protect her he had to become a man he never wanted to be. Now he finally has the opportunity to love her the way he longs to.

Will Aurora see through the disguise Martin has been forced to wear to protect her? Can the Guard heal the Princess’s heart, so the joyful girl she’d thought died long ago can live again?

Dawn is breaking on a new love in Archenland, one with the power to right an old wrong.

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 2, 2021

About the author

Jo Cook dabbled with writing her whole life, but it was only during the World Upheaval of 2020 that her writing angel deigned to dictate something more than a novella. The Guarded Heart is Jo’s debut novel, and she hopes to be publishing stories for many years to come.

Jo has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in conflict management. She’s been a flight attendant, copy editor, and small-business owner, and she spent a couple of very hot months bouncing around in a Tigger costume at Walt Disney World.

Her favorite authors include Georgette Heyer, Dick Francis, Kate Morton, J.K. Rowling, Rosamunde Pilcher, Heather Frost, Tad Williams, Frank Herbert and Suzanne Collins.

Jo’s perfect day would involve thrifting, a good book, movies, and lots of lemonade.

Visit Jo Cook’s website and subscribe to her newsletter to receive a FREE “Find Your True Love in Archenland” quiz, as well as news about upcoming releases!

https://authorjocook.com/

Reviews

[Britt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dawn Breaks is the second installment in the four-book series about Princess Aurora, Future Queen of Archenland. In book two, we see her relationship with Martin (aka The Captain) develop and we get to understand the much awaited backstory of why they fell apart the first time.

Going into book two, here is what I wanted to see:
1. More interaction between Aurora and Martin. If we are supposed to believe these two are in love, please show it
2. More backstory on Martin. We should know more about the MMC
3. More relationship development between Aurora and the Captain
4. There are four books in this series. Thus, I want a lot of tests and struggles that almost break Aurora in this book and the next. I’m not looking for a happy ending in this book in the series. In fact, the sadder and more open of an ending it leaves me on, the better
5. I want more information on what the people looking to take Aurora down are doing, but I DON’T WANT to know who they are just yet. Hopefully that reveal is kept for book three

So did I get all of these things? Mostly, yes!

What I liked about this book:
1. I love all the traveling and getting to see the characters interact with other people. I especially love getting to see the Captain's silly side that we didn't get to see in book one.

2. I love Aurora and the Captain together. They are so cute and are the epitome of friends-to-enemies-to-lovers!!!!

3. I love getting to watch Aurora's confidence grow, as well as the Captain's love for her.

4. I love that it appears Greene will get his own HEA that makes way more sense to me.

5. I still really like the lurking danger in the background. I can't wait to see how this all comes to a head.

6. The writing is great and keeps you turning the page. I appreciate that book two was longer than book one, but not unnecessarily so. There was definitely more character development than book one, which is exactly what I wanted. This book was also less jarring in pace than the first book, which was nice.

7. The fight scene was very good. I love that Aurora is willing to get dirty and can fight right alongside the guards. That will never not appeal to me.

What caused the book to not have a 5-star rating for me:
1. The biggest thing for me, was that until I was about 35% of the way through the book, I totally thought Martin was Greene's first name. I had no clue Martin was the Captain! Maybe this was just unclear to me and/or I majorly missed something in book one, but that makes A LOT of difference. I was shipping the Captain and Aurora hard, screaming about how if she ended up with Martin she was going to end up with the wrong guy and I was going to be mad. Good thing they are one and the same so I can now be at peace with the ultimate couple.

2. I understand this is a young adult series, HOWEVER, not wanting to kiss until her parents know, even when they have plenty of alone time and are sleeping cuddled together? Seems a little too restrictive to me. All we want is the kiss, and it's dragged out too long and isn't even that great when it does happen. I mean, it's fine, it just feels very middle school and these people are 25 and 35...

4 stars!

[Jo Cook]

Author's note:

I was really excited while writing Dawn Breaks, because it's the first book in the series when Martin and Aurora get to interact as the people who love each other, rather than the people who have been hiding their love. One danger that authors face is that we can become enthralled with our own writing LOL and that definitely happened with me in the scenes with Martin and Aurora on the Waterfall Trail. The Guarded Heart was the first I had written that really touched my heart, and I was so in love with Martin and Aurora's love story. ALL my mirror neurons were firing while writing those scenes, and after I wrote them I would read them over and over and OVER and cry! I hope that some of those scenes will touch other readers, too. I would love to hear about it, if so, so please reach out!

You can contact me and find all my books on my website, https://authorjocook.com/