Author: Kate Cornell
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Pages: 400
Source: Netgalley
Buy: Amazon|Indigo Canada|Barnes & Noble
Rating: 4/5
Princess Kalista has known her role from birth. She's spent her entire life preparing to be the socialite wife of a prince from a peaceful kingdom. But on her big day, she is shocked when she is instead forced to marry the warrior prince of a cursed land, who is as cold as the wintry kingdom he'll one day rule. Carson has a throne no princess wants to share with him. An immortal beast ravages their land, and he’ll do anything to stop it, even marry a complete stranger on the day she was supposed to wed her betrothed. Let her hate him for it, but Kalista is his only hope for peace. Kalista knows she’s just a pawn on the chessboard of politics, but now she’s expected to kill an unstoppable creature because of some legend about her bloodline that Carson believes as truth. He trains her how to fight, and when lessons in swordplay lead to lessons in love, her destiny puts more than just her life at risk. How far is she willing to go to save the prince she never wanted…but can’t imagine living without?-Goodreads
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thank you Entangled Publishing, LLC and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review this E-ARC.
Live Like Legends was an enjoyable read by Kate Cornell. I manage to read this book in less than 12 hours. Normally, it takes me a week to read a book. Cornell drew me into the story from the very first chapter. I found the story flowed seamlessly together from one chapter to the next.
I enjoyed Kalista's character and her narration of the story. The romance was sweet between her and Carson. I also appreciated the banter between her and Emmett.
Cornell does a unique take on world-building. The author focuses a lot on building the world, plot and characters through cultural exploration. The cultural differences (language, customs, foods, etc.) between Kalista and Carson are heavily focused on in Live Like Legends. The language barrier, between Carson and Kalista, was a unique touch to the story. In the beginning, I was a bit against it because it made it hard for me to understand and appreciate Carson's character. The language barrier, I felt, distracted me from seeing Carson's character development. I couldn't understand him or really get to know him. However, this technique could be seen as reciprocating how Kalista is feeling throughout the book. The language barrier makes it hard for her to communicate and fully understand each other. When I was 18, I lived in Taiwan for a year as an exchange student. I remember the fear of potentially being mocked for mispronouncing words in Mandarin and feeling lost in certain situations. I think Cornell does an excellent job of portraying what it is like to live in a place that is different from your own both culturally and linguistically. Towards the end, I was more appreciated of the language barrier because it was a plot device that fits well with the development of the storyline.
However, that being said, I think it would have been more interesting if this story was told from two point of views (both Kalista's and Carson's POV).
I enjoyed the overall storyline in this book. It was a bit predictable but, it was still a good read. I do wish there were a bit more descriptions of the characters and of Estral itself.
I also found the first few chapters to be a bit confusing to read. I would have preferred the story to start a bit earlier than when it did in the first chapter. I also wish the key points of why she was betrothed to Carson were better explained (aka: the prophecy).
Overall, Live Like Legends was an enjoyable read. I enjoyed the storyline and how smoothly the novel flowed. I stayed awake all night to finish it. If you are into romance and fantasy, then I would check out this book.
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