Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Review: Water Princess, Fire Prince by Kendra E. Ardnek


Water Princess, Fire Prince by Kendra E. Ardnek
The Rizkaland Legends 
Book 1 

Blurb:
When the Lady Dragon does come,
Hold fast, do not fear, do not run

Your Water Princess will fight,

Fire Prince will set all to right

Each shall come from a Fall,

Their union will save you all.


Despite the fact that she’s on track for competing in the Olympics, and he’s practically raised his younger brothers since they lost their mom in a car accident, Clara Mandras and Andrew Stevenson are pretty much normal teens. They have normal hopes, normal dreams, and they live in a normal world.
All this is torn away from them when they are thrust into another world and declared Water Princess and Fire Prince. With no experience ruling a country, meeting each other for the first time, and being expected to fight the Lady Dragon – an evil sorceress plaguing the world of Rizkaland – Clara and Andrew are underprepared and inexperienced. Unless they learn to work together despite their standing opposition, Rizkaland’s hope will be lost. 
What is to come will change their lives forever.

Review:
This was my first Christian Romance novel so I wasn't sure if I was going to like the book, but I was really surprised. I actually really liked the book!

Water Princess, Fire Price centers around 2 teenagers, Clara Mandras and Andrew Stevenson. These two end up in another world called Rizkaland. They learn that they need to fight the Lady Dragon to fulfill a prophecy. This dragon has been turning the people in Klarand to ice and then melting them. The other part of the prophecy is that these two are supposed to be united. However, at a young age, both of them aren't exactly happy about it.

There was one thing that I didn't care for about this book and that was the one main character, Clara. I had a hard time connecting with her throughout most of this book. When Andrew came into the book, she started to change.

The writing was great! I felt like the world was real and could picture the place well. I really enjoyed how the two main characters didn't fall in love immediately. It was more realistic in the romance sense and I thoroughly enjoyed that. 

I received an ARC copy from the author for an honest review.

Rating: 3.5/5

~About the Author~
Kendra E. ArdnekKendra E. Ardnek loves fairy tales and twisting them in new and exciting ways.  She’s been practicing her skills on her dozen plus cousins and siblings for years, “Finish your story, Kendra”, is frequently heard at family gatherings.  Her sole life goal has always been to grow up and be an author of fantasy and children’s tales that also glorify God and His Word. You can read more about her on her blog, knittedbygodsplan.blogspot.com.
Available for Kindle preorder: http://www.amazon.com/Water-Princess-Prince-Rizkaland-Legends-ebook/dp/B00YTQBTDI/  $2.99 the 19th and 20th ONLY (at which point I’ll put it up to its official price of 3.99)
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~Author Interview~

ME: When did you start writing?
KA: Shortly after I learned how to write. I wasn't serious until I was eleven and I decided to write a better script for the Narnia movie.

ME: What is your favorite writing style?
KA: Third person limited or first person, as I love deep POV's. I prefer past tense over present, but that's mostly because it's what I'm used to.

ME: What is the best thing about writing?
KA: The ability to build whole worlds out of nothing, create people out of ink and paper, and then share them with others.

ME: What do you do when you are not writing?
KA: Handing out food at McDonalds, fixing supper, or browsing Pinterest. 

ME: Do you like reading?
KA: I love reading. I've read over fifty books already this year. I learned to write by reading.

ME: Who are your favorite Authors?
KA: C. S. Lewis
        J. R. R. Tolkien
        L. Frank Baum
        Laura Ingalls Wilder
        Gail Carson Levine

ME: What Inspired you to start writing?
KA: The knowledge that books were written by people and that it was a good way to share the stories living inside of my head.

ME: What are your ambitions?
KA: To have my books read and loved by people around the world.

ME: Where do your ideas come from?
KA: The better question would be "where don't my ideas come from." I can be inspired by literally anythingWater Princess, Fire Prince was inspired by the shower. My Bookania series came from my desire to retell fairy tales, and the random idea of a princess with a mixed up gift when I was folding laundry one day. The Ankulen came from a play that my cousin and I wanted to perform in our backyard. I have a WIP that came from a (completely original) song that I literally woke up with one morning.

ME: Do you work from an outline or plot or do you prefer just to see where an idea takes you?
KA: I usually have detailed plans in my head, but I never write them down. So I usually know how the story will end, and a general idea of how I'm going to get there, but I hold it in a very open hand.

ME: What was the hardest thing about writing your last book?
KA: Getting the main character, Clara, to behave.

ME: What is the easiest thing abut writing your book?
KA: Writing Clara's wit. 

ME: Did you ever get writers block and if so what did you do to overcome it?
KA: Writer's block is the bane of EVERY author's existence. I battle it daily. Usually I'll just ignore the blocked book in favor of something more interesting, in hopes that, when I come back to it, it'll be more cooperative.

ME: What are your thoughts on writing a book series?
KA: It's not for the faint of heart. I have two series started now, my Bookania Quesets, which has no end in sight, and my Rizkaland Legends with their planned length of seven books. There are days when I question my sanity and wonder why I don't just write standalones. But I do love being to able to spend multiple books in the same worlds, with the same characters.

ME: Do you self proofread, edit, and/ or publish your this book?
KA: I do self-publish, and I did edit and proofread it several times myself, but I also had a team of over ten beta readers, as well as a few family members, who read it through and applied a very critical editor's pen. All final say was mine, however.

ME: Tell us about the covers and how they came about? Who made the cover?
KA: The cover of Water Princess, Fire Prince, is supposed to represent Clara and Andrew, the titular Water Princess and Fire Prince, though they don't actually possess the ability to turn themselves into fire and water. (It's symbolic)
The cover was designed by my cousin, Benjamin Ingalls. And, why yes, he IS related to Laura Ingalls Wilder. 

ME: What do you have planned for future books?
KA: I'm going to try to kill Amber in the sequel, Lady Dragon, Tela Du. We'll see how that goes!

ME: How can readers discover more about you and your work?
KA:                  o   Official Website
o   Facebook
o   Twitter 
o   Goodreads

4 comments:

  1. Great review and interview! I enjoyed reading your questions and Kendra's answers!

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    1. Thank you so much! I just checked out your review and I liked your questions as well.

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  2. Yes! Another writer-from-babyhood!

    Third person limited is the best POV...it lets author and readers get inside their heads and truly tells the story from the character's eyes, letting the reader become the character.

    Building a world out of nothing... Genesis 1... a reminder that we writers are created in the image of the Author and Finisher of our faith. :)

    Reading is the best way to learn to write!

    Cheers for have unwritten detailed plots and plans!

    Oh Clara... you would have to be both the hardest and easiest part of writing WPFP...

    Symbolic, that's the word Andrew was looking for when trying to describe the cover in my post for this blog tour... :)

    Great interview!

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  3. Only trying to kill Amber? That doesn't sound good.

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