Book Review: And I Darken by Kiersten White

Summer is literally ending people and I am not ready for this...sometimes I wish I could just pack up and go somewhere where Summer is just beginning again.  But, then I may end up getting tired of Summer, right?  So, I will stay where I am an endure the Fall and Winter...well, Fall is actually a really good season, Winter is the killer here lol.  Anyways, let me stop complaining...

And let's get to today's review, shall we?

And I Darken by Keirsten White

From GoodReads
No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets.

Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, Radu feels that he’s made a true friend—and Lada wonders if she’s finally found someone worthy of her passion.
But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against—and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.

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Princess Lada grew up in a land far from home, not because she wanted too, but because her father gave her and her fragile brother Radu abandoned them in the Ottoman courts and never came back for them.  She still remembers her homeland of Wallachia and since the day of her abandonment she plans her vengeance for the day when she can return and claim her birthright.  

Radu in the order hand only wants a place where he can feel safe and that happens when they meet Mehmed, the lonely son of the sultan.  Radu feels like he finally has a true friend in Mehmed and he will do anything to be with him and to protect him.  Lada isn't so easy to win at first, but with time and as the years go by she finally lets Mehmed in and she starts to think that Mehmed is someone worth of her passion.

In this book we get to see Lada, Radu and Mehmed grow up from little kids all the way to adulthood and see how friendships and relationships change and how ruling an empire can destroy everything.

I was really into this book at the beginning of it and it had lots of promises but the more I read the more I felt like it was dragging and it took longer than I wanted for things to happen.  And I was not a fan of Mehmed.  I loved the ending so maybe I will give the next book a try and see where it goes.

3 out of 5 stars.

XOXO,


Nelia