Diomere’s Exile
The Gate Keeper Chronicles
Fantasy Romance/PNR
The Wild Rose Press, Inc
September 29, 2017
314
Five Gates. Five Sisters. Five Very Different Men.
Once there were two worlds connected by five magical gates. Then the Gate Keepers closed the gates and disappeared. The Gate Keepers have returned. Nadia de Quinones was exiled when her nephew, the crown-prince was abducted on her watch. She'll let nothing stand in the way of her redemption, not even discovering her heartbonded and a connection to an ancient magical gate.
Lord Gregor Cyrene is sworn to protect his country's royal heirs. After the youngest prince's life is threatened, Gregor sets out to discover who is responsible and suspects the answer lies with Nadia. When fate forces their competing goals to align, neither are prepared for the irresistible attraction between them.
Can they see beyond their pasts and a millennia old hate between their people? Or will they continue to distrust, allowing those plotting against them to win?
Review by Madison Davis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
When I started reading Diomere’s Exile the unknown world, I found myself in almost shocked me. The country the story takes place in is inhabited by humanoids of different races, secrets, secret keepers, royals, nobles, guards, healers, and more secrets.
The key character in the story is Lady Nadia de Quinones. She is a single beautiful woman, a fighter, a hunter, an assassin, a guild leader, a noblewoman, an A’mi, owner of the Emerald Mermaid, a seeker and many things more.
Nadia is admirable and in many ways I enjoyed reading about her, her good heart, her cold calculation, her strategic thinking, the care for her friends, her stubbornness. I understood her distrust to men after she was disappointed and hurt ever so often. She’s mysterious, and still, when she met Lord Gregor Cyrene, head of the Prince’s guard, at one point, she should have known who he is and will be to her. At times I got a bit impatient with her refusing to entrust him with her secrets.
Lord Gregor Cyrene is adamant in his loyalty towards his Prince and old friend Stefan and his younger brother Reis. No matter how much he fell for Nadia, he would have done everything to fulfill his duties.
The attraction between them, the gravity that pulled them to each other like magnets, the dreams they share, full of lust and erotic satisfaction, all this is only one part of the secret Nadia holds. It hurts Lord Cyrene to distrust her when Reis is kidnapped. But it hurts him, even more, to see that Nadia still pushes him away to protect him.
I loved reading this book, enjoyed the conflicts as well as the strong bonds between some of the characters, the friendship, and love they share. The characters are built multilayered and masterfully designed. Betrayal, a big part in the story, goes unnoticed until the final moment of reveal.
The one thing that I have to mention here is the elaborately constructed building of the venue’s society and the numerous unsuspected characters I found myself thrown into at the beginning of the story.
I found it extremely hard to disentangle rivalry between the different guilds and their leaders, to find out who was promised what as a favor for their betrayal, who was bad and who was worse among the characters, who was the leader of what and who was what kind of ‘humanoid.’ I admit, in a way I had a hard time to find my way through the nest of schemes, lies, and connections and decipher friendly and uncordial characters and groups.
Once I did find the leading thread through the entangled spiderweb of love and hate, fear and loyalty, I fell in love with the characters and their strength in friendship and family. It would have been nice to have some sort of a map to show me through the complicated society.
However, I suspect the difficulties to adjust within the plot faster, is my problem and I can imagine another reader finds it much easier than I did. I did not want m inadequacy to keep me from giving the book five stars. I do definitely recommend any fantasy fan to read Diomere’s Exile. I clearly market it ‘Mature’ since the erotic situations between the characters are quite graphic and detailed. I find Diomere’s Exile a great story, and I can’t wait to read the second part.
3rd Place: ROMANCE/SCI-FI/FANTASY/TIME TRAVEL/CONTEMPORARY
