4.5 stars

Kate -Katriona- Wilde goes for a hiking trip in the forest with her best friend Brad and her sister Brit, only to find herself transported in a mysterious land filled with darkness and terrifying creatures attacking them. After being rescued by the locals, Kate discovers the truth about herself, something her mother never told her. She has a legacy, a prophecy to fulfil that could mean life or death to Encardia, but might break her own heart as the man she's been dreaming about since she was a teen, the man she meets in Encardia and yearns for, is not the man she's promised to marry. As time goes by, Kate learns more about Encardia and her people, falls more for Arland and he for her, and learns that she has a few powers of her own that she needs to be practicing real quick, if there's any chance of defeating the evil. But most of all, she must hide who she is from Perth, the man she's been promised to since birth.

There was a lot of things to like in this book: Kate, was a strong heroine, neither too bitchy or too cold, and easy to care for. She adapted a bit too easily to her new status, but still maintained a natural reserve about her role and ability to help in this war. Arland was a steady, calming presence beside her, supportive and patient, but I did find the speed with which he fell in love with Kate too much: where Kate had been dreaming of him for years and was easy to accept her falling for him, he did not have any prior knowledge of her to justify his falling in love with her as fast as he did. But by that time I was too engrossed in the plot to overly mind. The plot twists kept me reading earnestly, while I really appreciated the fact that the writer managed to convey the starkness of the land and the terror caused by the various dragons, without going into lengthy descriptions that would have tired me and caused me to start skipping pages.

Minor quibles aside, this was a fast paced, action filled fantasy with an intriguing plot, likable characters and many twists to keep readers enthralled. It is not a flawless book; in fact there are a few holes in the plot, the tension was built mainly via the withholding of information from both the main heroine and the reader, and most secondary characters are two-dimensional. However, I enjoyed reading every single page of it and found myself unwilling to put it down, even if it meant giving up an hour or two of my beauty sleep. And I intend to start on the second book as of right now:)

ARC provided by NetGalley