Choices Meant for All by Sandy Lender (excerpt, review and GIVEAWAY)

Choices Meant for All

by Sandy Lender

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GENRE:   Fantasy

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BLURB:

From the foothills of the Freotho Mountains to the marble halls of Mahriket, factions of deities rise to threaten not just Master Rothahn’s crown, but all of Onweald’s people. The battles fan the gates of the dark spirit world releasing demons of every species to aid the enemy, but Emperor Nigel Taiman brings Malachi’s power to the Arcanan Army’s camp in hopes of tipping the balance in his bride’s favor. Dangerous times call for strange allies from all quarters.

To restore the geasa that will save the god she’s sworn to protect, Amanda Chariss must escape the very Betrayer’s grasp and make choices for the good of all. Does she have the will to sacrifice all that she holds dear in the process? Dive into the action-packed conclusion of the Choices trilogy to discover how prophecy works with and against those who would heed it.

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EXCERPT

“Have you been acting a part all along?” He gripped her by the throat. “Have you?”

She tried to loosen his grip. “My dearest one, she’s trying to turn me against you,” Chariss gagged. “She’s using an influencing spell on you to confuse you.”

“Don’t you think I’d recognize an influencing spell?” Drake spat.

He lifted her from her feet and drove her to the floor harshly, pounding her head against the dirt. The impact jarred her teeth. For a second, she feared she would lose consciousness.

His knees had her pinned to the ground as Brendan had once pinned her to a boat deck in practice; she had to remember how she’d escaped from the captain’s hold. One of her hands worked at Drake’s on her neck, the other tried to get a grip on his jugular.

While he berated her for inconstancy, while he tugged at the dress of the woman he had claimed to adore, Julette rose from her table and moved to stand before her edras servants.

“Do you understand what you are to do?” she asked them.

The first nodded. The second slurred, “We are to empty our seed in the goddess.”

Drake still spouted venom at Chariss when they overheard the edras, and they froze—motionless. Both his and Chariss’s eyes opened wide. “What?” he asked, looking to Julette.

“Protect me,” Chariss whispered up to him, her voice shaking.

“Drake, your job is to hold her.”

“No, no no,” Chariss whispered. Her nails at his neck turned to a soft cupping of his cheek. “Please, Jamieson, my lord, my love, please protect me.”

Amazon link

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

South Florida Author Sandy Lender has been writing since she was a child. At about age six, Sandy entertained the folks in her great grandmother’s apartment building in Southern Illinois with ghost stories of squeaky spiders. She won a first-place award with a sequel to Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” during her school days in the St. Louis area before earning her English degree from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. That led to a career in journalism where she’s worked for a variety of publications the past 23+ years. Sandy is also a sea turtle conservationist, volunteering in the group Turtle Time for nearly a decade. She’s beaten cancer twice, but still fights the IRS. To begin 2016, she welcomes you back to Onweald for the culmination of prophecy.



Follow Sandy on Facebook and at her Amazon author page

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GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway


The tour dates can be found here


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My review:

3.25 out of 5 stars

Choices Meant for All by Sandy Lender is the final story in the ‘Choices’ trilogy that features Amanda Chariss Derdriu, who is not only the Goddess of War but also The Protector of The Master, and is sought after by many males, but betrothed to Nigel Taiman, who has been named emperor of Onweald.  The ongoing struggle against many enemies while striving to protect those around her from the evil machinations of Julette and her allies requires great sacrifices and harsh decisions, and an ability to discern true allies from treacherous ones may be the deciding factor in the fate of the world.

This is an imaginative fantasy story chock-full of exciting challenges and remarkable beings, including sorcerers, dragons, and a surprisingly phlegmatic horse.  There are wonderfully dramatic scenes and plenty of gore and violence, plus a major clash between the forces of good and evil.  I think it is difficult to appreciate this story as a stand-alone tale because of the sheer number of characters, and the difficulty of delineating the connections (familial, political, or expedient) without too much backstory made things a little ponderous to wade through.  I was also a little taken aback at the family connection between Chariss and Nigel, and by her subsequent solution to a difficult situation involving her in-laws and a prophecy. 

The list of characters at the beginning of the story is invaluable but also a warning of the complexity that will face the reader who is new to the series, as all 40+ have a role in the conflict, and many are given the opportunity to share the journey in their point of view.  There are a number of dangling threads that are not resolved, as well as resolutions that I suspect would have more impact if I was familiar with the events that came before the ones described in this story.  I think this story would be best appreciated by ardent fans of darker fantasy who love densely interconnected characters and don’t mind frequently shifting points of view, but my suggestion would be to read the first two volumes in the series first to become familiar with all of the players in this novel pantheon.

A copy of this title was provided to me for review.