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by: Kiera Cass
Recommended Age: YA Readers (13+ and above)
Lexile: N/A
Content Warning(s): Violence, torture, physical / emotional abuse
"Princess Annika has lived a life of comfort—but no amount of luxuries can change the fact that her life isn’t her own to control. The king, once her loving father, has gone cold, and Annika will soon be forced into a loveless marriage for political gain.
Miles away, small comforts are few and far between for Lennox. He has devoted his life to the Dahrainian army, hoping to one day help them reclaim the throne that was stolen from them. For Lennox, the idea of love is merely a distraction—nothing will stand in the way of fighting for his people.
But when love, against all odds, finds them both, they are bound by its call." (book summary)
My Thoughts:
A Thousand Heartbeats was an amazing novel and one of the standout books this year. It was so surprising that although I'd recently finished reading Cass' Selection series, I was unaware she was writing another book. Although the elegant cover piqued my interest initially, the overall novel (unfortunately a stand-alone) should receive a lot of credit. The medieval setting was spectacularly descriptive (it almost felt like you were there). It was clear that everything had been accounted for and thought through. One of the principal reasons I loved the novel was that the cast were all well-rounded with multiple hidden facets. As much of a good thing this was, Kawan was a character I absolutely could not stand, which resulted in me skipping a few pages whenever he was present.
Though Annika and Lennox were the leading characters (dual POVs), the supporting people were just as multi-faceted. Annika was, surprisingly, fierce and tough (everyone expects royalty to be fluffy and shallow). Lennox is also an extremely complex person who is impossible to definitively describe. His path to forgiveness and redemption because of his past was carried out realistically and maturely.
A Thousand Heartbeats was enjoyable, though a bit long (570-ish pages), which wasn't a bad thing, in essence. Perhaps something that made the whole experience of reading the novel a bit sweeter was that my copy was a signed first edition by Kiera (one of the first signed books in the collection!)
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