Third Daughter by Susan Kaye QuinnSkyships, saber duels, and lots of royal intrigue... and, of course, kissing.
The Third Daughter of the Queen wants her birthday to arrive so she'll be free to marry for love, but rumors of a new flying weapon may force her to accept a barbarian prince's proposal for a peace-brokering marriage. Desperate to marry the charming courtesan she loves, Aniri agrees to the prince's proposal as a subterfuge in order to spy on him, find the weapon, and hopefully avoid both war and an arranged marriage to a man she does not love. Third Daughter is the first book in the The Dharian Affairs Trilogy (Third Daughter, Second Daughter, First Daughter). This steampunk-goes-to-Bollywood (Bollypunk!) romance that takes place in an east-Indian-flavored alternate world filled with skyships, saber duels, and lots of royal intrigue. And, of course, kissing.
From the author of the bestselling Mindjack Trilogy, The Dharian Affairs is a new series filled with equal doses of action-adventure and romance, meant to appeal to fans of Mindjack.
NOMINATED for the Illinois Librarian's "Soon to be Famous Author Project" wherein librarians hope to discover local authors whose "work will jump off the page for readers." "Third Daughter is vividly breathtaking. Quinn delivers royal intrigue, exotic locations, and sweeping romance. Not to be missed!" - Pavarti K. Tyler, author of Shadow on the Wall "Susan Kaye Quinn writes characters that leap off the page... Incredibly well written, the vivid setting was crisp in my mind... As the plot raced on, I was cursing real life for not letting me just sit glued to my kindle, punching the touch screen to get to the next page." - Tiffany on Goodreads
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EXCERPT
EXCERPT
“I
love you, Aniri,” Devesh whispered.
When
he pulled back, she smiled. “I hate to tell you this, Dev, but I already knew
that.”
“If
you go off with this Prince Malik, and anything happens to you, the Queen may
dispense an army to come after you, but I will beat them
there.”
Aniri
drew in a shaky breath. Prince Malik said he would allow her a lover, even
though arranged marriages were expected to be true marriages, especially among
royalty. But could she live that kind of life? A secret love on the side while
performing the duties of Queen in a foreign land? The idea made her shudder. It
pained her every day her love for Devesh was kept hidden. She couldn’t imagine a
lifetime of it. Nor could she picture Devesh, with his love of the court and all
things political, banished to the frozen wastelands of the north simply to be
her consort.
He
must have seen the emotions warring across her face. “Tell him no, Aniri. Refuse
him and come away with me. We could leave today.”
“Dev—”
He
cut her off with a kiss. “We could return to Samir,” he whispered against her
lips. “We won’t be rich, but we could travel anywhere you wished, all the places
your father would have taken you. We would have all the time in the world. To be
together. To learn the truth about your father’s killers. To make a family of
our own.”
It
was precisely what they had planned. Now it all seemed like a hopeless fantasy.
“Dev, I can’t simply abandon my country. If I refuse Malik, and there is war to
pay, I cannot just run away… Is this the confidence you wanted to tell
me?”
Devesh
looked torn, like there was something more he wanted to say but was holding it
back. “I cannot offer you a Queendom, Aniri. My love is all I can promise. I
hope it is enough to convince you to refuse Prince Malik’s
offer.”
He
stepped back, and with clasped hands and a short bow, he turned and strode away.
Her heart tried to beat its way out of her chest to follow him. If she accepted
Prince Malik’s offer, she would lose the man she loved.
Unlike
the Jungali prince, she wasn’t sure that was a price she was willing to
pay.
Author Susan Kaye Quinn Susan Kaye Quinn is the author of the bestselling Mindjack Trilogy, which is young adult science fiction. The Dharian Affairs trilogy is her excuse to dress up in corsets and fight with swords. She also has a dark-and-gritty SF serial called The Debt Collector and a middle grade fantasy called Faery Swap. It's possible she's easily distracted. She always has more speculative fiction fun in the works. You can find out what she's up to by subscribing to her newsletter (hint: new subscribers get a free short story!).
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I wasn't too sure about the book (the blurb seemed a little lame) but the excerpt looks great! Is it a standalone novel?
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