Courage (The Dreughan #1) by Lena North
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#Historical, #Fantasy, #Romance
It probably started with the dragon. I am Vilda, the wild girl with the flaming red hair and glittering green eyes. I’m different, and I paid for it every day of my life until Valerian of the Waterfolk attacked and I had to flee into the mountains with Troy and our former best friend Susannah. We ended up in Dragoncourt, the stronghold of the Dreughan, where my life became completely different, and a lot more complicated in so many ways. Instead of struggling in a muddy little corner of the world I suddenly worry about finding out who my parents really were, how to get out of being promised to the beautiful prince, how to hide that his cousin can speak inside my head… and what happens when Valerian takes me up on that challenge I issued? Step into the world of the Dreughan and follow Vilda’s journey full of laughter, adventure, and romance in the first book in the Dreughan trilogy, set in a medieval paranormal fantasy world from a thousand years ago. The Dreughan trilogy can be read standalone, but it’s also the starting point for Ms. North’s Urban Fantasy series "Birds of a Feather".
5 out of 5 (exceptional)
Courage is the first book in the Dreughan series, which I bought after reading and loving Seaborn.
What can I say about this? First of all, Vilda is the absolute star of the show - which is only right being as it is her book! She is a very mature character, for all her physical age is young. Just think back to medieval times, and consider they married at fourteen, and then things will make more sense. I loved how Sannah and Troy were there for her, even more so when we heard the reasons for that. As for the Dreughan crew, I loved all of them. Absolutely and utterly.
This is a great story, intricate enough to keep an adult happy whilst still being action packed enough to keep the younger readers engrossed. This is the first book in a trilogy, so don't expect everything to be wrapped up in this book. This IS the only book with Vilda as the main focus though, which just makes the other books just as interesting as this one.
If I am being 100% honest here, I will say there were a couple of errors in this book. Just words misspelt, but still, the writing was so good I am more than happy to overlook those as they definitely didn't impact my enjoyment of the story at all.
I have gone from this book straight into Reason. I am LOVING this series, and can't recommend it highly enough. Absolutely fantastic.
* Verified Purchase ~ July 2018. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
The proper way to put it here would probably be to describe how I love to play with our two big dogs, how much I adore my fantastic daughters and how much I love to read. Another way would be to use my imagination and then I would be a super powerful warrior woman, think Xena the warrior princess (though with less tacky clothes). Or when I think of it, maybe I’m actually more of a Hercule Poirot (sans the suit and moustache). Or maybe I’m like Aragorn, strong and cool and then I might get to meet Gandalf! Or I could be Bella’s pretty cousin and snap Jacob up in a second (yeah, I’m so not team Edward), or wait, maybe I could be like one of them heroines in historical novels who swoon all the time. I’ve always wanted to swoon… Well, I guess you get how my mind is working (or not working, some say). Anyways, I like to write. Stories, adventures, romantic and happy stuff mixed up with sorrow and hardship, and bit of laughter here and there because the way I see it – life is way too short to go around feeling grumpy.
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