Blog Tour: The Rising King (Keepers of Life #3) by Shea Berkley @SheaBerkley @entangledpub

Welcome to The Cover Contessa's Stop on The Rising King (Keepers of Life #3) Blog Tour!

Blurb from Goodreads:
The summer before Dylan Kennedy’s senior year in high school is turning out to be anything but boring. Ridiculously hot girlfriend? Check. Killing evil Dark Souls who suddenly have aspirations of taking over the magical realm of Teag because its protective spell is gone? Check. Not even Teag’s King, Dylan’s father, Baun, can stop them. People are dying, and a dark magic that his girlfriend, Kera, received from Baun is growing stronger. Dylan wants to believe Kera is suppressing the darkness that’s in her, but every day he sees that control slip just a little more.
Baun sends Dylan to find a powerful magic that stop the Dark Souls, a magic so strong that Baun hid it so no one else could use it. When Dylan doesn’t expect to find along with it, are consequences that could end the lives of those closest to him.

BARNES AND NOBLE

THE COVER CONTESSA's REVIEW

I want to thank Entangled Teen and Shea Berkley for providing me with a copy of this book to read and give an honest review. I loved the first two books in this series. It was a surprising find for me and I am so glad I dove into it! Receiving this book for free has in no way influenced my opinion or review.

If you have not read the first two books in this series STOP HERE. I cannot promise there won't be spoilers. Go, read the other two, then come back here. You will not be disappointed!

I was so excited to receive a copy of this book. I have been chomping at the bitt to get it since I finished the second one. I needed to know what happened to Dylan and Kera and all their friends and I was not disappointed in the least.

Let me start by saying I just love the covers of these books. Yes, I've seen the image of this particular male model before, but it doesn't matter. I love how he is portrayed on this cover. And if you know anything about Dylan, you'll totally understand how the image completely and totally fits him to a tee!

This story picks up right where book two left off. Dylan is strong with the magic he has. But Kera is coming dangerously close to using the magic she has in wrong way. And they are still battling Baun as he somehow is gaining more and more power, without them understanding why.

I just love Dylan's voice. He's funny and a bit quirky. But he has this sexy, swoon quality around him. And he's SO endearing! And his love for Kera is so complete. He shows it every time they are near. He can't get enough of her. But he's taken on a big job, keeping Teag safe. And this comes with a price for them both. It also comes with a price for all their friends.

Kera, well, she's fighting against the dark magic that is within her, the one she holds from Baun. And as much as she tries to fight it, it continues to pull at her. She wants more than anything to try and use her magic for good, but she's finding it hard to find that balance. She certainly has acts of selfishness in this book, which drove me a bit bananas. But these acts really show how she grows and changes and becomes comfortable with herself. It also shows how much she's willing to sacrifice of herself right up until the end.

We get to see old characters that we have come to love: Wyatt, Reece, Leo, Sign, Halim, Bodog, Faldon, Grandma and Grandpa. We also get to see characters we have not been so happy with and might not trust: Baun, Lucinda, The Seven Sisters, Granal. And most of the characters follow our expectations, but some surprise us in the end.

I was happy to find this book was told in two perspectives. We get the first person perspective of Dylan, whom I have grown to totally love. His voice is honest and never waivers. Then we get a third person account of things from Ker'a s POV. I wonder why the author chose to use third person with her, but I often find we see so much more when looking at a character from the outside. It's hard to do and I think Shea does it really well.

The plot continues on as it did in the first two books. Teag is at war and Dylan must ensure it remains intact while still guarding the human realm for all the badness that resides behind the wall that separates them. There is a lot of death and destruction in this book. You see characters sacrifice themselves and it will cause you some pain. But in the end you see how those sacrifices helped others to go on and fight the fight they need to fight. Shea also throws in a few twists and turns you might not expect, I know I didn't expect them. This kept the pacing fast and fun, I didn't have a moment when I didn't want to go back to the book if I had to put it down for some reason.

I do like the ending. I thought there would have been a bit more of a fight, but there wasn't. This is what causes me to give it a 4 rather than a 5. I think it was all bound up too nicely, and needed a bit more of a turn of events, maybe some more fighting to makes things really come to a head.

If you've enjoyed fantasy books such as Kagawa's Iron Fey, you are sure to enjoy The Keepers of Life by Shea Berkley. The characters are well thought out and developed, the plot is interesting and different, the pacing is perfect. You will not be disappointed in picking this series up!

4/5 STARS!

Shea Berkley has a fondness for characters, whether in real life or those she makes up in her head while tending to the multitude of mundane tasks she's forced to do in order to survive. Writing gives her purpose (okay it keeps her out of trouble...mostly), and she can't imagine herself doing anything else. (well maybe a zombie for the Walking Dead, but who doesn't want to do that?). Since she leans toward the pubescent, she fits right in with the Young Adult book crowd. To find out more about her, go to www.sheaberkley.com or Facebook.
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