Immerse In The Crown (Pearls And The Crowns, #2) Depicted By Deborah Chester Delivered In Digital Edition

o. O I would actually rate this,stars. I was very disappointed with this one after the first book, I felt like I missed an entire book in the middle where Lea and Shadrael fell in love, They spent most of the book separated, and the book was really hard to get through because I didn't believe in any of the characters' motivations or emotions.
It finally picked up in the last quarter or so, which is why I didn't give itflat, Set in the same universe as The Ruby Throne trilogy, this tells the story of the Light Bringer's sister, Lea,

The plot was complex enough to hold my attention, It was a very simple adventure story with a little romance mixed in,

That being said, you really shouldn't read the books in Pearls and the Crown until you've read The Ruby Throne, since the author did much of the world building in that series.
Since the Ruby Throne trilogy is worth a read, it shouldn't be too much of a burden,

It wasn't long enough, in my estimation, because I blasted through each book in a matter of hours, I would've liked to have seen more plot development, more intrigue to it, as some of the subplots which could have been expanded on seemed to have just been left hanging.
Oh, and a little more work on the romance part too,

Still, a good, clean read and I recommend it, Meh :/ Real rating is maybe a,
I didn't care for the first book in this series, The Pearls, This one stepped up it's game however and I found myself enjoying this more than the first though I think though should receive the same rating.
My biggest complaint with the first was the lack of character to Lea, I can't say that it changes much in this one, though I may have just found her more tolerable as I had less of her to deal with.
My real enjoyment in this novel was watching all the well placed plans of these characters fall to the ground, Shadreal, for one, falls apart, He spends most of the book wounded or in the beginning, drunk, His brother seems to go mad by the end, mad or blind to the idiocy of his plans, We even see more of the dark priests, Though I did find myself enjoying this book I do have a few concerns,
Reading over other readers thoughts after the first book I found myself seeing the uncomfortable Stockholm syndrome being brought up several times in reference to Shadrael and Lea's relationship.
Honestly, I can see it as well, The romance comes out of nowhere, and is hastily explained as being 'forseen' by Lea before the books ever began, This is hinted at vaguely a few times, but I'm still left with the bad taste in my mouth about the whole thing.
The messy politics of both books are seemingly fixed by this romance and one weirdly random murderpages from the end, I can't help but find it a weak resolution, and wonder on the wisdom of the great Light Bringer emperor for even agreeing to the whole mess.
It could be because he didn't see Lea in the mess of the book that he doesn't realize his 'wise' sister really acts more like a teenager in many ways than the

great and wonder princess she should be.

As far as the character development goes you can see a little in our two leads, Shadreal deals with the loss of Lea poorly for most of the book and when he final receives what it is he is looking for you see him behave more humanly.
He remains essentially the same man, and at times acts exactly as I expected him, Though small though he seems to take a few steps in the right direction, Lea on the other hand is presented as becoming less 'innocent' and more shadowtouched, It affects her a bit, nothing big, and in the end I was disappointed that I didn't get to see her really woman up and start to take charge.
Eventually she is saved by her brother and Shadreal, without the one of the two she would have died early in book one.
It's disappointing, and again as far as strong female leads not a stellar example,
I gave it a solid three this time, mostly for the tension the book seemed to have constantly throughout it, I was fairly engrossed, even irate the few times I was interrupted in my reading, I'm happy to have the series behind me, it was an interesting yet unimpressive read,
The second book of the Pearls and the Crowns was a nice surprise,

The rhythm of the story is a lot more dynamic than the first book, A lot more things are happening and the main characters become more real, Lea gets the chance to show off her powers and Shadrael reveals his true self,
Still, there are some thing that lack in my opinion, I never understood how and why the two fell in love, Reminds me more of the Stockholm syndrome than some deep and moving feeling, And the other characters do not get the possibility to unfold and develop, Even if they were not around, it would still be ok, Their role is somewhat vague,

However, as a whole the book was a nice and refreshing one, It provides a relaxing read after a long and hard day, I do recommend it. I don't know why I read this one when I found it's predecessors so uninteresting, I must truly have been desperate or I hate to leave things unfinished, I felt this work was unfocused and silly, I still think the supposed love that springs up between the two main characters was unrealistic and sounded a lot more like Stockholm syndrome than anything to base a marriage on.
The sad thing is that as unimpressed as I was by this book, I'm even more unimpressed with myself for continuing to read it, just because I had to finish the series insert obligatory eye roll here.
Now that I've reread this book I only now noticed that it was a spinoff series, Now I will rectify my mistake and read Caelan and Elandra's original story, Deborah Chester, national bestselling author of the acclaimed fantasy trilogy "The Sword, The Ring," and "The Chalice," now concludes the riveting saga of a princess blessed by lightand a warrior consumed by darkness.
Terrific! I liked the first book enough that I went and got the second book but the story in the second book sort of fell flat.
I was expecting more of a change in the heroine from book one to book two, but she remained too perfect, and too nice to be of much interest.
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