Review: Ruined by Amy Tintera

Title: Ruined (Ruined #1)
Author: Amy Tintera
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release date: May 3rd 2016
Source: Edelweiss
Format: eARC

Rating: 3.5/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

A revenge that will consume her.

A love that will ruin her.

Emelina Flores has nothing. Her home in Ruina has been ravaged by war. She lacks the powers of her fellow Ruined. Worst of all, she witnessed her parents’ brutal murders and watched helplessly as her sister, Olivia, was kidnapped.

But because Em has nothing, she has nothing to lose. Driven by a blind desire for revenge, Em sets off on a dangerous journey to the enemy kingdom of Lera. Somewhere within Lera’s borders, Em hopes to find Olivia. But in order to find her, Em must infiltrate the royal family.

In a brilliant, elaborate plan of deception and murder, Em marries Prince Casimir, next in line to take Lera’s throne. If anyone in Lera discovers Em is not Casimir’s true betrothed, Em will be executed on the spot. But it’s the only way to salvage Em’s kingdom and what is left of her family.

Em is determined to succeed, but the closer she gets to the prince, the more she questions her mission. Em’s rage-filled heart begins to soften. But with her life—and her family—on the line, love could be Em’s deadliest mistake. 

Ruined is a fantasy novel, where the main character is trying to rescue her younger sister, whom was kidnapped when the Kingdom of Ruina was attacked by the Kingdom of Lera and their mother the Queen was killed, so Emelina is not only in a rescue mission but also seeking revenge, so with the help of her best friends she manages to pass as the betrothed of the Crown Prince of Lera, their enemy and her main plan is to marry Prince Casimir and found out the place where they have her sister Olivia and rescue her. But what Emelina didn´t saw coming is that Prince Casimir is nothing like she expected, there is much more of him and she begins to feel attracted to him, even though she really should be planning his death.

Emelina is princess of the Kingdom of Ruina, a kingdom where most of the inhabitants have powers that sounds a lot like telekinesis, but Emelina was born without any power, so even as a child she was trained in combat, trying somehow not to be so helpless. Something that will help her in her plans of revenge.

Casimir is the prince of the Kingdom of Lera, he´s a good fighter, but he´s not very interested in politics although he´s the future King of Lera, but it isn´t until he meets his fiancee that he start to wonder about the war against Ruina, he never asked his father the King why he attacked the Kingdom of Ruina, and why they still hunting and killing the survivors, he simply accepted his father reasons, but now he ins´t too sure about this war.

Something I liked about the story is that there isn´t good nor bad in this war, because depending on which side you're on, the villain can change ..... because Emelina's mother was not a good person nor is Casimir's father.

Ruined is a fantasy novel with plenty of action, romance and has an ending that leaves you hooked for the next book in the trilogy.

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