The Lost Princess Returns by Jeffe Kennedy Series: The Twelve Kingdoms #11.5, The Chronicles of Dasnaria #3.5, The Uncharted Realms #5.5
Published by Brightlynx Publishing on June 29, 2020
Genres: Fantasy Romance
Format: eARC
Source: Author
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More than two decades have gone by since Imperial Princess Jenna, broken in heart and body, fled her brutal marriage—and the land of her birth. She’s since become Ivariel: warrior, priestess of Danu, trainer of elephants, wife and mother. Wiser, stronger, happier, Ivariel has been content to live in her new country, to rest her battered self, and to recover from the trauma of what happened to her when she was barely more than a girl.
But magic has returned to the world—abruptly and with frightening force—and Ivariel takes that profound change as a sign that it’s time to keep a promise she made to the sisters she left behind. Ivariel must leave the safety she’s found and return to face the horrors she fled.
As Ivariel emerges from hiding, she discovers that her vicious brother is now Emperor of Dasnaria, and her much-hated mother, the Dowager Empress Hulda, is aiding him in his reign of terror. Worse, it seems that Hulda’s resurrection of the tainted god Deyrr came about as a direct result of Jenna’s flight long ago.
It’s up to Ivariel—and the girl she stopped being long ago—to defeat the people who cruelly betrayed her, and to finally liberate her sisters. Determined to cleanse her homeland of the evil that nearly destroyed her, Ivariel at last returns to face the past.
But this time, she’ll do it on her own terms.
The Lost Princess Returns is like an epilogue to The Twelve Kingdoms, The Uncharted Realms and mostly The Chronicles of Dasnaria series. It starts right after the end of The Fate of the Tala and is told in the POV of Jenna/Ivariel of The Chronicles of Dasnaria series. She has some unfinished business she needs to take care of.
I really enjoyed this story as I felt it wrapped up a plot line that was missing from The Fate of the Tala. I enjoyed seeing Ivariel go back home to finish some unfinished business. I liked getting to see her sisters again and seeing Ivariel face her mother again.
I can’t go into much detail without giving spoilers to the series. But I highly recommend this romantic fantasy series. Pretty much every story has a new couple coming together. The worldbuilding is phenomenal. And I love the wide array of characters. So many different personalities that work well together. I’ve loved every book in this collection of series. I’ve rated every book between four and five stars. I would recommend reading the series in publication order, which you can find here. A wonderful end to a wonderful group of series, I can’t recommend it enough.
About Jeffe Kennedy
Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include novels, non-fiction, poetry, and short fiction. She has been a Ucross Foundation Fellow, received the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship for Poetry, and was awarded a Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award.
Her award-winning fantasy romance trilogy The Twelve Kingdoms hit the shelves starting in May 2014. Book 1, The Mark of the Tala, received a starred Library Journal review and was nominated for the RT Book of the Year while the sequel, The Tears of the Rose received a Top Pick Gold and was nominated for the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2014. The third book, The Talon of the Hawk, won the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2015. Two more books followed in this world, beginning the spin-off series The Uncharted Realms. Book one in that series, The Pages of the Mind, has also been nominated for the RT Reviewer’s Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2016 and won RWA’s 2017 RITA® Award. The second book, The Edge of the Blade, released December 27, 2016, and is a PRISM finalist, along with The Pages of the Mind. The next in the series, The Shift of the Tide, will be out in August, 2017. A high fantasy trilogy taking place in The Twelve Kingdoms world is forthcoming from Rebel Base books in 2018.
She also introduced a new fantasy romance series, Sorcerous Moons, which includes Lonen’s War, Oria’s Gambit, The Tides of Bàra, and The Forests of Dru. She’s begun releasing a new contemporary erotic romance series, Missed Connections, which started with Last Dance and continues in With a Prince.
In 2019, St. Martins Press will release the first book, The Orchid Throne, in a new fantasy romance series, The Forgotten Empires.
Her other works include a number of fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of A Covenant of Thorns; the contemporary BDSM novellas of the Facets of Passion; an erotic contemporary serial novel, Master of the Opera; and the erotic romance trilogy, Falling Under, which includes Going Under, Under His Touch and Under Contract.
She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine. She is represented by Sarah Younger of Nancy Yost Literary Agency.
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I started listening to audiobooks when a new book in a series was coming out and I wanted to get a refresher, but didn’t have time to read all the books (I think it was Anita Blake). I fell in love. I stayed with strictly re-reading books that I’d already read for a long time. I eventually tried an audiobook for something that I hadn’t read first and was hooked there too. Now, I listen to audio for both re-reads and first time. I have some series that I’ve given up reading and only listen. I try to get any many books/audiobooks from the library to help save on my budget. Books on CD and the newer digital downloads from the library really allow me to listen more. I then purchase my favorites (because who can wait in line for your favorite book??) and less mainstream books from Audible or some other online retailer.
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you don’t have to convince me. just looking at the cover and i’m sold
This is such a fun series (or group of series, since there are two spinoff series). I just love the world that Kennedy has created here.
I really, really want to read this series but that is true of too many books. Fantastic review!
So true. I have several books and backlists that I want to tackle. Some day…
I need to read more of her books
I do love her work.
Nice review. That cover is gorgeous too.
Thanks, the covers of this series are pretty awesome.
A great review – this sounds like a really entertaining series:))
Thanks so much. I’ve had a great time reading this series throughout the years.
Wow. This sounds like such a good series!
It really is a great series. I highly recommend it. So many great couples. Each couple has such unique personalities.
Oh yea! Glad it is good. I have it on my kindle to read eventually. I am looking forward to this even though I didn’t read the Dasnaria series.
I really loved the Dasnaria series. The first book is very dark, but the other two books are more along the lines of the other Twelve Kingdoms books.