Blog Tour & Giveaway: Midnight Jewel (The Glittering Court #2) by Richelle Mead

Midnight Jewel is the second book in The Glittering Court series by Richelle Mead and was released on June 27th! For my post I wanted to highlight some of the Top Leading Ladies Who Escaped Their Fates in fiction. Because both books feature stories about women who are taking a chance to turn their fates around and hoping for a better life in a new world. Each book in the series is self-contained and follows a different character during the same timeline of events.  Be sure to check out the tour schedule and other tour stops for some amazing creative content and reviews! There is an amazing tour-wide giveaway hosted by the publisher so be sure to enter!

 

Midnight Jewel (The Glittering Court #2) by Richelle Mead

Category: Young Adult, Historical Fantasy
Publication: June 27th, 2017; Razorbill
Purchase: Amazon

A refugee of war, Mira was cast out of her home country and thrust into another, where the conditions were inhospitable at best. In a life-altering twist of fate, she is given the chance to escape once more, and she takes it, joining the Glittering Court.

Both a school and a business venture, the Glittering Court is designed to transform impoverished girls into upper-class ladies who appear destined for powerful and wealthy marriages in the New World. There, Mira finds herself subjected to persecution, not only from her fellow Glittering Court jewels, but from her suitors, as well—men she would potentially be expected to give her life to.

By day, she goes through the motions, learning the etiquette and customs that will help to earn her anonymity, even making a couple true friends in the process, the forthright ladies’ maid Adelaide and the ambitious laundress Tamsin. But by night, Mira hatches a different plan entirely—one that, if exposed, could get her hanged in the highest court of Adoria.

 

Feature:

Top Leading Ladies Who Escaped Their Fates

I can’t help but love some strong kickass female characters, especially the ones who are put up against the wall and fight like hell the entire time. Both characters in The Glittering Court series are running from a fate that neither want. Needless to say there are many spoilers below, so if you don’t want to know possible spoilers please don’t read that paragraph. Also, these are my own personal opinions of books I have read, I am sure your opinions might vary, let me know some strong female characters who escaped their fates in the comments!

 

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

With the recent Hulu show, The Handmaid’s Tale has made quite a resurgence. I couldn’t believe how many people I have talked to that never read this book. For me I read it in high school and it blew my mind. How could a society become so falsely convinced that what they were doing was for the greater good on the backs of the few fertile women left in the world. The book is inherintly feminist, and reminds us that we should continue to fight for our rights as woman collectively. If you haven’t read the book or watched the show, you might not want to read this next sentence. We really don’t know if Offred made it out alive, the reader gets to choose whatever conclusion they want, but know one thing, she made it to a point where she could record her remembering of what happened onto tape. Her diary so to say was recorded after she was hauled away, but we never know if she made it out. As, an optimist I have to see the hope, that no matter what her choices were, she was still able to make a choice even when the bastards tried to grind her down. *This book is definitely not YA, but an important dystopian novel I read in high school honors class – so read or recommend with caution. 

 

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Laia is part of the conquered people known as the Scholars, because clearly learning trades is incredibly unnecessary in this world where the Martials hold all the power with brute force. This is an amazing yet brutal fantasy world that will engross you as soon as you start reading. The stakes are high and when Laia is thrust into imminent danger, she only has herself to rely on. She manages to make her own fate, even as a slave, and kick start one hell of a revolution. She is one submissive yet selfless character who chooses slavery in the depths of the most dangerous place, the military academy where the elite soldiers are trained, in order to exchange information with the Resistance, who commit to helping Laia save her brother, her only remaining family member. The series is ongoing, so I can’t say Laia truly escapes her fate, but as of now…after book 2, A Torch Against the Night, I would say she has accomplished some serious escaping thus far.

 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Is there a more recent rebellious character other than Katniss Everdeen? The Hunger Games is quite a crazy dystopian world, where children are sent into a game to murder each other until there is only one person left standing…well this was a trilogy, as I can’t say Katniss escaped her fate, as she must live with the world that was left behind as well as her own guilt and loss. But she managed to survive the initial games without killing her male district player and they changed the rules for them for the first time in the history of the games. Public opinion can strongly favor change, and in this case it saved both Peeta and Katniss. Not only did her actions throughout the games, starting with her volunteering for her sister, to the honoring of the dead, to threat of no victor, she managed to sow the seeds of a revolution from top to bottom throughout Panem.

 

 

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Feyre was starving, her family was selfish, and she gave herself over to a beast in order to save her family when he came bursting down her door for retribution for the death of a wolf she killed. The beast was none other than a High Lord of the Spring Court in the land of Pyrthian, a land that is divided by a magical wall to separate the humans and the fae. Feyre is a captive in the household, until she finds herself useful in freeing the entire court from a curse imposed upon them from a devastatingly cruel yet powerful fae. Throughout this series, Feyre is constantly struggling to find her own place, as well as escape the binds that hold her down. She makes mistakes along her journey but she is driven by her heart and her light.

 

 

Royal Bastards by Andrew Shvarts

Tilla was born a bastard to the Lord of the Western Province and even though she lives the castle life, she will never hold a title, as her fathers had legitimate children now. When her and the other bastards from other prominent families witness the start of a rebellion they must outmaneuver the rebellion as well as the bounty hunters in order to help save the true princess and their own lives. This is one of those books where you don’t know which side of the rebellion you should fall on, both sides seem right, one conquered the other hundreds of years ago, and the others don’t want to be under the thumb of rule anymore. Plus the children of the rebellious provinces can’t determine their loyalty as it was their own fathers and mothers who put a price on their heads. They choose rebellion over their own family, and sometimes that will cause your family to rebel against you. Since this book is a fairly new release I won’t give away the ending…but I put Tilla on this list! +

*cover images link to Amazon

 

Tour Schedule:

 

 

 

Giveaway:

Enter for a chance to win one (1) of five (5) copies of Midnight Jewel by Richelle Mead (ARV: $19.99 each).

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Enter between 12:00 AM Eastern Time on June 26th, 2017 and 12:00 AM on July 17, 2017. Open to residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia who are 13 and older. Winners will be selected at random on or about July 21, 2017. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.

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