Book Review: Queen of Always by Sherry D. Ficklin

Queen of Always

(Stolen Empire #3)

by 

Sherry D. Ficklin

Synopsis

 

If her time at court has taught Catherine anything, it's that there is no room for weakness in Imperial Russia. With the Empress' health failing and rumors of a change in the line of succession, her place in the royal line is once more in jeopardy. Tormented by her sadistic husband and his venomous mistress, Catherine must once more walk the fine line between pleasure and politics―between scandal and survival.

When her young son becomes the target of those rebelling against Peter's reign, Catherine will have to rise up to protect herself, her child, and her nation from his unstable and potentially catastrophic rule. This means putting herself at odds with the most dangerous man she's ever known, trusting those who once proved to be her enemies, and turning a nation against its sovereign. In the ultimate battle for the crown, new alliances will be forged, loyalties will be tested, and blood will be shed.
Don't miss this breathtaking conclusion to the Stolen Empire series!

Review 

 

I was so happy to get the third paperback for my birthday. I needed to finish up this series because after my Bestie finished all three books in a week, she's been badgering to talk to me about the third one.

Stuff gets real in the third installment of the Stolen Empire series. This is definitely not one for more sensitive readers. The steamy romance is taken to a level I never expected and is also shadowed by domestic abuse - something I can only tolerate because of the culture of the time period and setting, and because our heroine eventually comes out on top. Bestie and I both felt like the heightened sensuality was unnecessary and took away a bit from what we loved about this series in the first place; the spectacular story and writing.

I can't say I agree with everything Catherine does, or the choices she's forced to make. But it's through those choices that she becomes the strong heroine that she is. Because she's hardened so much, I don't feel a kinship to her that I did in the last two books, or that I've found with other characters. I don't feel like I would be her best friend in real life, but I definitely would be one of her trusted ladies that keeps all of her scandalous secrets.

Queen of Always wasn't my favorite in the series, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I'm glad I got to get up close and personal with all the drama that is Catherine's train wreck of a life. The ending was tragically beautiful. More bitter than sweet, but complete and leaving me sad that it was all over. I especially liked the letter to her children slipped into the epilogue. Overall, the Stolen Empire series is rich and elegant, and I highly recommend it if you want to really connect with a story.

 4 stars

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Author Spotlight: Sherry D. Ficklin

Guess what!? I'm officially a #HACKER!

Okay, stop laughing. You're right, I can barely remember my password for my email, BUT, I did sign up for the Digital Horizon blog tour, book #3 in the #HACKER series. Which means...I got an exclusive interview with the author Sherry D. Ficklin!

This is super exciting. You remember how much I raved about her book Queen of Someday from the Stolen Empire series. (Review of Queen of Tomorrow coming later this week) Well I had to check out her YA contemporary series #HACKER. The first book is Playing With Fire and it's currently FREE in the Kindle store. Catch up to me because I'm going to read book #2 soon and book #3 will be released on 2/8/216!

Sherry D. Ficklin

 

 

 Sherry is a full time writer from Colorado and the author of over a dozen novels for teens and young adults including the best selling Stolen Empire series. She can often be found browsing her local bookstore with a large white hot chocolate in one hand and a towering stack of books in the other. That is, unless she's on deadline at which time she, like the Loch Ness monster, is only seen in blurry photographs.
Sherry also writes New Adult fiction under the pen name Ranae Glass and is a contributing writer for fangirlish.com. You can find her at her official website, www.sherryficklin.com, or stalk her on her Facebook page www.facebook.com/sherry.ficklin. 

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Your most popular series' Stolen Empire and #HACKER are in completely different genres. When writing, was it difficult to switch from historical fiction to YA contemporary?

It wasn't has hard for me is it is for everyone else. My mind is always spinning off in new directions, so each project is decidedly different from the last. I'ts a VERY hard way to build a fan base though, because they are so different. But I don't think i could just write one type of story over and over. 

The main character in the #HACKER series, Ferris, is a military brat. Did you have a similar type of childhood?

 

I did, as a matter of fact, the locations in the book are all places I've lived myself. Though, I'm roadkill on the internet and terrible at programming stuff. I had a WONDERFUL group of talented people helping me with the research in those scenes. 

 

Ferris is very tech savvy, obviously. Did that aspect of her character require a lot of research or do you have a similar skill set?

So much research. Farris is sort of a blend of myself at that age and a handful of people far more tech savvy than myself. 

In your book Queen of Someday, the first book in the Stolen Empire series, there are links to commentary videos at the end of every few chapters. Such a neat feature! Do you have plans to do that for any other books?

 

 

What we discovered with that (and I LOVED doing it BTW) was that it made the files so big that older readers couldn't open them. At the end of the day, it was decided that if I ever do them again, it will be hosted on my website as opposed to in the digital files, for the sake of file size. 

 

How do you balance the busy life of a full-time writer while taking care of your big family? 

Badly! I have a Life Planner and it helps keep me on task, helps me sort of portion out my time. The best part of my job is that  have the luxury of always putting my family first. If one of the kids has the flu and i miss a week of writing, I'm not getting fired. A lot of people don't have that option. 

If you were locked in overnight in a fully functioning amusement park, what's the first thing you would do?

Ok, so fun story. When I was in High School we lived a few miles from an amusement park. So one day my best friend and I ditched school (I'm a TERRIBLE example here) and went down. Only it was like ten in the morning and the place was a freaking ghost town--maybe a handful of people in the whole place. So we rode the big roller coaster till we puked, then rode it some more. I'm bad at making good choices, lol.

What's a typical writing day like for you?

It varies, but I always start with 30-45 minutes on the treadmill and then some tea and music. Helps me get into the right mindset to start my day.Right now I'm writing on my new top secret project which is set in the 1920's, so there is lots of swing and jazz happening. 

What advice to you have for aspiring writers?

Don't quit. It's the hardest thing you will ever do, finishing a book. But just keep pushing. Even if every page feels like crap, just get it done. Because once you've done it once, it becomes easier and easier and you get better and better. 

What's next for you after the third #HACKERS book?

Well, there's still 3 more in the #HACKER series, so I will be working on those over the next year, we're hoping to release book 4 in the winter 2016. But I'm taking a short break to work on The Canary Club and a paranormal novella serial I'm going to be releasing this summer. Basically, just lots and lots of writing. And i wouldn't have it any other way!

My favorite series of the year so far!

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