Lilly’s gift of reading the heart seemed like a curse, but when she discovered her gift was linked to an old, Russian prophecy it changed everything. What she never questioned, though, was her own heart.
When the prophecy pulls Lilly back to Russia and demands to be fulfilled she is torn between love and loyalty. She must make the most difficult decision of her life and choose between the two. But Lilly’s decision is farther reaching than even she is willing to acknowledge. It stretches from East to West - from the past to the future.
Lilly discovers there’s more to the old prophecy than she realized and enemy forces are bent on stopping it from unfolding.
One thing is certain - there will be casualties. And sparing those closest to her may be impossible. While Seth attempts to shield Lilly from the truth, Nikolai reveals secrets that could change everything.
As Lilly falls into the arms of Russia she must decide: will love or loyalty reign? And can she live with the consequences? Two sides compete for Lilly’s heart and she must find the answers she needs before her enemies find her.
My Take
This is the second in the series. I fell for the characters in the first book Return the Heart and have continued my love affair with them through the second book as well. In this story Lilly and her friends spend almost all of the book in Russia. Lilly discovers secrets about her heritage and the prophecy that sets so many questions in motion.
More action, more romance and an ancient prophecy lie within the pages of Shield the Heart. This book was wonderful and I can't wait to read the final book in the series. I'm giving this little gem 4 1/2 heartfelt kisses!
I've got this one waiting for me on my kindle - just haven't had enough reading time lately!
ReplyDeleteDear YA Literature Lover:
ReplyDeleteI'm an award-winning author with a new book of YA fiction. Ugly To
Start With is a series of thirteen interrelated stories about teen life
published by West Virginia University Press in November
of 2011.
Can I interest you in reviewing it?
My book's only 160 pages short. The writing is easy and open, and all
the stories are interconnected--same hero and story arc throughout. It
reads like a brisk novel in the form of stories.
If you write me back at johnmcummings@aol.com, I'll send you a PDF of my book.
At this point, my small publisher is out of available review copies, so
I hope and politely ask that you consider the PDF. I would be
very grateful.
My publisher, I should add, can offer your readers a free excerpt
of my book through a link from your blog to my publisher's website:
http://wvupressonline.com/cummings_ugly_to_start_with_9781935978084
Here’s what Jacob Appel, celebrated author of Dyads and The
Vermin Episode, says about my new collection: "In Ugly to Start With,
set in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, Cummings tackles the
challenges of boyhood adventure and family conflict in a taut,
crystalline style that captures the triumphs and tribulations of
small-town life. He has a gift for transcending the particular
experiences to his characters to capture the universal truths of human
affection and suffering--emotional truths that the members of his
audience will recognize from their own experiences of childhood and
adolescence.”
My short stories have appeared in more than seventy-five literary
journals, including North American Review, The Kenyon Review, Alaska
Quarterly Review, and The Chattahoochee Review. Twice I have
been nominated for The Pushcart Prize. My short story "The Scratchboard
Project" received an honorable mention in The Best American Short
Stories 2007.
I am also the author of the nationally acclaimed coming-of-age
novel The Night I Freed John Brown (Philomel Books, Penguin Group,
2009),winner of The Paterson Prize for Books for Young Readers (Grades
7-12)and one of ten books recommended by USA TODAY.
For more information about me, please visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Michael_Cummings
Thank you very much, and I look forward to hearing back from you.
Kindly,
John Michael Cummings