Kidnappings, Siblings, & Ireland (The Silent Blade Review/Blogtour)

Today I’m joining in on the blog tour for The Silent Blade by Jesseca Wheaton, which releases today! (Lookit that gorgeous cover! *internally shrieking* Ahem…)

Here’s the info about the book, the author, a giveaway, my review, and links to the rest of the tour. 🙂

About the Book:

Dromiskin, Ireland. 925 A.D.

Eira has no greater desire than to see her life returned to what it once was—before her older brother Kevin’s sudden disappearance four years earlier. But the simple life she hoped for seems unattainable; on the contrary, her life is about to get all the more complicated.

When she suddenly finds herself and Willem, her twin brother, taken captive by someone who claims to be Kevin’s enemy, things go from bad to worse. It soon becomes clear that she and Willem are to become bait in a trap set for Kevin, and Eira knows she must try to warn him. But how, when she herself is a captive?

As mysteries of the past are unveiled, and loyalties are revealed, Eira realizes how precious her friends truly are. And when mortal danger threatens those nearest to her, will she be able to trust God with the lives of her friends and family?

Find the book:

Amazon Kindle | Amazon Paperback | Goodreads

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About the Author:

Jesseca is an 18-year old daughter, sister, and a child of God. Her days are spent reading, cooking, spending time with siblings, or playing piano.  And writing, of course! At an early age words fascinated her, and her love for the printed page has only grown. She lives with her parents and seven siblings in the sunny state of Kansas, and she’s convinced there’s no place like home.

Visit her online at her blog, Whimsical Writings.

Giveaway:

Enter the awesome giveaway Jesseca’s holding as part of the tour, for a copy of The Silent Blade and a giftcard, here!

****Giveaway Link****

My Review

The Silent Blade

by Jesseca Wheaton

YA / Juv. Fiction / Christian / Historical Fiction

I received a free Advance Reader e-Copy of this book from the author (thanks, Jesseca!) in exchange for my honest review, and these opinions are my own.

***

4 stars out of 5

I don’t read much historical fiction, but I love Ireland and this book sounded intriguing, so I decided to give it a go. I’m glad I did! I wish I’d read it when I was younger because I have a feeling I would have ADORED it then… As it was, I still enjoyed it rather. 🙂

I loved most of the characters! They were a definite highlight. 🙂 Kevin, the older brother, was so nice and cool. Willem, the heroine’s twin, was sweet and wonderful. ^_^ Great brothers! I enjoyed reading about them. Casimir was epic! (I wish I’d known he was the Chieftain’s son at the beginning… or even that there WAS a chieftain…? Instead of learning it at the end, because that would have made him even cooler. XD) A lot of other side characters were really interesting too. Rowen and Stace, for instance — they were great! As were Aeden and Diarmuid and Cian, especially when they were all mysterious early on… 😉 LOVED that. So much epic.

Along that note, can we take a moment to appreciate the amazing Celtic names in this book? Okay? Okay. LOVE THE NAMES.

There was a light thread of romance later, which was sweet. ^_^ (Though seriously, Eira: PAY ATTENTION. Ahem. XD)

I enjoyed the humor. 🙂 The character interactions and a lot of the banter made it fun to read, and I do love a bit of fun in my books. 😉

There was a strong Christian aspect, which I enjoyed. The characters quote scripture often and pray a lot and I liked how their prayers felt natural. Between the strong faith theme and one of family/sibling closeness threaded through the story, it had some good things to say. 🙂

I also loved how it ended! Especially since I read a book recently that disappointed me in the ending department, so I really appreciate this one’s ending… It left me feeling happy, at least! (I was curious what will happen to a certain character though. o.o)

As for things I didn’t love as much… I will say that I felt like some of it was historically inaccurate. I couldn’t understand why some of the characters did what they did, so some of the plot didn’t hold together for me, I guess. I also didn’t like the heroine, Eira, too much; which is probably just me, since I don’t tend to like her tough-girl, obsessed-with-swords, can’t-cook-to-save-her-life (literally) sort of type, so I’m sure many people will enjoy her. 🙂 I just didn’t get along with her, thought she acted beneath her age of sixteen, and found it odd that she didn’t seem to know how to do anything other than sword-fight? That was just weird to me. 😛 (Sometimes I liked her okay, and I do love her name. ;)) Like I said, I think I miiight be a little too old for it since a lot of it was on a smaller scale and felt like bullies versus kids instead of grown men versus older teens/other men, and I have a feeling at a younger age I wouldn’t have noticed the above complaints and would have just enjoyed the adventure and the action and all of that. But, again, could just be me!

Despite all of that, it kept my interest, was intriguing and at times exciting, and I couldn’t put it down. 🙂

I might’ve given it 3 and a half stars… but considering that I would have loved it a few years ago, and that it kept me addicted to turning pages and wrapped up nicely, I’m bumping it up to 4 stars.

An enjoyable light read for anyone who likes historical fiction, siblings-stories, a Christian message, and cool Irish names. 🙂

Check out the rest of the tour below!

Wednesday, July 20th

• Mikayla H. at The Bubblegum Ballerina — Review
• Blessings Counter at Counting your Blessings One by One — Author Interview
• Ivy Rose at Lakeside Publications — Review, Spotlight
• Mallory Beth at Renewed by Grace — Review

Thursday, July 21st

• Lydia Dyslin at Through the Wardrobe — Review
• Rebekah Eddy at Rebekah’s Remarks — Review, Interview
• Abigayle Allison at The Left-Handed Typist — Review, Spotlight

Friday, July 22nd (Publication Day!)

• Blessings Counter at Counting your Blessings One by One — Review
• Rebekah Ashleigh at Rebekah Ashleigh — Spotlight
• Amanda Tero at With a Joyful Noise — Review, Interview, Spotlight
• Deborah O’Carroll at The Road of a Writer (that’s me. ;)) — Review, Spotlight
• Kaitlyn K. at Prairie Gal Cookin’ — Review, Spotlight
• Bethany R. at A Great God and Good Cocoa — Review, Spotlight
• Deborah C. at Reading in June — Spotlight, Review
• Emily at A Purpose and a Promise — Spotlight, Review

Saturday, July 23rd

• Kellyn Roth at Reveries — Review, Interview
• Jason McIntire at Elisha Press — Interview
• Natasha H. at Looking Through My Lens — Review
• Faith P. at Stories by Firefly — Review, Interview

Monday, July 25th

• Jesseca Wheaton at Whimsical Writings — Blog Tour wrap-up post

 So, what do you think, readers all? Don’t you LOVE those names? 😀 Do you like sibling stories and Ireland? ^_^