To Stand Beside Her by Kristin McMichael published April 2013 by Createspace. CDN $3.07 Kindle edition.
I was given a free ebook copy by the author in exchange for a review. The read 4 review was offered through my Goodreads group Never Too Old For Y. A. Books. To sum up the story line, Leila is a courier; a one woman kick-butt fighting chick who steals things for a living. She encounters Nalick a King who, like every other king wants to marry her. Why not? She is gorgeous, witty, smart sexy and can take care of herself. He convinces Leila to marry him by kidnapping her best friend Kay and offering Kay’s freedom in exchange for Leila’s.
Let me start out by saying that I absolutely loved the story. It was fast paced, packed with action and full of suspense. The world building was well done and I could envision everything that was described. There were no flaws in the story that I noticed and everything fell into place and made sense. The main character Leila is a treasure. She is beautiful, sexy, smart, and cunning, and can fight her way out of any mess. She is often called the “ghost courier” for her tendency to escape any prison. The secret to her success is revealed in the story but I won’t give it away here. She is a truly likable character even if she is a little over the top. I mean she is perfect but in a good way. Kind of like superman is too perfect but totally makes sense in the story.
Nalick the king is the love interest in the story. I was not fussy on the way that Leila falls for him so quickly given the way she was forced to stay, but put that aside and the interaction between the characters is very real and believable. He is a likable person despite his flaws and referenced ruthlessness. His feelings for Leila are very believable and I love the two together.
Having said all that there were some flaws in the book, mainly the missing words, grammar errors and run on paragraphs that left me a little confused as I had to read them over a few times to understand what was going on. It didn’t detract from the story but a good editor would be worth looking into to make it flawless and more seamless to the reader.
Some of the minor characters were well thought out and characterized and I loved Anatolio and Roger. Some of the other characters however could have been downplayed a little as it distracted me from the main plot. There were too many characters to keep track of and the description of everything that went on made it harder to keep up with the main story line.
Overall, I loved the story. I was swept away by the suspense and kept on the edge of my seat. The ending promised to be sad, however I found it was fitting to the story line and made me a little emotional at the end.
I think the author did a wonderful job with the story and look forward to reading another of her well thought out books. I give it 4 stars.
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Author of We Are Not Alone.
Cynthia Stacey 