Radiance By: Grace Draven

Book Description....

"~THE PRINCE OF NO VALUE~

Brishen Khaskem, prince of the Kai, has lived content as the nonessential spare heir to a throne secured many times over. A trade and political alliance between the human kingdom of Gaur and the Kai kingdom of Bast-Haradis requires that he marry a Gauri woman to seal the treaty. Always a dutiful son, Brishen agrees to the marriage and discovers his bride is as ugly as he expected and more beautiful than he could have imagined.

~THE NOBLEWOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE~

Ildiko, niece of the Gauri king, has always known her only worth to the royal family lay in a strategic marriage. Resigned to her fate, she is horrified to learn that her intended groom isn’t just a foreign aristocrat but the younger prince of a people neither familiar nor human. Bound to her new husband, Ildiko will leave behind all she’s known to embrace a man shrouded in darkness but with a soul forged by light.

Two people brought together by the trappings of duty and politics will discover they are destined for each other, even as the powers of a hostile kingdom scheme to tear them apart."
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Author's note: this tale contains scenes of graphic intimacy.  

Title:  Radiance

Author:  Grace Draven

Publisher:  G. D.

Series:  Wraith Kings Book 1

Reviewed By:  Arlena Dean

Rating: Five

Review:

"Radiance" by Grace Draven

My Synopsis...

What a riveting, good series, fantastic delivered fantasy/paranormal read, amazing beautiful love story, wonderful unique romance, magical, well told story, definitely can be compared to 'The Beauty & the Beast kind of story,' arranged marriage, and in the end one awesomeness entertaining well written read that you will find hard to put down.  So, to get it all you will have to pick up the good read to see for yourself how well this author presents it so well to her readers.

I will say this author Grace Draven knows how to give her readers delicious stories being so very exquisite almost with a deft of magic.

"An arranged marriage.
An alliance between two kingdoms.

Arranged marriages were the fate of nearly all aristocratic Gauri women, each one made for power, for trade, for good of country.

Ildiko.
A young Gauri royal member set of to become a wife to a KAI prince. She's become a duchess, a Kai hercegese. BUT her position as a spare will remain the same.

Brishen
A KAI Prince, a younger son.

He never imagined an arranged marriage with a human woman to seal a war and trade alliance between Bast-Hardis and Gaur.

what started off as an obligation - where both parties find the other hideous and ugly,

The physical differences between human and Kai were obvious and in some ways, extreme...her acceptance helped her look beyond his startling appearance to the man himself. She'd held tight to that philosophy: see past the surface to the tides below."

The characters are simply off the chain...well developed, defined, portrayed and so very believable that will draw the audience in as these two main characters learn to see the beauty in one another day by day.  Now, even those this is somewhat a romantic read but be prepared because there is so much going on [from a little bit of it all...'with the fantasy elements being so unique and intriguing, sensual love scenes, romance, action political intrigueness [machinations, assassination attempts, ancient magics], strange food[from both sides] and let me not leave out that evil person' that will have you shaking your head] so,  you will have to keep up with it all.  I loved how this author presented scenes showing their physical and cultural differences.  I must say I enjoyed the two main characters [Brishen & Ildiko] bantering...with some of it was so very funny that it had me laughing out loud!

example....

"You find me ugly, don't you?"
"Hideous. A hag of a woman. And you? You don't think me a handsome man?"
"Had you crawled out from under my bed when I was a child, I would have bludgeoned you to death with my father's mace."

*falls over laughing*

And also so lovingly....

“Woman of the day,” he said slowly. ” You mean everything to me.”

Oh Breshin.

So, if you are looking for a wonderful unique fantasy phenomenal romance with a little bit of magic with quarreling kingdoms also with a little bit of a cliffhanger that will take the reader into the next series "Eidolon: Wraith Kings, Book 2" then I would definitely recommend "Radiance" to you as a excellent read.