3 out of 4 stars
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Everyone dreams of something, whether it be great or small the dream is there, even if we don’t allow ourselves to admit it. For Lily in the beautifully written novel, The Prodigy Slave: Book One: Journey to Winter Garden written by Londyn Skye, her dream to is find her mother, who’s arms she was ripped out of as she was to be sold at an auction. While seeking relief from her new surroundings, Lily discovers that she has a propensity for the piano. In this discovery she is able to find a bit of comfort and joy in an otherwise scary and cruel world.
Although Lily is trapped in the life of a slave, she is not without friends, one such friend being her master’s son, James. However, many years into their friendship he discovers her playing the piano, and to her confusion threatens punishment for her hideous crimes. Much to her surprise his “punishment” is the one thing that completely alters her life, throwing her on a dramatic journey with some people of great power. Throughout her journey, Lily is able to discover a love and passion that she had never felt before, and a freedom that she could only ever dream about.
I greatly enjoyed reading The Prodigy Slave; it possessed the ability to touch on all of my emotions. I felt horror while Lily was ripped out of her mother’s arms, hope when she found friendship in James, and wonder in her ability to play the piano. Lily was an easy character to fall in love with, she was so full of life that I felt as if we could be best friends. Written in the first perspective, occasionally the narrative would switch between Lily and a few of the other characters; however, I was never confused as to whose thoughts I was peering into. All of the primary and secondary characters were incredibly well written, even the most minor of character contained a backstory and motive. The “good guys” were so easy to love and the “bad guys” were so much fun to hate! Although the book is not a quick, one sitting read, I never felt as if I struggled to get through it and felt a little betrayed when it ended. It did leave on a bit of a cliffhanger, so here’s to hoping the sequel arrives soon!
The writing was exquisite and the dialogue drew me in immensely. While the punctuation had a professionally edited feel to it, there was one thing that threw me off a bit. Many of the characters, especially Lily and James, would switch accents. Such as, for a while they would speak in an abbreviated manner, “livin’, darlin’,” etc. then all of a sudden they would switch into a “proper” high society dialogue. The first couple of times that it happened, I was confused as to which character was speaking. I got used to it after a while, but towards the middle of the book it seemed as if it were happening every other page. While a bit confusing at first, I was still able to really enjoy the novel.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a romantic historical book full of adventure and hope. The book does contain a few sex scenes, although not too graphic in nature, I would probably recommend that the reader be over seventeen. Because of the switching of accents, I give The Prodigy Slave: Book One: Journey to Winter Garden 3 out of 4 stars. I would have liked to give it a 3.5 if that where possible and would whole-heartedly give it a higher rating if the characters didn’t switch accents back and forth.
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The Prodigy Slave, Book One: Journey to Winter Garden
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