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Cloud Kingdoms #1
Caishel
Caishel survives on the street disguised as a male. Caishel accepts a job as Sire Ailan's page in the floating castle of Ardon, hoping to save enough to become her true self.
Ailan immediately discovers his page is a woman, but keeps the knowledge to himself, despite his growing attraction to her. Caishel has difficulty keeping the truth to herself and tells Ailan the truth. Like a caterpillar evolving into a butterfy, Caishel marries Ailan and becomes a Duchess when Ailan inherits the title and lands of the Duke of Lan.
They begin their new life in Lan. The estate is in a poor condition, but working together they begin to put things right. Strange accidents happen to Ailan and Caishel decides to investigate by donning her street urchin disguise
Ailan immediately discovers his page is a woman, but keeps the knowledge to himself, despite his growing attraction to her. Caishel has difficulty keeping the truth to herself and tells Ailan the truth. Like a caterpillar evolving into a butterfy, Caishel marries Ailan and becomes a Duchess when Ailan inherits the title and lands of the Duke of Lan.
They begin their new life in Lan. The estate is in a poor condition, but working together they begin to put things right. Strange accidents happen to Ailan and Caishel decides to investigate by donning her street urchin disguise
226 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 21, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 30, 2014
Cail is a street urchin, a crafty one at that. What makes him different is that he's actually a she, Caishel, a girl forced to pose as a boy to protect herself on the streets. She was relatively safe in that setup, until she bumped into Ailan. She couldn't refuse his offer to become his page, especially that her true gender was about to become a public knowledge. And this is how a beautiful and sweet love story began.
Ailan is resourceful and protective. While other aristocrats indulged, he remained respectful, particularly after he discovered that his page was a beautiful woman.
In this book you'll see Ailan and Caishel face trouble, defend each other, fall in love, get married, and try to settle in Ailan's land now that he inherited the title…if only those assassination attempts weren't there!
And what would Caishel do to protect her husband and keep him alive and by her side? She would go to the source she knew well and that will get her information, the street urchins.
I liked the way the book was written, a mix of contemporary and historical. This world is perhaps parallel to ours where they travel on nehhars and drink kee.
Thoroughly enjoyed living Caishel's story in her world
Ailan is resourceful and protective. While other aristocrats indulged, he remained respectful, particularly after he discovered that his page was a beautiful woman.
In this book you'll see Ailan and Caishel face trouble, defend each other, fall in love, get married, and try to settle in Ailan's land now that he inherited the title…if only those assassination attempts weren't there!
And what would Caishel do to protect her husband and keep him alive and by her side? She would go to the source she knew well and that will get her information, the street urchins.
I liked the way the book was written, a mix of contemporary and historical. This world is perhaps parallel to ours where they travel on nehhars and drink kee.
Thoroughly enjoyed living Caishel's story in her world
January 16, 2016
I'm a fan of Sue Perkins' fantasy books, so was eager to jump into the beginning of a new series.
As she did with her Dragon Clans series, Caishel's world is a mix of science fiction and fantasy.
Caishel's family died and left her an orphan. A scheming uncle stole her inheritance so she's reduced to dressing as a boy and becoming a street urchin. Essentially, she lives by theft. Caught in the act by Ailan, a noble from the cloud castle (an artifact left by the "ancients" which requires energy cells to remain in the air). Ailan finds Cail (her boy name) to be quick and smart. He needs a page, and Cail becomes Ailan's servant.
The Duke (well, he's not a Duke yet) discovers immediately that Cail is not a boy, but he keeps this news to himself since a female would have been evicted from the cloud castle immediately. Ailan waits until he wins a bet from another noble that his urchin page would learn his tasks within a short time.
Eventually, Ailan admits to Caishel that he knows she's a woman and is falling in love with her. As soon as the bet is won, Caishel the noble woman is revealed as Ailan's fiancee.
More adventure happens with dastardly villains, spirits, and Caishel needing to become Cail the boy again to save the day.
All of this is a nice romance, but the creation of the world with castles in the sky just doesn't work well enough for me. At least not for this first book in the series. There just wasn't enough of the world to differentiate it from a slightly fantastical earth. I would have liked more world-building in this first book of the series.
Now, that aside, the writing is good, the romance sweet, and the characters likable (or hateable in the case of the villains). Caishel is spunky and keeps her wits about her. It's entirely reasonable that Ailan falls in love with her even in her guise as a boy. The romance comes a bit too quickly for me. The reasons for Caishel falling for Ailan aren't entirely clear. For the most part, Ailan is a kindly noble who protects Cail/Caishel from the advances of a dastardly duke, but overall Caishel has to maintain her male persona and one thing she would have to avoid is going all doey-eyed on Ailan.
A noble effort, and I see potential in the continuation of this world's stories. I would have liked to see more of the fantasy world, and a bit less of the romance.
As she did with her Dragon Clans series, Caishel's world is a mix of science fiction and fantasy.
Caishel's family died and left her an orphan. A scheming uncle stole her inheritance so she's reduced to dressing as a boy and becoming a street urchin. Essentially, she lives by theft. Caught in the act by Ailan, a noble from the cloud castle (an artifact left by the "ancients" which requires energy cells to remain in the air). Ailan finds Cail (her boy name) to be quick and smart. He needs a page, and Cail becomes Ailan's servant.
The Duke (well, he's not a Duke yet) discovers immediately that Cail is not a boy, but he keeps this news to himself since a female would have been evicted from the cloud castle immediately. Ailan waits until he wins a bet from another noble that his urchin page would learn his tasks within a short time.
Eventually, Ailan admits to Caishel that he knows she's a woman and is falling in love with her. As soon as the bet is won, Caishel the noble woman is revealed as Ailan's fiancee.
More adventure happens with dastardly villains, spirits, and Caishel needing to become Cail the boy again to save the day.
All of this is a nice romance, but the creation of the world with castles in the sky just doesn't work well enough for me. At least not for this first book in the series. There just wasn't enough of the world to differentiate it from a slightly fantastical earth. I would have liked more world-building in this first book of the series.
Now, that aside, the writing is good, the romance sweet, and the characters likable (or hateable in the case of the villains). Caishel is spunky and keeps her wits about her. It's entirely reasonable that Ailan falls in love with her even in her guise as a boy. The romance comes a bit too quickly for me. The reasons for Caishel falling for Ailan aren't entirely clear. For the most part, Ailan is a kindly noble who protects Cail/Caishel from the advances of a dastardly duke, but overall Caishel has to maintain her male persona and one thing she would have to avoid is going all doey-eyed on Ailan.
A noble effort, and I see potential in the continuation of this world's stories. I would have liked to see more of the fantasy world, and a bit less of the romance.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews